A Holy Ghost Crusade

You probably know a “Quiet Guy” who goes unnoticed. He sits toward the back of a room and barely makes a sound, deflecting attention to make someone else noticed.

I grew up in a religious tradition that placed an extraordinary emphasis on the Holy Spirit and certain aspects of His work. There was the “Holy Ghost Crusade”, people got “Holy Ghost Goosebumps”, the “dove” was plastered on church walls and banners, every strange idea or thing – real or imagined – was attributed to the “moving of the Spirit.”

People claimed visions and messages from the Lord which were often nothing more than repetitions of Biblical ideas or cockamamie signs of self-worship. We boasted in being “Spirit-filled” rather than simple followers of Christ.

Show me people infatuated with the Holy Spirit and I’ll show you people who have gone astray from Jesus.

Please don’t misunderstand me. The Christian life is impossible without the abiding presence of the Spirit. Redemption becomes a reality in the sinner only by the Spirit’s work. He illuminates the mind to understand and apply the Word of God. He distributes spiritual gifts to the Church as He wills. He is the Third Person of the Godhead and worthy of all honor, praise, worship, and adoration.

However, Jesus said of Him, When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you all things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you  (John 16:13-14).

The Holy Spirit is the “Quiet Guy” of the Trinity. Yes, upon His arrival in the Church He came with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind (Acts 2:2), but all the noise that day declared the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11) in the Person of Jesus. The Spirit of God never takes the attention due the Son. Never.

Jesus is the One before every knee shall bow and every tongue confess (Philippians 2:11). If the spirit points to anything or anyone other than Jesus – including itself – it’s not the “Holy” Spirit doing the pointing.

The Quiet Guy

You probably know the “Quiet Guy” who always does his job yet goes unnoticed.  He sits toward the back of a room and barely makes a sound, deflecting attention to make someone else noticed.

I grew up in a religious tradition that placed an extraordinary emphasis on the Holy Spirit and certain aspects of His work. There was a “Holy Ghost Rally”, people got “Holy Ghost Goosebumps”, the “dove” was plastered on church walls and banners, every strange idea or thing – real or imagined – was attributed to the “moving of the Spirit.”

People claimed to have visions or messages from the Lord which were often nothing more than repetitions of Biblical ideas or cockamamie signs of self-worship. We boasted in being “Spirit-filled” rather than simple and humble followers of Christ.

Please don’t misunderstand me. The Christian life is impossible without the abiding presence of the Spirit. Redemption becomes a reality in the sinner only by the Spirit’s work. He illuminates our mind to understand and apply the Word of God. He distributes spiritual gifts to the Church as He wills. He is the Third Person of the Godhead and worthy of all honor, praise, worship, and adoration.

However, Jesus said of Him, When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you all things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you  (John 16:13-14).

The Holy Spirit is the “Quiet Guy” of the Trinity. Yes, upon His arrival in the Church He came with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind (Acts 2:2), filling those believers so that they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4), but all of those tongues declared the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11) in the Person of Jesus.

Jesus is the one before every knee shall bow and every tongue confess (Philippians 2:11). If the spirit points to anything or anyone other than Jesus, it’s not the “Holy” Spirit doing the pointing.

You Know You’re Old When …

Have you ever noticed that when “old” people get to talking, the conversation is often about their aches, pains, and operations?  All it takes is one person to start sharing about breaking his hip or her arthritis and it becomes a feeding frenzy on who has the worst health.  I’m sure this habit is one of the first telling signs of being “old.”

It’s strange, but we end up talking more about the health we don’t have than being thankful for the health we do have.

What would you say is the worst disease or sickness a person might have?  Cancer?  AIDS?  Alzheimer’s?  Dry elbows?  How about sin?  Did you ever stop to think that sin has a 100% mortality rate?  There is no medicine to cure it or to relieve it’s symptoms.  There is no preventative inoculation you can receive as a child.  There are no special associations seeking donations for those affected by it.  Yet it kills more people in a day than all other physical diseases added together.

Sometimes we get caught up in our own misdeeds or “badness.”  I can remember as a kid growing up in church, listening to people talk about how sinful they had been.  Some people went into details that would have made both the Pope and the prostitute blush.

As a pastor I had a woman visit my church just a few years ago.  Her very first Sunday morning, and she introduced herself by telling me how many affairs she’d had, how many illegitimate children she’d given birth to, and how many drugs she’d tried.  No joke.  I took it as a sign that she would be trouble.  She was.

It’s easy to focus our attention on all the wrong we’ve done.   We talk about our disgraces rather than His amazing grace.  We share about our transgressions and forget to mention His all-encompassing forgiveness.  We focus on our past instead of on His many great and precious promises for the future.  Even as Christians, we create a self-centered religion.

Folks, when sharing your faith – make it your faith that you’re sharing.  People don’t need to know how bad you’ve been or even are.  I know that you just want people to know how far God has brought you, but don’t forget to make God the theme of your message, not your wicked past.

Paul identified himself as the chief of sinners (First Timothy 1:15) but his focus was always on Jesus the Redeemer.  Read his testimony in Acts 22 and 26.  Does he mention that he was a murder, conspirator, and more?  Yes, but nearly all of his message was on how a meeting with Jesus changed his life forever.

Rather than focus on Satan, your sin, your shame, your sickness, or your self, draw your thankful attention to the great and awesome Saviour of sinners.