Talent on Loan From God, Part 2

You are talented. You are knowledgeable. You are wise. And you know that. And it's true. But as Nebuchadnezzar found out, God adds a living miracle to our physical composure, to our brain, and allows us to be able to think. And so all the credit for our human abilities go to God. And you and I can take credit for none of it. Not even the thinking and the reasoning that we're doing right now, that we take so for granted and we think, oh, but this is me.

Humans are very capable. And yet we are very incomplete as a typical human. We don't know that, though. We think we're it. We think that we know how to live. The Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man. We are thinking, breathing, living, reasoning creatures, and we can figure it out. But in all cases, the end of that leads to death. Man isn't complete. We do not have what it takes in order to live and to have a life that is full.

This week, the iPad was released by Apple, a great new little invention. And at the same time, advanced nuclear weapon delivery systems were developed to cause the genocide of the entire human race. How do you link those two together? We have the ability to create some phenomenal things and at the same time we're working on phenomenal things, we're working on exterminating ourselves, and we think we're bright enough and brilliant enough to keep it all careening down the road. And we don't think that it's going to bring us harm. And yet, this way leads to death.

If we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 9 through 12, we get some introspection here into a miracle that's missing from the minds of most humans. A dimension that is needed in order for us to live and to live well. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 beginning in verse 9, it says, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. In other words, we're clueless. We don't even imagine it. For all the Star Wars, space, stellar, fourth dimension concepts that humans have come up with have never stumbled on this one.

But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man?

You and I, we know the things of humans, except for the Spirit of the man which is in him.

So we've actually been created as something holy physical, and yet there is something extraterrestrial that goes on in you and me. It's from a different dimension. It's not physics. It's not from this cosmos. It's not from this universe. It's not from the physical world. We have something made from a different dimension called Spirit that God has plugged into us that creates this miracle which makes us human. But yet there's still something missing. Yes, no one knows the things of a man except the Spirit of man which is in him. And even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God, the divine Spirit of God. Something that's not just from another dimension, but it is from the leadership, from the Creator, from the divine God and his Son in that other dimension that comes across into the physical world and interacts with our mind. These things allow us to understand what God has prepared for those who love him. Verse 12, now we have received, this is important for us to understand, we have received not the Spirit of the world, not just that Spirit and certainly not the mentality of society which Satan wants to broadcast, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. So this is a second miracle, and I'd like to examine today the second living miracle that God gives us. It takes place inside of some humans, ultimately inside of all humans at some point, but this miracle today is uncommon. It's unexpected, it's unknown, and yet it's highly appreciated by those who have it most of the time. I hope today to show you that not only should we really appreciate the blessing of God's Holy Spirit, but also to understand the limitations that we would have without it. Today, let's take a look at Talent on Loan from God, Part 2, God's Holy Spirit.

Let's just look at a brief history of God and man. First of all, God created Adam and Eve, and He walked with them, and He talked with them. Later, He visited with Noah. He visited Abraham.

He wrestled with Jacob. He spoke with Moses. He spoke to Israel from Mount Sinai.

He traveled above Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire. He lived amongst Israel in the tabernacle, inside the Holy of Holies, away from anybody, except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. But that relationship didn't go anywhere. They rejected God and eventually went into slavery. And then God came and lived among humans as Jesus, and He was rejected. The Lord said in Genesis 6, verse 3, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh.

Man is in a limited role, in a dimension that is physical, and God will not strive forever His spirit with humans. We humans are different than God. He says, You're flesh.

I have some irritation with people. Not always going to have this irritation and this resistance from them. God lives, He thinks, and He acts in a different dimension, in different ways, on a different plane. God's way of thinking, the way He does things, is so much higher, He doesn't even try to describe it to us. But from that other dimension, He gives us a little bit of His thinking. And that spirit is on loan from God. It's not part of you. You don't own it. It's a gift, as we will see. It is temporarily there, as long as it's respected, appreciated, and used. There's a lot to the spirit of God that comes to us from that spirit dimension.

Again, in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 11, no one knows the things of God. You can't know anything about the spirit dimension except through the spirit of God. And so, there is an illumination. There is knowledge. There's understanding. There's wisdom that can come through to us, which is totally unavailable otherwise.

The point here is we humans are incomplete. We think we're complete. In other words, we reason. We think. We calculate. We're capable. We say, I know. Therefore, I am.

And therefore, I can. And therefore, I will. And we're pretty comfortable as humans. And yet, there is a spiritual dimension that's unseen. It's guessed at. People invent things about some spiritual unknown, but it's unsensed by humans in the physical realm.

Unsensed. It kind of reminds me of non-sensed. You know? Nonsense. We would think that's stupid, that's silly, that's dumb, that's something we don't sense, and therefore, it's not there. It's nonsense. And yet, they are absolutely true, and yet undetectable by science.

It says in verse 14, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. The things of God's Spirit, we don't, humans don't receive.

Doesn't make any sense. Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. This absolutely boxes off, walls off the human with the Spirit and man from knowing anything about the true God. And all that is developed in the name of religion that does not come from the Holy Spirit is a bunch of nonsense that is built on decades and millennia of other nonsense that people have invented. They simply cannot know without God's Holy Spirit because these things are spiritually discerned. The Bible study course of the United Church of God lesson nine says this spiritual discernment is accessible only from God as a gift through his Spirit. It's the only way we can have it is to receive it as a gift.

God makes his Spirit available to those who genuinely repent and have their old selves symbolically buried with Christ in the watery grave of baptism. So following a certain pre-scribed course that God takes an individual down, this gift of the Holy Spirit is given, and then an understanding of things to do with God and his kingdom and his realm takes place. We can read about this in Acts 2, verses 38 and 39. Acts 2, beginning in verse 38.

Peter said to them, repent, and repentance is a gift of God, tells us in a couple of places, be baptized. What's baptism? Baptism is a gift of God for the forgiveness of our sins. God and Christ went to great lengths to give us that gift.

And next, verse 38, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There's another gift. In fact, it really doesn't stop there because you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then God will give you help, and eventually he will give you sonship in his kingdom.

See, it's kind of one-sided, isn't it? God just keeps on giving and giving and giving.

What do we do? Where did we jump in there and earn something? Where did we go in and do some wonderful thing? Well, it's not really about us doing much more than responding in the way that God wants us to and developing an affinity and appreciation for what he's offering us. If we just cast it aside and say, I don't want that, then we won't receive it. But if we show enthusiasm for it, if we embrace it, and if we show that enthusiasm by living it, trying to live it the best we can with God's help, then he'll gladly give us the gift. Now, what is this Holy Spirit? Holy Spirit is kind of hard to wrap your arms around, you know, because it's not of our dimension. It's not of physics. There's no description of the ingredients. You can't replicate it. You can't manufacture it. There's no compound that we would understand. It's something from a different dimension that is given to us. So what is it? To try to describe it, the fundamental beliefs booklet says that we believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. The power and mind that proceed from God are called the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit. Now, is that clear now? You know, it's defined as power. It's defined as, you know, God's presence. It's defined as their spirit. It's hard, really, for us as humans to fully understand what that spirit is. The Bible does not identify the Holy Spirit as a third person in a trinity, but consistently describes it as the power of God and in other ways in the Bible. The word Holy Spirit is derived from the Greek word paracletos. Paracletos. Paracletos. And that's probably as Greek as you can get. And it still doesn't help us understand just fully and completely exactly what this Holy Spirit is. But paracletos implies a source of help that's available to you. So God is a source of help that's available. In fact, the word in the Greek conveys God's guidance and assistance like an attorney would assist a person who is coming before a judge in a court of law. Somebody there who is to help, help through the process, help defend, assist, give aid, give counsel. A counsel for the defense is what the word paracletos means. So we can see right now that our human state receiving something so precious as the essence of what God is putting in us, and he is there as some kind of a helper. It's large, it's important, it's big, it's powerful, but they're difficult to understand. In fact, the word paracletos is very hard to translate into the English language. Paracletos has other forms as well. Paraclesis and paracleo. And you can't just word flip them into English. Paracletos, comforter. Paracletos, comfort. Paracletos, helper. Paracletos, you know, just flip a word. It's hard to do that. Let's take a look in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 through 7, and we'll take a look at this word used over and over and over. In fact, I'm going to give it to you in a little bit better translation that the United Church of God has done of this passage, because the translators, various editions of the Bible, they flip various words in there, but it doesn't really give us the meaning of what this Holy Spirit is and does for us. I'll just read it to you the way it's translated in one of our publications, which is the Bible study course lesson 9. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all divine spiritual help. There's that word, paracletos.

The God of all divine spiritual help, who, here it comes again, helps us in all of our tribulation, that we may be able to, here it comes again, help those who are in any trouble with the spiritual help with which we ourselves are helped by God.

Whereas the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our spiritual help also abounds through Christ. Now, if we are afflicted, it is for your spiritual help and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or, if we are spiritually helped, it is for your spiritual help and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the divine spiritual help.

We begin to see through an explanation or the usage of the word paracletos and its various forms that God is really wanting to help us. He and his son Jesus Christ are giving us extra help, extra spiritual help in a divine way, so that not only are we helped, but we can be of help to others. So being an aid attorney, one who is there to support, to defend, to encourage, to help, that's very much what God wants to be for us. So when you think about having God's Holy Spirit, you think about God wanting to really help you spiritually. Forget all the physical things you'd like. He wants to really help you spiritually. Jesus promised us various talents, illumination, wisdom, help that the Holy Spirit will give you. John 16, verses 7 through 15, is a good place to start. John 16, we read these verses every year during the Passover service.

But let's notice, let's focus right here on something he's telling us. He's actually telling us a limitation that he had in the flesh. He's wanting to help us, but he's saying, I really can't help you that much while I'm here on earth like I can afterwards. Let's read. John 16, verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. You know, as a human being in the human form, Jesus Christ could only do so much.

As a human, he had miraculous powers, but still he was a human. And humans have limitations on where they can be, on how many hours a day you can do things, how many people you can actually see or interact with, how much distance you can travel. There are limitations when you're human, and he's saying, you know what, I can only do so much for you in the human form, and it's to your advantage that I go away. But notice what he said, For if I do not go away, the paracletus, the divine spiritual helper, will not come to you. Ah, why not? Why not? If he stayed on earth as a human, or while he stayed on earth, he said, the divine helper cannot come to you. Let's go on. But if I depart, I will send it to you. Verse 12.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when it, the Spirit of truth, has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears, it will speak. And it will tell you things to come. It will glorify me. For it will take of what is mine. It will take of the Spirit of the God family and declare it to you. Those things of the Spirit, the Spirit God family, will declare those things to us. There's something about Jesus being here as in a human form that prevented him from coming back, as we'll see in a little bit, in a much more powerful form.

You know, it's impossible for the human mind to comprehend and understand the Spirit dimension with the human mind. We need the second miracle. He said there, you cannot bear them now. I have many things to say, but you can't understand without this miracle. You can't even grasp it, so I can't tell you. We need the second miracle. And it's available only to those who God is drawing to become like Him and His nature and character.

In John 14, just a little bit previous, in verses 23-28, let's notice something else Jesus said.

John 14, verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, now there's an if there. I always like to point out the ifs.

It's a condition. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. In the spiritual form, God the Father in Christ would come and make their home with this individual. In the brief history of God and man that I mentioned a while ago, you remember there was a time when God came and lived in the Holy of Holies, in the Tabernacle, and eventually the Temple. He was tucked away in there, either symbolically or literally. We'll leave that to him. But he wasn't really around people. Now, once in a while, the Church will put on a tour to the Holy Land, or some people will go over and visit the Holy Land. And I'll tell you what that's like. It's really exciting. It's not as exciting as it used to be, but it's still pretty exciting. Because you go around and you get close to places where Jesus was. There's a well over here, and we think Jacob's well used to be in this area, but anyway, here's a well. And so Jesus might have been near this well. Wow! Church over the well and everything? Wow! We could be close to something. At least we're in the same town with him. Okay? Well, you know, there's the Via Dolorosa, the 17 stations of the cross. Well, they were only invented about 100 years ago by somebody, so it's not really where he walked. But here in the same town, it's kind of good to be in Jerusalem and think about where he might have walked. When I went there in 1971, I actually got to go up to the tomb where they placed Jesus on the slab and look in the door and see where they laid his body. Now, you can't do that today, because they found out that tomb was actually dug out a thousand years after Jesus died. But we didn't know that in 1971, so you really had a powerful, powerful visit to some place that Jesus actually was. Now, the sad thing about touring the Holy Land is, to my knowledge, there's not one single place that you can definitively say he ever was. They don't even know that the Temple, where exactly on the Temple, Mount the Temple used to be. So it's sort of a letdown in that way. Though you kind of feel close to a lot of things, you never get exactly anywhere. But you can pay a lot of money and go over there, and it's kind of cool. Here, let's notice something else. Jesus said, those who love me and keep my words, we will come and live in him. You ever think about the fact that you don't have to go all the way to Israel and sort of try to find a stone or a slab or a relic or something with a mark on it or an ossuary or whatever it is they're digging up this week?

He's inside you. If you have this Holy Spirit, He's living right there.

Instead of God being in a temple, the Holy of Holies inside the Temple, He's dwelling inside Holy people that He has hallowed. He has made holy, considers them holy, and therefore God dwells inside them. In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, the Apostle Paul is telling us that we need to realize this, understand this. This is important to understand. If we don't understand that, we're going to be trying to take God to places and into things that He's not going to go. He says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?

We can't understand these things without a helper. And back in John 14, verse 23, back where we were just a moment ago, we find now that this temple and Jesus and His Father are living in us through the Spirit. We are not our own. And He says in verse 25, These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the helper, the paracletos, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, it will teach you all these things. It will bring you to the Holy Spirit. It will bring back to remembrance all the things that I have said to you. Verse 28, You have heard Me say to you, I am going away. The human form, in the human form, I am going away.

And He says, I am coming back to you in divine form. That's interesting. You've heard Me say, I'm going away. Well, I'm coming back to you. If you love Me, you would rejoice because I said, I'm going to the Father. The Father is greater than I. He's not just saying the Father is greater in authority than I. He's saying the Father is in the Spirit dimension. He is greater than I am right now. He said, you should rejoice, for My Father is greater than I. And that's where I'm going. I'm going to go back and be much greater like My Father. So rejoice, I'll be right back in the Spirit form. When He returned, great changes were going to take place. Like water, floods in the desert make big changes. A body without the Holy Spirit is like a desert without water. And yet when floods come through, they change things, they carve out, they move things around, things change. I was reading in a book this last week about here in the desert, an individual talked about a flood coming down. And he wasn't trapped in it, but he was right beside it. And a flash flood came rolling through. And he said, the most impressing thing to me was that big boulders bounce on top of water, it seems. Big, huge boulders. You think nobody could move that. These things are bouncing around, popping out of the water. This is amazingly large boulders. They're just kind of popping up and popping around on top of the water. It's where you see them in the muddy water. Just kind of big boulders were moving around. Things really were changing.

In John 7, verse 37, Jesus said, during the last great day, the seventh day of the feast it is, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. I'm the source of water here. If anybody thirsts, come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

This Holy Spirit is going to come in and really make some changes, rivers of water.

And they're going to flow out and through. That's a powerful help that God has, a powerful spirit symbolized here by water. But this he spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. You know, he concludes there in verse 39.

The Holy Spirit was not given yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. Flesh can enter us. He couldn't enter into the disciples. The disciples were carnal. He couldn't get in there and help. He couldn't jump into their minds as a human being. You just knock heads. The Holy Spirit hadn't come because he hadn't returned to God yet. He hadn't been glorified yet. Once God's Holy Spirit enters us, notice the spiritual gifts and talents that result over in Ephesians 1, verse 17-23.

Ephesians 1, verse 17.

We're breaking into a sentence here, but this is the part that applies. It talks about these spiritual gifts and talents that result once God enters us, changes take place. Notice that Ephesians 1, verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Where do you expect to learn about God? Where do you expect to learn about the spiritual dimension? Like I said, the world is full of religions and full of religious educators. You can go buy books. You can go listen to seminars. You can hear the brightest and the best of those without God's Spirit. Try to define and describe what the spiritual dimension is like. How to get there. Similar to the Egyptian priests who would write out the instructions and describe the route that the Pharaoh would take, who he would meet along the way, and how he would gain entrance up into heaven and become a star or a bright object in the sky.

But here we are given through the Spirit wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Verse 18, The eyes of your spiritual understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saint, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. Power. Towards those who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

With God's Holy Spirit in us, we obtain a different status, a different identity.

Now, it's hard to talk about this without getting some to think that those with God's Spirit are superior, somehow better. Those of us who have God's Spirit are not better because we are better.

It is a better covenant that comes with the Spirit. It is better understanding, as we've just read, but the individuals are not somehow better because they received it, or they received it because they were better. So we'll see in a few minutes, actually God gave it to those who were the least worthy of it. And some of the biggest and the brightest are still out there operating without it. But nevertheless, those who obtain God's Holy Spirit as a gift, and He gives it to them ever you will, they obtain a different identity, a different status, different from the rest of humanity. A question for you and me is, do we respect that? Do we really respect what we've been given? You know, sometimes you give somebody a gift, and it's something maybe it was an heirloom, something your grandfather had, a special tool, and you think, wow, this has really been special to me. I'll give it to this person, and then you come back a day later, whatever. It's lying on the floor, and one of the kids has it. You think, what? I don't think that person really appreciated that thing that was passed on to them. The kids down there banging on the floor with it.

Well, how about you and me? Part of my purpose is today is to remind you and show you how precious this miracle is, how few receive it, how important it is, so that we begin to say, you know what? I'm glad I'm a thinking human being, and I have the spirit in man and me. I don't want to take that for granted anymore, but I'm really also glad that I have the understanding that I do. And, you know, I really need to take care of this. I need to be careful where I go with this. I actually am the container of it. I'm the temple of God's Holy Spirit. I need to really use this and produce with it, or consequences are it can be taken away from me. In Romans 8, verses 14-17, we are shown the special relationship that God gives those who have His Spirit. Romans 8, verses 14-17.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, again, notice the word led, doesn't say those who have it, those who have been given it. If it's just lying on the floor, it's wrapped in a napkin and buried. If it's ignored, if it's not appreciated, it doesn't mean the individual is being led by it.

But those led by the Spirit of God, these are considered sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. And Abba is considered to be, in the Aramaic, a familiar version of Father. So it's not just the, you know, the Father that's so high, so far away, so holy, we have no connection with Him, but more like a jump in the lap, Daddy, Father. A very personal Father, like we're told, you know, come right on into the Holy of Holies, come right on into the throne of God. Jesus encourages us to pray to Him daily and talk to the Father. So it's that type of relationship that's implied here. Now, notice the dependency on God for two talents, for two miracles here. Verse 16, the Spirit, God's Holy Spirit itself, bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. It's important to have the Spirit in man, and the Holy Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God. If that Spirit sees within us this godly nature that's being developed by God, that we are desiring to be developed, that the family mentality is growing, and we're becoming like Him, then we are considered children. Verse 17, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

See the status, the position, the identity, whatever you want to call it, we're sons of God, full heirs with Christ. And Christ said, I own everything that the Father owns, you know. It's all there. So if you extrapolate that, we are joint heirs of everything that the God family has, if we indeed suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together. Well, these are wonderful spiritual gifts, Spirit in man, Holy Spirit, family, kingdom of God.

Now again, are you spiritually talented? Let's kick this up to another level now, not just talented. Are you spiritually talented? Do you have spiritual knowledge and spiritual wisdom? Do you understand the truth? Are you growing? Do you have a good relationship with God and a good grasp of what He wants? Are you an agent of truth? Well, yeah. You are? I am. Let's give ourselves that. Let's say, yes. We have those things growing in us. Do you feel special? Sometimes we do. It's not uncommon for somebody to gain some of this knowledge and understanding and start to say, you know what? I'm pretty knowledgeable here. Well, yeah, you are. I am understanding some things here. Yeah, that's, you know, God does give that gift to us to understand. Therefore, I'm special. I mean, I'm special. I know a lot. I am spiritually enlightened. Why, I understand this book, in fact, more than others. Well, yeah. Okay. But it becomes something about me. And next thing you know, they want to be published or, you know, on TV or something. I don't know. And they think that they are great.

But this is talent on loan from God. And we need to understand that it is a miracle that takes place and only God can get the credit. We need to appreciate the source. Let's go to John 15 and verse 5. John chapter 15 and verse 5. Jesus said, I am the vine.

You are the branches. Oh, look, you can produce grapes. And you say, ha, look at the grapes. I've made grapes. These grapes are pretty cool. Look what my hand has done. And like Nebuchadnezzar, well, that's true. God is producing fruit through you and me. But notice, I am the vine. He says, you're just the branches. You're connected. There's something flowing through you from me. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

For without me, you can do nothing. If God cuts that off, if God cuts off the supply of His Holy Spirit, or as we saw with Nebuchadnezzar, the Spirit and man, you're toast. I'm done. It's over. You know, where should the credit go? Should we get full of ourselves? Should we begin to think, oh, this is me, really. This is really me. I'm thinking all these things. Or do we realize there's like water, living water, that's coming and flowing through us, that all of this is coming because of a living miracle that's taking place. It's all being sent by God, the Father, and Jesus Christ that is coming through us. We should be deeply appreciated of it. We should be humbled by it. We should do any and everything to protect the fragility of that source. As Paul and others have said, you know, where are you trying to take this? Where would you go with this? What would you do with this? This temple of the Holy Spirit. If you're not careful, you could lose that source. You lose that source. You've lost everything. And as Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing.

Talent on loan from God, Spirit and man, and Holy Spirit. These things are temporary. They're on loan. They're gifts. Here Jesus shows that His Holy Spirit, that of Him and the Father, is not a third person. He just said, without me, you can do nothing.

Where did Jesus go? He became a Spirit, and He came right back. He continues to come right back.

This Holy Spirit, this Helper, it's a dynamic miracle. It does not provide you with anything static or stable in the sense that you have a characteristic now. You know, John Eliot cannot look back and say, you know, I started on the church in 1951, and I'll grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, and this is who I am. This is who I am. Nope. It is not something that is organic. It is a living miracle. And if I ever do anything to cut the miracle off, none of that stays. Same with you. None of it stays. Because it's not a static characteristic. Rather, it's a constant choice that you and I are being helped in making every minute of our day. We're helped in making a choice by a Spirit, by the power of God that He has given us to help us with those choices. We really need to understand that. Now, He will work with the unbaptized. He will give a certain amount of understanding up to a point to those who have not yet received as a permanent gift, as it were, the Holy Spirit. Those are not being ultimately judged. They can learn about it. They can see it. They can understand. They can sample. They can decide. Let's see. Do I want to repent of my nature and go for this new thing I'm seeing?

Or would I rather just close that off and do like Adam and Eve? There's no eternal judgment at that point.

So the Holy Spirit works with unbaptized, but it works in and as an internal helper of those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit. And for those of us who have been truly baptized, this is our only time of judgment. Judgment is upon the spiritual house of Israel.

The judgment is being made on the fruits of the Holy Spirit, what we are producing with the Holy Spirit, and we should see those fruits of love and joy, harmony and other things being developed. The rest are blinded. They're self-knowledgeable. That's dangerous knowledge. And they have dangerous ideas to those who do have God's Spirit. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14-18.

Similar in a way to 1 Corinthians 6, but this is a little different passage. Both of them talk about us being the temple of God's Spirit. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, says, Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. There are those who will also have ideas and thoughts to the best of their ability, but they don't have the understanding. They don't have the spiritual wisdom. They don't have the perception of what God is doing and what He has planned for those who love Him. So don't be unequally yoked together with them. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? You now have a new identity. You are called a son or a daughter of God. What do you have to do with darkness, lawlessness? Verse 15, And what accord has Christ with the devil? Where are you going to try to take God who is living in you? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols, with false ideas and false notions that come from a kind of a syncristic, Hellenistic breed of Christianity that has a similar look and feel and verbiage, but does not have the enlightenment of God's Holy Spirit? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them. Remember that. I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them. Let's see that in just a moment. Do you need to go to Israel, to Jerusalem, and try to find some place where Jesus foot stepped when He says, I will dwell in them?

Now, it's great to go over there. Don't let me at all dissuade you from going on a tour to Israel.

It's a real blast. It's really a good time. I mean, it's wonderful over there.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. If you do all of those, then I'll receive you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. There's an if there. If we separate ourselves, if we truly distance ourselves, and if we're serious about being God's children, then those are the things that God will do for us. The rest is blinded. They're self-knowledgeable, but it's very dangerous for us to get around other ideas. Let me ask you a question. It's a very personal question. I'll give you a very personal illustration. Is the faith of Christ what you are? Let me ask it a different way. Is the truth of Christ what you are as an individual? What you are as an individual? Is it part of you? Have you grown into truth? Have you grown into faith? Is that what you are when you look in the mirror, when you get up in the morning and you dress, and you say, this is who I am? It's truth and faith and godliness. Is that you? Put your name on that. Sometimes we say, my faith is my church. Many people have been believers for many years. We've grown up in this way, or we've been around for a while. We've been long enough to where we embrace it, and we feel it, and we think it, and we say, this is me. This is who I am, and nobody can take this away from me. It's just what I am. It's who I am. I'll give you a personal example, going back a few years now, 16 years ago, coming up to the Passover. I had a lot of friends in the church at that time, ministry, peers, members, and an interesting thing was happening. It's almost like popcorn in a pan. You ever watch popcorn in a pan? It's a kernel, and then bam! It's puffy, just like that. Bam! There goes another one. It doesn't grow or anything. Just boom! One day, I'd be saying to one of my ministerial friends over the phone, I'd say, you know, I can't believe that some people are just abandoning God's truth. And they're saying, we don't have to keep the commandments anymore. We don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. The feast days are out. The world's celebration days are in. This is the real religion. I said, I can't believe it. And the person on the other end of the line was like, me neither. What's the matter with those people? Pop! Next day, the guy's back on the phone. Oh, I get it now. Yeah, that's the way I feel, too. I said, what happened to you? What happened? Yesterday, we're having this talk. You remember? Bam! Oh, it's not like that. No, you really don't understand the way it is. Let me tell you how. Nope. Sorry. We won't have that. Bam! Somebody else pops over. Leading member of my congregation, a deacon. Boom! What happened to you? Pretty soon, you want to put water on everybody. You already quit exploding. Don't go to conferences. Don't read things. I'd start showing people and telling people, you know, hang on to the truth. This is the real... Bam! Bam! Bam! They're just flipping, you know, just like popcorn in a pan. And I couldn't understand it. And so I tried to get them back to being colonels and go up to puffy people. Now, let me explain to you the truth. And they look at you and say, ah... Okay, well, let me try it this way.

Bam! Some more are popping off. And I'll tell you what. There's a few streets in Westchester, Ohio, that probably owe the city some, I don't know, some taxes on or something, because I walked the surface off. I'm praying. You know, God, will you do something where I can explain to these people and convince them through words and show them through the Scripture that they're going to error, they've gone into error, and bring them back? Bam! Bam! Bam! Some more! What is going on here? This is very, very frustrating. And coming up to the Passover, it wasn't getting better. It was actually getting worse. How could I reconvince them of the truth and keep some from flipping? Meanwhile, some more ministers that I'd looked up to and been taught by were, bam, bam! They were flipping. And I thought, is that going to happen to me? Am I just going to one day wake up and be like, bam! Oh! You know, you had to worry when some of them, you were talking to them, they were just, I'll never do that in my whole life. This is what I'm... BAM! Oh, it's okay!

Wow! Now, how was that possible? I couldn't reverse their minds. I was very, very frustrated. It was getting worse. The walks were getting longer. My wife and I, our stomachs were grinding more and more. Even the kids, our daughters, could see through some of this stuff. And they didn't have God's Holy Spirit. They were teenagers. They thought it was ludicrous. So, how is this possible? How could one be devoted to their life long? The long-term members who had grown gray since I had grown up in the church, many of them were just, how could this happen? And I would just, my head was just spinning. Poof! And it would be gone. How could that happen? So, I would pray to God, what can I do? I'm not good enough. I'm not doing a good enough job in my own congregations. People are changing over just rapidly, and nothing I seem to be able to say will work. What can I possibly do? Help me communicate better. Help me teach better. Help me be a debater, a good debater.

Give me just the right scriptures, which I thought I was using, but there must be better ones. Help. Help me bring them back. I was given the biggest lesson of my life after Passover in 1995. I was very frustrated as a growing number of members were saying, you don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. You don't have to keep the Holy Days anymore. You don't have to keep the Passover anymore.

Any day you want to worship on is just fine. Any holidays, in fact, might even be better than the Holy Days, because their true expressions that you're not commanded to do is something organic, you know, that you can come up with yourself and show how good you are. Well, as I was home after Passover, and I was thinking about that, and I was wondering what the perfect words would be, how to possibly solve the situation, how to bring some people back, something in me disappeared, and I felt it leave.

What was that? I said, oh, I knew it had gone. What was that? You know, I'd been concerned, you know, that I might become enlightened, too, that bam, it might happen to me. And I just felt something, whoa, what was that? I better do a quick check. So I did a rapid series of checks. How do you feel about the world's churches? Well, they're all fine, actually. They all use the word Jesus, and they're trying hard. It's good. Oh, yeah, how do you feel about the holidays?

Just fine, actually. They're all about Jesus, and they're just good. How do you feel about Sunday? Great. It's all about Jesus, praising Jesus. Doesn't really matter which day. I felt a little enlightened at that point. But really, what happens after death? I asked myself. Well, it's kind of endless possibilities, a little vague there. Ah, I said, I know what's happened. Poof! And God was letting me experience something firsthand. Probably got tired of me begging him all the time. But he let me experience the loss of a life-giving miracle.

And it has been profound in my life to experience that, just to have it removed. While you're thinking about trying to have the right words and the right debate and all that, just have it all gone and realize it's gone. And then start testing yourself. I remember looking out over the city from our house, what I could see and thinking, yeah, it's all pretty harmonious out there, you know. I just kind of feel fine with everything and everyone. Thought about the various religions and the various traditions.

Can't believe how just easy and unified and just fine it all felt. Ha! So I realized that God had pulled his spirit. And I felt the carnal mind relish its self-ignorance. So he didn't know any better, so it felt good. And whatever you thought about was fine. But I knew that the truth would never dawn on me again. You know what? In this state, I will never know the truth again. I won't have the miracle, you see. I'll never know the spiritual dimension, and I won't know that I won't.

Just in myself, ignorance, I'll think I'm complete. I knew I felt enlightened, but I also knew that I'd actually been darkened. The lights didn't go on. They went out. I was blind, and I knew it. And you talk about feeling alone at that point in time. I felt like a boat in the middle of an ocean without any oars just left to your own devices. But I got the point that God wanted me to get, and that was that, you know, John Elliott, all this understanding and all this knowledge and all this truth and all this wisdom that you have, it's not part of you.

And if that miracle disappears, it's gone. Poof! Just like that. Just like the other people that had popped like popcorn, and it was gone. It wasn't a matter of arguing it. It wasn't a matter of trying to use the right terms or the right scriptures. It wasn't a matter of how long you'd been in the church. It didn't matter at all.

There was a miracle taking place, and that miracle was merely on loan from God. And if somebody doesn't have that living miracle in them, there's no point talking about it. No point arguing about it. I'd say I probably had pestered God too much, because it can't be argued. It is a living miracle. I also knew the consequences of continuing out without the Holy Spirit. Let's go to Hebrews 6, verse 4. That popped into mind very rapidly. Hebrews 6, verses 4-6.

It says, For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come. All gift.

Verse 6, If they fall away, it says, It is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to open shame.

You don't receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then reject it. You don't walk away, you don't fall away, you don't disregard it, and then wake up again. Because, as the Scripture just said, who's going to bring it back? It's impossible. If the miracle doesn't come in, you'll never know. You'll think you're all right. Now, I hadn't chosen to fall away.

And so another Scripture came to mind, and that was that Jacob wrestled with God. And I dropped to my knees, and I told God, I want it back. And I'm not going to let you go. I'm not getting up. There's no reason to get up. There's no reason to live, unless you can give me your Holy Spirit back. I see what you're trying to show me. I appreciate now that it's a miracle. I appreciate all this wasted energy trying to fight against individuals, or fight against concepts that cannot be understood and cannot be changed unless you do it. Forgive me of that lack of understanding, and give me your Spirit back. And I wouldn't get up.

And, of course, he gave it back. And all the spiritual reasoning returned. But what a powerful lesson that God needed me to understand in that whole area that I was. There were no faithful ministers, and 1,600 members that were just floating around, as it were, because of the lack of truth. And a powerful message needed to get through to me as to what the score was.

And it was very powerful. I discovered that Jesus Christ is the truth, not me. I get to know it, and you get to know it, because it's a gift. He lives in us. He is the truth, and he's the way. We know the truth. You know the truth, but that's not you, and that's not me. Turned out, I was a little surprised by that. The truth is Jesus Christ, and he needs to live in you and me, and the Father by the Spirit. They are a living miracle, and you don't want them to leave. You really don't want them to leave. You don't want them to pull the Spirit in man and end up like Nebuchadnezzar eating grass. You don't want them to pull the Holy Spirit and end up like society that is darkened and without it. You want them to stay. David prayed in Psalm 51, verses 11 and 12, Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

You and I would be nothing if God and Jesus Christ simply withdrew. Simply just pulled out.

Believe me, I was there for a few seconds. Just a few seconds. Just enough to get my little feet and toes in the water for a second, and then beg to get out of there.

Restore to me, verse 12, the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your generous spirit, the helping, generous spirit.

Let's take a moment and ask what the tree of life was about, is about, will be about, however you want to term it.

What was this tree about, anyway? Let's go back to Genesis 2, verses 8-9. Genesis 2, verse 8. Many people look back and say, Oh, if Adam and Eve had just eaten of the tree of life, we wouldn't have this problem. We wouldn't have sin.

You've always looked back and wished things weren't the way they were. But let's just look here. In Genesis 2, verse 8-9, The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, created man somewhere else, created this garden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to sight and good for food. Notice for food. Food is nourishment.

Food is like bread. It gives you certain nourishing ingredients.

So the tree of life, which produces nourishment, was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, not a lot said about the tree of life here, is it? Just said it. Tree of life is there. Did you read anything about fruit?

Anything about anything about it at all? It just said the tree of life was there. Yeah. The name implies, though, spiritual nourishment. It's the tree of life, something nourishing that gives and perpetuates life. It represented, I believe, God's Holy Spirit. In other words, it represented God. God giving us the spiritual nourishment by living in man, bringing us towards eternal life. Mankind at that time didn't receive it, didn't want it.

Humanity has never had it as a whole. And so now we come down and there are some who are beginning to or have begun to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. In other words, it's a tree that provides nourishment. One represented God in God's mentality, the other represented Satan in his mentality. So which nourishment do we as humans partake of? All our life we've partaken of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That's Satan's mind. But now we're beginning to get some other nourishment available. Let's notice how Jesus Christ represents the same concept in John 6, in verse 51. John 6, verse 51.

I am the living bread. I am the spiritual nourishment. You talk about a tree of life. Now he's saying I'm the living nourishment, the bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this spiritual nourishment, he will live forever. Now don't you associate that with a tree of life? You know, if they'd taken the tree of life, they would have lived forever. Well, not as humans they wouldn't have. The concept was that if they sinned by eating the wrong tree, they would die. All humans it's given wants to die. But after that, the judgment. There's a resurrection. If you eat from the tree of life, if you and I eat of Jesus Christ, notice what he's saying here. You will live forever. In the human form? No! It's still given to man wants to die. But you will live forever after the judgment, after the resurrection. We're being judged now, but after your resurrection you will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Jesus then becomes in us. Somehow he's got to get into us. He calls us his flesh. We have to eat his flesh. Somehow we've got to get him into us. How does that happen? Through the Holy Spirit, through this miracle, he becomes our living nourishment, he and the Father. Let's go back to the last place the tree of life is mentioned, and that's in Revelation 22, verses 1 through 5. Revelation 22 and verse 1. Continuing on in this nourishment concept, we find out that the tree of life continues to be God and Jesus Christ. This is symbolic, this passage. It's in a vision. And he showed me a pure river of water of life. So we see the Holy Spirit, that coming from the throne of God, that coming from Jesus Christ and the Father representing life. Clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. Verse 2, in the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life. Hmm. Which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the harmonizing of the ethnos. Hmm. Your Bible says it's for, right, bringing peace to the countries, to the nations. Let's look a little more carefully here. The word for peace is harmony, or harmonizing. This is for the harmonizing. Notice it's not the nations, it's the ethnos. That's the Greek word for the race or the tribe. A race or a tribe. These are the people of God. The tree of life, the Spirit of God that comes from the throne, is for the harmonizing of the family of God. As they said, they are of one mind, they are of one thought, that they are unity and unified. Like John 17 talks about Jesus saying, the Father and I are unified, I and me, and us and them, and they and us. That's how the harmonizing takes place. It's through the mind, it's through the Spirit of God, and that will continue forever.

We will always be fed, just as Jesus on earth continued to be fed that life mindset of God. Without it, He could do nothing, He said. The Holy Spirit and all spiritual talents come from God. They always will. This passage just shows that it's all coming from the Father.

It's a wonderful thing that God is doing. It's a blessing. It's a gift. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 20. Where is the wise? Okay, I thought I was wise once. I found out. Where is the scribe? Where's the one who knows how to write the Bible out? You know, he knows what's in there. Where is the disputing of this age? Or as it says in the margin, the debater? Where's the one that's got all the right words and can really debate?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The only real things come from God. Dropping down to verse 26 through 31, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty. It's not me and it's not you and it hasn't become me or you. It's a living miracle. Why? In the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. Verse 29, That no flesh should glory in his presence. It's not me, it's not you, it's God. And we have to give him the absolute glory for the fact that we can even think and reason, for all the talents that we have. We have to give him the glory and the appreciation and the worship for the spiritual understanding that we have of what goes on and what's real in the dimension in which he lives, that dimension in which he is promising to you and me in his kingdom. He receives all the glory. But of him you are in Christ Jesus. He, Jesus Christ, became for us wisdom from God and he became righteousness and he became sanctification and he became redemption that as it is written, he who glories let him glory in the Lord. Now with this background, Jesus Christ explains how everything works together for good to those who are called according to God's purpose and who love him. Let's conclude by looking at John chapter 17. John chapter 17 is a chapter where Christ puts all of this together.

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that your son may also glorify you. And as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. There's a calling that comes from God and that's a gift.

And this verse 3 is eternal life that they may know you. The only way we can do that is by God giving us his Holy Spirit, living in us, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you've given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Take me back from this physical form up to the spiritual world.

I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me and they have kept your word. It's a calling from God and these individuals have been trusted and trustworthy with that calling. Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you. For I have given to them the words which you have given me and they have received them and they have known surely that I have come forth from you and they have believed that you sent me. And I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for these whom you have given me for they are yours. We're in a special category, a special focus, a special spot in the apple of God's eye if we have been given that gift at this time.

All are mine, are yours, and yours are mine and I am glorified in them. He is glorified because he is our source of life, he is our source of thought, he is our source of inspiration and knowledge. Now I am no longer in the world but these are in the world and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are. That unity, that oneness is called harmony. Harmony. One. While I was with them, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition. But now I come to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word. The world has hated them because they are not of the world because they are not of the world. We're not to be of the world. Just as Jesus said, I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these disciples, the 120-some disciples that were there alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. And here we are, 2,000 years later almost, believing through the word that was written here. That they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. That they also may be one in us because of the Holy Spirit in which we have that mind of Christ available to us to grow in. And the glory which you have given me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. We're going to be elevated up to the family of God and be fully in that family. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. That is the goal here of those who will use that spirit and grow and develop the harmony with God. He wants us to be with him that they may behold my glory which you have given me. It says in 1 Corinthians 15 that we shall be like he is. Beholding his glory would also mean having glory.

For you love me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. And I have declared to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them.

The Father and Jesus Christ are in you through the Holy Spirit. You are full of talent and ability. If baptized, you have God's Holy Spirit, and that adds spiritual abilities and wisdom, helps you to grow in godliness. You have talent on loan from God. Now, what will you do with it? What am I doing with it? We'll discuss that next time in Talent on Loan from God Part 3, Using God's Gifts in You.