Talent on Loan From God, Part 3

In the last two messages on this theme, we've examined the spirit in man and God's Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11, it says, "...for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man that is in him?" That's a living miracle that takes place with our brain that makes us human.

It gives us amazing, in fact, miraculous talents. The Greek word for spirit is pneuma, and it is defined as wind. You know, wind is very powerful. Wind can rip things apart, tear things apart, airplanes can fly on wind, and yet no one can see the wind. No one can see air. You can only see what it does. And same with the spirit. You never see the spirit. Man can't detect it. Science can't find it. But you see the powerful effects of it.

Continuing in verse 11, "...even so, no one knows the things of God." Why don't we know the things of God? Because God is not in our dimension. He doesn't live in the physical world. He lives in a spiritual dimension. And that spiritual dimension is undiscernable by anything in the physical realm. Nothing physical has a clue that God exists. No animals, no plants. People can experience and understand that God exists by the fact that God has put a spirit in us that allows contact with Him. There's a lot of confusion about God and about the spirit world. A lot of things get invented. A lot of stories get raised.

Religions invent all kinds of things about what takes place in that other dimension. And yet, it says right here that no man knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Without that, you don't truly know the things of God. Now, verse 12, Now we have received... We don't own this. It's not ours. We have received not the spirit of the world. Uh-oh! There's a third spirit mentioned here. There's a spirit of Satan's society, Paul is saying.

The spirit of the cosmos. We have not received that type of spirit. But the spirit which is from God, notice that we, we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Not given to everybody. And not owned by everybody, but given. These are gifts that come from God. Spirits are unknown by society, which has the spirit of this world, as Paul just said. They don't see the wind. They don't see the spirit. But they sure feel the effects of it. As the spirit in man blows through humanity, you see the hurricane effects that are driving this world to the brink of extinction.

It's a very strong power that we have as humans. Without the spirit of God, we are left merely to the tragic hurricane effects that impact lives. We, in contrast, have been given a direct relationship across dimensions, across dimensions, through the wall, as it were, of the physical world into the spirit world. We have a link with an invisible Father. I don't know how many times you think about it. When I was praying this morning, I was thinking, I've never seen you.

I'm praying to somebody I've never seen, who's never spoken to me, so that my ears can hear. Yet I absolutely know and believe and trust and relate across this divide between a spirit world and a physical composed world. And the same with you. It is awesome. It is incredible. It is unthinkable. But it is true. Let's look in 1 John 4, verse 12. If we have the faith of Christ, we have the absolute trust in God, then we know that His word is true. And it says here, no one has seen God at any time.

That's the way we are. Nobody has seen God. And it's set up to where, without God's Spirit, without that faith that comes by having that spirit in us, there just is no way that we can have a relationship with one we cannot see. But notice, if we love one another, God lives in us. He abides in us. And His love is being perfected in us.

And by this we know that we abide in Him. We live across that boundary, as it were, in a relationship with somebody in a different dimension. And He in us, He lives across that boundary in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. This is talent on loan from God, the power of God's Holy Spirit. The question I have for you today is, if you have the gift of God's Holy Spirit, what are you doing with it?

Maybe even a better question is, what should you be doing with it? Those of us who have been given repentance as a gift, given baptism as a gift, given the forgiveness of all of our sins through the blood of Christ and His sacrifice as a gift, and then given the Holy Spirit, which is God living in us as a gift, we have been given something that is unusual. It is extremely unusual, because most humans don't have it.

So what should you and I do with it? Well, I'll tell you. There's no big secret as to what we're going to go through today. What we should do with it is this. Okay? End of sermon. Walk off. Read your Bible. And do it. I'm not going to try to stand up here today and tell you in this sermon entitled, Talent on Loan from God Part 3, using God's gifts in you. Using God's... I'm not going to try to describe how to use God's gifts in you. Rather, I'm going to give you six points, six unique points, to consider in using the special Holy Spirit talent that God is loaning you, He is giving you.

The Bible you can read. You can read it. You can study it. It's a good thing to do. As far as God's Spirit goes, this much of the Bible defines a time when people didn't have God's Spirit. There's two notable individuals in the Old Testament. One is Abraham, who the Bible says will be right under Jesus Christ during the coming Kingdom. And the other is David, who will be under him over the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, those are two notable people from the Old Testament period that had God's Holy Spirit.

You know, Jesus Christ came to this earth and the whole Gospel accounts, the first four books of the Bible, were given at a time when nobody had God's Holy Spirit. It wasn't until you get here to Acts, if you take out the Concordance at the end, you know, you have this much of Scripture that is written during the time when the Holy Spirit was given to people in the Church.

And it's chock-full of information as to how to use that Holy Spirit. Now, the other part of the Bible is valuable and good material, if you have God's Holy Spirit. But we're talking about a small amount of pages that was written during the time that God's Holy Spirit was given. And so that portion of the Bible is rich with direction, encouraging us what to do with that. But today I'd like to give you six points, unique points, hopefully, that will stimulate you into using God's gifts in you. And the first one is to respect and honor the gift.

If there's one thing I think that God is trying to encourage me and for me to share with you, is how we should honor and respect the fact that the miracle of the Spirit and man is taking place in us and not neglect that, not take that for granted like Nebuchadnezzar and most of us humans do and just assume, well, that's just part of us. But rather, that's something that when we die returns to God.

The second thing is God's Holy Spirit is really a unique gift that only a few have. Jesus said, seeing they may not see, hearing they may not hear. But to you has been given the ability to see and to hear. We need to really appreciate and respect that. It's a big deal in the spiritual dimension in what is called heaven that you have this Holy Spirit connection.

It is unique in all the universe. You ever think for a minute that the angels don't have God's Holy Spirit? The angels are beings in the spirit world and they work for God. But it doesn't say that the angels have the Holy Spirit and a third of them obviously don't. They went off with Satan. They have their place. They have their function. But actually to have God living inside you that is unique in anywhere in the spirit or the physical world.

And only a few have it. Very, very few have it. Let's go to 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. And notice something interesting about this gift that you, maybe one of very few, have ever experienced it. 1 Peter 1 and verse 12.

Breaking into the verse, it says, to us they, it's referring to the prophets in the context. It's talking about the prophets. To us the prophets were ministering the things which have now been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It's not indigenous into the apostles. It's not indigenous into me or into you. This gospel is coming miraculously from heaven, from that spirit dimension, into you via the Holy Spirit.

Now notice, things which angels desire to look into, but cannot. The angels would like to look into some of the things that are planned for you. The angels would like to understand, well, what is this, that these human beings over here, and these little ants, as it were, in comparison to God, these little low-intelligent, fragile life forms, have God living in them, and what are they up to?

And what is the promise? What is this about? He says the angels desire to look into this, but by inference, cannot. You take for granted the gift of the Holy Spirit? I have. It is precious. It is an incredible opportunity. Every being has its role. The angels have theirs. They are called ministering spirits, or serving spirits. They are performing a function for God the Father and Jesus Christ as they work with those who God wants to bring his children into his family.

He is not bringing angels as children is to his family. And so these are ministering spirits to lower life forms. We are lower than the angels at this point. They have their role, and it is a wonderful role. But God living in you, and your role, your opportunity now, is very precious and very unique. What do you think of that? How many times do we as humans say, Well, I am going on with my life, and oh yeah, I need to pray.

We kind of take some things for granted. It is just human to take things for granted. Even wonderful things you can take for granted. Some people who become rich and famous, they have so much that they begin to take for granted, and they treat what they have as nothing, and they don't appreciate it. Where somebody else, like an angel looking in, says, Wow, what an opportunity. Or Jesus Christ, who has been the one to develop every atom, every element, every cell that exists, and then to come and live his life, give himself for it, and he has given you and me this opportunity. He thinks it is pretty special.

How do you feel about it? The answer to that question is very much on his mind. If we look in Luke 19, verses 15-16, we'll see that it is very much on his mind as to what we do with this unique opportunity, this privilege of a lifetime. The story here is about himself. He is telling a story in a third-person analogy. The story was that he was here, and he has given something to us. He has given us his Holy Spirit, and the Father has.

And now he has returned to heaven for a time. In chapter 19, verse 15, And when he had received his kingdom and had returned, then it happened that he commanded these servants to be called to him. We are all going to have to give account, it says, the ones whom he had given the silver, which is symbolic here of the Holy Spirit, something precious. Notice that they didn't earn it. They didn't work for it.

They just were each given a mina of silver. Here is a lump of silver. Here is some money. Go do something with it. Now, when you get something that is free, what do you do with it? Well, you think, well, I got it. It's free. And sometimes it doesn't mean much to you because it was free. You didn't have to work for it. Sometimes it's like, wow, I would have never had this on my own. This is really an opportunity. It can go either way. And so he commanded them to come, and he wanted to know what he should gain by trading.

Verse 16, And the first came saying, Lord, your mina has gained ten minas. I've gotten ten times what you gave me. This is really, really great. And he said to him, Well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in a least thing, now think about it. Was this guy really doing much? He didn't work for the silver, did he? It was given to him free of charge. He didn't really go out and sweat with it so much. He just had to invest it. He had to trade it. He maybe had to walk around town and move it through the various businesses and be careful with it, going along with the other parts of his life.

But he got ten times out of it. And so Jesus said, Well, you've been faithful in a least thing. You didn't really have your life on the line here. I did. You have authority over ten cities. So underneath Abraham, you have various nations, and the twelve tribes David will be over. The apostles, the Bible says, will be each over one of the twelve tribes. Now Jesus is assigning cities. People who are over cities. And he says, you be over ten cities.

And the second came and said, Lord, your mena has made five menas. He said to him, you be over five cities. And another one came and said, Lord, here's your mena. I kept it in a handkerchief. You know? I don't know much about silver coins. Silver is not my thing. You know, I'm more into figs. I'm more into, I don't know, boating or something. Fishing. And I kept it in a handkerchief.

I kept it clean. I kept it just the way you gave it to me. Verse 24, And he said to those who stood by, Take the mena from it, and give it to him who has ten menas, the one who really appreciates this. Verse 26, For I say to you that to everyone who has, more will be given. If you like God's Spirit, if you like developing God's nature, if you like the relationship, if you're sighted about it, and you're growing, to whom who has will be given more.

Because you really appreciate it. And all that God has put into it, and from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken from him. In other words, we're not going to be given eternal life, if we don't appreciate this opportunity. The point is that God has gone to extreme lengths, just to be able to give you his Holy Spirit. Just to be able to come and say, Your mind, I'm going to live in you, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you.

What do you want to do with it? Use it, or lose you are the stakes. And that's really what it is. So the first point is, give some time, pray fast, think about this gift. Come to really appreciate and respect it. The second point is, know the spirits. Know the spirits. We've talked about spirits. We are each responsible to know them. And to mitigate or moderate the effect that they have on us.

There are two trees. Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to choose from either one. They were responsible to make a choice. One represented God's Holy Spirit, the other represented Satan's Spirit. One looked real attractive, and the other not so much. We've been taught about these spirits. We've been offered them, continually offered them. It's up to us to know them.

There are two natures, there are two mindsets, there are two influences. And you can't just say, well, they're invisible. It's like the wind. Come on. I don't have any responsibility here for my actions, for my decisions. Well, actually, you do, and I do. We must know the spirits, and we must be responsible, even to test these spirits. 1 John 4, verse 1, contains an interesting statement that really puts the responsibility on your shoulders and mind to test the spirits.

Just say, oh, well, it seems like this would be the right way, the way that seems right to a man, it's going to end in death. But this other one, that doesn't make any sense to me at all. It doesn't look like it's going to work out. Well, we have to test them. In 1 John 4, verse 1, it says, Beloved. It's talking here to people in the church, people who have God's Spirit.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God. The word in English here, test, is dokimazo from the Greek. It means to examine or scrutinize whether a thing is genuine or not. You have to really scrutinize it to see if it's the real thing, if it's genuine, if it's what it's selling itself as.

We have a responsibility to choose the right mindset, to test the right spirit. I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute. But, point number 2 is very important. Know the spirits. Know them. Know when a thought comes to mind, an action, a decision is ready to be made, and you'll have two choices come to your mind. One's going to look really, really good. It's going to sound really, really right. It's going to resonate and be the perfect match. And the other's going to be sacrificial, problematic. It's going to be an intrusion, and it's not going to work out for the things that you would like.

Now, which of those two are you going to choose? That's the question. You're responsible to know what those spirits are. The first spirit is the Holy Spirit of God and Jesus Christ. In 1 John 4 and verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.

That's where love comes from. That's where sacrificing, thinking of others, putting yourself second, being interrupted, being in convenience, that's where it comes from. God has interrupted his whole life. He's interrupted all of the things he's owned and been able to make, and he's created this temporary physical world, and he's struggled with all of humanity, and cost him his life.

That is love. Everyone who loves, it says, has been born, but you can cross that word out. It's not born, but rather engendered from above, by God and knows God. This person has been engendered by God, from God, by God, and knows God. How do we know God? How can a person know God? If I told you that in Australia right now, there's a church member about that high, and it's about your age, and you've never met them, and they're in the church.

Do you think you know that person? Let's just call the person, I'll just make up a name. Sally. You think you know Sally? I bet you do. I bet you know all about Sally. I bet you know that she struggles for getting the Sabbath off, that she has a struggle with self-centeredness and putting sin out of her life. She has issues with submission and issues with really putting God first and other people first.

You probably know that she loves the Sabbath, and she has a little trouble when the Sabbath gets here in switching over to thinking and speaking about the things that pertain to the Sabbath and switching off what she was doing during the week. But she would give her life for what she believes, and she really looks forward to the kingdom as the solving of all of her problems and all of humanity's problems.

And we could go on and on and on for a week about our friend Sally, couldn't we? Because we know her very well. So when it says here that those who are loving and have been engendered from above know God, now let's just think for a minute. It said we have never seen God, kind of like Sally, huh? Do you know God? Yeah, you probably do. You have God living in you, number one. You have His nature pushing you and trying to get you to respond as He does. You have His kingdom. He's your father. He's your older brother. You have all these relationships with God. You know God only if you think like God, just like Sally, only if you're on the same page.

But those who say, Oh yeah, I love the Lord, but I don't think like Him. I'm self-driven, self-centered. I don't keep any of His laws, commandments. You know, I've got my own invention about who He is, what He's doing, and what the future is. Does that individual know God? Certainly not. Certainly not.

So God is love, and therefore His Spirit is love-promoting. So when we think about Spirit number one, the Holy Spirit of God, it is love-promoting. It says in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love. Power to love. Power and love is what God's Spirit is.

And it says of a sound mind, forget that. Sound mind, not in the Bible, sorry. Look up the Greek word. Of self-control and moderation. You know the fruits of the Spirit? Love, and it ends in self-control. Moderation. These are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. And they're very powerful. So what do you think the fruits in your life of having God living in you should be? Well, they should be those of loving, serving, sacrificing, giving. It's love and joy and harmony. And self-control. Now there's a second spirit. And that's another one we have to be aware of. You can't just say, Oh, I don't want to hear about the double. No, no, no. Oh, yes you do. You need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And there's a serpent out there that you need to be wise about.

He is self-promoting. He promotes himself to the exclusion of anybody else, including all of those in his realm. He's promoting himself to the detriment of humans, even though he passes himself off as a friend. You know, kind of a helper guy. Like he talked to Eve. But he's trying to kill us. He doesn't want any competition. He certainly doesn't want more beings in the God family when he's trying to promote himself. It's devoid of putting God first, devoid of putting neighbor or others above self. There are many scriptures in the Bible that talk about his mindset. But it feels good because we grew up and we accepted that mindset and we became comfortable with self. And, yep, the bigger pile of toys is better than no toys. So I'll make sure I have all the toys. And it kind of goes that way. You know, focusing on me and a lot of people, attention on me, yeah, that is working. That's good. Money, you know, out of your bank accounts and to mine? Yes, sir. This is good. And so it is with humans. So there's two rules for testing the spirits that are very, very obvious. It's not rocket science at all. But the two rules are generally this. If it enhances the self, in other words, if it's better for me, it's bad. And that trips up a lot of people. It trips up most people. If it's better for me, it's bad. If it enhances God or neighbor, in other words, if it's better for them, it's good. So it's sort of the opposite. I was talking to somebody on the phone this last week, and the person was sort of pouring out this thing and said, you know what, this thing came to mind. Oh, it was perfect. It was a great fit. It felt good. It was going to be just right. It was really going to work out in my life. So I knew it was wrong. I just had a laugh. I said, you know, we all experience this, don't we? It just, after a while, you begin to test the spirits and you know if it looks right, sounds right, and feels right, there's something wrong with that one. We must test the spirits wisely, and we are responsible, because evil spirits promote evil deeds, and loving spirit promotes loving deeds. So if it feels good and right, it's going to be probably of an evil spirit.

And if it feels sacrificial, oh no, that would really be inconvenient, then that's of a good spirit. I think as we grow, as we grow in time, we would begin to reach a more mature place to where things that are sacrificial actually would begin to feel good. And they would begin to come into mind and say, yeah, that's the right thing to do, because we would yearn to love others in front of or ahead of ourselves. And so there's a maturing concept there of testing the spirits. The third point is we need to repent of a wrong spirit, a wrong nature, of a wrong mindset. Don't just feel this aesthetic, yep, not God's spirit, I'm done. No. We constantly have to repent. Jesus built that into the prayer outline that He has us pray every day, not the outline, but the prayer that goes along with it. And that is, forgive us daily, you know, help us daily. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. We need to be repenting and looking for the wrong mindset that's in us.

And striving to push it out and bring God's mindset in. You know, babies are not born with the wrong mindset. They're sort of born neutral. And they don't have any real reason to acquire a sacrificial mindset. They learn pretty fast that, you know, the more I get things going my way, the better off as a baby I seem to be. And some of us are just old babies. You know, we get that routine going, we perfect a little bit in teenage, we sharpen it up when we start into our career, we mature in it as we get to be senior, you know, something in our companies or whatever. And, you know, we really are sharp at the end of our life. We can roll around with a lot of, you know, status and a lot of goods. We can have charities and foundations named after us. After our greedy pile of junk that we've piled up, ripping off everybody else's piles and stash and retirement program, we just look so good and wise. So we started as a baby and some of us as humans, we just get better at being selfish than others. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Not with God's children. Let's notice in Romans 6, I'll just notice Romans 2.4 says, the goodness of God leads you to repentance. So we need to be repenting. Let's go to Romans 6, verse 8. This whole chapter of Romans 6 is about those who are linked to God via the Holy Spirit through repentance and baptism. And now what we should be doing in verse 8, now if we died with Christ, this is baptism. We died to our old self through the blood of Christ we are forgiven of our sins. We believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over Him. He's living in this new spiritual world. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Now there's a parallel here. He's trying to show us something. Christ never sinned, but He had all the sins of humanity and He died to those sins. And now He lives for God. Verse 11, likewise, you also, kind of like He did in a parallel way, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God and Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey in its lust. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God like He presents Himself to God. You present yourself to God as being alive from this old, dead, self-serving individual and your members as instruments of righteousness. What is righteousness? Loving others. So we are to use God's Spirit, repent of selfishness, and use our God-given talent to love others.

Verse 22, now having been set free from slavery to sin, and having become slaves of God, you have the results, the fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. This is the direction God will take us if we really let that Spirit develop the works of love in us.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, again, eternal life is the last gift in the chain. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you see the power of the Helper? Do you see the power of God's Holy Spirit? It moves us through all of that and makes the changes to the point where God is satisfied in our direction and our compulsion to be like Him, and He will bring us into His family. It is powerful. It's a huge transition. It's a global transition inside all of our mind. Our whole mind becomes not slave to selfishness anymore, but a slave to holiness, to righteousness, to thinking like God does. This is a powerful, powerful thing that's working inside if we allow it to. Let's go to 1 Peter 1, verse 22. This is an important passage to those who have repented, been baptized, received the Holy Spirit, and are working towards being like God. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Since you have purified your lives in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. See where this takes us. It's not a big mystery as to what the Spirit is supposed to do in us. It's to motivate us through repentance into sincere love that is fervent from a mind that is cleansed, that's purified. It has God's nature in it. So be sure to repent of that wrong nature every day and fight for the new one, the good one, the right one. The fourth point is stir up God's Spirit. You can stir up orange juice and you get the pulp off the bottom. Sometimes you might have coffee. You put the instant coffee in the bottom and you pour in the water. Is it ready to drink? Well, you might make tea and you put honey in the bottom. Is that ready to go? You might get a surprise with that last sip. And so it is, if you have something, yes, I have God's Spirit, but it's sort of considered to be part of me, things settle out. It says in 2 Timothy 1, verses 6-14, Paul is telling Timothy the evangelist, not just the church member who's gone to sleep, he's telling Timothy the evangelist, his young minister. He begins here in verse 14, Therefore I remind you, this is something you have to be reminded of from time to time, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you. Stir it up. Don't just live a static kind of a life. Yeah, I'm in the church. Yeah, I've got God's Spirit. Yeah, I'm going through life. Yeah, I'm drinking coffee. Yeah, waiting for the kingdom. Get in there and make things happen with this wind, this hurricane of love that comes from God. Stir it up. Verse 7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. This is powerful stuff. You need to put a hurricane in your coffee mug and get that stuff fully working on all levels. The same with our mind. Verse 13, Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you've heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, the trust of God and the love, the serving, the sacrificing for others. Verse 14, That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us. Don't be thinking, I have the Holy Spirit like the handkerchief man. I have it. It's in the pocket somewhere.

No. Pray. Fast. Fasting is good. Don't fast for other people. Don't fast for events. Don't fast to change the world. Fast to change what's between your ears. And sometimes if you don't know if there's anything that needs to be changing, things are probably settling out in there. I know it happens in me. Sometimes I think, well, life's going good. I'd better fast.

Because, you know, it's kind of settling out. I need a hurricane up there. I need to get down and fast and say, what am I doing, God, that is not right?

Show me something. Show me. And by the end of the fast, God will. If you're really serious about it, God will show you something that you can get up from and that you can go and say, yes!

You know, it's working again. And here I'm going to go make some changes.

Desire what it says in Matthew 5, 48. Be you therefore like your Father in heaven is. Do you want to be like God? If so, stir up God's Spirit in you. If you don't, just let it settle out. It'll get taken. And that'll be the end of you. That's kind of the reality.

Point 5. The Holy Spirit was given to you so that you could help others. The Holy Spirit wasn't given to enrich your life. It wasn't to make you smarter. It wasn't to make you more intelligent, more dear to God. It wasn't to give you all kinds of knowledge and prophecy and better understanding. It was given to you as a helper to help others. Oh no, Mr. Eliot. Actually, the Holy Spirit was given to enlighten me, to increase my understanding, to understand God's way, to overcome those nasty sins I got rid of years ago. To know the prophecies, to obey God, not to serve others. That's for people like servants who would wash people's feet, or serve them, or heal them, or feed them fish, or whatever. But I have the Spirit to enrich me. Really? Is that God's way? What is sin anyway? Sin is the transgression of God's law, and God's law is defined as, Love God with all your heart, soul, and might love your neighbor as yourself. So have you overcome? Have you overcome your sins? I haven't. I sin every time I think selfishly. Every time I put myself before God or before my fellow man. And that happens all the time I'm finding. So don't give me, I say to my husband, don't give me the stuff that I've overcome. I've gotten rid of sin because I don't eat pork. I don't work on Saturdays. Therefore, no, no, no, no, no. Here's a serious question for some. Are you soaking up Bible study these days? Are you really enjoying listening to sermons on tape or on line? Are you really getting into some of the doctrines that are deep and enriching? Have you been feeding on sermons and articles and papers? Have you been filling up with the best, prophetical understanding? Are you really getting out there and knowing what's going to happen that's coming along?

Has attending a church or a group or coming hearing some maybe boring minister like me become less important to you? Are you finding that tapes and Bible study and prayer and downloads are really filling and enriching your life? If so, let me just say this. The Bible says that emphatically you will not be in the kingdom of God. What? No, it does. The Bible and Jesus and the apostles all say, if that is where you are, you will not be in the kingdom of God if that is totally where you are.

And people slip into that. Don't tune out just yet. Listen up, because it says in Romans 2 and verse 13, it's the doers of the Word that will be justified, not the hearers only. You don't just sit around and get all full of God's Word and read the Bible all day long and hear all the prophecies and all the sermons and do the study papers and, you know, huddle into your little world and get all enriched and go out and sample even more and have itching years for more and more knowledge. No. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 2, if I have all knowledge and have not love, the prophets mean nothing. Those things can make a person feel really good. They are interesting. And yet, James chapter 1, let's read verses 22 and 27. James, who was very emphatic that people needed to get back to the truth and not get lost in some world of theology and theological thinking and understanding and some, you know, passions that were beyond the truth that God had said. Notice what he says here. James 1, 22. But be doers of the Word. What did Jesus say the Word was? Love God with all your heart, soul, and might. Love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, passionately. Be doers of the Word. You love and serve and not hearers only. Deceiving yourselves. But you see, if we hearers, who are ever studying and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Most people think the truth is, oh, it's the Holy Days and the Sabbath and it's the Kingdom and you know, it's prophecy and all that. No. The way the truth and the life included those things. But he is love. God is defined as the action of love.

And part of loving God is those other things. But if we only know and don't do, we're deceiving ourselves. That's what he's saying here. Verse 27. As an example, as one example. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. To visit. To get up off your duff. Put your Bible down. Close it. Get off the Internet and go do it. Is to go and visit the orphans and widows in their trouble. In their trouble. It's more than just, oh, I'm here today and I've got an arrow. It's to know what the trouble is. It's to help people who have trouble. It doesn't end with widows and orphans, but those are individuals who have lost their main person. And they've lost the man or the woman in their life. The mother or the father in their life. And they have needs. Not just emotional needs. They have needs. In Matthew 25. We'll talk about this quite a bit. But in Matthew 25, Christ comes back. Here's how I'm going to judge you. The sheep and the goats. Those who really give and serve. Find out what others need. Food, clothing, various things. Even travelers and their needs. These I'm able to use in my family. Because these are those who are loving their sacrifices and their lives. The other ones who don't seem to know about that stuff. Now he says, you can go into everlasting punishment. Death. Attending church is crucial. You cannot love and serve those you are not with. And the Sabbath is a commanded assembly. A holy convocation. It's not a holy, let's go off by myself and read the Bible. Let's go off and have a spiritual fest for me. No, it is a holy convocation. It says in Ephesians 4 and verse 16.

Referring to the body of Christ and the ministry in the church are given for the teaching from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. It's possible to do that without being in services.

Now some people can't come to services every week. Does that mean it's possible for them? Well, they're going to have to find some unique ways, aren't they? If you can't be with people and you can't be in the holy assembly, you're going to have to really make some Herculean efforts to try to catch up. And we have attempted to provide material that can be studied at home or various live links or sermons or articles and things like that, but they do not take the place and never will take the place of actively loving your neighbor, loving especially the household of faith. So that's a responsibility that each of us have to work on.

But let me just say this. The next time some preacher makes you feel knowledgeable, special, enlightened in some way, that you and they have some unique relationship, kind of sequestered off. You're the special little ones, or you've got the special leader, or you've got just the right insight or government or true identi- or the divine enlightened doctrine or whatever it is. Realize that as good and wonderful as that feels, it's from a wrong spirit. This is not the spirit of love and serve and sacrifice.

This is the spirit of what Adam- I'm sorry, what Satan told Eve, after you eat this fruit, you'll be enlightened. You'll be as God's knowing good and evil as it is going to feel really good. It's subtle, isn't it? It's really subtle. The sheep's clothing, all the truth, is actually about a wolf trying to get individuals to quit loving.

They're going to die. They're going to die eternally because Jesus Christ will not accept one who does not actively love and serve and be involved in the lives of others. And I'm concerned about that. And the fruit of that is that your love waxes cold. Love is from God, and His Holy Spirit will not encourage a person to pull inward to focus on the advancing of oneself. And it becomes about my salvation, about Jesus and me and my salvation. What am I going to do in the kingdom? Rather, it's going to be about sacrificing for others and loving others. The effect of God's Holy Spirit is a helper of others.

And if God's Spirit is flowing in and out of you, it is going to help others. It's not going to stop in you. He's not helping you to expand. He's helping you to be empowered with His nature of serving and sacrificing for others so that you can be and act and think like the family of God. That's what they do. The helper is paracletos, or paracleo, and God becomes our helper of helping others via the Holy Spirit. What do you think He wants us to do with this helper?

1 Thessalonians 5 and 11 tell us, now that we have this power, we have this spirit, what's it for? Self-enrichment. I've already spoken about that. I'm going to say that tongue-in-cheek. Let's look here in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 11. I told you last time that the Holy Spirit, the helper, sometimes is translated, or the paracletos, paracleo, Greek words, sometimes are translated comforter, a comfort, things like that. But this is what the Holy Spirit is.

It's our helper, as Jesus said in John 14, 15, 16. He will come back and be our helper. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 11, Therefore, you comfort, paracleo, the same word that's used for the power of the Holy Spirit, the same word that Jesus Christ said, I will send you the helper. Now he says, Therefore, you, paracleo, you be the helper to each other and build up, as in a house, edify means to build a house or build up one another.

The Holy Spirit doesn't stop in you. It's to go through. It's to flow out of you and then be a helper to others, just as it is to you. In verse 15, See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for both yourselves and all. That's love your neighbor as yourself. You don't have any enemies in the world. There's nobody out there that you would render evil to evil to.

You don't pack a gun because somebody might shoot you, so you can shoot him back. You don't pack a mace in case somebody maces you, you mace him back. You don't pack a pot because somebody may whack you over the head. You'll whack him back. And Jesus says, somebody does that to you. Turn the other cheek. Don't do bad to anybody, but also always pursue what is good for yourselves and for all. Verse 19, Do not quench the Spirit.

That means do not stifle or suppress it. Don't slow it down in any way. Don't say, well, I would really like to sacrifice for this person, but... And here comes a whole lot of intelligent, wise reasons why I can't. Don't stifle. Don't suppress God's Spirit of sacrifice and love to other people. Do not despise prophecies. The word prophecies.

Let me just tell you about the word prophecies. We always think about prophecy. The word prophecy here, from Thayer's lexicon, definition 1a. This takes precedence. This is the number one definition of the word prophecies in the New Testament. It's a discourse emanating from divine inspiration, declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving, correcting, and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden. That's the 1a definition of prophecies. It's teaching. It's exhorting. It's correcting.

It's reproving. It's encouraging. Do not despise teaching from God. Verse 21, Test all things. We've heard about testing the spirits. Test all things and hold fast what is good. Read the Bible. Study the Bible. Then put it down and go do it. That's what we need to do. We need to hear a sermon about being more sacrificing and serving like God, and then get up and go do it.

We need to pray to the God of love, the God of serve, the God of sacrifice, and then get up from prayer and go be like Him. But if we become isolated from Christ's body, because somehow we begin to get self-satiated and learning, coming to the knowledge of the truth, that you are to love others, then we fall into this category of our love of wax cold. We've got to get out of that.

Some claim to be Philadelphians, but loving themselves to death. You know what I'm saying? Claim to be Philadelphians. Close the door. Inhale all you can. It's all about me, all about my knowledge, all my understanding. And love myself to death, literally, eternally. Let me tell you something that might shock you. Here's all the prophecy you ever need to know. One verse in the Bible. Actually, two verses in the Bible. 1 Peter 4, 7-8. Let me give you the entire prophecy that we'll see you through to the kingdom.

Now, there's a lot more prophecy, and there's nothing wrong with prophecy. Nice to know these kind of warning signs, warning times that are coming. Make sure that we're genuine in the faith. A mild post that we can sort of see where civilization is passing on the way to the end of this current evil age. But here's all the prophecy you really need to know. 1 Peter 4, verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand. There's your prophecy. Therefore, because of this prophecy that you now know, be serious and watchful in your prayers, and above all things have fervent love for one another.

For love will cover a multitude of sins. There you go. There you go. You don't need to know prophecy to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Prophecy is no spiritual component. It doesn't. It's dates on a calendar. It's going to happen, whether you know it or not. You need to repent of self and use God's Spirit to make you more loving and fervently loving. And then, as Peter said, you'll always be in the right place at the right time through all the events that are coming, whether you know about them or not.

You know, let me tell you something else. If you understand end-time prophecy perfectly, you can even make your own forecasts come true, let's say. You're really good at prophecy. But if you aren't busy loving and serving, you will not be in God's kingdom. And that's not something I made up. That's from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but if I have not love, I'm nothing. So get what you need, like the Christians used to do on the Sabbath.

They didn't have Bibles. Get what you need in order to stir up and use God's Holy Spirit and then go do it. Get out and do it. I hope that today this sermon has been helpful in realizing a few things about using God's Holy Spirit, what it's for. Your talent is amazing. It is awesome. It is incredible. And the reason is because you are gifted by God.

And He is amazing and talented. And He is awesome. But what are you doing with your talents on loan from God? Let's look at 2 John in closing. 2 John only has one chapter. And we'll read verse 3 and 5 and 6. John says, Grace, mercy, and harmony will be with us from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Verse 5, And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. And this is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. Now, where do we go from here? Well, developing a godly mindset must be genuine. It must endure. We can't just come up with, as a flash in a pan, some idea we got. Yeah, it sounds like a good idea. We tried it once. This is something that Christ said, I want you to develop fruit for the harvest, and that fruit needs to endure. And just as you must test the Spirit's coming into you, God must test the mind, the Spirit, that He's bringing into His divine family.

He's got to see if you and I really are genuine. And so, He does that systematically to find out, are you true? Are you the real deal? Are you enduring in His nature? Or if He brings you into the divine family, are you going to be some kind of loose cannon that's really untested and unknown? So next time, the final sermon in this series is going to be Talon on Load from God, Part 4, Gifts That Last Forever.