The Holy Spirit is in You

The Lord Jesus suffered and died for our sins on the cross, paid the debt for our sins in full, rose again, was seen by hundreds, went back to heaven, and sat down because He had finished what He came to do. Ten days later, He sent the Holy Spirit to take up where He left off, and the Holy Spirit took over the work of God on earth. Look Who came to live with us! The Bible says, "Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Cor. 2:12). Romans 8:9 says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Any man who does not have the Spirit is not saved! What a tragedy that too many Christians do not know they have the Holy Spirit living in their bodies (1 Cor. 6:19).     When we receive Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit ("HS") comes to live within us as well. The Bible says, "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you?" (1 Cor. 6:19). Receiving Christ makes you a Christian. Putting the Holy Spirit in the driver's seat of your life makes you a spiritual Christian. But first, you have to take the flesh out of the driver's seat and allow the Holy Spirit to control your life. John 1:12 says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to be the sons of God." We are God's children; the Holy Spirit will never leave us. Now that is eternal security! Oh, dear people, we must learn all we can about this wonderful Person, the Holy Spirit, and let Him do what He came to do. Prayer: Father, bless Your child and may the Holy Spirit fill him and transform him into the image of Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.   Quote for the Day: "Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers." —Author Unknown Last week when Sumner came in to the East-West offices (http://www.eastwest.org) he shared with us about evangelism and we were all blessed beyond our imaginations.  Sumner is a wonderful person and it is truly our previlidge to carry on his ministry.  We have asked Sumner to send us updates on Celeste so that we can pass them on to you. Have a Blessed Day

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The Natural Man

The Natural Man The writings of Sumner Wemp Apr 15, 2009 The Natural Man "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14)   Look at the natural man in the diagram above. He has not heard that Christ died for his sins and rose again. He has not received Jesus as his personal Savior; the Holy Spirit does not reside in his heart. He has never been "born again" and is still in his natural state. The Flesh ("F") The flesh (or self) sits in the driver's seat of the natural man's life. The natural man is trying every which way to get to heaven on his own. His life is filled with the "works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, witchcraft, hatred, wrath, strife, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like, of which I tell you that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:19–21). Sounds pretty modern, doesn't it? The Devil ("D") You can see in the diagram that the devil is sitting right behind the natural man, prodding him on. The natural man is "taken captive of him (the devil) at his will" (2 Tim. 2:26). When you see a man making poor choices in his life, don't get mad at him; get mad at the devil, for he is "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:3–4; Eph. 2:1–3). People need to hear and heed the Gospel and to be "born again." Let's tell them, shall we? Doesn't that make sense? Prayer: Father, we are thankful that someone told us the Good News that Christ died for our sins and rose again. We are thankful that we believed and received the Lord Jesus so we could be born again. Help us this year to tell the Good News to those we spend time with day by day so they will have a chance to go to heaven. In Jesus' name, Amen. Quote for the Day: "The greatest crisis in the world today is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis in leadership is a crisis of character." —Howard G. Hendricks   We asked Sumner to stop by the East-West offices (http://www.eastwest.org/) last week and it was such a blessing to be around him and glean from his knowledge, experience, and passion for evangelism.  He also let us know that Celeste was doing better and was even able to go out for dinner and walk on her own.

Hungering for God's Word

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Ps. 119:105)

God recently gave me this thought, "A child of God will never become a man of God without the Word of God."

I think you will enjoy reading the "Diary of a Bible" below. 

Diary of a Bible

January: A busy time for me. Most of the family decided to read me through this year. They kept me busy for the first two weeks, but they have forgotten me now.

February: Clean-up time. I was dusted yesterday and put in my place. My owner did use me for a few minutes last week. He had been in an argument and was looking up some references to prove he was right.

March: Had a busy day first of the month. My owner was elected president of the PTA & used me to prepare a speech.

April: Grandpa visited us this month. He kept me on his lap for an hour, reading from 1 Peter 5:5–7. He seems to think more of me than do some people in my own household.

May: I have a few green stains on my pages. Some spring flowers were pressed in my pages.

June: I look like a scrapbook. They have stuffed me full of newspaper clippings—one of the girls got married.

July: They put me in a suitcase today. I guess we are off on vacation. I wish I could stay home; I know I'll be closed up in this thing for at least two weeks.

August: Still in the suitcase.

September: Back home at last and in my old familiar place. I have a lot of company. Two women's magazines and four comic books are stacked on top of me. I wish I could be read as much as they are.

October: They read me a little bit today. One of them is very sick. Right now I am sitting in the center of the coffee table. I think the pastor is coming by for a visit.

November: Back in my old place. Somebody asked today if I were a scrapbook.

December: The family is busy getting ready for the holidays. I guess I'll be covered up under wrapping paper & packages again... just as I am every Christmas.

—Author Unknown

Prayer: Father, bless Your child today and give Your child a hunger for Your Word and a deeper love for You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Quote for the Day: "We cannot take our people beyond where we ourselves have been, and it thus becomes vitally important that we be men of God in the last and highest sense of that term." —A. W. Tozer