Walking By The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control.

against such there is no law.

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh

with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–25

            History is important to our understanding as in secular events, and events within the Church. To ignore history is to be ignorant of the facts and reasons for why things exist; the perception of the people, and pragmatically carried out in life, and in the Church. History at the beginning of the Church will tell us that things were different then and in contrast to the present. This fact must not be overlooked and passed by with only a glance: those who came into the early Church and became part of the Church were for the most part: Jewish believers. These believers saved saints of God, however they were not at first, before the founding of the Church, in the Church. Why? Pentecost had yet to come and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers. As the Church grew, more and more Gentiles became part of the Church, believers indwelled with the Holy Spirit and this by receiving the Gospel. The Jews, as do many in this present age, reject the Messiah Jesus Christ, His Gospel and lost in their sins. This is true for many of the Gentiles, they too are lost in their sins and in need of the Gospel to quicken the faith in them that God implanted in them by His election, and become the Bride of Christ. As the Gospel spread to other nations and those people heard the Gospel and saved they became part of the early Church both Jews and Gentiles and in time the Church was filled with more Gentiles than Jews. After the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70A.D. the Jews were scattered and they fled to the surrounding nations and did not become a nation again until 1848A.D. Judaism with all its ceremonial laws were abolished leaving only intact the Ten Commandments which all believers are to follow. Today when we hear of a Jewish person becoming a believer, we rejoice with great joy as they are of the nation elected by God and have the promise of God to restore them once again to His favor. This being accomplished by their believing in the One whom they rejected: Jesus Christ.

            Few Jewish people believed in Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah, their Savior. The offer to them by God to restore the Kingdom of God that was His promise to them, this offer would not be given to them any longer as they rejected the King whom He sent. Not until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would the Kingdom of God be installed and not in some “Rapture” as some teach, rather as the Bible clearly points out: on the LAST DAY! In God’s economy, His dispensation towards this earth and especially towards His children Who indwelled each child of God with the Holy Spirit which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the promise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave in Acts 1:5, and began in Acts chapter 2. Nowhere in the Bibles is there an inference of a “second blessing,” or that anyone been given as proof an experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not that there is not an experience as anyone who believes in Jesus Christ has, that knowledge, that feeling that the Holy Spirit gives as He indwells the Christians and bringing peace and love as never known before. We have assurance that our faith is secure, our salvation is secure, we are going home to heaven when we pass from this life into the life eternal with our Lord and Savior in heaven. It is not as some teach and preach, and say, they experience: a revelational emotional experience. An experience that is driving them to submit their souls to such as speaking in some gibberish “tongue.” or jumping up and down in a frenzy of emotion, or that they are to go out and heal, and to pray with those who are of this world (John 17:9). It is not what we desire to have, some thrilling and enticing emotion, rather it is that we as His children, saved, elected by God, and as His ambassadors to show the “Fruit of the Spirit” and there is no law against this indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the fruit derived through experiencing the “Fruit of the Spirit.”

            Here is another fact: If you do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; you do not and cannot experience the “Fruit of the Spirit.” The “Fruit of the Spirit,” does not come from our carnal nature, rather it comes by our submissiveness to our spiritual nature that comes only to a believer when he/she saved and receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Never is there even a hint in the New Testament of a class of believers who have not had the baptism of the Holy Spirit and still serve God and demonstrate the “Fruit of the Spirit.”  We are told to “walk in the Spirit” and if we do then we well not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Here is a question to ponder: Would God expect us and tell us to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh if not give us a way to overcome that sinfulness of the flesh, if we are not able to do so? NO! God commanded us to do so and this is based on the fact we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, once, absolutely, completely, and now we are able to “walk in the Spirit.” You cannot receive the Holy Spirit partially. The Holy Spirit is a Person and you cannot receive partially a person, this must be received fully and permanently. Allow then the Holy Spirit to control you, and me and this cannot be done unless the Holy Spirit indwells us.

Blessed by the God and Father

            Of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who has blessed u with every spiritual

            Blessing in the heavenly places

In Christ just as He chose us in Him

            Before the foundation of the world,

That we should be holy and without blame

            Before Him in love, having predestined

Us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,

            According to the good pleasure of His will.

To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which

            He made us accepted in the Beloved.

                                                Ephesians 1:3–6

Today, demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit

Richard L. Crumb

How? Is One Filled And Baptized By The Holy Spirit?

For the time will come when they will not

endure sound doctrine, but according to their

own desires, because they have itching ears,

they will heap up for themselves teachers;

and they will turn their ears away from the truth

and be turned aside to fables.

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions,

do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

2Timothy 4:3–5

            “Itching ears,” then and now, so evident in so many churches that have caused many to succumb to teachings that have the “ring” of truth, and yet are so far removed from Scripture. Why? There are many reasons that can be enumerated and one that stands out loud and clear is the fact that many coming into the Church bring with them and refuse to leave behind; the culture of this world. Many allow the culture of this world to define their lives rather than allowing Scripture to define culture. Teachers, pastors, evangelists, especially those televangelists who become “filthy” rich by spouting words that meet the desires of those so infected by worldly culture. Many would cavil, object vehemently over saying that they are wrong. They will not change, they hold on to what the desire and believe. They turn away “from the truth,” and listen and “turned aside to fables.” Paul reminds Timothy and us to be “watchful in all things,” This problem within the Christian Church has become gangrenous, infecting those who desire to have the truth, to become in the image of Jesus Christ and not by fables. A return to Scripture as the foundation and the truth that we need to fulfill our ministry, that is, whenever we are called by God, to be and do, we need truth and not fables. When trials come, and they will, the question is; will we stand for God or succumb to false teaching and not stand fast for Jesus Christ? How do we know the truth? It is not so easy as some proclaim; it takes men and women of courage to study the Bible, to make changes in their lives if their lives are not in harmony with Scripture. It requires pastors, and leaders within the Church to stop, that is, if they are teaching what scratches itching ears, to teach the truth even if the truth is hard and demanding, as it is for does not Scripture say: “For however does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Mathew 12:50). Jesus did not mince words when it comes to being a follower of Him: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37–38). To listen and to apply false teaching in your lives is nothing short of denying Jesus Christ, His teachings, and not being formed into His image: “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). You say: “I don’t deny Jesus.” Yes you do if you are not converted to Him, to His teaching, and are listening to false teachings. You have a different Jesus Christ than what Scripture presents in regards to the Only Begotten Son of God. Fear not: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). The question before all of us: Will we make the needed changes when the truth of Scripture presented? I hope so! This is the thrust of these blogs, especially these blogs on the Trinity, and at the present the Holy Spirit the third Person of the Trinity.

            I will begin to conclude this subject. The Bible teaches clearly that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Filling of the Holy Spirit is two functions, separate ministries. From Scripture this fact: as found in Acts chapters, 8,10, 19 where believers receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  In each case, those who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit were believers, saved under the Old Testament dispensation of the Law. These believers were Old Testament saints that while they believed God and saved, they had no knowledge in regards to God instituting the Church, the ekklesia, the called out ones. When the Gospel was presented to them as believers in God the received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and became a part of the Church age, this dispensation, (organization, not Dispensationalism), and a part of the Body of Jesus Christ. (cf. Romans 12:5; 1Corinthians 10:16; 12:12; 27; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 2:17). From the founding the Church after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven by Jesus Christ the Messiah, all believers are in the Church age, this dispensation and at salvation receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

            The early Church was predominately filled with Jewish believers, Old Testament saints. After Pentecost who had not heard that Jesus Christ had come, suffered, and died for their sins, and when they heard the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus was the Messiah and had risen from the grave, the accepted with glad hearts and received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ. Becoming part of the Church Age whereby believers have the dispensation of Grace and they were indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Not by anything, they did to receive this indwelling, in other words, they did not seek the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, for all who are saved, receive the indwelling as promised.

            I will continue this conclusion in the next blogs. Until then, look up those Scriptures cited but not quoted. Study to show yourselves, approved workmen for God.

But He answered and said to them,

            “An evil and adulterous generation

seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given

            to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

                                                Matthew 12:39

You are indwelled; Live the truth

Richard L. Crumb

Being Controlled By The Holy Spirit

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall

enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does

the will of My Father in heaven.

Many will say to Me in that day,

‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in

Your name, and done many wonders in

Your name? And then I will declare to them,

“I never knew you; depart from Me,

and you who practice lawlessness!”

Matthew 7:21–23

            The above Scripture should cause a person to examine all that they do in the name of Jesus Christ. Many people claiming to be following the Bible as shown by various manifestation, they claim, of the Holy Spirit, that they are “filled’ with the Holy Spirit, may not actually be following Scripture. In fact, they have assumed that they are demonstrating being “filled” with the Holy Spirit and yet never taking time to personally examine that which they are doing. Why fear this Scripture? Jesus said: “I never knew you; depart from Me,” (vs. 23). The word “never” in Greek is 2^nd Aorist, Indicative, Active, and is pointing out that in a period, a point in time, Jesus did not know them. Then Jesus connects their actions of saying and showing various manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and their prophesies, that they have connected to Jesus Christ are not so connected to Him, and this He says: “you who practice lawlessness!” (vs. 23b). This practice of conjoining these, and sometimes outlandish, actions as being filled with the Holy Spirit may not necessarily be so; therefore we must examine the “filling of the Holy Spirit.”

            What then is the filling of the Holy Spirit? Paul writes: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation (excess); but be filled with Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Paul did not say, “be Baptized with the Holy Spirit, rather, he said to be filled with Spirit. Notice the comparison with being drunk, and with being filled with Spirit, as the next verses explain what this means: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving things always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:19–21). Did Paul say to the Ephesians to be acting drunk, to be so filled with Spirit to dance around feverishly, shouting, and fainting, and being slain, or to perform healings, or raising the dead, or to be passing through tunnels of fire as is done at the Bethel Church in Redding, California. No! The illustration by Paul is that we are not to be controlled by anything else except to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is interesting to look at how being drunk with wine was considered by non–Christians, especially the Greeks. They held to the idea the alcohol was the “drink of the gods” and alcohol and a certain affect on man and that affect was the power of God which enabled the drinker to receive power, great power, and awareness or inspiration. Paul, first century person understood the mind of the first century people and this illustration not be lost on those to whom he wrote and should not be lost on us. So, in contrast: allow the indwelling of the Holy Spirit control you.

            To be “filled with the Spirit,” means then, to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Examples in the New Testament:

1. Jesus, in Luke 4:1, said he was "full of the Holy Spirit."
2. Stephen, was "full of faith and the Holy Spirit" Acts 6:5, 7:55.
3. Barnabas, also was full of the Spirit. Acts 11:24.
4. Peter, preached in Acts 4:8 "filled with the Holy Ghost."
5. The first deacons, in Acts 6:3, to be qualified must be men "full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom."

It is clear from Scripture that to be “filled with the Spirit” and the “Spirit’s” influence was for empowering a person to manifest Christianity by living as God, and His Son, so clearly pointed out, that we are to live according to the commands of God as found in the Ten Commandments. We are to apply those commands in every circumstance we find ourselves in this life. We are to be ready to speak the Gospel, we are to be Christian and not some fanatic, or perform some fanatical experience. Nowhere in Scripture is a believer in Jesus Christ, one who has converted to Jesus Christ, has a command to be “Baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus did

 command: “be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Read Romans, chapters 6 & 7, and you will find that we, as Christians have two natures; one that is carnal, and the other a new nature, a spiritual one. A Christian can allow the old carnal nature to control him and sin: “If wee say that we have o sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1John 1:8–10). Or, we can allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. The question: who is controlling you? Who are you in submission too? Is it your lust for carnal things or is it our desire for spiritual things?

Do not love the world,

            Or things in the

World. If anyone loves

            The world, the

Love of the Father

            Is not in him.

                        1John 2:15

Love God, live life

Richard L. Crumb