WHY DO YOU WANT HIM?
Remember that one time a magician showed up in the pages of Scripture. Actually, there were a few. Even a couple of groups of unnamed magicians. But there was one in particular to show up in Acts 8. The King James Version calls him, "Simon the Sorcerer". Sounds even cooler right? Wrong. When you read situation in Acts, you walk away (or at least you should walk away) thinking, "He's just like most of us! Sometimes I'm just like that!" This Simon was a lot like most PROFESSING Christians - he thought he could buy or someway earn the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a commodity to be bought or traded according to our individual wants, whims, or even our felt needs. We absolutely cannot have this discussion about the Holy Spirit without calling our motives into question.
- p. 84
The questions Francis Chan really directs us to, is stated in the Chapter title: why do we really want the Holy Spirit? To make ourselves great, famous, powerful....why? What is your real reason?
Many believers and the churches where they are members all claim they want the power of the Holy Spirit. There have been books written about how to get said power. There are conferences, seminars, videos....it keeps going.
Here's another question to ask: how can we know if a believer or a church has the power of the Spirit.
Answer: A sure sign of the Holy Spirit's working is that Christ is magnified, not people. - p.87
So, who do you magnify? Yourself? Your pastor? Some other person that you have elevated to god-like status? Who does your church magnify? Who does those you look up to magnify?
Let's move on. More times than I can count or remember, I've heard pastors, read or heard of books that all tell you have you can (for lack of a better term) repeat their formula or "Five Step Program" to do this or that. You want to have a Pentecost Sunday? Well, you can! Just buy my book, and follow the steps! Grow your church in 90 days! Come to the 45th annual conference for the reinstallment of my glory...blah, blah, blah.
If we expect God to perform certain miracles or to give us a particular experience, it will be tempting to manipulate or even fake experiences of the supernatural. - p. 89
Well, fake it 'til you make it! Amen?
Um, no. I can't tell you how much manipulating the circumstances and faking experiences I've seen on a variety of issues and programs in the last 20 years.
Quit faking. Start repenting.
Honestly, what would it really looked like if all true believers got serious about living out the Great Commandment. Not the Great Commission. We'll worry about that later. Let's just focus on the Great Commandment. What would it look like in my life, in your life, and in your local body of believers?
I honestly believe that most of us - while we might say we want to be led by the Spirit - are actually scared of this reality. - p. 90
I know I am. Where would He send me? What would it take? I want to be in total control of my life, and that requires a total surrender to God and total abandonment of my control! I don't know about you, but I find this to be scarier than an invasion of Weeping Angels. [Apologies if you don't understand the reference. Forget it. No, I don't apologize. After reading this, go watch the Doctor Who episode "Blink".]
Here's the reality of it all. God doesn't care about our comfort or temporary happiness. I know, that just lost everybody. All four of you.
[God] wants us to know that His gift of the Holy Spirit is really not for our own pleasure or purposes. The Spirit is meant to lead us toward holiness. The Spirit is here with us to accomplish God's purposes, not our own. - p. 93
Sorry American Dream Theologians, it's not about you after all.
How are we to do this? We must crucify our flesh, and choose to walk with the Spirit. And that's not even remotely possible if you do not have the Spirit of the living God within you. As Jesus told a Pharisee on a roof top, "You must be born again!" Are you truly a confessing Christian? Have you truly been born again? Or are you just a professing Christian? You may claim to be a believer. You may pretend all you want. But you can never hope to live and walk in the Spirit if you have never laid it all aside and come to Christ for salvation.
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
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