Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 112 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit - summary.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 112 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit - summary.

Announcements / opening prayer:

Summary of the doctrine of the filling of the Spirit:

I read an article this morning about a man who edited "The Jesus Centered Bible" which pinpoints all the places in the OT that refer to Jesus. In an interview in which he discusses the impact that the Bible had upon him, he said:

“What a pastor’s primary responsibility to do is to help the people of a church become so attentive to Jesus that they become captured by his heart and they’re ruined for him forever,” he said. “That’s what starts a transformational movement.”

He mentioned that many Christians have a more mechanical or strategic relationship to Christianity rather than a deep personal relationship to Christ. I have been saying this for months in our doctrine of the filling of the Spirit. We are following the way of a person and not a machine. We are not under law, but the truth, the way, and the life that has been granted to each of us at salvation.

Any man made system is not the reality of the spiritual life.

Joh 14:20

you in Me, and I in you.

Joh 17:26

I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.

Living in unreality is dangerous. Know the truth and live in it, and it will set you free. Religious posing is dangerous to the soul.

Religious would mean any man made system. It will have falsehood in it. Whether it errs more towards legalism or licentiousness makes no difference. There is one true Christianity that is in all the disciples of Christ. There are not several.

You are a heavenly creature, but you live in the world. Live in reality. Walk by the Spirit and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow the Lord only and be His bride and disciple. Live amongst the sinners as an ambassador for Christ. False religiosity distances from the world's people like the Pharisees, which is the very definition of their name, "separate ones." How else is the world to see Christ manifested through you and communicated from you if you spend your time aloof and separate from them. We don't fellowship with the world but we are in the world as ambassadors. Christ was a friend to tax-collectors and sinners. When you correct, do so with gentleness. Do not become critical of the sinner. He is hopelessly under the rulership of sin and death.

[Chafer] If our kind of spirituality makes Christ unattractive to others, it needs some drastic changes.

Christianity will always be unattractive to the negative, liberal, progressive, arrogant, but it should not be to all people. Love, sacrifice, peace, graciousness, forgiveness are attractive to many normal people who are not liberal fanatics. Legalism is only attractive to the fanatic as is antinomianism or licentiousness.

1Co 9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.

1Co 9:20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law;

1Co 9:21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law.

1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

1Co 9:23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Paul claims to be a partner of the gospel and not a user of the gospel. In other words, the gospel is not some tool in his hand that is to be used for his own needs or the needs of another. It is a living breathing aspect of the divine. It is the application of the finished work of Christ to mankind. It is the good news that saves men who put their faith in it. The gospel is Christ and Paul is a partner with it.

Paul didn't make an issue out of what they did. They are unbelievers. He makes the only issue the gospel. As unbelievers they can't live righteously even if they wanted to. He did this so as to not cloud the issue of the gospel, which penetrates through all darkness and ignorance. Paul did not sin or condone sin, but identified himself with them, being with them in their own world and culture and clearly revealing the gospel.

Our spirituality must be real and not a religion or an imitation or a man made system.  

We are to be outwardly adorned with Christ and His love, and this is only by means of the Spirit. We are not to impersonate or imitate another person. We all have Christ to put on.

Christianity is not impersonating ideals or imitating others. This is a danger that might come from analyzing the experiences of others.

We are dealing with the most loving and tender-hearted and patient God who is a person and who is for you. Come to know Him and believe in the efficacy of His way and you will hunger and thirst to obediently walk in the most gratifying relationship that there ever was, and God the Holy Spirit will graciously give you to the power, direction, and continued instruction to do so.