The Holy Spirit: The Eternal Spirit


But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; 
and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and 
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.--Acts 1:8.


You know, the Church started out with a Bible, then it got a 
hymnbook, and for years, that was it--a Bible and a hymnbook. The 
average church now certainly wouldn't be able to operate on just a
hymnbook and the Bible. Now we have to have all kinds of truck. A lot 
of people couldn't serve God at all without at least a vanload of 
equipment to keep them happy.

Some of these attractions that we have to win people and keep them 
coming may be fine, or they may be cheap. They may be elevated, or 
they may be degrading. They may be artistic, or they may be 
coarse--it all depends upon who is running the show! But the Holy 
Spirit is not the center of attraction, and the Lord is not the one 
who is in charge. We bring in all sorts of antiscriptural and unscriptural
claptrap to keep the people happy and keep them coming.

As I see it, the great woe is not the presence of these religious 
toys and trifles--but the fact that they have become a necessity, and 
the presence of the Eternal Spirit is not in our midst!


"Lord, we've been taught good methods in Bible study; we've 
emphasized the need to be technologically up-to-date to reach our 
generation. As I do indeed commit myself to excellence in reaching people for
Christ, help me to remember that the power is not in the methods or
the means, but in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Amen."