Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:50:44 -0700WeeblySun, 23 Apr 2023 19:58:29 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/faith-is-rest In the beginning of our walk with Jesus, faith is struggling; but as long as  we are struggling in our faith, it is not truly strong. It is only when faith in its  struggling comes to the end of itself, and is finally willing to just throw itself  into the arms of Jesus that we finally find joy and victory. 

An example of this is how The Keswick Convention began. Canon  Battersby a godly man who was a clergy and evangelist of the Church of  England for more than twenty years, even though his whole life was in  service to God, he couldn’t find rest and victory over sin. It broke his heart  that his life was one of sin and failure. When he heard about the possibility  of victory in Jesus, he wanted it in the worst way, but it just seemed  beyond his reach, no matter how hard he tried. Then he heard a sermon  on Rest and Faith” from the story of the nobleman who came to Jesus  asking Him to heal his son. In this sermon it was shown that the nobleman  hoped that Jesus could help his son, but he just wasn’t sure. When Jesus  said, “Go your way, for your child lives,” it was then that he truly believed  what Jesus said; he rested in the words of Jesus. He had no proof that his  son was healed, and he had to walk back seven hours to Capernaum. On  the way he met his servant with the news that his son was healed at one  o’clock the day before, the exact time that Jesus had spoken the word,  the fever left. That father rested on the word of Jesus and he was not  disappointed. He then praised God and his whole household became  followers of Jesus. 
Friends, that is faith! When Jesus comes to me with the promise that He  will hold me in His hands, and humanly speaking it is an impossible  situation. I can’t make it happen! But when I go to God and say; “Your  word is enough; I am kept by Your power Lord.” That is faith, that is rest.
When Canon Battersby heard that sermon, he went home that evening,  and alone in the darkness he found rest. He finally rested on the word of  Jesus! The next day he found a friend and cried, “I found it!” He went and  told others and asked that the Keswick Convention get started so they  could testify what Jesus had done. 
It is a miracle and a wonderful thing when we finally rest in Jesus and allow  God’s almighty power to fill our lives with the Fruits Of the Spirit, and in  that power we are able to rest every moment of our lives. It is then that  Jesus begins to live in our lives and we are no longer controlled by our  tempers, by our anger, and lust, and pride. It is then that we become  loving and caring and self is not the driving force in our lives. It is then that  we can truly say, “It is no longer I who lives, but Jesus lives in me.” 
It is an amazing thing when we come to rest upon God’s almighty power  for every moment of our lives. It is a great day in our life when we can  Covenant with the ruler of the universe, not because of anything we have  done, or even anything that we feel. But it is on the strength of God’s  Word; “Kept by the power of God through faith.” 
Let’s not be afraid to prove that God is true. To say, we ask for all You can  give, and we want nothing less! Then to be brave enough to say: Lord I  give you permission to prove in me what the omnipotent God can do. 
We are children of the King of the Universe; let’s rest in His hands!

]]>Sat, 11 Jun 2022 03:06:27 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/faith-implies-helplessnessLast week we discussed how God offers to be our Keeper, and His  keeping means day by day, moment by moment God is going to keep us.  Now the other side, and just as important is faith. How does faith play a  role in our salvation and how do we need to look at faith? 
First of all we must realize that faith for you and me means complete  and utter helplessness before God. All true faith comes with a feeling of  helplessness! It’s like me going to a mechanic to get my car worked on. I  am not a mechanic, I don’t know what is wrong with my car, much less  how to fix it. I can’t do the work, and in trusting the mechanic I admit that I  can’t do it. And my faith in the mechanic means helplessness. In some  cases it means: I could do it with a great deal of trouble and effort, but the  mechanic can do it better. But most of the time it is complete and utter  helplessness; the mechanic must do it for me. That is the secret of our  spiritual life! We must be willing to to say: 
“I give it all to You Lord; I’ve tried and fought and cried. I’ve prayed and  struggled, but failed anyway. God has even helped me when I allowed Him  to, and still in the end there’s just sin and sadness.” 
Friends, the change only comes when we are finally broken and realize our  utter helplessness and self-dispair, and cry out: “I can do nothing!”  
Even the Apostle Paul had to be reminded! His life was a life of faithfulness  and devotion to Jesus, and then the thorn in the flesh came. Paul did not  understand how it could be a blessing to have this trial, and he prayed  three times that the Lord take it away; and what did the Lord say? In  essence:
“No; there a a danger that with all the success I’m giving you, that you  might exalt yourself, so I have sent you this trial to keep you weak and  humble. Paul, I need you helpless!” 
And Paul learned a lesson that we must also learn, and that was - to  praise and rejoice in our pain and weakness! Like Paul, we must  understand that the weaker we are the better it is for us! When we are  weak, we are strong in Jesus!  
My question is this: Do you want to live the “Abundant Life”? Then we  must go a step lower down. Dr. Boardman tells of how once he was invited  by a man to go to see a factory where they made shot for rifles. The  workmen poured down molten lead from a great height. The man then  wanted to take Dr. Boardman up to the top of the tower to see how the  work was done. The doctor came to the tower, he entered by the door, and  started going upstairs; but when he had gone a few steps the man called  out: 
“That’s the wrong way. You must come down this way; that stair is locked  up.” 
The man took him a long way downstairs, and there an elevator was ready  to take him to the top; and he said: 
“I have learned a lesson that going down is often the best way to get up.” 
Our Lord and Redeemer wants to bring us very low, so He can teach us  our sense of emptiness and despair and nothingness. It is only when we  realize our utter helplessness, that our Awesome God will show Himself in  His beauty and power, and that our hearts will learn to trust Him alone. 
What is it that keeps us from trusting God perfectly? 
You may be saying: “I believe what you are saying, but there is one  problem. If my trust in Jesus were perfect and continual then there  wouldn’t be a problem, because I know God will always do what He  promises. But how can I get that kind of trust? 
Friends, there is only one way: By the death of self!  
Andrew Murray says it best,
“The great hindrance to trust is self-effort. So long as you have got your  own wisdom and thoughts and strength, you cannot fully trust God. But  when God breaks you down, when everything begins to grow dim before  
your eyes, and you see that you understand nothing, then God is coming  nigh, and if you will bow down in nothingness and wait upon God, He will  become all.” Absolute Surrender p. 106-107 
As long as we have to be something, we have to right or in control, or the  center of attention, or whatever, God cannot be everything, and He is not  able to do His complete work in our lives. 
That is the beginning of true faith - utter despair in our abilities, to quit  looking to what this world tells us is important, and find our hope in Jesus  alone.

]]>Sun, 06 Feb 2022 23:41:23 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/keeping-is-continuousWe have been discussing for several weeks how God “keeps” us in our  walk with Jesus. We have seen how the keeping of God is all-inclusive and  that we are kept by His all mighty omnipotence. This week we are going to  consider how His keeping is continuous and unbroken in our walk with  Jesus. 
Many of us have experienced or heard someone tell of how God has kept  them for a day or for weeks, even longer just basking in His presence.  How for periods of their life they had such joy in fellowship with Jesus.  How they were blessed in soul winning; and felt as though they were  walking in the clouds in their walk with Jesus; but it didn't continue. It was  too good to last. Some say: "It is necessary to fall, so I can stay humble."  And others say: "I know it was my fault; but nobody's perfect. We can't  always live in the presence of Jesus." 
So I bring you the question: Why is that? Why is it that the keeping of God  is not a continuous and unbroken experience? When we look around all  life is unbroken and continuous in the hand of God. If our life were to stop  for even half and hour we would be dead and life is gone. Unless we are  dead life continues on, and the life of God is the life of His Church. Our  lives are to be an extension of God's almighty power. 
Imagine, God the Almighty One comes to you and me and unconditionally  offers to be our Keeper. And God's keeping is a day by day, moment by  moment continual keeping. 
If I were to ask you the question: "Do you believe that God can keep you  for one whole day from sinning?" You would answer: "Of course, I believe  He has done it in my life. There have been days that I just bask in the 
presence of Jesus all day long, He has kept me from conscious  transgression." 
Now friends, if God can do that for an hour or a day, why not for two  days? God's word tells us: "I, the Lord, do keep it, and will water it every 
 moment" Does God mean what He says? Can He he keep us "every  moment"? In Africa they sometimes make a graft, above it they tie a bottle  of water. This allows a drop to saturate the graft continually until it is  strong enough to resist the heat of the sun. 
Will our loving Lord, not keep us every moment as He has promised, if we  truly want to be kept? We must grab hold of this awesome truth: Every  part of our walk with Jesus is God's doing through the Holy Spirit - "It is  God who works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure." - When we  get to the point where we expect God to do that for us, then God can and  will fulfill His promise and do it all for us. 
God's keeping is to be continuous. Every morning God will meet us as we  awaken. This is not a question: If I get distracted by life and wake up  without thinking of Him, does He forget me? Not hardly! If we trust our  waking to our God, He will meet us in the morning with The sunshine of  His presence and keep us continuously with His almighty power. And He  will meet us every day: never mind that there will sometimes be failures. If  we maintain our desire and trust, and say: "Lord, I am going to trust that  You will do just as you have promised. I am trusting you to keep me  absolutely, continually every minute of the day." Then our faith will grow  stronger and stronger, until we are living an unbroken relationship in God's  keeping.

]]>Sat, 08 Jan 2022 22:21:39 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/keeping-requires-powerWe have been discussing how we are kept by God. This keeping of God is  not only all-inclusive and complete, it is also an almighty keeping. 
I hope we will consider this truth until it is burned into our soul; where we  want to worship our wonderful Lord and Savior until we are consumed  with the truth that God is All Powerful and Omnipotent. And this All  Powerful God offers Himself to work and live in your and my hearts. 
It is almost beyond our ability to imagine that by simply asking, believing  and putting aside all barriers we can be linked with Omnipotence. We can  be linked to an almighty Omnipotent God, and rest easy in His all powerful  hands. It has been my practice to read a Psalm every morning for the last  15 or 20 years and I love it when David speaks about God being our God,  our Fortress, our Refuge, our Strong Tower, our Strength and Salvation.  David had so fallen in love with his God that He was his hiding place when  his life seemed to be falling apart. He speaks of being in the hollow of  God's hand, in the secret of His pavilion, under the shadow of His wings,  under His very feathers. That is where David lived. 
It is exciting to realize that we as children of a crucified and risen Savior,  have the privilege of living in the presence of the Holy Spirit sent down  from Heaven. There is no reason for us to go trembling step by step  through life when we have an Almighty God who holds us in the palm of  His hand. 
This passage from Absolute Surrender touched my heart and inspired  these thoughts, 
"Have your ever thought that in every action of grace in your heart you  have the whole omnipotence of God engaged to bless you? When I come 
to a man and he bestows upon me a gift of money, I get it and go away  with it. He has given me something of his; the rest he keeps for himself.  But that is not the way with the power of God. God can part with nothing  of His own power, and therefore I can experience the power and goodness  of God only so far as I am in contact and fellowship with Himself; and  when I come into contact and fellowship with Himself, I come into contact  and fellowship with the whole omnipotence of God, and have the  omnipotence of God to help me every day." Page 101 
Suppose you are starting a business and you have a very wealthy dad. He  comes to you and says: "You can have as much money as you need to  make your business work." All your father has is yours to be used in  assuring that you are successful. And that is the way it is with our Almighty  God, Savior and Friend. Honestly I can hardly accept this it is so wonderful  and awesome. To think what a poor and unfaithful son I have been and yet  He promises to keep me in the same hands that rule the universe. Our  generous loving Father and Savior Jesus send a part of Themselves in the  Holy Spirit to keep us safe from the power of sin. 
Friends, if we want to continue to grow in our walk with Jesus we can  begin right here. In all our thoughts and prayers. In all our time that we  spend with Jesus every day, we can learn to be kept by an Almighty God.  There is nothing that our Almighty God will not do for us if we can trust  Him. What does the Bible say: "Above all that we can ask or think." A  godly life is one that learns to know an Omnipotent God and through the  experiences of life learns to trust Him with every detail of it. It is then that  we understand that for us to truly walk with Jesus, we have to be full of  Jesus. This is a life that asks for the filling of the Holy Spirit and waits for  that blessing to come. A life that trust Him to give us the rich blessing that  is promised even if we haven't seen it yet. We cannot do the will of God  unless we are filled by His Holy Spirit every signal day. 
My prayer is that each of us can come to the point where we long to  experience His power and learn to trust our Almighty God in every step of  our lives. That is what He longs to give us! 



]]>Sun, 24 Oct 2021 02:07:42 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/keeping-includes-all-2We have been discussing how we are kept by the power of God and that  his keeping is a complete keeping. Our God keeps us during times of  prosperity, and in the hard times. 
Some think that God can and does keep us from doing great sins of  wickedness, but when it comes to the small harmless sins we cannot  expect God to be bothered. It is through discipline and years of self-will  that these sins are conquered. 
We hear of a fellow believer falling into a grievous sin and we realize, that  could have been me. Thank you God for keeping us from that sin! Thank  you for keeping me. But, then we hardly notice when we fall right back into  the sin of pride or selfishness for the third time that day. 
And why do we doubt that God through the Holy Spirit can keep us from  evil thoughts or a nasty temper and yet praise Him for keeping us from  drunkenness or adultery? Is it that we think that a flare of temper or  prideful thoughts are less important? God's great commandment of the  New Testament is - "Love one another as I have love you." When we strike  out at someone or have hatful thoughts toward them, we are sinning  against Jesus highest law - we are sinning against the law of God's love. 
What we are saying is: If we can believe and surrender our lives to the  leading of the Holy Spirit, God can and will keep us from these "lesser"  sins that we have accepted as just being human. 
So, let me ask you, Can we as believers live a holier life than is generally  lived? Can you and I experience the keeping of God's power all day, every  day? What was the promise of 1 Peter 1:5? "Kept by the power of God  through faith." 
The promise is that if we can entrust ourselves entirely and absolutely to  the power of God - He will keep us absolutely! 
Let me close this week with this statement of hope from Andrew Murray  on page 100 of Absolute Surrender 
"God's keeping is all-inclusive, and let everyone who longs to live a holy  life think out all their needs, and all their weaknesses, and all their  shortcomings, and all their sins, and say deliberately: "Is there any sin that my God cannot keep me from?" And the heart will have to answer: "No;  God can keep me from every sin." 
As I consider my walk with Jesus, I realize He is offering so much more  than I am accepting!

]]>Mon, 18 Oct 2021 03:30:03 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/keeping-includes-allLast week we discussed how we are kept by the power of God. This  keeping is also all-inclusive! It is important that we fully comprehend that it  is us, it is you, it is me that is kept. And we are not kept somewhat or  mostly, we are kept fully and completely! It is very easy for us to get lazy and despondent in our walk with Jesus, where we see Him as a force that  takes care of our general well being, but is not concerned with the little  things going on in our life that seem unimportant. Our God wants to be a  personal friend that discusses and goes through everything with us.  Nothing in our life is unimportant to Him! It is so important that He sends  the Holy Spirit to be with us every moment of every day to keep us  connected to Him. 
Suppose I borrowed your car! When you loaned it to me, it was in great  condition. You asked me to take good care of her. But, in my driving  around Juneau I side-swiped a guard rail and cracked the windshield on  top of trashing the tires and interior. By the time I got her back to you, she  was in pretty bad shape! 
Friend; you would say: "When I loaned you my car I asked you to take  good care of her for me." 
"What are you talking about?" I say! "Didn't I keep her for you? Here she  is!" 
You say, "But I didn't want you to just keep her in a general way, and you  brought it back totally trashed. I expected you to personally take care of  every part of it." 
Friends, our God does not want to keep us in a general way where we just  go our own way and then come back to Him trashed and broken. Where 
He has to totally rebuild us to somehow get us into Heaven. That is the  way it goes for many of us, and I praise Him that He doesn't just scrap us  when we come back to Him trashed and beat up. Our loving God wants to  live with us on every part of the trip, and keep us personally, on our walk  with Jesus. 
Another mis-conception is that God will keep us in spiritual things, but He  cannot concern Himself with the temporal things in our life. If that were  true we would be in big trouble! He knows that there is no way for us to  keep ourselves in the spiritual or temporal parts of our life. But God says; 
"My child, there is no work you are to do, and no business in which you  are to engage, and not a cent which you are to spend, but I, your Father,  will take that up into my keeping." Absolute Surrender p. 98 
I am so thankful that the keeping of God includes everything! 
We are also tempted to think that when we are going through a trial God  keeps us, but in times of prosperity we don't need His keeping so much!  Then others of us struggle with the opposite temptation, where we think in  times of prosperity and ease we can hang on to God, but when the trials  come as they always do, then our rebellious spirit wants to blame it on  God and we get mad at a God who was willing to die for us. 
I love this statement on page 99 of Absolute Surrender, 
"Now, I bring you the message that in prosperity as in adversity, in the  sunshine as in the dark, your God is ready to keep you all the time." 
Aren't you thankful that we serve such a God?

]]>Sun, 10 Oct 2021 03:06:48 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/kept-by-the-power-of-godAs we continue our study on absolute surrender. Our surrender to God the  Father, Jesus our Savior and God the Holy Spirit is the key to our  relationship and growth in our walk with Jesus. This week we will be  looking at what it means to be kept by the Power of God!  
Let's begin in 1 Peter 1:3-5 
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according  to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the  resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible  
and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be  revealed in the last time." 
"Kept by the power of God through faith" here we find two extraordinary  truths about our keeping unto salvation. The first great truth is, "Kept by  the power of God"; and the second is "Kept through faith." There are two  sides to this wonderful promise! On one side, God promises to send the  Holy Spirit to keep us in Jesus every moment of every day; then our part  
is, by faith to allow the Holy Spirit to keep doing His work in us by  surrendering ourselves every moment of the day. Through this process we  have already started our Heaven right here on this earth, and the Holy  Spirit keeps us dwelling in Jesus day by day as well. We are doubly kept!  Our inheritance in Heaven is our promised future; and we are kept here on  earth until Jesus comes back to accomplish that inevitable reality. 
We have a great inheritance promised! But what would we think of a man  who spent his whole life accumulating millions of dollars to leave to his 
children and neglected to educate and train them for the responsibility of  wealth? If he allowed his children to run the streets chasing sin and selfish  pleasures? We would think he was a fool, am I right? 
We would feel sorry for his ignorance! We would wonder why he would  sacrifice to save all this money for his children's inheritance, and not  prepare them to handle it wisely. 
I am so thankful that our God has not only sacrificed beyond reason to  give us the inheritance of eternity in bliss! But, He has also promised that  He will prepare us for this inheritance. 
Again, there are two simple truths; the divine side - we are kept by God's  power; the human side we are kept through faith. Next week we will  continue to look at what this keeping means for us as believers.

]]>Sat, 02 Oct 2021 22:03:43 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/lacking-the-fruit-of-the-spirit-pt-2This week we are going to look at how we yield to the Holy Spirit. In a  continued effort to be totally open with you, I have to admit that this has  been the greatest challenge in my walk with Jesus. Thankfully for me and  everyone of us, our Lord is desperate to lead us to restoration if we are  willing to be led. God's answer is very simple and easy. If our train has  jumped the track and we have been ignoring the Holy Spirit, or gotten  caught up in trying to serve God in our strength; then like the Galatians we  have no other way of returning than to go back to where we went wrong,  to come back from religious effort in our own strength, and stop seeking  restoration by our own work, and yield ourselves humbly to the Holy Spirit.  This is the only way that God can restore us to His character. 
I mentioned in a sermon a while back that I believe God gave me a taste of  what He wants to give each of us through the Holy Spirit. It was the  greatest experience of my life! It was the greatest love, joy and peace that I  have ever known and I long to have that experience again. I am also  convinced that God wants and longs to give everyone of us, way more  than I experienced that year. God wants to give us so much more than we  have ever dreamed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Andrew Murray had this  great filling of the Holy Spirit and he puts it this way: 
"Is there any brother or sister whose heart is conscious: "Alas! My life  knows but little of the power of the Holy Ghost"? I come to you with God's  message that you can have no conception of what your life would be in  the power of the Holy Spirit. It is too high and too blessed and too  wonderful, but I bring you the message that just as truly as the everlasting  Son of God came to this world and wrought His wonderful works, that just  as truly as on Calvary He died and wrought out your redemption by His  precious blood, so, just as truly, can the Holy Spirit come into your heart 
that with His divine power He may sanctify you and enable you to do  God's blessed will, and fill your heart with joy and with strength. But alas!  we have forgotten, we have grieved, we have dishonored the Holy Spirit,  and He has not been able to do His work. But I bring you the message:  The Father in Heaven loves to fill His children with His Holy Spirit. God  longs to give each one individually, separately, the power of the Holy Spirit  for daily life. The command comes to us individually, unitedly. God wants  us as His children to arise and place our sins before Him, and call upon  Him for mercy. Oh, are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye  perfecting in the flesh that which was begun in the Spirit? Let us bow in  shame, and confess before God how our fleshy religion, our self-effort,  and self confidence, have been the cause of every failure." Absolute  Surrender p. 90,91 
Friends, our wonderful Lord, longs to give us His precious gift of the Holy  Spirit. But I have often wondered, and had people ask me: "Why do I  continue to hurt my Lord so much? I'm sure I gave my whole heart, and  desired to serve Jesus, why did I fail?" 
The answer always comes back: "You are trying to do in your own strength  what Jesus alone can do in you." And when they say; "I'm sure I know,  that only Jesus alone can do it, I'm sure that I was not trusting in myself,"  the answer is always: "You had to be trusting in yourself or you would not  have failed. If you were trusting Jesus, He could not fail." 
This "perfecting in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit" runs so much  deeper in our lives then we realize. We must ask God to show us that it is  only when we come to the place of utter shame and emptiness that  prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, and He can give us  this unimaginable blessing that we need. 
So I must ask myself, and ask you these two simple questions: Are we  living under the power of the Holy Spirit? Are we living as anointed, Spirit filled men and women before God? 
These two questions stop me in my tracks! I hope that we will not just rush  past these all important questions, but ask ourselves honestly before God:  Am I a Spirit-filled Christian living under the power of the Holy Spirit? 
As you consider this, if your answer is no, then I have a another question -
Are you willing to be set apart and give up yourself to the Holy Spirit to be  used by Him? We are so aware that we cannot of ourselves consecrate to  God. No matter how intensely we desire it, we will fail! Thankfully when we  look away from self and what we want, and look to our God in Heaven we  
find that acceptance, and He sends the Holy Spirit to do for us what we  can never do. 
So it comes down to: are we willing to give ourselves up to the Holy Spirit?  We can do it right now! There may be much that we just don't understand  yet, and we may not feel anything different; but come! With God the  change will come. Only Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit, can restore that  Holy Spirit power in our lives. Only Jesus can give us the strength beyond  our power through His Spirit to give us the indwelling Christ that will make  us a "new creation." Our God longs to do this for everyone of us who are  willing to give up everything, and are willing to seek our God with all our  heart. His promise is that the answer will come! The gift is not far off, and  our God is delighted to help us. Through the Holy Spirit He will make it  possible for us to perfect, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, what was  begun in the Spirit 
I know this is what everyone of us want!

]]>Sun, 05 Sep 2021 23:05:40 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/lacking-the-fruit-of-the-spiritLast time we discussed the dangers of neglecting the Holy Spirit. This  week I would like to look at the proof, or indicators that a church or person  has followed in the path of the Galatians and is serving God in the power  of the flesh. Is there a danger that you and I have jumped the track and are  unwittingly trying to following Jesus in our own strength? 
The answer is really very simple. Religious self-effort always ends in sinful  self-worship. What were the Galatians trying to do? They were trying to be  justified by the works of the law. They wanted to follow God's law, but  somehow had ended up quarreling and trying to devour each other. 
Paul uses more than twelve different descriptions to describe their lack of  love for each other. Things like envy, jealousy, bitterness, strife, and the list  goes on. Chapters four and five of Galatians is a perfect description of  trying to serve God in their own strength, and they failed miserably! All of  their religious effort was a utter failure. They got caught up in what they did  and ended in a more dangerous state than before. This state is more  dangerous because when we get to this state we no longer see our  wretched condition. We are caught up in what we do for God, and we have  lost sight of what God wants to do for us. 
This is a very heavy thought to me! Where am I? This is the question we  must ask ourselves. Has my desire to live for Jesus and keep God's  precious law led me to seek the Holy Spirit's presence in my life? Has this  filling of the Holy Spirit filled my life with love, joy, peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Or has my  desire to keep God's law become about what I am doing? Do I find my  myself comparing my walk with Jesus to others walk? And if their walk  does not agree with mine, do I find myself being judgmental, critical and 
trying to make them live my way, in my church? There is a danger of it  becoming about what we do for God; instead of what God can do in us  and through us as we are filled by the Holy Spirit. 
As we examine ourselves we may have to admit that what God begun in  the Spirit has been derailed and jumped track. We may have to admit that  our religious life has become more about us, and having it our way than  about God's way and being led by the Holy Spirit. The great and glorious  news is that when we can grasp our great need, and give up trying to live  for Jesus by our human efforts. When we will wait on the Holy Spirit to  come with all His omnipotent and enabling power, then our Church will be  the blessing in our community and in our families that we see in the early  Church. Then our lives will demonstrate the love and joy and peace and all  of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God longs to pour out on us through the  Holy Spirit. I long for that day! Next week we will look at what it means for  you and me to yield to the Holy Spirit. ]]>Tue, 17 Aug 2021 04:00:19 GMThttps://www.wrangellsda.org/pastor-brads-blog--archive/neglecting-the-holy-spiritWe have been spending a lot of time looking at the Holy Spirit; and I am so  thankful that we are. This is all important in the Christian walk and has  eternal consequences in each of our lives. Last week we looked at the  necessity of receiving the Holy Spirit, and this week I want to discuss the  danger of neglecting the Holy Spirit! 
We are all familiar with what it means for a train to switch tracks. A  locomotive with its long line of cars headed in one direction; and coming to an intersection they may switch to another direction. If this takes place  at night in the dark, or if there are passengers and they are sleeping; they  may not even realize they have changed directions for some time. 
In our walk with Jesus the Holy Spirit is the locomotive that gives the  power so we can keep heading in the right direction and moving forward.  We cannot live a godly live for even one hour without the power of the Holy  Spirit. We may live a proper, consistent life of good works and service; but  to live a life acceptable to God, with all the fulfillment of God's salvation an  love; to live a new life in Jesus - this is an impossibility unless we are  guided by the Holy Spirit every second of every day! 
You see, there is a danger! The Galatians received the Holy Spirit, but what  began by the Spirit they tried to perfect by their own effort. How did this  happen? They listened to the Jewish teachers who told them they had to  be circumcised. They began to seek their religion in what they did! Paul  then says about these Jewish teachers, "they sought to glory in their  flesh." 
What does Paul mean when he says, "in the flesh?" Put simply, he is  talking about our human nature. We can be very active in church work, and  have our life wrapped up in our religion, and somehow get our direction 
confused, and begin to try and serve God in our own strength. What a  sobering thought that we as believers can, without realizing it, be switched  from the line of the Holy Spirit onto the line of the flesh; that we can be  very diligent and make great sacrifices, and yet it is still in the strength of  our human will! We must ask ourselves the all important question: is our  religious life in the power of our flesh, or in the power of the Holy Spirit?  We may be Christian workers and people tell us we make great sacrifices  for God, and yet still live our life for ourself. It is a sobering thought! If there  is weakness in our lives and in our church it is because of this one word -  flesh! Self! This is our greatest enemy! 
And, the flesh may show itself in many different ways. We may talk about  God's word and God's kingdom continually to feel good about ourselves,  or to look good to others; and yet the power of the Holy Spirit be absent  from our lives. We may wonder why we don't see more people in our  community and in our families converted by the beautiful story of Calvary?  Why is there so much work and effort and yet so little results for eternity?  Why is there so little power to build us up as believers? And why don't we see Jesus shining from our lives as we did the early church? There can  only be one answer: We are not filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And  why is this? We know so much; and we have so much opportunity, how  can this be? There can only be one reason: the flesh and human effort  have taken the place that the Holy Spirit ought to have. 
This happened with the Galatians and Corinthians. We dare not allow  ourselves to think that we are different; that there is no danger we would  ever fall for this old trick of the enemy. Paul was very pointed when he said  to them: "I cannot speak to you as spiritual men; you ought to be spiritual  men, but you are carnal." Strong words for sure! Are they words that Paul  would say to you and me if he came to visit our church?

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