Category: The Shepherd Publications

A GOOD NAME
Carl Geary died a month ago from a heart attack as he campaigned for the small country town. Despite his sudden death, he still polled over three times as many votes as his rival in the election in Tracy City, Tennessee. His widow, Susan Geary, was not surprised by the election results. “The day he passed away, people were calling with condolences and saying, ‘We’re still voting for him,’ she said.

Geary was known for telling the truth and served on the city council. He received 285 votes to his rival’s 85. “I knew he was deceased. I know that sounds stupid, but we wanted someone other than the current Mayor,” said Chris Rogers, owner of the town’s Lunch Box restaurant

HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS ESSENCE Part 5: Receiving the Holy Spirit
John 7:37-39 says:
37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:…
This is an open invitation to everyone who believe in Jesus as the Saviour of the world, and not to unbelievers. The unbelievers who still commits sin have no part in this all-important experience. The number one condition therefore is to be free from sin through faith in the atoning blood of Christ and to live a holy life void of inner pollution.

After the salvation and holiness experience, Jesus says “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” The Holy Spirit is the water of life that makes an ordinary man become extraordinary. Many of us have

HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS ESSENCE
Part 4: Holy Spirit and His mighty works
“God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” Hebrews 2:4. This single edition dedicated to the mighty acts and workings of the Holy Spirit is only a preamble and a glimpse into what the Holy Spirit can do through yielded vessels that choose to allow themselves to be used of Him.

Starting with the early Apostles, Peter got the Holy Ghost and his first sermon swept about 3,000 souls into the Kingdom at a goal (Acts 2:41-47).

HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS ESSENCE
Part 3: Holy Spirit in tongues and power

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. The coming of the Holy Spirit brings undeniable power. If you have ever read about any anointed man, the secret of the anointing is the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the power behind the mighty works of the early Apostles.

Through the years, God has used men who knew what it meant to be endued with the power of the Holy Spirit.

HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS ESSENCE
Part 2: Holy Spirit: Treasure in earthen vessel
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” II Corinthians 4:7. The Holy Spirit is the Treasure that dwells in the earthen vessel of man. But not any man, only a transformed man. Whether you call Him the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, ‘Holy’ or ‘holiness’ is inseparable from His name. His nature is holy, His dwelling place is holy, and He can only abide in Holy vessels.
The reason for the absence of His power in our world today is because the vessels that claim to carry the treasure are defiled.

HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS ESSENCE
Part 1: Holy Spirit and the coming revival.
Dr. Charles S. Price, a notable evangelist, said in a sermon he preached shortly before his death: “Yesterday we sang ‘Showers of Blessings,’ but now we are waiting for the deluge! It is coming and nothing can stop it. You have thought, have you not, that you have been in some glorious healing services? Perhaps you have and for them we praise the Lord. But wait a little while. I declare unto you that God is going to do better in your tomorrows than He has ever done in the past.”
Everywhere you turn it’s a resounding echo of the coming revival.

THE WAY OF THE MULTITUDES
The story was told of a man who saw a lot of people on a queue and he thought in his heart that it was the right path to his destination, only to realize that the queue with few people on it was actually the right one for him. He thought that having many people on that queue should make it the right way, but he was wrong.
Jesus gave a warning “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt 7:13-14. Going by this warning alone, anyone who cares about his or her eternal destiny should avoid going the way of the multitudes.

THE UNCOMMON REFORMER (Part 2 of 2)
After his conversion and dramatic baptism in the Holy Spirit, he quitted practicing law to enlist in the cause of Christ. He knew with a deep sense that God had commissioned him to preach the gospel. He found out that he was unwilling to do anything else, had no disposition to neither make money nor thirst after worldly pleasures. His whole mind was taken up with Jesus and the gospel. He departed from traditional Calvinist theology and taught salvation by choice to all. Central to his preaching was justification by faith. He advocated a “second blessing of the Holy Spirit” (sanctification) and also believed it was possible for Christians to backslide and

THE UNCOMMON REFORMER (Part 1 of 2)
After his conversion and dramatic baptism in the Holy Spirit, he quitted practicing law to enlist in the cause of Christ. He knew with a deep sense that God had commissioned him to preach the gospel. He found out that he was unwilling to do anything else, had no disposition to neither make money nor thirst after worldly pleasures. His whole mind was taken up with Jesus and the gospel. He departed from traditional Calvinist theology and taught salvation by choice to all. Central to his preaching was justification by faith. He advocated a “second blessing of the Holy Spirit” (sanctification) and also believed it was possible for Christians to backslide and lose their salvation as opposed to the erroneous eternal security preached today by many.

Finney was an active revivalist who through prayer “took short-cuts to men’s hearts, and demolished the subterfuges of unbelief by God’s Word”. His steadfastness in prayer impacted so much that the Holy Spirit would brood on the audience till they turned to Christ.

LITTLE FOLLY THAT COSTS MUCH
“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour” (Ecclesiastes 10:1). When a man acts without thinking and does things, only to later regret the consequences of such actions, that is nothing but folly.

In Genesis 25:29-34, Esau returned from the field and he was dying of hunger. “Sell me this day thy birthright”, Jacob named his price. There are people like Jacob today who are after the most precious things in your life.