end times witnessing: a doctor’s attitude－be a bringer of light

“We write so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” This is the writer’s attitude of Dr. Luke. He writes with a specific focused goal in his mind. He wants to communicate the facts he has personally observed and carefully researched and investigated, in an orderly manner, clearly and accurately. This is how we write too when we talk about the matters of God. I have observed and researched healthcare prevention and treatment and have worked with friends who are in the medical line and my perception of the dedicated ones is that they are serious and very cautious about what they have learned and practiced in their line of profession. A doctor has told me that it is because they have to deal with life and death issue. Life and death issue is the line where we cannot afford to be casual and/or untruthful. This is the issue that our Lord Jesus has dealt with while on earth and taught His disciples to do the same. Luke has followed closely the disciples of Jesus. This is the tenth year of my personal blogging, from an individual Christian viewpoint, learning to communicate what I have personally observed, encountered, researched and investigated. Last night I was led to read the introductions of Luke in Luke 1:1-4, and Acts 1:1-5. How relevant this guide and goal for me is. The Lord has spoken again to me and I know I still have a long way to go. I pray that I shall be faithful and focused.

Luke 1:1-4 New Living Translation (NLT)

Introduction
1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.[a] 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

Footnotes:

1:2 Greek from those who from the beginning were servants of the word.

Acts 1:1-3 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

In my first book[a] I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. 3 During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

4 Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with[b] water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Footnotes:

1:1 The reference is to the Gospel of Luke.
1:5 Or in; also in 1:5b.

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The Biblical baby name Luke is Hebrew in origin and its meaning is bringer of light, morning.

Luke is pronounced loo-k.

Luke was a physician in Rome and an early convert to Christianity. He befriended Paul, and was his companion during his many evangelical journeys and even imprisonment. Luke wrote one of the four gospels describing the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Luke is also called Lucas in the Bible.

Biblical reference for the name Luke:
2 Corinthians 13:14; Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 1:24; Book of Luke; Acts of Apostles
Strong’s Bible Concordance G3065

The Sovereignty Of The Spirit

blogger's spiritual review

This blogger started this journey in the Holy Spirit since July 2007; this journey has been worth the while. The Holy Spirit teaches the things of God just as Jesus has said.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 has become real to me over the years progressively.

In this blog I have referred to many Spirit inspired works and recommended them often. Lately I have been listening, watching and reading Bible teachings from some of those who have taught Bible for forty years and above.

Yesterday, I was brought back to even much earlier teachings on the Holy Spirit. Here is an excerpt from Austin-Sparks (1888-1971).

The Sovereignty Of The Spirit

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." A sovereign act of the Spirit. That takes us back to this other fragment: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh", and to that earlier fragment in this Gospel by John, which makes it so clear, so emphatic: "...which were born, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (1:13). This is something in the sovereign hands of the Holy Spirit and taken right out of the hands of men. You cannot convert yourself, you cannot convert anyone else; you cannot make yourself into this other creature, this new creation, and you can never make anyone else it. And you can never say when it is to be, either for yourself, or for anyone else. All that is a matter of the sovereign Spirit. If the wind decides to blow, it does not give you notice a day beforehand! It just blows, and when it blows you cannot say, 'You are out-of-date, you have come at the wrong time - this is not a convenient moment!' It blows, and that is all there is to it.
Now here you are touching a principle: the sovereignty of the Spirit, as represented by the sovereignty of the wind. You know quite well that [it] is useless to stand up against the wind when it really decides to blow. Carry that principle over further into the New Testament, and you will read three times: "And the Lord added to the church those that were being saved...", "there were added unto them...", "there were added to the Lord..." Who added? Did the apostles add? Not at all. The Lord added. There is all the difference between our being told to go and join a church, and the Lord adding to Christ, or between our joining what we call a church, and being added to Christ. We cannot join Christ at our own will, just when we want to, or think we will decide to, because being added to Christ involves being re-constituted on a different principle, and that is not in our power at all. It is the Lord Who must do it, so that the adding is His sovereign act: and when He decides to do it, it is wonderful, is it not? And if He does not decide to do it, you can work yourself to death, and nothing will happen. This is the work of the Lord.
Look at the day of Pentecost. The wind blew then - a mighty rushing wind. Was it sovereignty? "And there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls." This was the sovereignty of the Spirit. How wide and far-reaching is the application of that! Oh, that Christianity were on that fundamental basis today - the absolute sovereignty of the Holy Spirit! Why is it not so? Because of the present sovereignty of the natural, because of the intrusion into Christianity of the natural man.
( excerpts from: God's Reactions to Man's Defections - Part 2 by T. Austin-Sparks - Chapter 5 - The Spiritual Basis of the Christian Life )
It is worthwhile to visit the web-site of Austin-Sparks and ask the Lord to show you what articles to read. http://www.austin-sparks.net/

Books too: "A spiritual state is the key to all that is of God. Spirituality is the door, and the key to the door, beyond which lies everything that relates to God. Without spirituality, there is no way through, the door is closed. "

Journey in the Holy Spirit: being spiritual

Because this blog is all about God, I am reluctant to say much about my own thoughts or sharing my life. But I have been witnessing the increasing chasm between the spiritual and carnal Christians (those who are more accustomed to use their five senses) all over the world. So I have decided to share a bit here, despite the limitation of my words.
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I have lived in different parts of the world and have encountered different customs and cultures for the bulk of my life.
In the last ten years I have gradually encountered the reality of the holy God in the Spirit, in the Bible and in life. I realized what it means to have the reverent fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). This means agreeing the spiritual existence of absolute good and evil and the final accountability everyone must give to the holy God, who abhors things done not of the Spirit, but out of man’s flesh or carnality.
Jesus has Himself declared, the ruler of this world has nothing in Him. His disciples followed the same principle.

When one aligns with God, one does not yearn to be the same as the Jones. What do Christians have to do with evil? Why bring in their customs and cultures which are abominations in the eyes of the holy God? God wants us set apart for Him, away from the world and its customs, just as He had warned the Israel people. 
Being spiritual means we live in awareness of two realms: the physical and the spiritual. The spiritual reality governs the physical. All customs and cultures have a spiritual realm where the spiritual rulers rule and direct their adherents’ lives. Apostle Paul had revealed this truth in Ephesians 6:12.
Our Lord Jesus warned the disciples to be spiritually discerning when sending them into the world! “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrew as snakes and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) Jesus was talking about the physical as well as spiritual enemies. Why? Because they were stepping into spiritual enemy’s territory as they go out and witness for Jesus!

The pagans know better about the spiritual. They are wise on what to avoid and when. For example, different cultures round the world have their own ‘ghost’ festivals. The Chinese called the Halloween in the West, the Westerners’ ‘ghost’ night, the night when the evil spirits paraded, (like the Chinese July month when hell opened its gates and let the hungry demons come out) and they avoid going out that night! Other pagan religions too have their own ghost periods and festivals.
A spiritually discerning person can see spirits. They see spirits in unclean houses, the streets, schools, offices, hospitals, shopping malls, movie theaters, and funeral parlors. A normally fit and healthy rational German Christian man recently testified that he walked under the air vent of a shopping mall, and saw this huge black thing coming at him, entered and went through him. He was instantly hit with severe pain and collapsed on the floor. His wife and daughter who regularly attend a Spirit-filled, Bible believing and adhering church, took authority using the name of Jesus, prayed fervently, as he lied there near dead, gasping for breath. he finally survived. The experience was traumatic.
When Christians stay away from certain locations during certain time, they merely obey the leading of the Spirit of the Lord, who is holy. The evil spirits know too whether you are walking in the Holy Spirit or not. The seven sons of the priest were attacked by the evil spirit because they knew Jesus and apostle Paul walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, but this group of exorcists did not. This group of believers were trying to do the right thing, casting demon, using the mighty name of the Lord Jesus. But they were not sent by the Lord. They went on their own flesh and of course they suffered the terrible consequences.
When God sent Moses to Egypt to confront Pharaoh, the Lord gave him spiritual power to overcome the territorial evil spirits controlling the land there. When the prophet Samuel patrolled the Israel land he was just one man, but the territorial spirit of the Philistines feared him, because he walked in the Spirit of the Lord. None of his words fell to the ground. He merely spoke and the words took effect.
Unless we are sent by the Lord and walk in discernment of the spiritual realm and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we do not do exploits. This is what I have learned over thirty years being a born again Christian, after having suffered immense loss.
So what shall an ordinary Christian do? Find out more about the reality of God and His words, the Bible. The Bible cannot be read as a knowledge book. Do not rationalize away the real meaning and purpose of the holy words. Jesus has warned clearly, as the pharisees and other religious leaders, even His own followers/disciples did not believe in the spiritual reality of Jesus and what Jesus has represented. Read the four Gospels again. Ask the Lord Holy Spirit to guide you. Daily pray the prayers of apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (1:16-23; 3:14-21).
What happens if some still cannot hear the Holy Spirit? I believe in the grace and mercy of God. Keep seeking to know God, keep asking His Spirit to reveal to you. For a start, daily praying the Lord’s Prayer can help you a lot, if you believe!
John 6:61-65 (NKJV)
⁶¹ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. ⁶⁵ And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

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Hell is real!