Hank’s Place

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Is the baptism in the Holy Spirit for you? Of course! Trying to make it as a Christian in this life without the supernatural help of God, is well, not only a struggle, but unnecessary.

What might that supernatural help look like? Let me share with you a little recollection from the 1970’s. The Charismatic Movement was ongoing. My wife and I were born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit in a little Baptist church in Oakmont PA near Pittsburgh. You heard me, a Baptist church!

Inside were Baptists – baptized in the Holy Spirit. Roman Catholics who wanted more of the Spirit. Protestants who wanted life in the Spirit. All sorts of folk!

A Scripture come to mind about that time: Ro 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” God’s kingdom is not rule keeping; it’s being right with God through His gift of righteousness, it’s peace with God and one another through the blood of Jesus. It’s joy in rejoicing in the love of God toward us.

People in that little church were joyous! They were looking to Jesus! Smiles everywhere! Hugs! Love! Acceptance! Forgiveness. Each one encouraging another. Sharing the love of God. Folks testifying of God’s working in their lives—each week. A person, or several, might give a prophecy. There was singing in the spirit with perhaps angelic choruses were joining in. Who cared about the time? There was such a sense of the presence of the Living God in our midst that it was difficult to leave!

Salvations? Baptisms? All-the-time! Healings and miraculous healings everywhere. And demons were being cast out as the oppressed were delivered. There was freedom in Christ!

You had no doubt God was alive and well when He spoke to you personally. When He gave you spiritual gifts to help others, like a word of knowledge or wisdom or prophecy. Or gifts of healing, or miracles. Those who resisted and ridiculed the Spirit’s working publicly one week might be found worshiping God next to you the following Sunday. Incredible! Such a sense of the Holy Spirit about to do something GOOD.

And I share this with you because I truly believe we are entering such a time once again; a time when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, multitudes will— COME ALIVE!

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I’ve been sharing that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a real, distinct event in Scripture, and that it is current and valid for every believer—like YOU. Jesus told the disciples to wait, until they were clothed with power from on high. Lu 24:49. Wait—because there was more in store than God’s promised Spirit of Adoption and being grafted into His family as a son of Abraham. Yes! God wanted His Church equipped in POWER – Dunamis – explosive POWER!

This ‘power from on high’ fell on the day of Pentecost. He, the Holy Spirit, is here; we do not need to tarry as they did. In Acts 8 we see half-breeds, mongrels, semi-Jews included as Peter and John went to Samaria to ensure that the new believers there got the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That’s how important it is, dear friends!

But God’s plan for His family includes even more Spirit empowered people! Those totally outside the Covenant! That revelation begins in Acts 10, with the Roman Centurion Cornelius, his family and close friends. There’s tons of material in Acts 10, but keeping on our point, Cornelius is told by an angel in a vision to call for Peter who is in Joppa. Peter was staying with a Jewish tanner. Tanners were unclean due to the tanning process. Yet there was Peter…. While there, Peter has a vision of a sheet filled with all sorts of unclean beasts, and Peter hears the words, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Peter goes with Cornelius’ servants to Cornelius’ home, begins sharing the gospel, and BOOM! the Holy Spirit falls and those GENTILES – those unclean beasts – the unholy – the common – the non-covenant people—begin speaking in tongues and glorifying God. It was astonishing! Magnificent! It was GOD, declaring heaven’s doors are open wide to WHOSOEVER—in an undeniable fashion! Ha! Peter gets called on the carpet back in Jerusalem. His defense: who can deny inclusion to “those who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did.” This issue is a big one however.

In Acts 15 a council is convened in Jerusalem because the devout Jewish Christians had trouble grasping this incredible truth: God is not a respecter of persons—but ANYONE, anywhere, who believes in Him is welcome. Peter settles things by referring to the Cornelius incident.

Dear friend, if you have been on the fence: believe, receive Jesus as Savior. If you have been on the fence regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I invite you to come off that fence and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Don’t you see, GOD is inviting YOU today – to Come Alive!

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Did you know John the Baptist is recorded in each Gospel as saying there was One coming after him who would baptize in the Holy Spirit? 4 times! 4 times! Must be important, don’t you think? Just listen….

In Acts 8:15-17, Peter and John were sent by the church leaders down to the new believers in Samaria, to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It says they laid their hands on them and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. A professional magician named Simon was so impressed that he offered them $$ to have the same authority; think about how impressive that must have been!

On Pentecost a few years earlier, only Jews and proselytes were baptized in the Holy Spirit. But now the Good News was being shared even with Samaritans.

So who were the Samaritans? Samaria was capitol of the Northern Kingdom, begun by Jeroboam following Solomon’s death. 1 Ki 11-12. It was capital of the 10 tribes. Jeroboam made 2 golden calves for the people to include in their worship. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. Genuine worship became a memory. In 721BC Sargon of the Assyrians conquered them and carried off 27,290 inhabitants, replacing them with conquered foreigners – who brought along their gods. So Samaria was a mixed race of people, mongrels, with a heathen core. You might say they were very low on the Jewish totem pole, try: at the bottom. Racist? Yes indeed.

But these ‘inferior people’ as far as the Judaean Jews were concerned, were hearing the Gospel and believing it! And truly amazing: the leadership in Jerusalem, upon hearing this, actually SENT Peter and John down to them to get the Holy Spirit baptism! It was so important that the Jewish church leaders sent apostles to them, overcoming all the centuries of antagonism, to be sure they were filled with the HS. Today I invite you to grasp this truth: God does not care about your breeding or background: He wants you born again, part of His family, and filled with power from on high. So why delay – be filled today – and COME ALIVE!

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Hey Christian! Remember how Jesus was encouraging us in John 14? He was going away, but He would send us a Helper – our Enabler – the Holy Spirit. With us. In us. Teaching/leading/guiding us into GOD stuff!

After His resurrection, Jesus said something mysterious. It’s in Luke 24:49, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 2 things. “The Promise of my Father,” the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham—sending the Spirit of Adoption, that we would become sons of Abraham, and sons of God, heirs of God Himself.

But then there is this “power from on high stuff.” Things can get confusing: but let’s keep it simple. Two feasts, Passover and Pentecost. Passover foreshadowing our being born again as righteous children of God, separated from the world, transferred into God’s kingdom. Pentecost: foreshadowing our Holy Spirit baptism, when the power of God comes upon us. And we are clothed with power from on high, as Jesus promised!

In John 20:22, Jesus breaths upon the disciples, saying, “receive the Holy Spirit!”  They were born again. So when did they get the power from on high? Pentecost. Ah, Pentecost—see Acts 2. Tongues of FIRE appeared upon the believers in the Upper Room. They spoke in known and unknown tongues, glorifying God. “This is that” declares Peter – the fulfilling of the words not of God to Abraham, but of the prophet Joel – the Spirit of the Living God outpoured upon the earth for whosoever would believe and receive! The power from on high: to witness of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit in many ways, before the coming Day of the Lord.

Passover, and Pentecost! Having trouble with your witness in these dark tumultuous times? Maybe you need to experience your Pentecost. With the Holy Spirit within and the Holy Spirit upon you, my friend, there is no doubt that others will say: you—have COME ALIVE!

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I’ve great news for you today if you are a Christian. Perhaps you have been told, “Now that you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, now you need to live for Him, live the Christian life, have a Christian lifestyle.”

Well, the Good News is: YOU CAN’T! Try it and you WILL fail—guaranteed. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ Jesus! But weren’t the early believers at Antioch the first to be called “Christians?” TRUE – it is found in Acts 11:26.

“Christians” means ‘little anointed ones’ – did you get that? Keyword: anointed. They were anointed of the Holy Spirit. They had the Spirit of God within them and the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them. Like Paul says to us in Romans (Ro 6:11), they were counting themselves dead to sin and alive to God. Alive in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s anointing.

YOU don’t live the Christian life: The Anointed One lives His life through you! Receive new life in the Spirit – it’s what God has intended. Why else would Jesus call the Holy Spirit our “Helper” and “Enabler” in John 14:16 & 26? Why else would He tell His followers not to attempt any ministry until the coming of the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:4-8?

Our part? BELIEVE Jesus’ words. Many folk believe they got all the Holy Spirit they’ll ever get when they were born again. Hmmm. Then explain to me why there is the Jewish feast of Passover – a shadow of Jesus rescuing us from our sins, and Pentecost – a shadow of when the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon the earth for all to receive?

This fact speaks strongly to me that there is something more than being born again; something to help you— COME ALIVE!

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Struggling to keep some New Year Resolutions? That’s not surprising – the flesh is weak no matter how willing our spirits may be. But HEY, I have some GOOD NEWS for you: we live by FAITH, not by the resolutions we have made!

More GOOD NEWS: faith is a REST; not a performance test, endurance race, or contest. Just check out Heb 4. The author tells us that God has prepared a REST for us. He reminds us that the ancient Israelites heard His voice, but were disobedient to it. They refused to BELIEVE what God told them and instead acted on their own. So sad, for they all perished apart from Joshua and Caleb! He tells us to believe God’s word, His promises (which are all “Yea and Amen” 2 Cor 1:20) and enter the rest prepared for us. What rest? From our own labors of trying to make a great life happen and gain eternal life at the end.

Understand, God’s rest has nothing to do with taking a break from work and activities. It has everything to do with trusting God. What has God said? What has He promised YOU? He gave Abraham promises of blessing. And why? Because He was GOD and He said so. Abraham’s role? BELIEVE God would keep His word. REST from trying to make it happen, and trust God to do what God had promised.

Faith is not YOU doing YOUR BEST so that God cannot help but reward you. Rather, it is YOU having FAITH in GOD’S BEST: His Son Jesus! Our Savior, sin bearer, healer, restorer, provider, and fulfiller of every dream God has given us.

Believe, for instance, that Jesus is your righteousness importer. You are as righteous before the Father as Jesus Christ is. You are, if you believe on Jesus as your Savior. Check out 2 Cor 5:21. If you believe, you’ll stop trying to prove yourself worthy before God. You will simply receive HIS righteousness. Peace will flood your soul. You will enter His rest—you will have COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place There’s more to John 3 than :16

John 3:16 is truly awesome! The Gospel in a verse. But did you know the verses that sandwich it are also awesome? Yes! In John 3 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus admonishes him – if you stumble over my words, Jesus tells him, when I’m speaking earthly things, what will you do when I share with you heavenly truths? Then Jesus unloads blockbuster spiritual truths on Nicodemus!

In verses :14 & :15, Jesus says that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and in the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up. In Moses’ day, there was a time when serpents were biting and killing the grumbling, rebellious, hard-hearted Israelites. BUT – if a bitten Israelite would look to the serpent that Moses had placed upon a staff, he would not die, but be healed. Sin was the issue. Could the Israelite see his sin – in the form of that serpent – upon that pole? If he did, he got healed! Faith! And God’s mercies!

It’s the same with us today, my friend. If we can see Jesus bearing OUR sin upon Calvary’s cross, then we too will be healed from our sin and enter eternal life! This truth is stated in :15 and repeated in :16 – it is super important!

More of the sandwich – in :17 Jesus tells Nicodemus that God sent His son to SAVE us, not to judge us, and if we believe in Jesus we are not judged.

Ominously, Jesus then goes on to say he who does NOT believe in Him has been judged already. Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. God is not their judge, but they have judged themselves, choosing the darkness and evil over the Light of the world.

God does not send people to Hell; they judge themselves. And send themselves to the destination created for the devil and his angelic followers. O my friend! Help others to see Jesus bearing their sin to Calvary – that they may not die – but COME ALIVE!

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Soon people the world over will be celebrating the New Year 2018. Oh wow. Deja vue all over again. And again. And again. Last year’s New Year’s Resolution lists? Pull them out – let’s use them – they didn’t last very long. We’ll try harder this time. More determination. Persistence. Fortitude. Resolve. THIS YEAR we’ll keep them, right?

Who are we kidding? You and I both know how doomed this is! Doing things by the power of human ability is so limited—to our ability. Well, don’t be depressed my friend, but consider the power of GOD.

Paul tells us in 2 Cor 5:17 if we are IN Christ then we have been transformed into NEW CREATIONS, the old things HAVE passed away; NEW THINGS HAVE COME! Paul declares there is a new way of living: in Christ, in the grace of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit – by faith.

The best New Year’s resolution? RESOLVING to believe this and ALL that God says concerning us! How about we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God – 
Ro 6:11? How about the words of Paul in Gal 2:20 our own confession: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave up His life for me.”

As Paul did:
– let’s see our old man, on that cross with Jesus; dead
– let’s see ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus, not controlled by our own desires
– and let’s see Jesus alive within us, and us trusting Him with our own lives.

Reality from God’s viewpoint declares we ARE heirs of GOD; adopted into His family; with the full rights and privileges of His own son! May God’s reality become YOUR REALITY in 2018—after all, 2018 is a wonderful year to COME ALIVE! Happy New Year!

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Are you troubled with the merchandizing, marketing, manipulation, greed and the excesses of Christmas? Want to go back to an Old Time Christmas? I don’t think so!

Let me give you a little background to Christmas. In 320AD Pope Julius I designated Dec 25th as a holy day in order to counteract the excesses of the Saturnalia celebrations across all of Europe. Those dated back to even pre-Christ times. Until 320 churches either did not celebrate the birth of Christ or did so on any day they chose.

Well, the edict was not very successful. People enjoyed their revelry and celebrations! Many preferred to participate in the pagan festivals—and repent afterwards. The flesh loves indulgent excesses!

Things had gotten so bad in England in the 1600’s that one of the planks of Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan political party was to eliminate Christmas! He was voted in, but when succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell, his party was overthrown by King Charles II. King Charles promised to make Christmas as bawdy as before! The Pilgrims were thrown out of power. Soon Christmas in England was back to bawdy songs, rum, rioting in the streets and thievery. Most genuine Christians loathed Christmas, considering it an instrument of the devil for sin. In some parts of London women and children feared to go out into the streets on Christmas Day!

The Pilgrims left for the new world, and landed at Plymouth in 1620. They promptly outlawed Christmas. There were no church celebrations, businesses were ordered open, and anyone caught celebrating was subject to fines and arrest. Maybe not what you expected concerning Christmas traditions in America, eh?

These laws forbidding Christmas celebrations remained on the books for over 200 years. Congress continued to meet on Christmas Day up to 1856. However the excesses of an Old English Christmas had true appeal to the unregenerate flesh, and gradually the outrageous English Christmas appeared in America, though to a lessor degree. It was NOT Christmas as we would think of it or as most of us would want it!

But on the continent of Europe things were changing. In the early 1600’s, much of Europe, especially Germany, celebrated the season as a joyous and warm family time. Carols were sung in the churches, thanks in large measure to Martin Luther, who did not fear to bring the easily sung and well loved tunes of the streets into the church setting.

Huge changes then occurred in the first half of the 1800’s. In 1822 “T’was the Night Before Christmas” was written by Clement Clark Moore and for the first time Christmas was seen in America as a joyous holiday for children. Soon Christmas as a joyous family affair appeared – most everywhere. In1834 Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” and Christmas in England was transformed! The crushing dehumanizing industrial revolution had to give place for a time to consider the wonder of life and the birth of a Savior.

In 1840 Queen Victoria of England married Prince Alfred of Germany, and the warm German Christmas traditions were imported to England—and people were overjoyed!

Christmas was undergoing a powerful transformation, a transformation quite apart from the Church. Over the rest of the century, joy, family, giving, and worship replaced pagan debauchery, lewdness, revelry, rioting and drunkenness in both England and America.

The tradition of gift giving, at first a simple and modest gesture, exploded in America following “The Night Before Christmas,” with merchants sensing great opportunity. Soon Santa was everywhere and people around the world quickly adjusted their celebrations to include him (and the sales he brought for merchants of course). Then with WWII and the time it took to send gifts to loved ones half a world away, the Christmas buying season expanded (again to the delight of merchants) to a full month before Christmas.

So what is our takeaway? Well, the cry to “Put Christ back into Christmas” stands on pretty weak ground historically. Jesus was never the official, governmental, or church focus of Christmas in England or in America.

BUT—Christmas IS here, like it or not. So why not make your own celebration of Christmas? Why not put Jesus into YOUR Christmas? Can you not see Him in the wreath, the evergreens, the candles, the tree? Can you not share Him with others, God’s gift to us, and the Greatest Gift of all?

JESUS the Son of God, who came and enabled redemption for all who believe. The JESUS who comes today as Lord to anyone who will believe, turn, and receive Him. JESUS who will come yet again for all to see: The KING of Kings and LORD of Lords!  Hallelujah!

Yes, why not put Jesus into YOUR Christmas—and COME ALIVE!

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SIN! Do Christians sin? Why would they? Perhaps they feel they have no choice? Don’t they know who they are? How about you?

1 Cor 6:19 tells us a Christian is one spirit with the Lord; any Christian is as righteous and holy as Jesus. This is a MOUTHFUL! 1 Cor 3:16 tells us we are the TEMPLE of the God, and that temple IS holy, for GOD dwells in it, MAKING it holy. Another mouthful!

If you don’t know it, you’ll likely do unrighteous and unholy things. Rule based religion tells you to obey the rules, and then you will be holy. It’s the cart before the horse. And because the power to resist sin in rule based religion is in your flesh, you will fail. Repeatedly.

The Gospel truth is much better. As we found in 1 Cor, you are holy, you are one spirit with the Lord. The Lord in IN you, making your holy. The Lord is bigger than any sin of yours. So live holy. Instead of FIGHTING in the flesh to RESIST sin, REST in who you are: a righteous, holy, new creation united with Jesus. Remember, Paul was writing to those fleshly Corinthians, who were getting drunk at communion and leaving others to go hungry. Yet they were holy. Righteous. One spirit with the Lord. Think about it!

“…consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus… do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts… present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s Ro 6:11 and 14.

Here is the takeaway: sin might presently have dominion over you because you don’t know the truth of who you are. The solution? Confess the truth, that you are under grace, free from sin’s dominion. Soon the KINGDOM reality will become YOUR REALITY. You will have COME ALIVE!

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