A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

As long as we use the behavior of other people as the yardstick, with which to judge our own conduct there will be no motivation for us to change. No matter the bad things I was doing. . . no matter the lies I told. . . no matter the promises I broke. . . no matter the immoral acts I committed, I could always find someone, who in my mind was doing worse things things than I. . .I would remember good things I had done and be satisfied that they somehow cancelled out the bad. . . There were always reasons for my short comings. . . there was always rationalization and justification for my acts. . . which though I knew deep in my heart to be wrong, but still I could justify them. . . until that day when I met the Lord Jesus, and He revealed himself to me. . . Then He became my yardstick. If you’ve never seen anything white, you can fool yourself into thinking any shade of gray is almost white. . . When I found Jesus, I saw purity and unblemished holiness. . . I saw for the first time ...

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Beginning to reread this morning as my devotional, the third book of David Bernards Pentecostal Theology series. The book is titled: "In Search of Holiness". The above verse is the caption for the beginning page of the first chapter. Holiness, as all things having to do with God and religion, if taken with the wrong spirit. . . without love. . . can be damaging. . . having a destructive effect. We shouldn't strive for holiness, with the goal in mind of demonstrating our righteousness. . . We shouldn't strive for holiness motivated solely in the hopes of being judged worthy of entering into heaven. . . Our Lord desires us to be holy and to live holy and sanctified lives. . . Be ye holy for I am holy He said. . . and loving the Lord with all our heart, mind. . . body. . . strength. . . we should hunger to do those things which are pleasing to Him and to avoid those thi...

Last evening Jackie and I put the movie, "Paul the Apostle" in the DVD player in anticipation of watching a 3 hour movie on the life of Paul. A few minutes into the move, it portrays the day of Pentecost. It shows Jesus telling them to wait for the Holy Spirit, then the scene changes to the upper room, where many are shown praying, then there was a great sound of a mighty rushing wind in the room. . . the flames of the lights brighten apparently in reference to the tongues of fire, but there is absolutely no speaking in tongues when the 120 were filled with the God’s Holy Spirit. . . Here is the Scripture: Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy ...

We are not bad because we sin. . . but rather we sin because we are bad. . . Sin is a symptom, and not a root cause. Our nature itself is one of selfish, and prideful hungers. No matter how idyllic our childhood. . . no matter how abundant our lives. . . no matter how fine an education we have. . .no matter the advantages and blessings which befall us, if we are left to our own devices, we will eventually express the blackness which inherently resides inside of us. Sin is the rule and not the exception. Without God, the only difference between the scarred and tattooed thug sitting in a prison cell and the little white haired grandmotherly lady with her apron and her hair done up in a bun, is the battle ground on which they fight their battles. . . be it meth or crack cocaine or peaking at cards at gin rummy. . . sin is sin is sin. . . and it befalls all of us. Externally applied righteousness is no righteousness. The Law of Moses was given to show, that rules written on ta...