Along the Way w/ Bro. Ryan

" But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His ."  - Rom. 8:9 (larger context, v. 1-13) Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do? I would like to first mention that this post will not be an exhaustive account of everything the Holy Spirit is and does, but this is simply a surface-level character sketch.  God the Holy Spirit is a great wonder to the human mind, not one we will ever totally be able to figure out on this side of glory. Before I launch into answering these two initial questions, I first need to note what Christians confess about the Holy Spirit and then briefly explain what the Holy Spirit is not. Our general confession : 1)       God has eternally existed as Three-Persons 2)       The three Persons of the Holy Trinity are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 3)     ...

" Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness .'"  - Matt. 7:21-23 This is a sobering and often frightening passage of Scripture as it makes it abundantly clear that there will be many people on the Day of Judgment who will have participated in church ministries, were involved in humanitarian efforts in the name of God, experienced emotional seasons of intense worship, and even performed miraculous spiritual signs and wonders, who will be turned away from heaven as lost unbelievers.  They will religious lives, seeking signs and wonders rather than Christ Himself and forgiveness of sins.  They will rely on their own efforts and...

" To the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you .'" - Genesis 3:16 If you have been a believer and regular church attender for a reasonable amount of time, you've likely heard a sermon or two on creation and the Fall of mankind.  Genesis 3 should be a familiar chapter to most Christians as it records when everything was drastically changed. Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit after giving into the temptation and 'Word twisting' of Satan, thus plunging all of mankind into the abyss of the sin nature.  Everything was affected - man, animals, nature, the universe.  Everything from physical health, to mental health, to natural and cosmic order became subject to the fallen nature and the curse of God for sin. I've heard this passage preached many times in my life and I've also read it many times.  As I hav...

" And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched - 'Where there the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched .'" - Mark 9:43-44 ( Isaiah 66:24 ) I've had pastors, both directly and indirectly, deny preaching on the subject of Hell and even if those who indirectly deny preaching it so dare to mention it, its in passing or is a quick reference and then their message continues onward. I even spoke with a young pastor over a month ago who claimed that he both believed in Hell and man's sin yet he refused to preach on either subject because "people's lives are already hard enough, and so many people are depressed, so I just want people to know about the love of God." Furthermore, there are high-profile pastors who have written books on the subject of Hell only to deny that such a place even exist...