Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
"If
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but THE SPIRIT
IS LIFE because of righteousness."
Romans 8:10
"The letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life."
2Cor.3:6
"It is the Spirit
that quickeneth [makes alive]; The flesh profits nothing:
The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
John 6:63
Rather than seek God for the holy Ghost baptism, many people choose to hire ministers to teach them that the holy Ghost is not necessary for salvation. Since repentance is required in order to receive the holy Ghost, what they are really trying to do is to be right with God without truly repenting. Jesus can fix that wrong thinking, if a person is willing to be fixed. It is easy to see that receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost is essential for salvation once a person dares to understand and believe the above three Scriptures.
In Romans 8:10, Paul said, "the Spirit is life". Trust that. Life is what the Spirit is. The Spirit is God's life, the eternal life that is within Him. It is the same eternal life that God gave to His Son (Jn. 5:26). Think on that. God gave life to the Son! That means God gave His Spirit to His Son because "the Spirit is life".
Jesus said that the holy Spirit is what makes men truly alive. Then, no one is alive without it. Paul said it this way, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, [that man] is none of His" (Rom. 8:9). Without God's life, the holy Ghost, in you, you do not belong to God. You have no life and no hope of salvation. Believe that.
Many years ago now, the Lord gave me a sermon for our radio program based on this simple truth: "the Spirit is life". I read aloud many Scriptures from the New Testament that mentioned "life", exactly as they appear in the Bible. Then I read them again, teaching the same message but this time substituting the words "holy Ghost" for the word "life" in each verse I read. You can do it for yourself. All the verses below have the word "life" in them, but I have removed that word and left a blank there instead. Put "holy Ghost" in the blanks and see what a better understanding of those verses will come to you.
John 1:4 In him was _______; and the ________ was the light of men.
John 8:12 I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of ____________.
John 5:26 For as the Father hath ___________.. in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have_________ in himself.
John 17:2 Father . . . Thou hast given [me] power over all flesh, that [I] should give __________ to as many as Thou hast given [me].
John 10:10 I am come that they might have _________, and have it more abundantly.
John 6:33 For the bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven, and giveth ____________. to the world.
John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them ____________, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Ephesians 4:17-18 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the under- standing darkened, being alienated from the _________ of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His _______
1John 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even _______. (cp. Acts 1:4-5; Gal. 3:14).