The Highest Standard

Morality is not enough, only the Sovereignty of God meets the standard.

Do not grow weary doing good works to His standard, for His Glory.

2 Corinthians 4:15-16
2Cor 4:15 For all things are for you, that the grace may superabound through the greater number, and may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
2Cor 4:16 Because of this, we do not faint, but if indeed our outward man is being decayed, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day

Isaiah 55:11

I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it . (Isaiah 55:11)

THE NEW BIBLE COMMENTARY, page
601, 602

Seek ye the Lord… for he will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6,7). These verses describe the true path of conversion: repentance; return to God from the ways of sin; the mercy of God; and the divine pardon. The ultimate ground for confidence is in God, who is not like men, but who in thought, and purpose transcends them absolutely. Man’s forgiveness is uncertain and imperfect; God, however, can abundantly pardon.

As the rain… (Isaiah 55:10,11). The promise is as sure as the very facts of nature in its mystery and power.

Ye shall go out with joy…(Isaiah 55:12). The picture is one of unadulterated joy as those that have been redeemed by the hand of the Lord come into the habitation He has prepared. The wilderness will be left behind and gardens of light and beauty will welcome them as they advance. Cf. Isaiah 35:9

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Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
- Hebrews 4:12

alive between cutting desires exposes for God innermost joint marrow our powerful sharper sharpest soul spirit sword than the Word thoughts two edged

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PSALM 32:1-2

“BLESSED IS HE
WHOSE TRANSGRESSIONS ARE FORGIVEN, WHOSE
SINS ARE COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE
SIN THE LORD DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST HIM AND IN
WHOSE SPIRIT IS NO DECEIT.”
( PSALM 32:1-2 )

against blessed count covered deceit does forgiven Him in Lord man no not sin sins spirit transgressions whose

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Leadership

I have reason to suspect that many people are trying to give leadership in Christian churches today without ever having yielded to the wise and effective leading of the Holy Spirit. He truly is the Spirit of wisdom, understanding and counsel. He alone can bring the gracious presence of the living God into our lives and ministries.

We forget that the illumination of the Holy Spirit of God is a necessity, not only in our ministerial preparation, but in the administrative and leadership functions of our churches.

Christian Personality

In Romans 8:29, the apostle Paul explained the Christian’s mission. He said,

“For those whom [God] foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”

The believer’s character, conduct, and conversation should reflect Christ. On our own, we’d place too much emphasis on conduct. We’d get caught up following rules and rituals that look “Christian” yet don’t truly reflect Christ. But God has given each believer His Spirit as a teacher and guide. The Holy Spirit transforms our minds and hearts so our character is much different than unbelievers’. Only when we’re under the Spirit’s control can we speak and act according to our true identity as God’s children.

Sanctification

A new believer is sanctified when he places his faith in Jesus Christ. He’s set apart for God’s purpose. Salvation takes place in a single moment, but sanctification is a lifetime process. Those who trust Christ as Savior and allow the Spirit to control their lives are being sanctified. It doesn’t matter what we may feel or how our actions appear to others. We are progressively maturing in our faith.

The Funeral Remains Of The Body

So it is in the Church of Christ. It is literally true that some churches are dead. The Holy Spirit has gone out of them and all you have left are “the remains.” You have the potential of the church but you do not have the church, just as you have in a dead man the potential of a living man but you do not have a living man. He can’t talk, he can’t taste, he can’t touch, he can’t feel, he can’t smell, he can’t see, he can’t hear–because he is dead! The soul has gone out of the man, and when the Holy Spirit is not present in the Church, you have to get along after the methods of business or politics or psychology or human effort.

AW TOZER – The Counselor, 112-113.

Power of the Church of Jesus Christ

It was not an easy task which the Church faced when she came down from that upper room…. Left to herself the Church must have perished as a thousand abortive sects had done before her, and have left nothing for a future generation to remember.

That the Church did not so perish was due entirely to the miraculous element within her. That element was supplied by the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to empower her for her task. For the Church was not an organization merely, not a movement, but a walking incarnation of spiritual energy. And she accomplished within a few brief years such prodigies of moral conquest as to leave us wholly without an explanation–apart from God.

AW TOZER – Paths to Power, 7-8.

Trinitarianism

This is not a trifling destinction. A doctrine has practical value only as far as it is prominent in our thoughts and makes a difference in our lives. By this test the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as held by evangelical Christians today has almost no practical value at all. In most Christian churches the Spirit is quite entirely overlooked. Whether He is present or absent makes no real difference to anyone. Brief reference is made to Him in the Doxology and the Benediction. Further than that He might as well not exist. So completely do we ignore Him that it is only by courtesy that we can be called Trinitarian. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity boldly declares the equality of the Three Persons and the right of the Holy Spirit to be worshipped and glorified. Anything less than this is something less than Trinitarianism.

AW TOZER – The Pursuit of Man, 60-61.

The Holy Spirit

In my sober judgment the relation of the Spirit to the believer is the most vital question the church faces today.

AW TOZER – Keys to the Deeper Life, 15.