A.W. Pink in his book The Holy Spirit said
“The greatest lack of all Christendom today is the absence of the Holy Spirit’s power and blessing. Review the activities of the past 30 years. Millions of dollars have been freely devoted to the support of professed Christian enterprises. Bible institutes and schools have turned out “Trained workers” by the thousands. Bible conferences have sprung up on every side like mushrooms. Countless booklets and tracts have been printed and circulated. Time and labors have been given by an almost incalculable number of “personal workers.” And with what results? Has the standard of personal piety advanced? Are the churches less worldly? Are their members more Christ-like in their daily walk? Is there more godliness in the home? Are the children more obedient and respectful? Is the Sabbath day being increasingly sanctified and kept holy? Has the standard of honest in business been raised?
Isn’t this the case?
Assemblies grow in size and wealth but have no power – no influence. Even among
the Lord’s churches:
·
an apathy towards
truth,
·
a coldness
towards service
·
an indifference towards of
godly living
·
an scoffing of separation
until there is no difference between us and the world, let alone churches of Christ and worldly
churches
On one side of the road is the ditch of Pentecostalism that wrongly attributes the works of Satan and the works of their own fleshly desires to the Holy Spirit.
On the other side of the road is the ditch of intellectualism that makes Christianity nothing more than a topic of discussion and logic exercises.
The Holy Spirit is not merely a force, or a power, or an influence. He is a person. He is God. He is a "He" not an it. He is God, and without His power or influence, all of our feeble efforts are worthless.
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zech. 4:6)
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