Michigan Camp Meeting 2018: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Be Filled with the Spirit

Daniel Scarone

Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 1

Father in heaven, thank you for your blessings.

Thank you for the Bible and the teachings coming from the Bible.

Be with us in this moment in which we are going to open scriptures.

And we are going to talk about you, be with us, give us humbleness in our heart, and also the good spirit in order to understand your teachings.

The topic we are going to be working during this seminar presentation is regarding the Holy Spirit.

But I'm going to be centered into the Epistle to the Ephesians, basically, in which the Apostle Paul gives this recommendation.

And we are going to be dealing with the topic of the field of the spirit, because it is a very big topic and a very important 1.

I will say that if you take out—good morning—if you take out this topic, this teaching, this passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians, all the spiritual thing in the entire epistle is going down.

Because this is the essence of the topic.

Well, this is going to be probably the dealing of the seminar.

By the way, this is the first time I am teaching this as a seminar.

I've been preaching about that, I've been preaching about in St.

John's, in a couple of churches in the area of Round Rapids, but I never be been dealing with it as a seminar.

So probably what we are going to do is to expand the topic and see the relationship of the topic of the spirit with the rest of the persons of the doctrine or the Godhead.

Let's go to the book of Ephesians, and we are going to be dealing with chapter 4, verses 18 through 21.

And feel free to take notes and after my first presentation, If you have any questions regarding the topic, feel free to make the questions.

Probably the essential point I'm going to be covering between tomorrow and Wednesday and probably that is the time in which the presentation is going to finish, I guess, because normally this is going to take us about, what I would say, maybe an hour and a half long run presentation and that's probably the timeline in which I'm going to finish the entire topic.

The Bible says here, and be not drunk with wine, wherein is success, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting yourself 1 to another in the fear of the Lord.

Across the seminar we are going to be talking about, and I am going to use this expression, and I don't want to be confusing anybody, but the triadic essence of the relationship of Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and the Father are going to be seen, and every time in which I am going to use this expression or triadic, I'm going to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that is...

Hey, morning, morning, and I'm going to be referring to that, okay?

So, by the way, I'm not going to challenge anyone what I'm going to say, but my presentation is going to try to be in full line with the fundamental teachings, the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And these are from the beginning, and I do believe about, good morning, there is a couple of places over there.

And you are going to check with that, And please, if something is not in harmony with that, this humble servant, I'm going to submit to your criteria, but I am doing this as a vision of apologetics in this moment in which the Godhead is under attack.

And I guess you are aware of, and that is the reason and the rationale for the presentation of this seminar.

So Sometimes the triadic forms are not in the same way in which you maybe expect to see them appear.

However, when you see this section, When you see this section, you are going to see the mention of the Spirit, the mention of God and Father and Lord Jesus.

So sometimes when you see this, you are going to detect that, and we are going to make a reference regarding this topic probably between tomorrow and Wednesday, regarding the triadic forms in the New Testament.

Let me tell you that there are about 65-70 in the New Testament, by the way.

So that is part of the point in which we are going to be talking about, and that is an important point in which we are going to land upon this topic.

Based upon this introduction, I will say that the seminar, we will discuss some of this topic.

The appealing, the Apostle Paul advice of the relationship of revival movements across history, every time that you see the awakenings, movements, and revival topics across the history, the topic of the Holy Spirit is in the center of that awakening or revival, always.

The meaning of the sentence by the Apostle Paul, we're going to work a relationship between a couple of epistles of the Apostle Paul.

That 1 is Ephesians and the other is Colossians.

And remember something, these are the prison epistles because the Apostle Paul wrote them in the time in which he was in the Marmartin prison in Rome, for sure in prison, potentially impossible Marmartin prison, jail in Rome, And you are going to see that sometimes the topics are very close, interrelated between the pistol to the Colossians and the pistol to the Ephesians.

I will say that there are certain differences and we are going to cover the similarities and differences between Colossians and Ephesians in their presentations.

The Holy Spirit and the charismatic movement.

I'm not going to stop too much about that, but I'm going to make some references because sometimes we have some confusions coming into the church in our relationship with the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit and the emphasis that these 2 movements, Pentecostals and Charismatic, made regarding the presence and the person of the Holy Spirit.

And there are 3 important topics, maybe close to statements, that I'm going to make regarding this movement.

There is a book that I wrote in Spanish and I am very sorry for that, but...

To mention here is very late, but I wrote this in relationship with Catholicism and we are referring the book about charismatic movements as a subsidy of the Catholicism.

And there is an entire chapter of Pentecostal, and we are going probably to make reference upon that because sometimes, sometimes, people with no religious backgrounds think that this is, what I will say, a kind of spiritual ownership of the Charismatics and of the Pentecostals.

And we are going to be dealing from the beginning regarding that topic, because that is not true.

But I'm going to make a sentence more clear in the topic.

The other point that we are going to refer is an analysis of the background of the pistol to the efficiency.

Because it's important for interpretation.

By the way, in the afternoon we're going to be making some reference regarding to the topic of hermeneutics.

And those who might be interested in are invited to come, but let me tell you that the Church of Ephesus was a kind of big, big center of paganism in the times in which the Apostle Paul was writing and sending this charge.

And the charge, early charge, was in the center of that kind of worship.

So if you visit some of the important museums in the world, like the Vatican Museum, across the – or behind the St.

Peter's Square and the Vatican building, you are going to find out statues of Artemis that was the goddess of the Ephesians.

And that is going to tell you something about the big challenge of the early church living in a society that believed blindless regarding the worship of Diana of the Ephesians.

And there is a mention also in the Book of Acts and we are going to collect some information regarding that.

Also we are going to establish the relationship between the Epistle to the Ephesians and other New Testaments, and especially this topic, be filled of the Spirit, and the relationship with why.

Of course, we are going to be discussing what is this be filled, Because sometimes people think of the spirit like it was kind of water and that what was the meaning, you know?

Is there any basis to think that the Spirit was that?

We're going to provide with information regarding that.

And we're going to be dealing with the contrast and the advice of the Apostle Paul, because this is a contrast.

And that kind of contrast is practically in the center of the Apostle Paul Epistle to the Ephesians.

And by the way, all the advices are very good for the church today.

So we are going to take some good spirit, what I would say, advice regarding that.

The meaning of the spirit and the relationship with the entire epistle, there is about 13, probably 14 mentions with the name of spirit and we are going to be discussing what is Neumann in the New Testament Because sometimes there is a little bit of confusion regarding this, and I'm going to give you some information regarding some observations that I made regarding some anti-trinitarians denying the personhood of the Holy Spirit.

But for that, we need to see all the references that are made to the Spirit in this epistle.

And when you check up, you are going to be surprised because there are many.

However, you need to distinguish the concept of neuma in the New Testament.

Because neuma is the word in Greek that is used for spirit.

It's also, in reference, for the mind of the person and also for the spirit of the devil or evil spirits.

So you need to take in count those things.

So and we are going to be dealing with this topic because sometimes the anti-trinitarians deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit but concede a personhood for the evil spirit what is a nonsensical rationale for that.

And I'm going to to to enter into the right topic regarding some points regarding these topics.

The checking is better when I write by hand sometimes.

That's a word we are going to be working with.

What does it mean to be filled of the Spirit?

In the Gospel of Luke and Acts, and in our close relationship with Colossians, and the relationship of the Spirit with Jesus, and that's it.

So I guess that you are going to agree with this.

A good Christian won't be filled of the Holy Spirit.

So the topic of the Holy Spirit is important in history of the Christianity and Montanites, for example, they were looking for the revival of the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is associated always with revival and awakening movements across history.

Revival movements across the times have looked upon the revival of the Holy Spirit and several Christian movements started in USA across the 1700s and 1800s, you are going to see the essential topic of the teachings of the Holy Spirit.

We need to be subjects to the teachings of the Bible.

We are not over the Holy Spirit, And when you see a preacher that is giving commands to the Holy Spirit, please be suspicious because something is wrong.

Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 2

Father in heaven, thank you for this day.

Thank you for the blessings upon our minds and hearts and for being here, Father, because we are alive and we are happy and we are beginning this day.

Be with us in this moment in which we are going to study this topic in Jesus' name.

When I was approaching to this topic in the time in which I was a pastor in South America, 1 of the things that caught my attention was that the Tecuztlan movements were very faithful, very passionate with the conviction about having the gifts of tongues.

So I began to go in deep to the topic of speaking in tongues and let me share with you that this is a very critical conviction for them.

However, as I put here, yes, I put it here.

This is the article of faith of the Assemblies of God.

And I know that you took note yesterday, but I am rephrasing because this is a critical point here.

The initial physical evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, The baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance.

Probably what we need to understand here is the rationale behind.

And the rationale behind according to what Bernard Rahn, a theologian, says is this, close to this.

Then then my experience is true That is the kind of synergism that you are going to find out.

Connecting the Bible but based upon this Experience So the foundation of the rationale here it is question is is biblical or You understand the points I You understand the points I Have an experience my experience is in the Bible then my experience is true so when you go through the experience as the foundation let me share with you clearly that you are going to be in troubles because that is not the Bible is upon the experience that is close or is similar to the Bible but is not the Bible itself the point here.

So that is a critical point that we need to take in account regarding this.

The other thing that is convenient to share with you these days Is the whole Bible affected with the concept of glossodalia?

Look for glossodalia in the Old Testament Give me 1 example in which you are going to find out that is a kind of commandment given by the Lord, telling well those who are going to sign as a sign that the Holy Spirit is in them is because they speak in tongues.

Look for the whole critical view in the Old Testament.

So here starts to happen a kind of suspicious thinking regarding the topic Is this a God-requested manifestation upon the human behavior or is a kind of institutional requirement coming as a request to the followers of that movement.

And I mean, while you think, let me share with you a couple of quotations of some sources that I've been sharing with you before.

The other thing, by the way, the third thing, is this.

Glossolalia is not something exclusive from the Pentecostal.

Let me tell you that there are manifestations of glossodalia in demonic worship, in occultism, in pagan religions.

So if the experience is the background, that is a problem, because here we are going to enter into a very deep waters regarding the topic of that.

Gerard Hassel, by the way, in his book, mentions that shamans talk to the tsar's spirits in a sacred language.

And Carlin Mayer mentions that in Malaysia, Indonesia, Siberia, Arctic regions, China, Japan, Korea, Arabia, Burma and many other places, this is a kind of manifestations in local kind of worships.

In dealing, and I put this in this book that I gave them, the bibliography, you can already hear in other sources, reaching and winning Pentecostals.

A former Pentecostal charismatic movement said, I must confess that in my case, as in the experience of other people, we invented a sequence of phonetic sounds with the purpose of not being asked if we have received the Holy Spirit.

We did this because in my church there was a kind of internal hierarchy.

There were those who received the Holy Spirit, the good ones, and those who didn't, that were exposed to receive a divine retribution.

Remember John Kiddall I mentioned yesterday?

Psychology of speaking in tongues and I am here with a search not all glossolalia appears directed by the Holy Spirit he mentions that but much by a desire to be accepted by congregations where the gift is held in esteem.

Not all Rosalia yes, John Kida John Kida the psychology of speaking in tongues This is the book and he says, not all glossolalia appears directed by the Holy Spirit, but much by a desire to be accepted by congregations where the peace is held in esteem.

I put this in the book in Spanish and I did a translation I am quoting from that here.

I had a conversation with somebody that says that yes, was speaking in tongues.

So the first question was, do you understand what you are saying when speaking in tongues?

The answer was no I don't understand it if you don't understand what you say what then is the purpose and meaning of practicing it?

Well even though I don't understand it God does and he understands it very well.

Don't you believe, my next question was, that God understands Spanish or English too?

Okay, don't you think that it could be better that we speak to God in a way, in a language in which He understands and we understand so we fulfill the circle of the communication.

Remember, circle of communication, yes, okay?

But when I speak about the circle of communication, means that the speaker and auditorium, there are understanding, and this is closing, the speaker is conveying a message, the auditorium or the other person is understanding and is answering back and this is the circle of the communication.

So here, technically speaking, there is no fullness of the circle of communication because there is a problem in connecting back about the meaning of the thing.

And I am not demeriting, just describing the process.

You told me that you have the ability to speak in tongues or languages, did you?

Can you reproduce any sound similar to those involved in your speaking tones?

Could it be something like, zunda, tanta, danda, la, la, la, hunda?

The person say, well something like that the question is what why do you think that is a language well I don't know I only experienced that and expressively.

Any formal language has some rules, structure, vocabulary.

It has nouns, articles, adjectives, and of course verbs that describe the actions, the facts, the time, idea involved.

Do you know when you are saying a verb, an article, or a noun?

I know that some people laugh about that, but the critical question is that.

Then, how do you know that it's a language?

And the person asked me, okay, if it is not a language, what it is?

And said, it's a noise that is not a language.

There is no structure in a linguistic setting.

So when you are pronouncing unintelligible things that is not linguistic structure conception, it's a noise.

It is sometimes painful, difficult to understand or accept, but it's the perception regarding the topic.

So that is for me the critical point here when you go and I invite you to go now and open your Bible in 2 chapters Acts and 1st Corinthians 14 because for some reason for some reason you are going to find out that those things are in the Bible and let me tell you something, it is very clear for me that is a big difference in here and here.

Here in the book of Acts the people was blessed because they were in knowledge about what were the good news of salvation.

The author is going to be very critical because you're going to find out that for the first time a gift of the Lord or the Spirit is beginning to be a problem in the church.

So to the point in which the Apostle Paul began to think how he as a leader abroad for the writing from Ephesus to the church in Corinth to teach them how to compose, how to deal, how to behave in the congregation because the gift of tongues was beginning to be a problem in the congregation and it's very clear about that because if you go to the first Corinthians see the structure of the beast watch first chapter second and third He's dealing with divisions in the church This is going to tell you something In chapter 4 time he's dealing with discipline in the church In chapters 6 and 7 he's dealing with certain troubles in the administration.

7 is about marriage and the problem of marriage in the Church.

Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 3

Thank you for your care during the night, even with the rain.

Bless us in this moment in which we are going to open our Bibles and we are going to study your Word.

Well, the day of yesterday, and that is for the record, I am connected and wired right now, I enter into a topic that was not in my notes.

Just was a diversion because I made a comment and I will refresh the idea from my notes here because the Bible says, and let's open the book of Ephesians, and we are going to read on it that is the main rationale for the presentation of this topic that is be filled of the Holy Spirit.

And when the Apostle Paul says that, that is, I guess, Ephesians chapter 5, isn't it?

And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first observation I've been sharing with you is that this is a kind of triadic text, Trinity text, with full disclose of the divinity because it's the mention of the Spirit, it's the mention of the Lord Jesus, and it's the mention also connected in the Lord Jesus and His dimension also connected in the text with our Father in Heaven.

And 1 of the observations that I am making in the series of presentation is that sometimes across the New Testament there are manifestations of the divinity in that way.

And we are going to enter probably tomorrow, I don't know how we are going to be today, but between today and tomorrow we are going to enter into these triadic manifestations in the New Testament, and you are going to see at least 2, 3 in the book of Ephesians, and several quotations of the Spirit.

However, the main purpose of my presentation regarding this is to discuss about the nature of the spirit in the book of Ephesians.

Because sometimes there is a confusion when the Bible says, be filled with the Spirit, and in the comparison is, and be not drunk with wine, but filled of the Spirit.

So, some people may think, like to be filled might be connected with kind of content like water or something like that, because in the comparison is that.

So, and we are going to enter into that in the presentation.

But I am recuperating some things because we say that what we were going to discuss is based upon this advice and we are going to discuss the Apostles' advice in the relations with Ephesians and the role of the Spirit in revival movements, because that is a key sentence here.

By the way, if you take out this sentence, be filled of the spirit from the pistol, the whole epistle changed completely.

There is no sense with that because is the spirit so in the nurture and essence of the epistle, that is what it means.

The other thing that is quite interesting in this, and it's appealing, is that it's the thing that makes the epistle spiritual.

And we need to recoup that in the church also.

Sometimes we are going to be discussing a little bit about that.

And we are, of course, discussing about the relationship with the pistol of the Colossians because both, by the way, were written probably from the same place and there is an internal relationship between Colossians and Ephesians and we are going to be working about that.

And the diversion comes when I quote this topic, and we are not going to enter into that today, just mentioning, because charismatic movement has made an impact in our Christian culture to think that or Pentecostal or Charismatic are, what I would say, exclusive message coming from them.

And Charismatic may believe that the Holy Spirit is an exclusive topic of them, and it's not, because it belongs to the Bible, it belongs to the Scriptures, and it's a blessing in which we need to dig in, of course.

And the other effect is that they introduce the concept of a momentaneous influence of the Holy Spirit instead of a whole life, entire life, guided by the Holy Spirit.

Because what you are going to see in this book, in this epistle, is that the entire epistle is under the influence of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And we did the mention, and this was what triggers the diversion, because I put charismatic movements make Christians believe that they need to speak other languages to demonstrate that they receive the Holy Spirit.

And I put this quotation coming from www.agassembliesofgod.org, in which they say the baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives them utterances.

Let me tell you something regarding this topic.

The other day, Lira, my wife, was following 1 of the presentations from the committee and for some reason the streaming connect her not with here but with a Pentecostal church.

I need to talk with the guys of IT, because if something is going on like that, I will say, wow, we need to take care about that because we are promoting other things and we need to be very careful.

But normally, I am more inclined to read about other movements but not to listen about those things.

And I study this, but I cover everything from yesterday regarding the speaking in tongues.

I recommend you maybe to get the book that I recommended yesterday, reaching and winning Pentecostals.

And from page 40 to 60, you are going to find a lot of information regarding glossolalia, that is speaking in tongues.

Glossa is the word for the Greek for tongue, lalia is speak in tongues, glosolalia is the word, and you are going to find everything.

Let me get back to the pistol of efficiency, if I can.

And if you have any question regarding the topic you say, after the class we can discuss about it.

But let's go to the background of efficiency, because we need to understand what is the problem in the Ephesian church because they were in a physical context, geographical context, with an ambience of a pagan religion that was intermingled with Artemis of Diana of the Ephesians.

She was the most worshipped deity in Asia and perhaps the world, sorry for the typo, during the post times.

Hundreds of eunuch priests, virgin priestesses, and religious prostitutes, sorry the typo here again, they serve And worship rituals were quite erotic in those days.

I will say, If you mix a nightclub with a kind of worship perception, you are going to get clients at some point.

Las Vegas is probably a mix of that kind of thing in which you are going to find everything intermingled, even seven-day Adventist churches inside Las Vegas, by the way.

Diana, Queen of Heaven, and put attention, Savior, Mother Goddess, Mother goddess, and remember something, 1 of the early conciliants of the Catholic Church was Inefficience, and in that place appears the name applied to Mary about the mother of God.

So the connection was, you know, through the culture and trying to capture the elements from the culture and bring them into the Christianity.

But in the moment in which Christianity is becoming to be mingled with paganism, It is less Christian and more pagan than Christian in nature.

And that is part of the problem that you are going to take into account here.

What role Ephesus have in the Artemis worship?

I have to put that in italics because it's a Greek word meaning that the city was the center of the Artemis worship and responsible of maintaining the cult purity of that worship.

How Ephesus was benefited financially by this worship?

Well, There was a kind of bank in place, because the amount of money coming into that was very big.

The cult brought great wealth to the citizens of Ephesus because the Temple of Phartemes became the world's largest bank during that time.

And if you go to the Book of Acts, you are going to remember what was the reaction.

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Be Filled with the Spirit

Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 4

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Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 1

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Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 2

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Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 3

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Be Filled with the Spirit - Part 4

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