God wants us sober, not drunk

[Oblio]

Love is a verb...an action word. Emotions add color to life. We are not to be led by emotions...ever!

 

[Gardenias]

MOVING ON

The Holy Spirit ( aka,Holy Ghost) is God as well as the Father and Jesus!

I've seen him in church services work in people in many ways,tongues,gift of knowledge,prophecy and discernment.
It was Holy and orderly as God says and in true worship!

The congregation FELT the Spirit was about to move and all became guiet and reverent in waiting.

I have had the gift of knowledge directed at me in a service I had never been in before.
Something happened THAT morning before I left the house,seconds before and I lashed out in anger,felt horrible about it and went on to church.
The preacher spoke to me at altar call through the Holy Spirit about that very thing directed at you ( me) by the gift of knowledge!

We are told to be sober and vigilant at all times in our walk for we haven't reached home yet! The devil desires each of us to fall so he may devour us.

We must be AWARE of all that we can see is happening around us to take us down.

All God's movement are in order and edify his church!

 

[1ofthem]

Christ condemns the Church of Sardis because they had a reputation of being alive but in reality, they were almost dead.

The city of Sardis was a city living off its former glory. At one time, her wealth in gold was unrivaled anywhere in the Roman Empire. Being famous for great wealth in gold, it was said that her rivers flowed with gold dust. That was Sardis of the past. At the time Jesus addresses the Church of Sardis, she was also basking in former glory. The church, much like the city had started well. The church at the beginning was a strong and faithful witness of her Lord and Savior. But now the gold of the true gospel and Holy Spirit were also in short supply.

The people had become accustomed to doing church rather than being the church. They had programs and principles but did not have the life-giving Holy Spirit. They needed the Spirit of God to bring them from death to life. They were dead but thought they were alive.

One of the most dangerous conditions people may find themselves in is the condition of actually being spiritually dead while thinking they are spiritually alive. There are people today who because of some church experience or some contact with the church believe they are in God’s favor when in reality they are not.

What makes people wrongly assess themselves? It seems that because of our sinful nature we are very quick to justify ourselves and at the same time very quick to condemn others. We artificially raise ourselves up because we can easily make good excuses as to why we do what we do.
Here, today, we see a church that had traded the Holy Spirit for programming and truth for a compromising message. Their goal was to be attractive to the world around them, and their gospel may have been a gospel of prosperity or a gospel that glorified man. source

Rev. 3:1-6 (ESV)
”And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
” ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. [2] Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. [3] Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. [4] Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. [5] The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. [6] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’


are you dead? have you traded the life giving Spirit of God for your idea of truth? would you be comfortable in the church at Sardis? do you point to abuse and use that as an excuse for not obeying the word?

the Holy Spirit had left the church at Sardis and Jesus said they were dead

the one who has an ear...that is open to hearing from the Holy Spirit...let them hear

I agree with your post here.

However, I see another side of it as well.

There are also many who have a reputation of being alive (Hagin, Copeland, et. al) yet they are dead. They walk not in the ways or the counsel of the Lord. They walk in their own perverse ways. They are fleshly, greedy, their only concern is money, fame, etc.

The Holy Spirit is not moving in these folks and it is evident...There are false teachers, preachers, and prophets and they need to be called out for what they truly are. Also can't remember the name of the woman in the videos posted here and really don't want to look at it again to even find out. She looks and speaks just like a jezebel harlot. She is not a vessel for the Lord.

People need to come away from this worldly garbage and not get mixed up with it. We should Rebuke it and have nothing to do with it and then maybe those people might have a chance to be truly saved.

Like I said before I do believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but scripture is clear you have to live in a way that pleases the Lord. You have to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. If folks are walking in the flesh, we can be sure they are not walking in the Spirit. Also, their behavior (fruits) is a testimony against them.

 

[1ofthem]

Isn’t our JOY suppose to be FULL? Lol!

Aren’t our cups to be RUNNING OVER? Lol!

There is absolutely NO WAY I am going to reject or speak against Holy Spirit Laughter! All I can say is….

MORE LORD!

My only prayer for You at this moment is that God will open your eyes. If you believe that Hagan, Copeland, and that woman that was posted here are doing anything in the POWER of the HOLY GHOST...You are completely blind.

Yes, to our joy being full and cups running over in the Name of the Lord and in his power and might.

Big NO, to having joy in unrighteousness and worldly lusts and supporting and following along with any filthy perverts of the truth.

 

[Lanolin]

"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,"—Ephesians 5:17-18

I often hear these verses used to support the idea of getting "drunk in the spirit." However, it doesn't have anything to do with getting drunk; it means the opposite. Being filled with the Spirit is the exact opposite of being drunk; it means sobriety. We have so many scriptures that teach us to be sober and awake. I can't understand at all how some people insist God wants us to get "drunk" in the Spirit—unless they deliberately ignore all these scriptures:

"Be sober, be watchful; your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour."—1 Peter 5:8

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, stay sober, put your hope fully in the grace brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"—1 Peter 1:13

"Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."—1 Thessalonians 5:6

"But we, since we are of the day, let us be sober,"—1 Thessalonians 5:8

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself too highly, beyond what you should think, but to think soberly, as God has imparted to each one a measure of faith."—Romans 12:3

well yes
Kind of stating the obvious

If you are drunk you cant really do much, except sing badly and vomit and have a hangover the next day. People also get horribly violent when drunk and cant drive properly.

 

[Oblio]

John Wimber and Howard Ellis are 2 men that the Lord has used to impact my life.

 

[Oblio]

Before I'd lead worship, they'd pray me up. Sometimes I felt so drunk I wondered if I'd be able to play my guitar. Standing in front of the microphone, I was sharp as a tack!

 

[Laura798]

Isn’t our JOY suppose to be FULL? Lol!

Aren’t our cups to be RUNNING OVER? Lol!

There is absolutely NO WAY I am going to reject or speak against Holy Spirit Laughter! All I can say is….

MORE LORD!

“As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.…"
--Jeremiahs 44:16-17

 

[Oblio]

You shall know them by their fruits.

 

[Lafftur]

Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! What a wonderful blessed day! I’m so thankful for God’s LOVE! There’s so much JOY in His Presence.

God’s Ways are soooooo much higher than ours! God’s definition of “decently and in order” is NOT the same as man’s.

God’s “decently and in order” is an atmosphere where pride is silenced and there is only humility and hunger and desire for Him that ushers in His Word and Holy Spirit to meet all the spiritual and mental and physical needs of the people…….giving and sustaining life!

Wow!!! God LOOOOOOVES us sooo much! I am sooo thankful!

Praise You Father! Praise You Lord Jesus Christ! Praise You Holy Spirit!!!

I love You God! I love You!

 

[shittim]

And to you as well!
bless you and yours.

 

[Lafftur]

And to you as well!
bless you and yours.

Thank you @shittim!

You are a joy!

 

[SophieT]

I agree with your post here.

However, I see another side of it as well.

There are also many who have a reputation of being alive (Hagin, Copeland, et. al) yet they are dead. They walk not in the ways or the counsel of the Lord. They walk in their own perverse ways. They are fleshly, greedy, their only concern is money, fame, etc.

The Holy Spirit is not moving in these folks and it is evident...There are false teachers, preachers, and prophets and they need to be called out for what they truly are. Also can't remember the name of the woman in the videos posted here and really don't want to look at it again to even find out. She looks and speaks just like a jezebel harlot. She is not a vessel for the Lord.

People need to come away from this worldly garbage and not get mixed up with it. We should Rebuke it and have nothing to do with it and then maybe those people might have a chance to be truly saved.

Like I said before I do believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but scripture is clear you have to live in a way that pleases the Lord. You have to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. If folks are walking in the flesh, we can be sure they are not walking in the Spirit. Also, their behavior (fruits) is a testimony against them.

my post was actually sourced and the source link is provided

there really is no need at this point to always qualify whatever someone states about the gifts still being in operation...we have myriads of threads here where that has been discussed to death

why is it we always think we have to excuse the bad behavior of those who are show boating? they are no different than the MacArthurs of the world who say those who speak in tongues are doing so by demon powers

we have both positions...both of which are wrong...and then we have the Bible that explicitly tells us how we should be acting

I'm not sure what 'I believe in the gifts' means anymore

extremes are always going to be around until they are not

 

[justbyfaith]

There have been numerous verses, facts, and evidence presented for those of us who say Holy Spirit Laughter is not of the Lord--the emotionalism is clearly on the side of those who believe it is of the Lord.

I am not generally emotional about anything...

However, I believe in holy laughter because it was as I began to laugh with holy laughter in a church service that the tumour that was in my body was no longer able to find its lodging in my body...the laughter brought forth coughing (because my body was unhealthy) and I coughed up the tumour.

It was in the context of the same church service that a man with a broken arm was healed of his broken arm. I know because I tried to heal it myself by moving his arm, and he cried out in pain. So I told him to move it himself when the pastor prayed for him. Nxt thing you know he was praising God and saying that his arm had perfect mobility!

In the same church service the pastor encouraged an operation of the gifts. There were several words of knowledge about someone with kidney problems from a young age. Finally, the person stood up and testified that it was them. As the people around her laid hands on her and prayed, she began to laugh with great joy. She said that it was the best she had felt in her entire life; and I believe that she was healed of her kidney problems which she had had since the age of 2.

In the same church service the worship leaders were barking like a dog and chirping like a bird. I consider that they were in fact humbling themselves and becoming undignified so that the Lord could have all the glory for what would be taking place in that service.

And also, I believe that the Lord, through things like that, wants to deal with the judgmentalism and critical spirit that resides in some people within the church.

 

[Oblio]

We'd gather at someone's home, we'd have a time of worship and prayer, the Lord's presence empowering us, then we'd go find hungry people to feed and preach the good news to the poor. We didn't have much ourselves, but we shared what we had. I don't know if I'll ever have those times again, but I'm sure glad I had them.
Greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all.

 

[justbyfaith]

I took part in a project at Biola University where we produced a comedic film wherein we barked like a dog at people and their reactions were recorded.

Then, when we watched the film, we could not help but laugh at their reactions.

But I wonder to this day if our reactions were not also being recorded.

Because a while later, I heard the exact same things on the radio with our laughter included.

There was also, in the video, a situation where someone was preaching on hell and there was a married couple in a jaccuzi on the video and it produced a reaction of laughter in us because the way that it was presented was funny.

I remember now, hearing that same preaching on hell with the laughter of people in the background (very likely us) and not putting it into context, my immediate reaction was that holy laughter must be evil. Why would people be laughing at the concept of hell? It was presented as though the laughing was happening inside of a church service where the preaching was taking place.

But then as my memory served me, I realized that it was the same preaching where we had been laughing at what we had been seeing visually.

Someone had deceptively set that up as an indictment on holy laughter.

And we were only pawns in the equation.

 

[1ofthem]

This is a serious thing folks. It isn't a game.

There is a genuine Spirit of God and a genuine filling of the Spirit.

Scripture teaches us exactly how to get the filling of the Spirit. We have to walk in the Spirit. Praying, reading the word of God, walking in subjection to the Lord and His will and not the will of the flesh.

God is not mocked. We reap what we sow and if we sow to the Spirit then we will reap fruit in the Spirit.

If we sow to the flesh our fruit will be fleshly.

If we walk in the Spirit then we can have power in the Lord and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, this is the power that puts the devil on the run. He is afraid of the true Holy Ghost fire/power and doesn't want anyone to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Satan knows he's no match for the Holy Ghost. Through the Holy Spirit, there is the power to call him out of his hiding places and rebuke, destroy, and defeat him.

There is help and power in the Holy Ghost to heal the sick and set the captives free. The devil is no match and has no way to stop the true Spirit of God. He is totally helpless against the power that comes through the filling of the Holy Ghost.

The enemy is doing all that he can to distract Christians from being filled with the Holy Ghost and the power of God from on high.

He does this in many ways. On one side he gets some to doubt that this power or the filling of the Holy Spirit even exists. They think that it just came down to the apostles and went back when they died. Which doesn't even make sense whatsoever.

Then you have others who are not willing to live and walk in the Spirit who try to fake it. However, their fruits testify against them. They put on these circus-type shows trying to get others motivated to get money, fame, or whatever. They send out false prophecies deceiving some and causing others to talk bad about God. They are workers for the enemy.

We( myself included) and all the children of God need to quit letting the enemy get us distracted from living and walking in the POWER and fullness of the HOLY SPIRIT.

 

[Gardenias]

 

[montana123]

"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,"—Ephesians 5:17-18

I often hear these verses used to support the idea of getting "drunk in the spirit." However, it doesn't have anything to do with getting drunk; it means the opposite. Being filled with the Spirit is the exact opposite of being drunk; it means sobriety. We have so many scriptures that teach us to be sober and awake. I can't understand at all how some people insist God wants us to get "drunk" in the Spirit—unless they deliberately ignore all these scriptures:

"Be sober, be watchful; your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour."—1 Peter 5:8

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, stay sober, put your hope fully in the grace brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"—1 Peter 1:13

"Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."—1 Thessalonians 5:6

"But we, since we are of the day, let us be sober,"—1 Thessalonians 5:8

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself too highly, beyond what you should think, but to think soberly, as God has imparted to each one a measure of faith."—Romans 12:3

Pro 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Pro 31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Pro 31:5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Pro 23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Pro 23:30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Pro 23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

I do not understand the saying we can drink alcohol but not get drunk.

For that would seem like it would be a temptation that could lead to more and God tempts no person.

Can you kiss a woman but do not fornicate for if she is not your wife you cannot kiss her.

The kissing could lead to more and would be a temptation.

So why would God allow us to drink a little alcohol but not a lot if not a lot is a sin.

How can it be a sin in a lot but not in a little and will someone say that food is a sin in a lot but not in a little but alcohol is not a necessity for us to survive.

If alcohol is a sin in a lot then it is in a little.

Can we steal a piece of bubblegum but do not steal a car.

Can we call a person an idiot but not call them a fool.

Can we slap a person in the face but not ball up our fist and smack them.

Can we covet our neighbors carrots growing in his yard but not covet the whole garden.

Wine in the Bible can also mean unfermented grape juice.

The Holy Spirit gives us peace that passes all understanding, and joy that no person takes away, and love, and a sound mind which is way better than anything that supplies the flesh can do.

Why would a Christian want to drink alcohol.

 

[Oblio]

Some can have a glass of wine, a beer, or a shot of whiskey and have it relax them from a stressful day's work, or perhaps help them go to sleep. Like a helpful medicine.
It's when one overindulges that problems can be caused. Fights, immoral behavior, and what have you. If you think it's wrong to drink alcohol, then for you it is. If drinking causes you problems, then for you it is sin. If, however, you can drink and only have good come from it, then I don't believe it's a problem.
Me, I don't drink as I used to be an alcoholic. I'd do things that I normally wouldn't do. Medications such as tranquilizers and sleeping pills can mimic the effects of alcohol and have, even when I took them for legitimate reasons, caused me to black out and do stupid things. Things that ruined my life and my reputation. I no longer use any of the above.
The apostle Paul said that nothing one puts in their body can make them unclean.
Why would I condemn someone for a weakness I have but they don't? Perhaps jealousy?