Pastor Vic's Nuggets of Truth

Free Podcast Downloads How Does the Holy Spirit Guide Us? Part 2 As we have established earlier, God intends that we be led by the Holy Spirit. That means that He directs our paths. You’ve heard me say, “When you walk with God, you get to where He is going.” The Lord wants us to be where He is; working with Him instead of working for Him. Just as we can be assured that God has plans, purposes, and pursuits for us to walk in, we can also be sure that God speaks to or communicates with us. The most important reason that God speaks to us is to guide us. There are at least six important ways in which we receive guidance from the Lord.

Free Podcast Downloads When you are born-again, you know it because of the peace and assurance that the Lord gives you to know that you are saved. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you know it because you will speak in new tongues and move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. However, to move in the Holy Spirit requires learning how to be led or directed by the Holy Spirit. Learning to hear or discern the voice of the Spirit is the key to an overcoming life in the service of our King, King Jesus. Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” The Lord will complete the work on your character as well as your mission or assignment. We often use the word “saved” to describe someone who has been born-again. The original Greek for saved is “sozo” which means to be made safe, delivered from destruction, or made whole. That means you are completely saved, and 1 Thessalonians 5:23 tells us that we are Spirit, Soul, and Body. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is important to look at the differences between these three aspects of every human being: spirit, soul, and body.

Free Podcast Downloads Some believe that because one belongs to a church, has a Bible, or comes from a Christian family, one is spiritual. That is not always the case. When the Bible speaks about spiritual things, it is to those who have a relationship with Jesus and have learned to "hear" the voice of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and obey Him. Knowing about the Holy Spirit is not the same as knowing the Holy Spirit! There is a big difference between “head knowledge” or intellectual understanding and personal “heart knowledge” or faith. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The natural man in this verse refers to the person who is not born-again. So, Paul is saying that to understand the things of the Spirit of God, you must be born again.

Free Podcast Downloads There has always been a controversy between the terms the Bible calls “Grace and Works.” Some have misused the terms to excuse sin; others have misused the terms to try and earn or deserve God’s blessing and favor. Both these terms, Grace and works, are important aspects of the life of a New Testament Believer of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is important to know how they operate so that we can experience the fullness of the Lord in our lives.

Free Podcast Downloads Every Christian has heard or used the term "Jesus, my Lord and Savior! There are only five words to that statement, and yet those five words are the foundation of the entire New Testament. I think you would agree that as a Christian, I need to understand what the key three words, Jesus, Lord, and Savior, mean. Our eternal salvation, peace, and joy in life depend on knowing, believing, and acting upon these three words.

Free Podcast Downloads One of the challenges of becoming an “overcoming” Christian and of success in general is to recognize that there is more to the process of becoming successful than wishing and wanting. We all want the love, peace, and joy of success, but are we willing to pay the price? You will find all kinds of motivational slogans and clichés about reaching your dreams or reaching your potential on social media, advertising, books, magazines, TV, and movies. However, all the slogans and clichés will not replace two things: making the right decision and committing to follow through!

Free Podcast Downloads As a Christian, it is important to know who you are! Today, there seems to be such an effort in the world to put everyone into a group or category. This suggests a real identity crisis in our cultures, societies, and countries. The Bible makes it very clear who we are: we are citizens of Heaven, Philippians 3:20 (NKJV) tells us. "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Free Podcast Downloads How to be led by the Holy Spirit of God is of utmost importance. It represents the difference between working for the Lord or working with the Lord! While working for the Lord may be a sincere effort to please the Lord, it is often a work the Lord has not asked us to do. Here is an important point: if the Lord is not in it, it usually isn't worth doing. A lot of frustration and disappointment comes from trying to do God's work without God! This reminds me of Moses when he said to the Lord, “If you don't go with me, I won't go!” Exodus 33:14-16 (NKJV): “And He [God] said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then he (Moses) said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?” The difference between doing a good work and a God work is one letter “o”, but that difference makes all the difference in the world!

Free Podcast Downloads A friend of mine asked this question about God. “When I pray, who do I pray to, God the Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit? This is really a good question and maybe something you have wondered about as well. Let me try to explain this question first from how I approach the triune nature of our God and also from a scriptural perspective.

Free Podcast Downloads 1 Corinthians 12 is the apostle Paul's exhortation to recognize the spiritual gifts available to every believer who acknowledges the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. I quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1 (NKJV), “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Paul was chastising the Corinthian Christians for abandoning the work of the Holy Spirit in their personal lives and in church life. It is not enough to know the basic truths of the Bible; knowledge should lead to understanding, and then the ultimate fruit of understanding is wisdom. Wisdom is the proper application of truth. In other words, we are called to be “doers” of the Word.

Free Podcast Downloads In the last post, 163, the focus was on "Why we need the Holy Spirit.” We need the Holy Spirit to walk in righteousness, overcoming sin and defeating the enemy, the Devil. We can sum this up as the process of Sanctification. When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we are declared sanctified or holy; this is our new “position” in the Lord. At the same time, we enter a process of becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is what a faithful Christian is, a work in progress; becoming more like Jesus is our life's work. Sanctification has two parts: our position in Christ, which Jesus purchased for us, and the work we must do, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to become more like Jesus in our character. Understanding the principle of Sanctification is to understand why Jesus sent us a "Helper," the Holy Spirit, to lead us, teach us, guide us, and most importantly, empower us to live the life He has called us to. While our position of being sanctified never changes, our personal lives continually change. This process of change is called “transformation.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV), “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So, the transformation process is that we become more and more like Jesus in character.

Free Podcast Downloads Review As I said in my last post, what we believe should be based upon the Word of God, the Bible, and not on the opinions of others. The Bible is our map to life and godliness; the Holy Spirit is our compass to help us find the one true way. Remember the way is narrow, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) I also said that it is important that we not lose sight of the fact that the most important aspect of Christianity is the salvation provided by the crucifixion, death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than what Jesus accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. However, we shouldn’t be ignorant of what was provided by Jesus to help us live in spiritual victory. The Helper has been the focus of the last several posts and episodes. We worship Jesus and only Jesus because He was the One who died for us. However, let us not forget that in Jesus' own words, He promised us a “Helper,” the Holy Spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an option. Jesus commands His followers to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:4-5 (NKJV) “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The “Promise of the Father” was the promise of the Holy Spirit!

Free Podcast Downloads Jesus is the Reason we Live. As we continue to focus on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, let us not lose sight of the fact that the most important aspect of Christianity is the salvation provided by the crucifixion, death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than what Jesus accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. However, we shouldn’t be ignorant of what was provided by Jesus to help us live in spiritual victory. The Helper has been the focus of the last several posts and episodes. We worship Jesus and only Jesus because He was the One who died for us. However, let us not forget that in Jesus' own words, He promised us a “Helper,” the Holy Spirit. You might ask, why did Jesus provide us with a Helper, and what does the Helper do? Jesus provided the Helper because Jesus didn't want to leave us alone in our own strength to live the Christian life, a life of righteousness.

Free Podcast Downloads As a Christian, it is so important to understand what happened in Acts chapter 2; this chapter holds the key to living in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, which was made available to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior Jesus is alive; He lives to actively give us everything we need to live an abundant life. Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Trusting in Jesus is not some empty ritual or religious superstition; trusting in Jesus is a genuine response based on the relationship between God and man.

Free Podcast Downloads 160 Evidence for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit I find it interesting that when we read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we don’t look at them as historical books giving an account of what happened in the past. When we look at the Gospels, we recognize that they represent something new that started with the coming of Jesus Christ in power and authority to save and heal; here is the important part: that power and authority continue to this day. Why, then, do we look at the Book of Acts as a historical account of the early Church instead of looking at Acts as the start of the Church coming into power and the authority of the Holy Spirit continuing to this day? If I have learned anything as a Christian, it is that I can’t pick and choose what I want to believe in the Bible! All of the Bible was relevant then and is relevant today.

Free Podcast Downloads The book of Acts in the Bible is one of 27 books of the New Testament, and the author was the Apostle Luke, the same one who wrote the Gospel of Luke. The book's title is "Acts," or the "Acts of the Apostles," in particular, the acts of the apostles' Peter and then Paul. I would suggest that it is also the acts of the Holy Spirit. How one looks at Acts, in large part, determines how one sees the church in apostolic times and how one will see the church in the present time.

Free Podcast Downloads Righteousness In the beginning, before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve were in right standing with God; the Lord walked with them and talked with them; they were in a relationship. Their relationship could exist because they were innocent, and as a result, they were holy and righteous in the eyes of the Lord. However, when Adam and Eve sinned, that relationship was broken, and there came a separation between God and humanity. Because the Lord is Holy and Righteous, He cannot be in contact or relationship with anything unholy or unrighteous.

Free Podcast Downloads God is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, Hebrews 13:8. At the very end of my Last Post, I mentioned something about the authority that we have as Believers. So, I thought I would take some time to examine this important area of spiritual authority. From the beginning of time, the Holy Spirit has been active. The Holy Spirit was key in creation; he was active in Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit was active and essential in the early Christian church, and finally, the Holy Spirit continues to be active in the lives of believers today. Sometimes when we study the Bible, we think of the many miraculous events that took place in the past and make the mistake of thinking that it was for that time only. Let me remind you that the Bible says that “God is the same yesterday today and forever.” To me, that means that He is the same today as He was in the distant past. We should never discount the miraculous. Our God is a miracle-working God; he does not change, and what has changed are the vessels or people He uses to fulfill His will.

Free Podcast Downloads This message is intended for all those who pastor or teach others in the Christian community. I encourage you to consider what I have to say, and if it is helpful to you, then Praise the Lord! If not, then Praise the Lord again! The message has to do with what the Scriptures call "the Milk of the Word or the Meat of the Word." What is the difference? The foundation to understanding is the question, "what is our motivation, and what should be the motivation of those we minister to?"

Free Podcast Downloads For much of the last year, our focus has been on seeing Jesus through the Gospel of John. We looked at the seven "I AM" statements and the seven miracles of Jesus in John's writings. Today I want to take a look at the phrase that Jesus is "the Alpha and Omega," which is found in the book of Revelation. The descriptions of Jesus that the Bible writers used tell us much about the character and nature of Jesus and how we should view Him.