For those who might be asking yourself the question, “Why in the world is Billy making such a big to-do about this word ‘all’?”, let me remind you of some facts …
- This heavenly Helper is desperately needed by ALL. Listen, you may be so bright that your mama calls you son (sun), but you are no match against our enemy. Lest you have forgotten, you are in a battle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12) The natural is never strong or powerful enough to triumph over these evil forces. The Bible tells us that Satan is:
* A liar and the father of all lies. (John 8:44)
* A thief who is come to kill, steal, and destroy. (John 10:10)
* The one who blinds people’s minds and understanding. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
* The great deceiver. (Revelation 12:9 and 20:8)
Can you see the great need for this Helper? - This heavenly Helper is now available to ALL. Before the sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s interaction with mankind was extremely limited. Read through the Old Testament and you will see that the Holy Spirit only came upon kings, priests, judges, prophets and prophetesses, and certain artisans. In that dispensation, us “ordinary” people were on the outside looking in. But, the day of Pentecost eliminated this limitation. (I’m feeling one of those “glory jee to Besus” moments mentioned in the last blog post.) Suddenly, this outpouring changed the situation from being “them” to “us”. Each and every believer can now have the privilege of being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:4,16-18,38-39)
- This heavenly Helper gives the advantage to ALL. Jesus told His followers that it would be expedient (to their advantage) for Him to return to heaven and send the Holy Spirit. (John 16:7) (I’m feeling another one of those “glory jee to Besus” moments coming on me.) We ALL need this advantage. He is …
I hate to do this but I need to stop and pick up this point in the next post. While I am earnestly trying to not make this the series that never ends, this one point about the advantage from heaven is far too important to just give a four or five sentence overview. So, I’m asking you to stay with this series for one or maybe two more posts.
Until next time …