Being On-Guard | John Giftah

0:01 Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy

0:06 place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and

0:12 take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're

0:17 a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, and Christian

0:24 discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created

0:29 for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world

0:34 record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John

0:39 Gifta International. Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. Yes,

0:53 we have to understand the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Descriptions

0:57 very clear when you read through the New Testament. You know, don't be

1:00 filled with anything else but be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. You

1:04 need to be led by the Holy Spirit of God. These are things the

1:07 Apostle Paul is constantly reminding and challenging us to be in a place where the

1:12 Holy Spirit is our guide, because that's what Jesus himself said right after I'm

1:18 gone, You're going to receive the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy

1:21 Spirit and the Holy Spirit will teach you. The Holy Spirit will help you,

1:25 The Holy Spirit will lead you, guide you. You know that's the

1:27 thing. And I want to just share something with you, guys. And

1:30 I want to tell you something very powerful here that the Lodgers drew me to.

1:34 When I was spraying about what I should be releasing today, I was

1:38 led to go to look for and something just caught my attention. Okay,

1:42 I'm reading from the NIV version, and this is what it says. Look

1:47 forwards, One Jesus full of the Holy Spirit left the Jordan and was led

1:52 by the Spirit into the wilderness. I want you to understand something here,

1:56 very powerful. Jesus full of the Holy Spirit. Listen. First of all,

2:00 I want to just remind you, guys, you know, whether you're

2:02 from a charismatic background or not, even if you're from a traditional church background,

2:07 or even if you do not have that experience or understanding of the Holy

2:09 Spirit, understand our ultimatum is to be like Jesus. Right. Our role

2:16 model is Jesus. So even if your church is not focusing or is completely

2:22 ignoring the Holy Spirit or throwing the Holy Spirit out of the window. I

2:25 wanted to understand if the Bible is clear in saying Jesus was filled with the

2:30 Holy Spirit. If Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, you and I

2:34 also need to be in that place where we are saying, I want that

2:38 influming of the Holy Spirit, where we are constantly being led by the Holy

2:42 Spirit. Here you see E left and and was led by the spirit into

2:49 the wilderness. The Holy Spirit led him. Okay, so you are saying,

2:54 wow, Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is

2:59 leading him. That means there can be no thing going wrong. But I

3:04 wanted to understand, as you know, that the devil was tempting Jesus during

3:08 that period. But I just want to focus on the choice of words here.

3:14 If you look at verse five, it says the devil led him up

3:17 to a high place and tempted him. Okay, Basically, I want I

3:22 want to just stick to the point here. I want you to go and

3:24 read the entire passage to understand the context here, but I want you to

3:30 focus on this the devil led him up to a high place, and Jesus

3:36 responds saying, you know it is written, and then he ensures that he

3:39 doesn't fall into the temptation. Again, if you look at verse nine,

3:45 it says the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest

3:50 point of the temple. So I want to just focus on this right the

3:54 Bibles is in the first verse that the Holy Spirit led him, and in

4:00 verse five it says the devil led him, and again in verse nine it

4:04 says the devil led him. What I want you to understand is just because

4:08 you are led by the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit in

4:12 one sense, and you're full of the Holy Spirit, it does not mean

4:16 that you are safe from the devil leading you at any given point of time.

4:21 The devil is constantly wading looking for an opportunity when he can come and

4:27 lead you astray. Don't ever think that you can say, you know what,

4:30 I'm in the Lord, I am filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

4:34 I depend on God, so I'm never going to fall. I'm sorry

4:39 you are going to. I'm not asking you to be pessimistic. I'm not

4:44 asking you to get to a place where you're like, you know what,

4:46 I'm waiting and expecting for yourself to fall. But I'm asking you to be

4:50 cautious and be on God. You see here when when when when the devil

4:58 led Jesus and he said, you know, throw yourself up, or when

5:01 he said, you know what worshiping, and I will give all of these

5:04 things. The Bible says immediately Jesus responded and said, this is what the

5:10 word says. It is written. And in the last case he's saying it

5:15 is said or in other words, you know, if you look at the

5:17 original translation, you know there is the logos word, the written word,

5:21 and there is rema worth the spoken word. So in the first two instances,

5:26 Jesus responds with the logos word and says it is written. It is

5:30 written, and the third instance Jesus says it is spoken. So he's referring

5:34 to the fact that you know that Jesus was ready and prepared to respond with

5:44 the word, whether it is logos or whether it is rema. What I

5:50 want you to understand here is always beyond God. You never know. One

5:56 minute you're led by the Holy Spirit. The next minute you could be led

5:59 by the devil. You may think, hey, you know what, last

6:02 minute it was just the Holy Spirit. I think this is also the Holy

6:05 Spirit. You know, I know this may seem theologically, not the kind

6:10 of a sermon that you may listen to. But I want to just get

6:13 the principle healthier. Guys. I wanted to get this into your spirit,

6:15 because just because you're led by the Holy Spirit of the time does not mean

6:21 that you know um you you you are preventing yourself from not being led by

6:29 the devil. Sometimes the devil can come in a subtle way. He is

6:31 coming in. He's waiting, you know, to attack and prowl upon us.

6:40 And that's why we need to be on guard. Is way is coming

6:44 like a ruling lie. The question is are you ready? Are you on

6:49 guard or are you filled with this self pride in yourself self confidence to a

6:59 degree that where you're saying, I don't have to be careful, I'll just

7:05 live my life. I don't have to be cautious. I'm being led by

7:11 the Holy Spirit. Years an example, Yes, Jesus was also led by

7:15 the Holy Spirit, but there was a moment when the devil also led him.

7:18 Same word. So what I want you to understand is you should be

7:25 in a place where you're ready or be on God so that you will be

7:30 able to deal and be cautious, so that you don't fall prey to the

7:38 schemes of the devil. Amen, God bless you. You've been listening to

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8:41 Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. God bless you.