"Studies of the Spirit - In the Old Testament, Part 3" - John 16:12-15
ZADOK PUBLICATIONS - Dr. C. R. OLIVER
July 1, 2020
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ZADOK PUBLICATIONS MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
July 1, 2020 "Studies of the Spirit - In the Old Testament, Part 3" - John 16:12-15 You may watch this Newsletter in a video HERE.
Introduction: This final installment in studying the Spirit's work in the Old Testament will be enhanced by reviewing the list garnered from the previous two parts. From part one, we noted twelve attributes of the Spirit.
In part two, we added to this list the following:
As we wind through the remaining passages of Old Testament Scripture, the list will grow. As it grows, so our appreciation of the Spirit's activities will expand to the place where it will become apparent why the upper room was explosive with His power. 26: Ezekiel: Last month's study ended with Isaiah, a book filled with Spirit references. Interestingly enough, the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations make no direct mention of the Spirit. So, our study begins with Ezekiel's second chapter where the Spirit entered him. Here, we see the Spirit as equipper and positioner.
The Holy Spirit will see to it that the person who yields to His leadership is in the right place, at the right time, to receive God's message. Even if it requires physically lifting someone and transporting them to another place, the Spirit is the facilitator of blessing. In Ezekiel chapter three, we witness "Spirit positioning" again, this time transporting Ezekiel supernaturally to another location (Shades of Philip in the New Testament).
John Lake recorded a time when he was supernaturally transported from South Africa to Wales. The Spirit assigned him to carry out deliverance on a demon possessed patient strapped down on a cot in a mental institution. He documented his travel experience with places and terrain (before air travel), and the accuracy of his path was affirmed later by a reconnaissance flight. When Lake arrived at the mental institution's doors, they opened for him, and so did the cell door where the patient was kept. Many exploits just like Lake's have been carried out through the Spirit! Once again, Ezekiel was lifted up when taken to Jerusalem in a vision (Remember, Ezekiel is in captivity hundreds of miles to the East of the holy city. There, he is to observe the abominations of the priests. The vision offered a panoramic view of the Temple and surrounding city, even though the Temple had been burned and destroyed. God's view of matters is entered into by the Spirit through eternal time frames. Ezekiel must have had strong hair. In the following passage, we see Ezekiel given specific words to be spoken. Enumerated by the Spirit, he was given a long list of infractions practiced by the priests (the Lord sees all-even the intent of man's heart).
The prophet was taken by the Spirit into the profaned Temple area and was shown the root cause for Israel's captivity. This vision answered the question queried by the religious leaders in Babylon when they posed, "How did we wind up here?" (Nations around the globe should ask the same question. They may well be given the same answer.) Ezekiel's message was one of eventual hope, for the Lord planned to put His Spirit into them and cause the people of promise to walk in His ways.
Pentecost, in the book of Acts, signaled the fulfillment of this prophecy. When the power of the Spirit fell on those in the upper room, they were endowed with power beyond their wildest dreams. They knew they were purged and empowered, as the full force of all the Old Testament attributes of the Spirit were joined with His anointing power for the New Testament; they were drunk. Today, true Israel desperately needs to understand what it means when it says, "You shall be My people and I will be your God." This is covenant! They need to work with the Holy Spirit to radically know the scope of, "not by power nor by might, but by My Spirit, says the Lord." Turn now to Ezekiel 37. In this next chapter (37), Ezekiel is confronted with the valley of dry bones. His faith is tested when asked to prophesy to the bone yard. It looked like an impossible task. Ezekiel knew God was the one who would honor his obedience, so he prophesied--and God did the rest! A great army rose from this decimated campground. The Spirit did this in order to prove to Ezekiel His mighty power. Occasionally, the strongest of believers need a miracle moment with the Lord. (Are you facing an impossible task? The Spirit will do the impossible!)
Skipping down to the next prophecy, we see the Lord proving His power connected to a promise.
A prophetic promise is given Ezekiel-God will bring Israel home and fill them with His Holy Spirit (The day of Pentecost was loaded with this prophetic fulfillment.).
There is a continuance to God's people in this next passage:
Limitless, is the word which describes the actions of the Spirit. He knows no boundaries;He meets no challenge without victory; nothing escapes His view. He brings light and hope in the darkest of times and delivers the children of God into an ever-expanding landscape of spiritual growth. The same can be said of Daniel, our next exhibit. 27. Daniel Enter now the land of Babylon and the prophecy of Daniel.
Visions and dreams are specialties with the Spirit. A troubling dream came to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, through the Spirit, brought the interpretation--even though he was not told the dream's content. The king acknowledged that Daniel had the Spirit of the living God in him, for by no other method could Daniel have accomplished this. (The New Testament also teaches about dreams and visions, as God still speaks through these mechanisms today.) Years later, when another ruler of Babylon encountered a floating hand writing on a wall during a ribald festivity, he was told to summons Daniel. The now famous, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN Persian Script virtually ended the reign of Belshazzar. (The Spirit always comes through for the people of God-after all, the New Testament cautions His people not to fear, for the Lord will give them what to say when brought before Kings and courts.)
Daniel's understanding of future generations was the product of being filled with the Spirit. 28. Joel: Next, the prophet Joel has just one major reference to the Spirit, and it is the one quoted by Simon Peter in his great Pentecostal sermon.
He is still pouring! Dreams and visions will increase in these last days and the baptism of the Spirit will be evidenced more and more as the people of God prepare for His coming. Joel's great promises for the last days should be studied more intently. Bless the Lord! 29. Micah: Listen now to Micah ask the question every believer must answer.
The answer is, NO! BUT, Ask if He is restricted in your life? Is He restricted in your place of worship? Is He restricted in your local community? Is He restricted in your state or province? Is He restricted in your nation? After making this query, Micah confronts the false prophets who have said they heard from God when they did not. His answer to them is based on his anointing.
Being equipped by the Spirit, Micah began a litany of sins and transgressions. His qualification for doing such was, "I am full of the power by the Spirit of the Lord." (Are you full of the Spirit? Pastor, are you full of power by the Spirit of the Lord?") Micah peeled off layer upon layer of sinful behavior committed by his constituents. (Where are those kinds of prophets today? Who dares to say what Micah said?)
Nations and their citizenry must confront the truth and realize there is a living God they are dealing with. (Located in Micah's message is an assertion which calls for a question, "Does verse 11 apply today?") 30. Haggai: Turn now to Haggai and hear His words of comfort prompted by the Spirit. Upon those rebuilding the Temple, after the Babylonian captivity, Haggai spoke words of encouragement--in a time much like our own. (When the domestic scene looks gloomy, there is a word which brings Peace, "My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!")
When Jesus eventually walked into the Temple Zerubbabel was rebuilding, greater glory entered the Temple and fulfilled, "The glory of the latter Temple shall be greater than the former." Ah, the Spirit knows! (Are you burdened down with great cares and you don't know where to turn? The Spirit knows! Are you facing a crisis so large there seems no way out? The Spirit knows!) 31. Zechariah: Reach into Zechariah now for one of the most famous passages in Scripture and remember its location and the occasion that prompted it.
Oh, Saint of God, the Spirit can pull things off you cannot even imagine. When the chief architect of the rebuilding of the Temple needed encouragement, it came. So, will yours! Pinpoint accuracy is the method of the Spirit when He asked Zerubbabel what mountain of events or discouragement can stand before him when the Spirit is on the scene? (Is He slack today? Are your mountains more powerful than Mark 11?) Zechariah's vision involved a plumb line, the instrument which assures the straightness of a wall or the starting point for a construction site. (However, in this case, it is the determinate of how straight a citizenry is behaving. [How straight is your church? How straight is your fellowship?]) The lampstand still calls to the anointed ones and it is calling today more than ever! In the next verse, the Spirit plies one of the strongest prophetic words spoken about the ministry of Jesus.
Zechariah prophesied the King-Priest, Jesus, will change the course of history and in these verses, it is spelled out for all to hear. (Crown Him in your heart and Crown Him in your family---it is the correct word for now!) Listen as Zechariah explains the reason for Israel and Judah's distresses.
How often have we seen an anointed people transform themselves into pupils of wrath? In this generation, as social problems bear down on the nations, could it be because they stopped their ears from hearing the Spirit? Could it be they refused, shrugged, stopped and made their hearts like flint? God help us all! Zechariah pointed to Jesus and prophesied the result of Israel's resistance had caused them to crucify the Lord of Glory.
32. Malachi: Next, turn to Malachi. In the order of the Bible, Malachi brings into play the last reference to the Spirit in the Old Testament. However, Malachi is not last, because he ministered during the time of Nehemiah. When Nehemiah returned to Persia for fourteen years, after overseeing the restructuring of the wall around Jerusalem, he learned of Malachi's preaching. Nehemiah liked what he heard and how he preached about the moral lapses of those living in Jerusalem. The prevalence of divorce and unfaithfulness caused him to re-assert the reason God set up marriage between one man and one woman. He emphasized the oneness factor of such union, and with it the power of fidelity. Hear now Malachi's treatise:
Malachi poses an issue that needs to be heeded today, "Take heed to your spirit." What is needed today is a personal check-up on how our spirit responds to the Holy Spirit. Are we listening to His voice and obeying His prompting? During these perilous times, He may well be our only source of direction. 33. Closing: In closing, we now can add to the previous list of the attributes of the Spirit in the Old Testament. Looking back to the beginning of this section and numbers 1-22, we add:
This study has been a personal blessing to me and I pray for you as well. Next month, we begin the study of the Spirit in the New Testament. Until next month, Dr. Cosby R. Oliver, PhD. |
MISSIONS REPORT:
From: Robert & Mary GrindleyBranch Ministries
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Contacts: Web: http://www.branchministriesbotswana.org Email: mailbranch@juno.com
 Greetings from Botswana! We are fine, just wearied a bit from this Covid 19 restrictions. Botswana has had very few cases and just 1 death, we are very thankful for that. However despite never having more than 25 active cases our economy, schools, churches were all shuttered. We are now entering the fourth Sunday where church is open but with a 50 person limit, and in the villages children are not allowed, in fact anyone under 18 cannot go to church. We hope these bans will soon be lifted and we can return to normal. Currently we only have 6 active Covid cases in the country. I think the concern is South Africa, our border nation where over 50,000 infections and growing. So we are back actively pursuing completion of orphan project and to get the farm moving toward productivity as complete lock down has been lifted, now we can travel in our zone without permits. At the orphan center an electrician is currently out wiring the buildings and should finish next week. Then our plan is to put solar in all houses, two, plus director's house, care-giver's house, security and tool buildings. Just a very small system for them. We have the funds for the two Orphan houses but not for the director's house and others. This electrical supply is one of the key factors to getting licensing. This has long been delayed as we were cheated by former contractor and still working on getting those funds returned. If we can do solar all at once it will save us about $1,000. We need about $7,000 more to do them all at once. We are about to launch a YouTube channel with teachings on it called Branch Ministries International. I started by doing a series on principles of prayer, another series on the book of 1 Corinthians and now have started a series on discipleship. We hope to launch this next weekend as we are having someone redo our website so we can launch both at same time. Our plan is to put out 3-4 teachings a week to be a blessing to those seeking God and His ways. Our bible school is restarting next Monday. Unfortunately with Covid protocols and distancing we can only fit 13 students in a room and we have 20 students who wish to come so we are working on a plan to accommodate them maybe running different times. At the farm we are moving our first cows there next week, and we are in talks about putting in a bore hole to start the process of irrigation. Quotes for a well seem to be around $4000 but we have the money for that and to get irrigation underway. We have 800 meters of fencing to just button up the farm, and some guys working on that now. We are now entering winter, a very dry season. We were going to draw from riverbed directly but seems this should be secondary plan, not best option once farm running. It should help us help the needy far more and bring in needed funds for operations at orphan center. The land you helped us buy in village of Tobane, we should get title deed by end July. This Covid thing closed land board, and sent all their timetables way back. We are excited to get this done and re-establish the church there. I have floated an idea by local pastors of working together to get churches in every village of Botswana. So far this has been met with initial excitement, a way for us to unify around a common cause without competition. We believe this can be done and believe have plan to do it. Right now many villages are abandoned to the cults and ancestral worship. We have plans for several outreaches pending, waiting for restrictions to lift so people can gather- these are in four villages- this is Mary and I, not pastors fellowship yet. Our after school sports program on hold for now, and in school as children not allowed to gather and trying to reach kids with message with masks on in school very difficult for our peer trainers. I have found the spiritual attack on my mind has been extreme of late. I believe it has something to do with us entering new areas of influence - however victory is ours! We miss you and wish we could spend more time in your presence, but please know that your lives have helped us very much. Would love to chat, but if not suitable we can do email. Rob and Mary Grindley |
From: Ghiorghi Cazacu - Gospel Ministries International, Inc.
Contact Information:Dorothy Maue
US Administrator
Gospel Ministries International, Inc.
PO Box 661
Belleville, IL 62222
Telephone: (618) 239-0215
Email: gmiius@sbcglobal.net
Note from Dr. Oliver: This is Brother Cazacu preaching in the Gypsy camp in Transylvania. I prophesied in 1994, in a gypsy camp in Brasov, that revival would come to Europe through them and out of their belly living waters would flow. They are seeking funds to buy a parcel of land and build a church as the congregation has formed Greetings from România. This are few pictures from our meetings. We love you and appreciate your friendship and partnership for the Kingdom of God. 
 
 
 
  May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. Ghiorghi Cazacu - Gospel Ministries International, Inc. |
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