Born to Win Podcast - with Ronald L. Dart

There is something truly seductive about any manifestation of the supernatural. Every human being experiences doubts once in a while. It is not so much a question of unbelief as it is a difficulty in maintaining belief in the midst of a world that seems designed to stamp out belief. And so any manifestation of the supernatural has a great deal of appeal. I think one of the reasons people become involved in the occult is because it seems better to see the devil than to see nothing at all.

I suppose this accounts for the little thrill that goes through an audience when a speaker breaks out in tongues—it seems like a divine miracle, right before our eyes, or at least a little manifestation of the spirit world. Speaking in tongues is thought to be a spiritual gift, and some believe it is the only true sign of conversion. If you have not spoken in tongues, you haven’t been baptized with the holy spirit. Paul does not seem to have seen it that way. Speaking in tongues had taken root in the Corinthian church, but something was wrong with it.

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

One thing is clear. The manifestation of Tongues in Corinth was a very different thing from what happened in the beginning. To begin, let me remind you of the beginning of speaking in tongues.

I have a message from God. Don't get me wrong, I haven't had any visions or heard voices in my ear. The message comes straight from the Bible, and all I am doing is applying it to our generation.

I think there is a crying out inside this country for someone who will just tell us the truth. But then, they tell us truth, it gets blown up out of all measure, and we reject the guys who told us the truth. So if we can't forgive politicians for lying to us, at least we can understand why they do. We want someone to tell us what we want to hear.

And in spite of the fact that we know all the jokes about politicians' promises, we keep on electing them on the basis of those promises. There is a good case to be made that we really get the kind of leadership we deserve. And God, looking down on us from above, is fully justified in thinking we are getting the leadership we want. I said I have a message from God. What would God have to say about a nation like ours?

Abraham, the father of the faithful, is obviously the greatest figure in the Old Testament. But the greatest man in the history of Israel has to be King David. He was not only a king, he was a prophet. David was not a priest, and he never attempted to usurp the office of the priesthood as Saul did, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He was a man’s man, who men could admire and follow. He was also in the direct line of the Messiah to come. He was, simply put, a type of Christ.

The last chapters of 2 Samuel appear to contain appendices to David’s life and career. They are in no special order, but seem to have been copied onto the end of the scroll before it was finally considered finished. In 2 Samuel 23, we have what are said to be the last words of David. We’ll hear from him after this, but this seems to be what David wanted to record as a kind of legacy.

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain.

What a clean and beautiful statement of what God expects of a man who leads a people. You can fell yourself yearning for that kind of leadership. Yet one wonders that, if we had it, if we would kill him. David, for his part, was painfully aware of his shortcomings, though, and he added this:

Although my house be not so with God; yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he makes it not to grow.

Many people have called Pentecost the birthday of the New Testament Church. It has also been called a lot of other things down through the years. It has been called a harvest festival. It’s been called a celebration of the resurrection. It’s a celebration of the Holy Spirit. It’s been called the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits, and the name we generally use—the Feast of Pentecost, itself a curious little Greek word signifying that it is the fiftieth day. In the very beginning, though, Pentecost was a harvest festival. Let’s begin with the very earliest reference to the feast, found in the 23^rd chapter of Exodus.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23:

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain...a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.

This weekend concludes the sixth of those seven weeks, so tonight we’ll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.

⁴ [Jesus], being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me.
⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
⁶ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
⁷ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.
⁸ But you shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
⁹ And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
¹¹ Who also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.