THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Scripture: John 16:7-11, Matthew 7:1

Verses 7-11 say, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” The Holy Spirit has a job to do and that job includes declaring, proclaiming and exhibiting the will of the Lord. Two of the elements of the will of the Lord that the Holy Spirit will accomplish are righteousness and judgment. How clear can this be? It is in God’s declaration to Abraham! It is in what Jesus bought and paid for all of us and then it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is given to us. Does this not clearly declare to any one of us who is honest, that God expects the church to do righteousness so that we can do judgment. We have to wake up and deal with the fact that we have been sold a pile of tradition. It is the mis-emphasis of Matthew 7:1 and it has been wrong, just plain wrong! Are we willing to go back and balance out Who Christ is so we can move forward and do righteousness and declare judgment?