Stan West - The Spirit of Influence

Stan West, reflecting on the comment, “God and Satan are going to end up managing the same people,” maintains that mankind has been influenced from the time of creation by invisible powers, both good and bad, torn between the spirit of the power of the air and God’s Holy Spirit. We need to resist the corrosive evil power of Satan and embrace the life-sustaining power of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. We dare not allow Satan to manage our lives, but instead allow God to manage our lives, keeping His commandments. Satan, through his broadcasts of temptation to sin, seeks to enslave us under his control (bringing us death). God, by contrast, seeks to liberate us from sin, allowing us to gain control of our destiny (bringing us life). We have an obligation to resist sin and seek the life-sustaining power of God’s Holy Spirit, giving us spiritual knowledge, the mind of Christ, and the power to obey. Through God’s Holy Spirit we are joined to Jesus Christ’s body, sanctified with spiritual gifts to edify the body, becoming a new creation, begotten as heirs into God’s family. God’s spirit teaches us, brings things into remembrance, guides us into truth, and convicts us of sin, enabling us to bear the fruits of righteousness. We need God’s Holy Spirit to change the status quo of yielding to sin.

Affect by an invisible power people or things * Children of wrath * Draw near to God * Ephesians 2:2; 5:9 * I Corinthians 2:9-13; 12:8-14 * Fruits of the spirit * Galatians 5:22 * Giving of the Law * God’s Holy Spirit * Influence * James 1:12-14; 4:7-8 * John 6:63; 14:7-26 * Love of God shed abroad in our hearts * Management * Opposing influences * Ostracize * Pentecost * Psalm 104:30 * Resisting * Responding to the status quo * Romans 5:1-5; 8:8, 15-17 * Satan * II Corinthians 5:17 * Seth Godin * Seth Godin on "Influencing the Masses" * Status quo * Telling other people what to do * Titus 3:4-7 * Tool of sin * Tribes