Speaker: Mikhail

Secondary questions (in his youth: stockings, socks and headscarves) hide the main ones: what is the new birth, the Kingdom of God, the cross, holiness. The Old Testament never speaks of the Holy Spirit, only of the Spirit of God. We must distinguish the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, who "shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:14) and brings the qualities of Christ into our spirit.

Speaker: Andrey (guest)

• A video about the Christian rehabilitation center "Choose Life" in Russia, founded in 2004: in 20 years, 1,208 people came to it, more than 600 completed the full program, 370 live free, and more than 70 families were formed.

• Andrey is the founder and director of the center; he was once an addict himself and buried more than 12 friends. He is now opening a similar center in the U.S. and asks for prayer and financial support.

• Drug addiction is a "satanic religion" that promises young people a "rosy paradise". "Deliver them that are drawn unto death" (Prov 24:11–12): this is the church's commission. Christ Himself went to publicans and sinners. Only the one born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).

• Ps 86:11–13: "unite my heart to fear thy name". Testimony: the first girl in the program, who had been treated unsuccessfully for 10 years, was transformed after reading about the leper who came back; she later came to serve at the center and became his wife.

Speaker: Mikhail

• The church will give money to the center, and anyone can add to it.

• 1 John 5:14–18: "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life". The word "God" is not in the Greek: the one who prays gives life. Compare Rom 8:19–20: creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.

• "The faith of God" and "faith in God" are different. The faith of God is speaking what God told you, and such a word cannot fail. You can't grab any promise and shout "it's mine": perhaps "ye adulterers and adulteresses" applies to you right now (Jas 4:4).

• A sin unto death is when someone has tasted life and turned away, like the Galatians (Gal 3:1, 4:19; Heb 6:4–6). A sin not unto death is when a person never had life: he holds on by fear and doesn't see that sin is evil.

• Three stages of God's will (Rom 12:2): the good will (God does everything for an infant), the acceptable will (God breaks a teenager) and the perfect will (complete unity with His will).

• "As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now" (Gal 4:28–30): new birth existed in the Old Testament too ("Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?", John 3:10). David, Abraham and Job did what God wanted because their spirit was alive. The Spirit of Christ spoke in the prophets (1 Pet 1:10–11).

• "Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind" (1 Pet 4:1–2): the cross is carried until the flesh with its affections and lusts is crucified (Gal 5:24). That which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6), and "whosoever is born of God… cannot sin" (1 John 3:9). Jesus was not "100% man" and never struggled with lust. A comparison: fighting a sin you still want is like holding out and then "drinking from the toilet" anyway.

• To bless means asking God to give what is yours to the one in need: "his problem is bigger than mine". Prayer for Edik and Viktor.