If Jesus Couldn’t Do It, Neither Can You!

If Jesus Couldn’t Do It, Neither Can You!

One of the less talked about events in Jesus’ life, is His baptism by the Holy Spirit. Immediately upon being baptized by John, the Scriptures say the Holy Spirit came down and abode and remained upon Jesus. Now many are confused by Jesus’ water baptism, but it is not a mystery. Baptism is always an outward picture of a proper inward disposition of the heart, in sinners this is achieved through genuine repentance. Baptism follows the aligning of one’s spiritual compass, something Jesus always kept pointed towards the Father, and so He was a candidate for baptism at any and all times, not due to the repentance of sin, but simply as a testimony of a right heart. When John questions Jesus’ baptism, Jesus simply tells him it is necessary to set a proper example (fulfill all righteousness) for all who will follow in His footsteps. Jesus was illustrating what Peter would proclaim… “Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Act 2:38. A right heart, is a right heart, whether through repentance, or as in Jesus’ case, through a life always aligned with the Father, His purposes, and His Will! Jesus was demonstrating the pattern, sequence, and nature of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and so we should not be surprised that upon His baptism, He received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, this as a picture of what would soon come to pass. This was clearly John’s understanding of the event as well… “And John bore record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He abode on Him. And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water, that One said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” John 1:32-33.

So the question becomes, why? Why did Jesus receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and did Jesus need the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Well, they say that timing is everything, and it is certainly true on this occasion. Jesus is thirty years of age when He is baptized, and this becomes key to understanding its significance for Jesus personally. Jesus has managed to do some remarkable things so far without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He has grown in His knowledge of the Scriptures, confounding the elders at the Temple and in the Synagogue. He has also grown in favor with God and man, demonstrating a piety and grace few if any could match. More importantly though, He has lived sinlessly for thirty years. When He receives the baptism of the Spirit, He is the spotless, sinless, Lamb of God. So why now, and for what purpose does the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus. Actually the answer is quite simple. Jesus at thirty years of age is just now embarking on His earthly ministry, which will last only three and a half years. The missing years of Jesus, are missing, because there is nothing to see! The baptism of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus coincides with the beginning of His earthly ministry, the point in time when He officially sets out to do the Will of the Father.

You see, although Jesus could do everything mentioned beforehand, without the indwelling, the one thing He could not do, was faithfully complete what awaited Him over the next three and a half years. The Spirit indwelling Jesus gave His humanity the power to complete the race the Father had set before Him. Without it, Gethsemane would have proved too much for Jesus’ humanity.  Jesus had become the recipient of the same power He told His followers would come upon them, so they could be His witnesses. The giving of the Spirit in Jesus’ life was for the same reason it is given to us, to provide us the power to live supernatural lives, and this as it relates to doing the will of the Lord. From this lesson in the life of Christ we can infer a couple unmistakable truths, the first is, that those who possess His Spirit have been given the power and strength they need to be victorious in this life, we have inherited the power to lead supernatural lives and truly conquer what is before us. However, on the other side of that coin, is the sad reality of those who do nothing.  If the power of the indwelling comes upon us to fulfill the Lords will in our lives, it must at the same time serve as an indictment upon the millions who sit in our churches doing nothing! In Scripture, the surest sign of the lost is not their imperfections, but rather their indifference to the cause of Christ. We must remember that it is not a saint who sins that makes Christ nauseas, but rather a lukewarm church member!

Rev. Joel M McDuffie Jr.

2/20/2017

What's Wrong With This Picture?

What’s wrong with This Picture?

One of the most amazing things about the way we were created, is how sensitive we are to the world around us. For instance, we have the ability to see a single photon! The eye is so sensitive it requires a neural filter, so we do not get over loaded by all the input our eyes are able to detect. We can feel ridges through our fingertips as small as 13 nanometers, it is said that if our fingertips were as large as the earth, they could detect the difference between a house and a car. We can recognize over one trillion smells, and in our ears, sense the differences in atmospheric pressure as small as one billionth of one atmosphere. This is all pretty amazing when you think about it, but what is more amazing, is that the God who created us with such sensitivity, could come to dwell in us bodily, as through His Spirit, and most appear completely unaffected! The truth is, most who attend church and call themselves Christians, live a spiritual life that is completely subjective, in other words, they really aren’t sure of anything at all, and to them, that is what faith is for.

In Scripture, the sending of the Holy Spirit was meant to remove the subjectivity from the Christian life. It is completely illogical for Jesus to say that He sent Him so we would not be left alone as orphans, so as to comfort and direct our lives, and then us be left to wonder if He is really with us at all. Most will not define their experience that way, but it is obvious, Christ has little effect on most who say they know Him. Is it possible that we could be so sensitive to everything else, and yet so insensitive to the indwelling and presence of our creator? The question we need to ask is not, is what I see in most who say they know Christ today normal, but rather, is it possible that the very God of heaven could invade my life and Him actually have so little effect? You see in the Old Testament God shouted from the mountain, in the Gospels He spoke from the lips of Jesus, and now He reveals Himself as boldly in our inner man, as His Spirit comes to bear witness with ours. The power of God to reveal Himself on the mountain is actually meant to be no less tame, now in the spirit of man. The problem with most is very simple, they have yet to be born again, and they have yet to experience the presence of God! The presence of God in us was meant to be a transforming, transfiguring event, not a subtle ripple through our conscience. In the New Testament, the filling with the Spirit was a life shattering moment! The New Testament gives us a picture of what a genuine encounter with Christ produces, something far different from the counterfeit most have come to accept. Satan would have you to believe that His presence, is not really “His presence,” the same way he did when he said, “you will not surely die!”  

Everyone who says they know Christ needs to ask themselves a couple sobering questions. First should be, is what I see in Scripture the exception or the rule, for all those who encounter the living God? And secondly, is it logical or even possible, for the God who created me so sensitive to everything else, to live within me, and me be affected so little? If we say we have been saved, and we are not at the same time overwhelmed continually by His presence, we are lying to ourselves, for such is the true nature of being born again!  

Rev. Joel M McDuffie Jr.

2/13/2017

You Must Be Born Again!

You Must Be Born Again!

Just what does it mean to be “born again?” There is probably no subject misunderstood more than that of genuine conversion and entrance into the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, people have come to believe that one is “born again” on demand. Most conceive that after reciting a sinner’s prayer and acknowledging a few fundamentals of the Christian faith, they are good to go. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. The issue between man and God is not facts, but rather faith, and genuine faith at that. God is looking for our reaction to the facts, not our understanding of them. Repentance is the irreversible transforming of the heart as a result of experiencing the full weight of those facts. This means that God’s focus is always on the heart, and not the head. That moment when the weight of our sin and sorrow, meet grace and mercy in earnest, and we are left wholly undone in the presence of Christ, crippled spiritually, broken emotionally, and now dependent upon Him eternally, as we now reach out to Him as our only source of hope, then and only then, have we experienced saving faith!  

Although being “born again” begins in this moment, experientially, it doesn’t end there. Scripture teaches that our being, now fashioned as the dwelling place of God after the shadow of the Tabernacle and Temple of the Old Testament, now cleansed by applying the blood of Christ, is properly suited for the Spirit of God to dwell. Now, like the Spirit would overwhelm and fill the Temple at special moments in days of old, we are now filled with that same presence forever. In that moment, the veil now lifted, in the inner man, we behold the Glory of the Lord, the very Glory Moses cried out to see at Sinai.

Now, a heart once crushed by the weight of sin and death, is flooded with rivers of mercy, while beholding unveiled the Glory of God, now, like Jesus told Nicodemus, we are left with an unexplainable, but unmistakable event, changing us forever, and thus is what it means to be “born again!”    

 

Rev. Joel M McDuffie Jr.

2/6/2017