Acts 1 :1-5,8 (Amplified) says, "In the former account (which I prepared), O Theophilus, I made (a continuous report( dealing with all the things which Jesus began to do and to teach Until the day when He ascended, After He through the Holy Spirit had instructed and commanded the Apostles (special messengers) Whom He had chosen, to them also He showed Himself alive after His passion (His suffering in the Garden and on the cross) by (a series of) many convincing demonstrations (unquestionable evidences and infallible proofs) appearing to them during forty days and talking (to them) about the things of the Kingdom of God)." Verses 4-5, 8 go on, "And while being in their company and eating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised, of which (He said) you have heard Me speak For John baptized with water, but not many days from now you shall be baptized with (placed in, introduced into) the Holy Spirit." Verse 8 says, "But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
What we know as the Book of Acts should be the Acts of the Holy Spirit because it was Him in them who put faith in Him, Who gave the power that changed the world. John 15:26 (Amplified) tells us, "But when the (Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Stand-by) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He (Himself) will testify regarding Me."
Jesus came to reveal God as our Father, His plan of Salvation and His goodness. Jesus hinted at the new creation that would come through His death and resurrection. Now, the Holy Spirit has been sent to us regarding and revealing Jesus in His triumph and glory. Until Jesus came, no one had seen God as Father. And, until the Holy Spirit arrived, no one had seen Jesus in His exalted state. Even now, unless the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His job in our lives, we only see a portion of the Resurrected Christ.
Acts 1:2 (Amplified) says, "Until the day when He ascended after He through the Holy Spirit had instructed and commanded the Apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen." We see that the commands and instructions were now open by the Holy Spirit through Jesus. We see in Acts 1:3 how Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, spoke to the Apostles about the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God (the real realm of where we have been placed in through Jesus) isn't some undisciplined, unorganized place in "Never, Neverland," but the Kingdom was responsible for all of creation. It's a very organized place with laws of citizenship that we must learn to operate in. The Holy Spirit's job is to reveal these laws of citizenship to God's people. When we function in the laws of the Kingdom, it lifts us up out of the laws that function on earth.
Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit For the law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the law of our new being) has freed me from the law of sin and of death."
One law of the Kingdom is the Law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus, this is the "law of our new being." Since we're a new creation, we function in a different set of laws or conditions. The old law that we lived by, could only bring sin and death. We learned over the centuries how to function in these laws and even those who seemed successful under it and achieved fame and fortune, still were operating in the law of sin and death.
Jesus operated in a higher law, in His earthly walk, that overcame the lower law of sin and death. He defied gravity by walking on water. He defied lack when feeding the multitude. He defied death by speaking and giving life to dead people. All the laws of sin and death were placed under the Law
of the Spirit of Life.
These are Kingdom laws or ordinances that function through the new creation by the revelation and teaching of the Holy Spirit. The disciples witnessed these laws function , but they had no idea what they were. God's government, the Kingdom, has laws that it functions and is ruled by. Unlike the laws the earth is governed by, these laws are unchangeable. As we learn to operate in the Kingdom laws, we supersede the laws governing a fallen planet.
We have a law of gravity that functions on this planet. What goes up, must come down. We also have the law of lift and the law of thrust. By using the law of lift and thrust, we can supersede the law of gravity and fly in airplanes. If you turn the airplane off at thirty-thousand feet, then the law of gravity will bring it down.
As children of God, we've been raised together with Jesus into a new form of laws. We've been placed into God's Kingdom where the King rules by His Own set of laws. Through our new birth, we've been given the ability to function in God's principles and in a higher set of laws.
Many of these principles and Kingdom laws have been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit over the last four or five decades, and have been mostly ignored or put down by many Christians.
Many of the men and women the Holy Spirit raised up during these past four or five decades were dismissed as frauds or fools by many children of God. We were being taught by the Holy Spirit about speaking God's Word and not our own, but many dismissed these teachings as "Name it and claim it" and missed one of the Kingdom's laws that function in power. These men and women who taught on faith were dismissed as "fools." Once again, the Holy Spirit began teaching on God's grace and once again, we rejected the message. It seemed like each lesson the Holy Spirit introduced to the Church was rejected and ignored by the majority of the Church.
The Church continued trying to receive from the Kingdom of the Spirit and Life in Christ Jesus by the same laws of sin and death. We tried walking in our new life by the same laws governing us before being saved. If we would allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to function in our new life, then we could walk above the laws that hold us down. It seems like all our earthly laws are in direct opposition to the laws of the Kingdom.
The world's law tells us to get all we can and then hold onto it. The Kingdom laws say if we give, then God will multiply it back to us. Nearly everything we were taught as children are opposite of the Kingdom's principles. It's hard to turn loose of what we know in order to gain what we have in Christ.
Because everything the Spirit teaches us goes against the carnal mind, we struggle with them. Many still think our Heavenly Father is the Author of all our problems in one form or another. We cannot seem to fathom how it's God's goodness that brings men to repentance and that "all good and perfect gifts come down from the Father"and there is "no shadow of turning or changing."
The Holy Spirit puts the power in the Name of Jesus. His Name and faith in His Name made man at the gate of the Garden Beautiful whole. The Sons of Selba tried casting out demons "in the Name of Jesus that Paul preached," but were unsuccessful because they didn't have faith in that Name. To the degree of knowledge we have of the Kingdom is the degree that our prayer, faith, grace or Kingdom laws will work from here. We must learn to listen to the Teacher, the Holy Spirit Who will lead us and direct us into all truth.
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