Luke 3:21-23(Amplified) says, "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, and (while He was still) praying, the (visible) heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven saying, You are My son, My Beloved! In You I Am well pleased and find delight. Jesus Himself, when He began (His ministry), was about thirty years of age, being the Son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli."
Luke 4:1 (Amplified) says, "Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in (by) the Holy Spirit." Luke 4:14-15 (Amplified) tells us, "Then Jesus went back full of and under the power of the Holy Spirit into Galilee, and the fame of Him spread through the whole region around about. And He Himself conducted (a course of) teaching in their synagogues, being recognized and honored and praised by all."
Jesus didn't begin His Own ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Luke 3:23 (Amplified) says, "Jesus, at that day and time, began to be about thirty years old." He was Jesus the day before being baptized and the prior year He was twenty-nine years old. He was named Jesus from His birth. He didn't become Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan River, but He never performed any miracles or healings (at least the Bible doesn't say He did) until the Holy Spirit came upon Him with power.
We read in Acts 1:4-5,8 (Amplified), "And while being in their company and eating with them, He (Jesus) 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 to) 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."
We read the account of the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 and about the Holy Spirit's introduction into the earth and upon the Church of Jesus Christ. Working our way through the New Testament, we read about how the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit opened up to all who will believe and receive.
Many things have been said and debated about the Holy Spirit since that day, but not was according to God's Word. Some say that it was only for the early Church, while some believe the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for us today. Some Christians even reject the gifts and manifestation of His presence today. All these different things can only be judged properly by God's Word. Man's ideas and understanding mean nothing if it differs from God's Word.
If Jesus Himself did no mighty works before being baptized by the Holy Spirit, then what makes us believe we don't need Him in our own lives today? Some claim that speaking in tongues has now ceased. What do you then do with the thousands of people (including myself) who speak in tongues? Denying the presence of the Holy Spirit is denying the power and ability of God in our lives.
Many people use "self-help" programs in order to "be good." Personally, all the self-help programs (without the power of the Holy Spirit) I've used are simply that...programs. According to God's Word, the Holy Spirit is the very Person Who makes us and gives us the ability to "be a witness into all the earth." Without His giving Life to what we say or His giving power to what we do, we are just making noise, according to John 6:63 (Amplified) which says, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the Life-giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
We have made creeds and laws from God's Word and we've built traditions and man-made rules based on God's Word. But the Holy Spirit did not come to bind us with traditions, He came to bring "liberty to all who were bound." Jesus was speaking to the people in Luke 4:19 (Amplified) concerning the Holy Spirit and His anointing, "To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound)." In Luke 4:21 (Amplified) Jesus "began to speak to them; TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing."
If that scripture was fulfilled that day, then it is still fulfilled today. Religion will bind us with man's traditions and laws like it did in Jesus' day. Relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit will bring the liberty of the new birth. 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 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."
These are Spiritual Laws that function in the realm of the spirit at all times. There is a Law of sin and death and there is a Law of the Spirit of Life. These laws are always in motion, just like the law of gravity. God proclaimed this Law even before Jesus came in the flesh. This was a choice given then and it is now a choice we must make for ourselves according to Deuteronomy 30:14 (Amplified) which says, "I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live." God went on to to say in Verse 15 that, "He is our life, and the length of our days."
I have no idea why people wish to fight over the goodness of God. Some would rather believe that it's God Who is responsible for all our troubles rather than all our blessings. The Holy Spirit came to enforce the blessings of Abraham on us (Gentiles) and not to enforce the curse. "He came to proclaim healing, deliverance and blessing," according to Jesus in Luke 4:18-19.
It's difficult to fathom how we ever came up with the dumb things we believe from Jesus' preaching. Only the Holy Spirit can bring God's Word to life in our hearts. Man's idea of the same Word will bind you and hold you down. The Holy Spirit will loose you and set you free. Men will keep you under condemnation about who you were before being saved. The Holy Spirit will give you the new creature image of who you now are and not who you were. Two people can read the same version of the Bible and have different ways of doing what it says. Men will use what should be our liberty to bind you with laws. The Holy Spirit will take those laws and lay them upon Jesus and give and use the liberty of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus to set us free from the Law of Sin and Death.
We must learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and not the mind of men. He will give us the mind of Christ and change your yoke of guilt to the easy yoke of Jesus. His yoke is easy and life. Let the Holy Spiirt do the work and ministry He was sent to do and He will set the captives free.
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