MATTHEW 3:16 "COME, HOLY SPIRIT" (includes PERSONAL GROWTH STEPS)

"After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John the Baptist) saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him." (Matthew 3:16)

Right off the bat, in the very first 3:16 verse of the New Testament, the great Apostle Matthew (formerly Levi the tax collector), shows a powerful truth to the first Jewish Christian believers. It is something unheard of, except maybe in the ancient pages of the scrolls of Moses and the Prophets.

The scene itself is something directly out of a Divine Central Casting. God and God alone, is the only Creative Director of what is set to occur, as it reverberates through all history. The itinerant preaching cousin of the Messiah was fulfilling his God-ordained role of loudly proclaiming the need for repentance. He was baptizing those who repented and sought the forgiveness of the Lord. While standing in the Jordan River, up comes his cousin – Jesus.

By now, John the Baptist knew precisely who Jesus was, apart from being his cousin. John’s father, Zechariah the priest, prophesied in praise of Him, right before he spoke of his own son – John in his astonishing prayer/prophesy! Zechariah had just gotten back his voice after losing it, due to doubt about his aging wife being able told by God she was going to have a baby (John). God temporarily ordered him to lose his ability to speak, since he, a man of the cloth, doubted a true Angel of God. John knew the Messiah came from the same family as him, and he also knew His Divine Destiny. Jesus confirmed this later on (click).

John then uttered the immortal words “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the World”. He then baptizes Jesus. The moment Jesus’s head come out of the water the Holy Spirit of God, Who IS God, descended through the open heavenly skies right upon the Messiah. This signaled the beginning of an amazing three years of ministry of the Christ. It was the three years which have forever changed the world.

316 APPLIED:

While the world changed, in the general sense, because of the visible descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, this one significant event held the promise for any and everyone who would believe, thereafter,  in the Son of God and His Gospel.

The verse says “….and lighting upon Him”. In context, this means that the full power, influence, and authority of Heaven come upon Jesus and became one with His Spirit. He was (and always will be) fully God and fully man.  This means everything for all humanity. For Eternity past, the dearly departed souls who resided in what Jesus called “Abraham’s Bosom” or Paradise, had their Faith in God rewarded. The Messiah had come.

For the present, as in now, this would be the first of only two times which the Holy Spirit will be visible to the physical eye.  The Spirit of God, Who raised Christ from the dead, descended as tongues of fire on the disciples as they prayed and spoke in foreign languages so that all assembled in Jerusalem could understand what the Disciples were preaching.  That is is the accurate description of the “many tongues” they spoke.  The “tongues of fire” were only visible to the Elect of Christ in that room who saw the unique phenomenon, so that Christ’s Words from Acts 1 would be fulfilled.

Since there, the Holy Spirit immediately indwells and seals the truly saved. He is invisible to both the world and the Christian in whom He dwells. The fruits of the Spirit (peace, love, joy....) depends on the quality of faith and obedience of the Christian and should be evident over the course of a lifetime. There is a tremendous responsibility and debt which those whom Christ has saved and rescued owe Him. We owe Jesus not just everything but need to conduct ourselves accordingly.

Knowing the History of the Holy Spirit on this earth, from the descent at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan by John, and knowing His appearance as Tongues of Fire on Pentecost, what evidence of His appearance is there in YOUR life (and mine)? For your own good, and mine, let us proceed with the following practical steps towards our own sanctification.

PERSONAL GROWTH STEPS:

• Begin a private journal. They can be purchased anywhere for less than $10 (Walmart, Walgreens...or any bookstore)
• Write down each of the following fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
• Then, take each and do a personal inventory, logging where improvements can be made or work actually begun on the “fruits” where they are non-existent in your life.
• Be serious about maintaining this journal and log in several times per week, as you worship the Lord daily through prayer and bible study.
• In one month, you will begin to notice a change in your desire to read your bible daily and pray. In six months of steady dedication, even if it is only two sentences. Transformation begins. Then look back over one full year - the fruits of the Spirit will begin to show all around you and I....if we just allow the Holy Spirit to do His Word....and "light upon us".

THE LORD'S PRAYER - DAILY APPLICATION, ETERNAL BENEFITS

The just concluded seven part examination of the model prayer – the Lord’s Prayer – which Jesus Christ gave to all His disciples (past, present and future), leaves one thing now for us.  The question is “what do we do now”?  How does this apply to our daily lives? How do we walk this out and apply it effectively, so that we can be transformed by the teaching of the Savior into doing that which He hath called us to do?

Remember the Will of God is for us to reject the world, like Jesus did, and to be transformed into a new way of thinking. That is, if you will – to reject “stinking thinking” and live more like the new creation we have become, through rebirth (as a son or daughter of God).

So in applying the divine content of our Lord’s Prayer, we are free to abide in its structure and grow more and more fully into the widths and depths and lengths and breadths of it. Over almost two decades, my own personal prayer life and analysis on this amazing passage of Scripture has evolved into a depth of meaning, which stuns me, even though I have been a Christian for a long time. This is a perfect illustration of what a “closer walk with God” truly is.

Therefore, the first thing to note in personal application is this - don’t throw the long ball. Christianity is a slow maturing process where God has eternity to teach us as much as we wish to know this side of heaven with continuing education into eternity. Start small. 

We have all heard the mighty prayer warriors in all their verbal fluency and excellence, shaking the rafters with their power prayers, sounding like John Knox, George Mueller and Robert Sheffey rolled into one…or even dear old mom, who spent hours on her knees praying for us.  None of them started off sounding like Franklin Graham or his father. We all began our prayer lives stumbling and bumbling. The Bible tells us that we do not know how to pray, but the Spirit does it for us “(Romans 8:26).

So we simply begin to apply the following technique –

a.    Acknowledge God – “Our Father Who is in Heaven”….is adoration! We must acknowledge our Heavenly Father, Abba, to Whom we are praying. God is not an ATM machine where we go pull out our daily withdrawal of blessings. 

b.    Gratitude – thank Him for all His blessings thus far. Thank Him for our very lives and just about anything you can think of, because anything we have, comes directly from Him. He owns everything including the food in our fridge. Be grateful for our families, our job any and everything. Most of all, be thankful for salvation. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. Most of all He wishes His people to be grateful for ALL He has done for us…..and why shouldn’t we be? The very next breath we breathe literally belongs to Him, as does the food on our table and the roof over our heads. The One Who sent His own sinless Son to give it all for us, one and out, has every right to expect those whom He saved, sanctifies  and provides for, to fall over ourselves in sheer humble thanksgiving and worship to Him.

c.    Respectfully express what’s on your mind. One of the most fluent, powerful and effective prayers ever prayed was not by some super-spiritual prayer warrior on Wednesday night or at prayer meeting. It was done by a faithful king named Hezekiah. Hezekiah lived during the time of the prophet Isaiah and was surrounded by a vile, violent enemy named Sennacherib, who had the entire city of Jerusalem surrounded and cut off from all supplies, water and food. Sennacherib then sent a letter with a list of demands for Hezekiah to follow, if the King wanted Jerusalem to survive. Hezekiah took that same letter and went in private, in prayerful communication and presented it to Him. (“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD- 2 Kings 19:14). The next morning, the Lord responded and 185,000 of the occupying forces perished overnight at the Hands of the Lord.   If we get some of troubling report which seems impossible to for us to handle – be it health, financial, work, family or other related, let’s take it to the Lord, open the document before Him and seek His help.  This shows so much confidence in His ordering the issues of our lives, that He will respond when the time is right.  This actually shows turbo-speed Faith and a Trust in the Lord beyond average comprehension.
d.  

Pursue, Persist, And Persevere. Acknowledging the Father of Lights with thanksgiving are the common traits of the true servant of the Living God. Simply read the Psalms, the Prayer Book of the Bible and especially the ones written by King David to know the heart of person after God’s own Heart, when trying to walk this Christian life out. What distinguishes the extraordinary Christian from those who are saved but not caring to live up to their full potential is Perseverance.  The general Grace which is extended to all people, including Christians, takes on a personal flavor of Favor and Power when the Christian pursues “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”, as the song goes. Seeking to hear from Him more, like King Hezekiah did when he laid out that devastating letter before God, Who responded in stunning fashion, requires our active pursuit of a closer relationship with our Heavenly father through Prayer, Bible Study and worship (personal and corporate).  These three disciplines will not only solidify our Faith in Christ but will bring us maturity which leads to peace, joy and contentment. Where these disciplines are needed are in the areas of trials and testing.   Sometimes we feel the Lord does not answer, hear our cries or “feels our pain”. These thoughts are wrong on all accounts.  In troubled times  of personal testing especially, and when we feel we are in the valley of the shadow of death, that is when He is closest. Now, He IS quiet for a reason. Rewind back to our school days when there was a surprise quiz or even high school finals.  During those school or college days, there was utter silence. There was only us – the test booklet and our knowledge/ability to answer the questions correctly with clarity and purpose. If we “aced” that test, we either got a good grade in class or graduated with honors.

e.    This is the reasoning God uses behind our testing. The same process we used in school to apply knowledge, in order to answer multiple choice in complete silence, is the way we are expected to view our own personal trials, tribulations and testing when God is silent. When we sit in the classroom with our test booklet, the Teacher is always quiet as we test. But the Teacher always takes our booklets with a smile, knowing it will be graded. If we are confident in our execution of the examination, we get a passing grade. There is nothing like a passing grade with God! Praise His Great Name!

Such understanding of how the God, Who gave His own Son on a Cross for our sins, operates, will move us to persist and persevere in prayer. It will become second nature. It will become the best way to learn, like the original 12 Disciples did, how and WHY the Master taught us how we should pray. Amen.

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 24 (SPIRITUAL HYSSOP)

BIBLE VERSE: "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" Psalm 51:7a.

TRUTH: Hyssop is mentioned throughout the Old Testament as an instrument designed by God for religious purification, according to the Law of Moses. This can be found in Exodus 12:22 and Numbers 19:6. We see it turn up again when Jesus was hanging in pain on the Cross and mentioned that He was thirsty..."so they put a sponge full of the sour wine (vinegar) upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth (John 12:29b).  Hyssop is a plant or herb with amazing qualities, just like everything the Father designed. Apart from the potential to cleans and regulate normal hygiene and daily functions of the intestines etc, Hyssop contains qualities which can treat asthma, bronchitis, sore throats and more. A paste from it can treat bruises and small burns.

So it is with the Word of God - it soothes, heals, cleanses, corrects and purifies. It is our conscience and our guide which the Holy Spirit, Who lives alongside the spirit of each truly converted Christian, uses to guide us into the path of God's Truth. In this prayer of Repentance (Psalm 51), King David knew the depth of his sin, but he also knew the Holy Spirit would deliver him if He would apply the spiritual attributes of the Hyssop plant to his dark depressed spiritual condition. Many Christians live with hidden sins in their lives and need not salvation, but purification. The first thing required is a willingness to "halt" the bleeding and bind up that wound. Then next up is a cry out to God to apply the bitter dose of the hyssop plant of Discipline. Depending on the sin, this discipline may not go over well, but it will correct the ship of the person's state. Then, third, once that discipline has been applied to the affliction and application is made, restoration can return with sweet release, as the burdens are lifted up by Grace! So now, if a dose of spiritual hyssop is needed, why not confess to God now, and accept His Grace?

(Image Credit Here)

THE RIGHT ANGLE: "WHAT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOUR LIFE?"

BRAND NEW INTERNET VIDEO TEACHING SHOW:

The following is the second of a new online video "show" if you will, where BMIC President and bible teacher Bernie Lutchman examines critical topics which need a biblical angle and application.  These will appear frequently as needed and this new teaching video program (which is shorter than the average 1/2 TV program) is called THE RIGHT ANGLE.  The RIGHT ANGLE looks at the issues of life, through God's Angle, via His Word.

Today's exhortation is on Fear and Transformation. The passage taught on is Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.