WHAT IS GOD SAYING TO YOU NOW?

Jesus was on a mission. Part of that mission was to teach that Jews as well as Gentiles needed to be converted and to undergo a spiritual rebirth in order to enter the Kingdom of God. 

So many people in Christian churches still don’t understand this. 

• Some people teach a baby is born again in infant baptism. 

But Jesus said:

...."Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NASB)

• A baby cannot repent or be converted. 

• Jesus always demanded personal belief, trust and commitment. 

• God will never send any small child to hell but there comes a time when every boy or girl reaches the age of accountability.

Infant baptism does not automatically guarantee faith. Joseph Stalin trained to become a priest, so he must have been baptised.  

• Jesus did not call people to be passive believers waiting to die and go to heaven.

For Jesus, faith was a powerful personal connection with His Heavenly Father. 

He wants you and me to have nothing less than this.

"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9 (NASB)

Jesus lived His entire live on earth saturated with the love of His Father and filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

• He wants nothing less for you and me.

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 

• "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 

• "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" 

• But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39 (NASB)

Jesus never spoke of believing and passively expecting to go to heaven. 

• He called people to FOLLOW HIM, to learn from Him, to obey Him, to become like HIM, to live in friendship with God just has HE did.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 

"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12 (NASB) 

• What does it mean to FOLLOW JESUS?

• God is calling you to TRUST Him like Jesus did, 

• to KNOW Him like Jesus did, 

God is calling you to be full of love for others as Jesus was.

• God is calling you to hear His voice as Jesus did,
• to do what He shows you to do, just like Jesus did. 

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. John 14:10 (NLT)

You and I are far from measuring up to this amazing example but we can grow up into Christ.
Like children who admire their father, we can decide to grow up and be like Him.

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

• Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)

Dear God, show me how I can love others now! 

• Even as I write these words, I pray this prayer for myself and God brings to my mind a woman who was once a student in my English class. 
• She is a believer who needs help because God is prompting me to pray for her NOW.

Will you pray with me and ask God to show you what to do NOW?

He will answer. 

The HOLY SPIRIT Can Change YOUR Life

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; Luke 4:18 (NKJV) 

Jesus grew up in Nazareth as an apparently ordinary Jewish boy. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from His mother’s womb but the Holy Spirit did not come upon Him and rest upon Him until He was baptised in the River Jordan.

It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11 (NKJV) 

This was the anointing of Jesus for the preaching ministry and this is what He was telling the people of His hometown in Nazareth. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Jesus made Him different, empowered and commissioned by the Father to change lives in a way the Nazarenes had not seen before Jesus became a preacher. 
This was not just to identify Jesus as the unique Son of God but also to set an example for us all to follow.

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' John 1:32-33 (NKJV) 

When you trust in Jesus and you are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to make His home in you, just as He did in Jesus from before His birth. But when Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, His Spirit comes upon you and changes you for a purpose, to reach out and change lives around you with the power of God and the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.  And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 (NKJV)

Are the Charismatic Gifts of the Holy Spirit necessary for salvation? Yes and no. You can be saved without speaking in tongues but gifts like healing and prophecy can be the evidence which convinces many others of the reality of God and lead them to salvation.

If we use the divine gifts with a heart of love, we can continue the mission of Jesus which He described in these words.

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;