As I shut the door of the office after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It seemed to me that I saw Him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at His feet. I fell down at His feet, wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet in tears. I must have continued in this state for a good while. I returned to the front office, but as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without any recollection that I had ever heard the subject mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to come in waves of liquid love; it seemed like the very breath of God. I wept aloud with joy and love. – Charles Finney The Spirit of the Lord was active in the life of the great revivalist, Charles Finney. And, he is and can be highly active in your life. We can learn much about His activity by looking at the workings of the Spirit in the life of Jesus.
Rejection is part of living among free-will opinionated humans. Everyone thinks they are right and if you don’t think so, just ask them 🙂 In 1902, the poetry editor of Atlantic Monthly returned a stack of poems with this note, “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The poet was Robert Frost.  In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation as “irrelevant and fanciful.” The writer of that paper was Albert Einstein. In 1894 an English teacher noted on a teenager’s report card, “A conspicuous lack of success.” The student was Winston Churchill. You get the point, rejection happens even to the most prolific and influential of men. Yet and still, the Lord instructed us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But what do you do when people reject it? In part one of a series entitled: “The Parables of Jesus: Physician Heal Yourself”, we begin to look at this very issue. But first, let’s take a peek at Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth and His public ministry as a Rabbi in Israel.
Sometimes people try to avoid the complexities of life.  As the story goes, an American businessman named Wilson, tired of the Great depression, rising taxes and increasing crime, sold his home and business in 1940 and moved to an island in the Pacific. Balmy and ringed with beautiful beaches, the island seemed like paradise. Its name? Iwo Jima . Inadvertently, we try to live out our Christianity the same way. We try to play it safe. Reduce every possible risk. But, following Jesus is not the place to skimp when it comes to risk. That’s the nature of faith.
Following God, reading His Word and hearing His voice, will keep your life on a razors edge. He will keep you trusting Him. He will keep you leaning on Him. He is going to give you assignments that require you to give up your security blanket and come out of your comfort zone. Â The faith lifestyle requires a full commitment. It requires a giving of everything to Jesus.
Jesus was not a wayside philosopher. He did not sit around and debate the state of the world. He didn’t engage in political banter for the sake of it. He wasn’t a baby kisser pining for office. Jesus was a doer. The tsunami impact of His life branded the world. How did He do it? He moved in God’s timing. He flowed with the Spirits direction. He left every disciple a reproducible model. What Jesus did you can do. How do we know? He told us so.
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Jesus was not a wayside philosopher. He did not sit around and debate the state of the world. He didn’t engage in political banter for the sake of it. He wasn’t a baby kisser pining for office. Jesus was a doer. The tsunami impact of His life branded the world. How did He do it? He moved in God’s timing. He flowed with the Spirits direction. He left every disciple a reproducible model. What Jesus did you can do. How do we know? He told us so.
In 1Jn 1:1-3, John testifies to his encounter with Jesus. John’s testimony is a simple one. Jesus is not an illusion – ‘we saw Him’. He is not a figment of our imagination, – ‘we touched Him’. He is not a fairy tale – ‘we heard Him’. If you believe in Him, your testimony can parallel John’s. By faith, you can see Him. By faith, you can touch Him. By faith, you can hear Him. By faith, you can encounter Him.
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God in the Flesh
Question: “Would it be possible to discuss God’s manifestation into flesh, and the triune God. I’m confused, or misled in my understanding. Essentially, some say God was Jesus all the time; yet, others he is the son and his father.” – Mary Gentry
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Receiving Jesus is the key in order to live in the eternal with God. Why is it needful? Why is it necessary? ‘Necessary’, is a word that can cause a reaction in some people.  The word implies ‘a have to’ or an imperative obligation. This causes resistance especially in those who believe that there are other roads to God. Some, for example, believe that possessing high morality is the road to heaven while others believe that all religions lead there if one is sincere and true to ones convictions. Is this true? Do all roads lead to God? Much hangs in the balance here which is why the word ‘necessary’ takes on critical status. Why is it necessary to receive Jesus?  Why don’t all roads lead to heaven? If you type the words ‘things that are necessary’ into a Google search bar, one of the first hits you will come to is ‘three things that are necessary for life on earth’. But what about things that are necessary to live life in heaven with God?
“Who is Jesus?” is the question of the ages. As far as going to heaven is concerned, there are many things that have no bearing. It does not matter what tribe you may come from. There are only three in God’s sight anyway; Jew, Gentile and the church of God. It does not matter what your church affiliation is. You can be any flavor of church or denomination you care to be. Your social status has no bearing. Whether you are an outlaw, an outcast or a heretic to your circle is no consequence to God the Father. Your political views have no bearing on your standing with heaven. Your economic status has no influence to the God own owns everything and is the Creator of all. The only thing that matters is your answer to this question, Who is Jesus to you? God the Father wants to know; all of heaven is waiting to know, “What are you going to do with Jesus, who is called, the Christ?”
The more we align with God’s Word the more efficiently things work. They do not work as well the less you are in line with His Word. The church would get better results, you as an individual believer would get better results, the more you line up with God’s plan, God’s thoughts, and God’s ways. God’s way is the leadership of the Spirit in one’s life. The more you flow with the Holy Spirit, the less you try to do things on your own, the more efficiently things work. But there is a problem that has developed in America that is blocking the flow.
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Phillip had a divinely inspired encounter with a lost person. The woman at the well had a Holy Spirit laced encounter with Jesus as did Nathanael. And what about the day of Pentecost? Are these encounters a pattern of how soul winning can be carried out? Let’s investigate God’s Word on the matter and see how the Holy Spirit encounters lost people.
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