Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I was blessed to speak at ALife Church yesterday. I spoke on the theme of Christ in us and us in Christ. It is part of the message I have been blogging on in the past weeks concerning Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life.
We are blessed to receive the first coming of Jesus as the one who judged sin to give us mercy and justify us to live as new creations in Christ. His blood upon the cross was His death once for us all. When we willingly receive Jesus into our lives, we receive Holy Spirit. This is a first coming of Jesus into our hearts that enables us to find the grace of God by which we can reign in life.
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ coming was not merely to get us to heaven when we die, but to bring heaven into our lives today. We often think of God in heaven, but the truth is that God is in heaven and on earth. Through Jesus, we have the presence of the anointed One in, upon, and with us in our lives. It is important for us to welcome His presence and to welcome His life in all that we are and do. He does not force Himself upon us, but He invites us to call upon Him. When we draw near to Him, He quickly draws near to us. He is willing, but it is the willingness of our hearts that allows Him to come. He is knocking at our door, but we must open the door for Him to come in and commune with us in life.
The work of the Holy Spirit is a work of life. The Father has sent the Spirit and the Spirit invites the Son. Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings in all the earth and the Holy Spirit has come in His name. The name of Jesus is not merely an identification of who He is, it is the identity of who He is. It is the substance of who He is. We identify water by the substance of wet, refreshing, thirst quenching, washing, and other attributes of water. The name of Jesus is like this. It is the substance of who He is. Holy Spirit comes in the substance of all that Jesus is. Holy Spirit partners with us as the bride of Christ and calls for the manifest presence of Jesus to come in increasing measures in the ages of men.
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
The Greek word for “come” in this verse is the Greek word ἔρχομαι (erchomai). It is used only in the present and imperfect tenses, thus it is not a concluding event, but a continually happening reality. This is not merely meant to give the hope of what is to come in the future, but for hope in our present reality for the increasing glory of God in our future. It is a foundational truth of Jesus Christ in our lives. There is an aspect to the second coming of Jesus in our life as a continually happening reality. The Holy Spirit is God with us and He comes in the name of Jesus. The water that we freely drink of is the water of the Holy Spirit. It is the life of the Holy Spirit flowing in and through our lives to bring life to us and to the world we live in.
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Jesus was saying these words to His disciples, but these words are true for us as well. When we receive Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. It is by believing Jesus that we receive the Holy Spirit and when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become testimonies of the life that comes by Jesus’ name. Jesus is alive and it is by the Holy Spirit in us that we can know Jesus with us.
John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
It is the Holy Spirit of God that draws us to God the Father and God the Son. Holy Spirit precedes the work of God in all things and is God with us and God at work with us in all things. In the book of beginnings (Genesis) we find the Holy Spirit as the expression of God in the earth. Holy Spirit was ready, willing, and able to bring life to all that needed life.
Jesus came to reconnect us to God as our Father in this world and in heaven to come. His goal was reconciliation for mankind. That reconciliation was to restore the mandate of mankind. That mandate was to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion (Gen. 1:26-28). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for us to fulfill this mandate. We know this by the Holy Spirit in us, upon us, and with us in all things.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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