The Baptism of the Holy Spirit # 1

The Empowering

Matthew 3:11 and Acts 1:8

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. As born anew followers of Jesus we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the very moment of conversion.
8. It is so that we are never alone, Jesus is with us through every event of our lives.
9. This is what was prophesied by Jeremiah in 31:31-34 and Joel in 2:28-29.
10. John the Baptist indeed baptized in water, but the One he proclaimed as coming after him would baptize with, or in, the Holy Spirit. We see this in Matthew chapter 3.
11. Upon conversion, it is biblical and normative then to be baptized in water, that is, to be immersed in water. It is an ordinance that announces our conversion, the dying to sin and self and rising to be followers of Jesus.
12. The Baptism in or with the Holy Spirit, or to put it another way, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, may occur at conversion but also at another point in time. This baptism is to give the Christian power to be evangelical. There may be many such.
13. This baptism is not for the purpose of being above sin or being enabled to speak in tongues—an understanding that prevails yet today. God gives us spiritual gifts, certainly, but the baptism of the Spirit is something different.
14. It is very clear in Scripture that the Spirit of God empowers us to be a witness, to be an evangel, to bold proclaim the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.
15. Are Christians to seek this? Yes indeed we are that we might do the work we have been called to.

Paradoxes of the Bible #12

The Two Messiahs

Messiah Son of David and Messiah Son of Joseph

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. Two Messiahs are described in the Scripture, that is, two different roles for the Anointed One, that is the meaning of the Hebrew word, messiah. And one comes before the other.
8. First is the arrival of the “suffering servant of Israel” or Messiah Son of Joseph. Joseph because of the eleventh son of Jacob is Joseph. This Joseph was his father’s favorite and thus his brothers despised him, sold him into slavery in Egypt. Then Joseph is falsely accused and thrown into prison. Miraculously he is delivered from prison, becomes second only to the Pharaoh in authority, and ends up saving God’s people from starvation.
9. We see this “suffering servant” very clearly in Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapters 52 and 53.
10. Jesus perfectly fulfills the Hebrew Bible’s depiction of the Anointed One by His rejection by His people, His death, burial, and resurrection.
11. Messiah Son of David—so named from King David—the great king of Israel, the model for the messiah who is to come.
12. We see this second messiah described in Isaiah 9:6–7. The child’s name to be born will be “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
13. The prophet Jeremiah, chapter 23:5, states, “Behold, the days are coming…when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king.”
14. Messiah Son of Joseph has come, and will one day return as Messiah Son of David, the conquering champion of God.

The Real Valentine’s Day

I do not remember ever liking Valentine’s Day. And as time goes on, I have liked it less and less. And why do I say this?

As a kid in elementary school in Portland, Oregon, it was a contest to see who got the most cards. Usually I did not fare well in this. The result was I felt left out. Then in high school, it was worse. Since I was a ‘homely’ kid, I rarely saw any cards.

Over the decades then, the mere sight of Valentine Day displays in the stores has brought me down, and an old sadness creeps over me. Wish I could get past this, but I seem unable to do so.

Then as a pastor, I tend to worry about all those in the congregation, as well as others who are not thrilled with the day. Even at this moment I think of those who may feel unloved, or uncared for, and the same old sadness comes around.

his year, however, I must admit to some progress, due largely to working on a sermon I will preach this coming Sunday, February 17, at Miller Avenue Church. It has to do with the paradox of faith. On the one hand, we are elect and called by God who gives us the gift of faith. On the other hand, we are told to believe in Jesus in order to have salvation.

So, which is it? Is it election, and nothing to do with us, or must we believe in Jesus also? I am convinced it is both at once. This is the ultimate paradox, and it is unavoidable. Let me illustrate this with two passages. First:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Right, the most quoted passage in the Bible, John 3:16. What does Jesus mean here? God loves the world, and world in the Greek is cosmos, meaning God loves all of His creation and we are part of it. And yes, the word love in the Greek is agape. Then, Jesus states, “whoever believes in him” meaning that faith/belief (they are the same word in the Greek) is necessary—we must believe. Then second:

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

My point on this Valentine’s Day is that God loves us. He loves us and wants us to believe in His Son Jesus, who died in our place so that our sin may be forgiven and we would be in His presence forever. As the Apostle John said, “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

(Propitiation means that Jesus died in our place.)

All loves are either fleeting or they end all together. But not so with the love God has for us. This love is solid and lasts forever.

Here, my dear friends, is my valentine message to each of you.

Kent Philpott

February 14, 2019

Paradoxes of the Bible #11

The Paradox of Faith

John 6:28-29

1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
7. A study of Scripture reveals there is a paradox at the heart of the doctrine of salvation or conversion.
8. On the one hand we see that the saved have been predestined or elected to this salvation. We see it in Romans 8:30 whereby we are predestined, called, justified, and glorified. God elects us from eternity, then calls us, that is we have an interest in Jesus, then utterly saves us, forgiving us of all sin, and finally glorifies us, that is, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
9. However, we also must note the command to believe in Jesus, believe in His name. To believe in His name is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed Messiah, is the Word become flesh, fully God and fully man, and that in His death on the cross, He took all of our sins upon Himself, dying in our place.
10. Indeed, it is the work of God to believe in Jesus. In John 6 is found one of the “I Am” sayings of Jesus. Here He states that He is the Bread of Life, that Bread we must eat or we die.
11. Those who heard Jesus speak that day asked Him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Here is His answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29).
12. We then are called to present both sides of this paradox though they seem to us to be diametrically opposed to each other. This is surely beyond our understanding!