Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. -Luke 3:21, 22 (KJV)
I heard a story about how that many years ago several churches in my area received a call from someone claiming to want to give away free land to a church. All the church had to do was pay the taxes on the land and it would be theirs to do with as they wanted. Would you be surprised to find out that a few churches fell for this? They paid the money and that was the end of it. The free land didn’t exist. What a terrible discovery that they had been cheated, duped, and taken advantage of. God never does that to us. In fact, the Lord does just the opposite; He confirms to us again and again that Christ is the Son of God who came into the world to redeem us from our sinful condition. Is this a supernatural experience? The answer is yes. But is it plausible? Again the answer is yes, and God will prove this to us through the power and work of the Holy Spirit.
The voice of God spoke at Jesus' baptism identifying Jesus as the Son of God. “This is my beloved Son.” The Long awaited and long expected Messiah had come into the world. As He is identified to us, we then identify with Him through the struggles of life. Salvation in Jesus Christ is about being saved from an eternity in hell; make no mistake about that. With Jesus as our Savior we have heaven as our home. But salvation is also about that blessed abundant life that Jesus promised. In Jesus Christ we can find and claim supernatural power for daily living. Christ empowers us to stand firm, keep going, not surrender, not back down, and not give up despite all of the overwhelming problems of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment