Luke 1:13-17
1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
1:15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
1:16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
The gospel of Luke contains about 2 kinds of birth as follow:
John the Baptist had 7 witnesses like the Golden Candlestick with 7 shining lamps as follows:
Ad. 5. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist is a life that was filled with Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.
Furthermore, we will compare to the birth of Jesus.
Matthew 1:20-21
1:20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
1:21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
Jesus is the Holy Spirit that was borne to be same as the human.
The birth of Jesus is the first greatest miracle that has already happened that is the Lord was born to be same as human.
But there is the second greatest miracle that will happen that is the human must be born again (being new born life) by the Holy Spirit, so they can be same as the Lord.
So,we must be filled with Holy Spirit andbe the new born life by the Holy Spirit in order to be perfect as Jesus to welcome His second coming until we enter the Heavenly Kingdom forever.
Human absolutely needs the Holy Spirit.
John 6:63
6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [they] are life.
Remember the beginning of human creation! After God gave the Holy Spirit, then the human lived.
Why doesthe human absolutely need Holy Spirit?
Tonight, just like to the Samaritan woman,Jesus offers the living water from Heaven, the Holy Spirit.
THE PROCESS TO RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT: Giving drink to Jesus who is thirsty on the cross.
John 4:10, 13-14
4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
John 19:28-30
19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
19:29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put [it] on hyssop, and put [it] to His mouth.
19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We give drink to Jesus with the sour wine that is the sins up to the peak of sins that actually make our lives bitter.
Meaning: confessing sin honestly to God(vertically) and to neighbor(horizontally) whatever the risks that we faceand our sins will be nailed on the cross.
Only humble people can confess sins.
Arrogant people tend to always blame the others although it is clearly that he was sinful.
Give that bitterness to God and the refreshing living water (the Holy Spirit) will be given to us.
THE RESULTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
God blesses us.
1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
1:14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
1:15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
1:16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
The gospel of Luke contains about 2 kinds of birth as follow:
- The birth of John the Baptist.
- The birth of Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist had 7 witnesses like the Golden Candlestick with 7 shining lamps as follows:
- Verse 13: He got his name from God.
- Verse 14: He brought joy and gladness from Heaven.
- Verse 15: He was great in the sight of Lord.
- Verse 15: He became a Nazirite of God (not drinking wine nor strong drink).
- Verse 15: He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Verse 16: He made people repent.
- Verse 17: He became a pioneer/precursor.
Ad. 5. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist is a life that was filled with Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.
Furthermore, we will compare to the birth of Jesus.
Matthew 1:20-21
1:20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
1:21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
Jesus is the Holy Spirit that was borne to be same as the human.
The birth of Jesus is the first greatest miracle that has already happened that is the Lord was born to be same as human.
But there is the second greatest miracle that will happen that is the human must be born again (being new born life) by the Holy Spirit, so they can be same as the Lord.
So,we must be filled with Holy Spirit andbe the new born life by the Holy Spirit in order to be perfect as Jesus to welcome His second coming until we enter the Heavenly Kingdom forever.
Human absolutely needs the Holy Spirit.
John 6:63
6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [they] are life.
Remember the beginning of human creation! After God gave the Holy Spirit, then the human lived.
Why doesthe human absolutely need Holy Spirit?
- No matter how great the physical human is in this world, Without the Holy Spirit he/sheare useless and will be perished forever.
The practices of physical human without the Holy Spirit are as follow:- Being controlled by the flesh desires so they are disobedient to God’s will (God’s law, God’s word).
Romans 8:6-7
8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
No matter how great the physical human is, he/she will surely be expelled by God if he/she is disobedient to God’s Word.
Once this has happened to Adam and Eve. In the end of time it will happen again.
Matthew 7:21-23
7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
7:22 "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
7:23 "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Do not be deceived with the power of prophecy, casting out demons, etc. Because demon also has power. - Without the Holy Spirit, physical human cannot pray and worship God, they are unfaithful even do not want to worship and serve God (the most fundamental weakness).
Romans 8:26
8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Being unfaithful = being useless.
Being unfaithful + not worshiping God = being useless, even one will be perished forever (being cast into outer darkness).
Matthew 25:26, 30
25:26 "But his lord answered and said to him, `You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.
25:30 `And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
How great the human is, he will surely be useless if he is unfaithful.
It is better to be a faithful servant than an unfaithful shepherd.
Malachi 3:18
3:18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 4:1
4:1 "For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch.
The reckless and wicked people = a life that does not want to worship God and tells that service was not necessary, etc.
Even though they look great, in the presence of God they are just like straw.
These useless lives will be burned up (be perished forever) like straw. - Living in fleshy deeds.
Galatians 5:19-21
5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
5:21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told [you] in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Everything is useless, it does not inherit the Heavenly Kingdom = being perished forever.
Without the Holy Spirit = there is no brake to the fleshy deeds.
- Being controlled by the flesh desires so they are disobedient to God’s will (God’s law, God’s word).
- Without the Holy Spirit, the human will be thirsty; there is no Heavenly happiness, there is no true happiness.
John 4:7-10, 15-18
4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
4:8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
4:9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
4:15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
4:17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, `I have no husband,'
4:18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
The condition of this world is same as the desert.
Pleasure/ satisfaction of the world does not last long. We can only be happy for a moment but soon we must be “thirsty”/ no longer satisfied.
The effect is:
Many lives of the children of God pursue the satisfactions of the world, so they fall into sin as follows;
- Starting with the complaining sins.
- Until the peak of sins = eating-drinking sins and marrying and being given in marriage sins.
Eating-drinking sins are smoking, drinking, gambling, and consuming drugs.
Marrying and being given in marriage sins are sexual sin with its varieties (including the sins through word, sight, hearing, fantasy, deeds) and also the wrong marriage.
Tonight, just like to the Samaritan woman,Jesus offers the living water from Heaven, the Holy Spirit.
THE PROCESS TO RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT: Giving drink to Jesus who is thirsty on the cross.
John 4:10, 13-14
4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
John 19:28-30
19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"
19:29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put [it] on hyssop, and put [it] to His mouth.
19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We give drink to Jesus with the sour wine that is the sins up to the peak of sins that actually make our lives bitter.
Meaning: confessing sin honestly to God(vertically) and to neighbor(horizontally) whatever the risks that we faceand our sins will be nailed on the cross.
Only humble people can confess sins.
Arrogant people tend to always blame the others although it is clearly that he was sinful.
Give that bitterness to God and the refreshing living water (the Holy Spirit) will be given to us.
THE RESULTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
- We receive the eternal Heavenly satisfaction/ happiness forever.
John 4:13-14
4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." - The Holy Spirit that fills us fully will flow to others = we can bear witness to others.
John 4:39
4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."
We bear witness about things that have already done by God/Holy Spirit to us, so we can also bring other soul to come to Jesus.
The relationship to other is good (there is no gossip, etc. But instead we can bear witness. - The Holy Spirit spring up = we can pray and worship God, being faithful in service and ministry.
If our relationship with God and others is good, God will make everything beautiful in our lives. - The Holy Spirit is able to givebirth to us again, from carnal man to spiritual man like Jesus = the spiritual miracle, the greatest miracle that we have to experienced.
Titus 3:5
3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
The physical miracle (sick person is healed, the poor one becomes rich, etc.) is not a must to us, but we have to experience the spiritual miracle.
The spiritual miracle (life renewal) begins from OBEDIENCE: saying “Abba, Father.”
In this end of time, it is a miracle when human can be obedient.
If the spiritual miracle happened, the physical miracle will also happen.
For example: Peter who was in total failure, he could not get anything even became naked all night long; by obedience he received the physical miracle from having no fish to getting a lot of fish.
Until at the time of Jesus’ second coming, we experience the second Christmas, meaning we are renewed to be glorious as Jesus and to be able to welcome Him and to enter the Heaven forever.
God blesses us.