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Jesus Needed?

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Count the Omer – Countdown to Pentecost: Day 41

Matthew 1:20 “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” NIV

Would you agree that Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, the only begotten (unique, one of a kind, of the same divine nature of God) – was conceived by the Holy Spirit? Would you agree that you can’t get much closer than that? Would you also agree that Jesus is the Second Person in the Triune nature of God – fully equal to God? Yet the greatest mystery of all time is what is recorded in Php. 2:5-11 when he referenced Jesus emptying Himself of equality with God. Jesus, Almighty God, became one of us – a Son of Adam. He was fully God, and fully man. Yet, He limited His divinity when He lived as a man. In a sense you could say He was God with His arms behind His back.

Would you also agree that God needs nothing? He is the sum total of all existence, provision and life. Yet, Jesus, the Man – experienced thirst, hunger, pain, weariness, heartache, etc. The God Who needed nothing became as nothing in need of something. What was the something He needed as a man? Obviously He needed food, liquids, companionship, and rest – just to name a few. Scripture said He needed the Father. But there was one more vital thing His life was missing. What was that one thing? Luke 3:22 answers the question:”…and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 4:1, 14 records the rest: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,..Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

News about Jesus really didn’t begin to spread until He was filled with the Spirit. Selah – Pause and think about that. No one really knew His power for ministry until He was filled with the Spirit. Jesus, the Son of Man, needed the Holy Spirit to accomplish the assignment the Lord had for Him. Selah – Pause and think about that. Would you agree that Jesus needed to pray, to read and study the Word, to attend synagogue (church), to fellowship with other believers, to worship, to give, sacrifice, obey, and to serve? Jesus, the Son of Man, did.

Why do we NEED a countdown to Pentecost? Because, like Jesus – the Man – we are sons and daughters of Adam too. If Jesus needed all these things then we must conclude we need them too. But guess what? Apart from the Holy Spirit all these things become meaningless. Jesus, the Man, needed the Holy Spirit. More specifically He needed the Baptism and Infilling of the Spirit. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit Baptism and Infilling – don’t you think you do too? 

Making the Omer  – “count” is synonymous with saying, Make the Word of Life count! Make it matter. Make Jesus, the Word of God, count! Do you make Jesus’ life count? Does His Life in you matter? Does Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension matter – to you? Does Eternal life matter – to you? Have you made it count? Have you made the count?

Confession & Declaration 37

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Colossians 3:3 For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

The context of this passage places an emphasis on who you really are to be. That who you are really going to be is hidden in Jesus. But the good news is that you are also hidden in Christ – in the sense of your guilt, sin and shame. All of that has been hidden in Jesus.

Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

The prophet writes: It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger. The Good News is that through the Blood of Jesus there’s not a question of whether or not you will be hidden. Your sins have been buried deep in the Cleansing Stream of the Blood of the Lamb.

I may have shared this with you before but the illustration is worth repeating. If you were to take a sheet of paper and attempt writing all of your sins on it – front, and back. Then take another sheet of paper and write the word JESUS on it. Fold both sheets of paper in half then insert the paper with your sins on it into the folded paper with Jesus’ Name on it. The illustration concludes with the question, Now Who do you see? The answer? Jesus. Just Jesus.

This is powerfully illustrated the night before Israel was to depart Egypt. We know from Scripture that the Israelites were commanded to take a year old lamb, sacrifice it, and take its blood and paint the top of the door frame and its sides. When the angel of death passed over and saw the blood – he would not visit the house with the judgment of God. When the angel passed over he wasn’t measuring how good the people were. He wasn’t looking at how well they brushed the door posts in the blood. He wasn’t looking at the type of house, or what kind of door they had. He was only looking for one thing: had the people trusted God, obeyed His Word, and applied the blood to their door frame. That’s pretty powerful for it illustrates our responsibility: trust, obey, and apply.

You are hidden in Jesus – but you still have a responsibility to trust His Word, obey and apply it to the door posts of your life. You overcome the accuser of the brothers when you learn how to paint the door frames of your mind, heart, will, emotions, and personality in the Blood of Jesus. When you apply Jesus’ Blood to the door frames of the “gates” of your soul it causes the enemy to passover. Why? Because he can’t go through the Blood. That’s true in the spiritual realm and the physical. What’s really interesting is that you can apply His Blood to your physical and spiritual house. Through His Blood you really are hidden from the assaults of the enemy. As the old hymn goes, Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride there’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide there’s wonderful power in the blood.