THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD - PART 298

I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh and as a consequence your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Similarly, your old men shall dream dreams and upon my servants and upon my handmaidens, I will pour out of My Spirit. So the question is this. Have you received the Holy Spirit since you exercised your faith towards the name of the Lord JESUS? If you have not received the promised Holy Spirit according to the scriptures, then why not?

Certainly, there is only One Lord! There is only One Faith! There is only One Baptism. This is the short form confession of the faith that the scriptures render. In this context then, we ought to examine ourselves to see whether we are earnestly contending for this confession of faith. This confession of our faith that was once, and only once delivered from JESUS to us by His Holy Spirit.

The ministry of His Spirit declares that if any man has not the Spirit of JESUS the Christ then that person has not as yet accepted redemption nor has he or she obeyed the opening tongue spoken ministry of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts chapter two. Paul in Galatians declared, Who has bewitched you that you not obey the truth? Evidently you started out in looking at and believing in only JESUS alone! You were doing so well hungering for more of God with singleness of heart. What happened?

Well, in some cases you may have met a religious person who had church-ianity but had never experienced the free redemption that Christianity offers. What they did not tell you is that the Old Covenant is not the New Testament. Neither is the New Testament an addendum to the Old Covenant. The Old Testament is a covenant of works while the New Testament is intended to be a testament of love and grace neither of which are dependant on you.

God in the New Testament redeems to Himself a people who previously were not a people at all. The New Testament was necessary because God walked away from the former Covenant when those He had covenanted with had walked out from the Old Covenant demands. But this New Covenant is a Covenant between God who is Spirit and God Himself as a Son. This New Covenant was a ‘God In Christ Covenant.' Most of all, it involved the death of the testator - JESUS.

We as believers then are the benefactors of all contained in that everlasting Covenant of God in Christ. We as believers do not have a Covenant. Rather, we are the recipients of all that JESUS was heir of. All of JESUS the Christ inheritance has been bequeathed to us as HIs LAST WILL and TESTAMENT. One does not work for an inheritance. No, an inheritance is considered a gift!

Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, "My labour that I have bestowed upon you - was it all in vain?" You started out well, but now you are endeavouring to work for salvation. Let me remind you says Paul that Christ died for all of our sins. Christ died for yesterday's sin, today's sin and even tomorrow’s sin.

This is why JESUS was raised from the grave -- for our justification! When Jesus ascended to Heaven, JESUS SAT down. So why are you still working for your salvation? Admittedly, you may work because you have salvation, but we do NOT work to obtain salvation. Salvation is the free gift Of God!

Start afresh. Read Acts 2 and do as the holy Spirit commanded. As for me and my house, we will by God’s grace serve none other than the God who loved us and gave Himself for us. Peace be on the ISRAEL of God!