Imagine

Imagine you are one of Jesus’ disciples in the Bible and you’re eating lunch with Lazarus.  Just yesterday he was dead and buried in a tomb for 3 days already, until Jesus came and rose him back to life, and here he is passing you the salt!  Do you think that kind of experience would change your life? No.  Or, one evening Jesus says to you, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” so you all get into a boat with Jesus.  A furious storm hits and you fear for your life.  Jesus is asleep!  You wake him and plead with Him desperately to help.  With a few words from the lips of Jesus everything is quiet and still like a mill pond. Would that experience change your life?  No.  Then there’s the time Jesus asks you and two of your friends to join Him on a mountain.  You see Jesus shining with radiant glory and a voice thunders from heaven. Surely, this encounter would change your life?! Answer: No.  Imagine you’re with the other disciples alone and afraid.  Locked in a room.  Days before you saw Jesus die on a Roman cross.  Suddenly you see Jesus is standing with you.  You hear his voice, “Peace be with you”. You touch him and see him eat some fish.  He’s not dead, he is alive.  Would that change your life?  No. No it wouldn’t.  It didn’t. (Stay with me ) 

Now, imagine if Jesus did those very same things in your life this week.  Imagine the people that would come to Jesus, right?!  Imagine the way those experiences, those miracles, would affect your relationship with God and how many of your unbelieving friends and family would have no other choice but to believe that Jesus is God, right?! Well, the things we might expect to happen didn’t happen to the disciples.  They were there! They saw it all!  They felt the wind die down!  Peter felt water under his feet!  They ate the fish and the loaves!  They witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus! But their lives were never really changed until Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit got a hold of them.  

God said, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” (Zechariah 4:6).  It is easy to fall into the trap in our Christian lives that it’s all by might and all by power and we don’t need to depend on the Spirit of God. Do you know the Holy Spirit?  Who He is?  How He speaks to you? He speaks you know. Jesus spoke about Him when talking with the Disciples…

‘¹² “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. ¹⁴ He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ (John 16:12-15 NLT)

Jesus was dependant on the Holy Spirit. His conception (Matthew 1:18). His baptism (Matthew 3:16). His miracles (Matthew 12:28). His temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1).  Jesus offered himself up as a sacrifice for our sins by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14).  Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit.  The question remains; Do we?  Do I?  Do you?