Well, my Friends…I am writing this with a rather bittersweet attitude this morning. Tomorrow is moving day. Pam and I are leaving the home we created during the past nine years and moving into a villa about four miles from our current location. This is the first step in a five year plan that is intended to culminate with us being near the ocean, sand and palm trees. Pam plans to retire in 2020, so we are down-sizing now. Surely the next move will be easier! (actually, it’s gotta be!!) While we love our current home and are sad to say “good-bye”, we are excited about starting this new phase of our life. So for my last posting from this location, I am going to write about one of my favorite subjects: Superman!
As a youth, I loved action-hero movies. If you too have enjoyed movies such as Superman, Star Wars, Batman etc., you also know there is a common theme. The action hero always represents good; he possesses some superior “force” or power that enables him to win the battles; and he gets the prize (usually the girl) in the end. If you’re like me, you would leave the theater thinking, “I wish I were Clark Kent, Luke Skywalker or Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. Batman). I wish I had “the force” (or their special power) so I could be an action hero! Dan the Man, Super Hero! It sounded grrreat!! But then I would flash back to reality and sadly admit, “it’s only science fiction”. After all, in reality we’re equipped “however we are” to win or lose our own battles. But I still couldn’t help wondering…“What if?”
THE FORCE THAT IS WITH US TODAY
Well…I’ve changed my thinking over the years, and even more specifically, since I became a follower of Jesus Christ. Once I learned the truth about what it means to be “born again”, I came to realize that when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, part of God’s salvation plan is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit is to empower me to become the person God created me to be. Wow! Now there is no doubt in my mind that the “force” or power possessed by any action hero pales by comparison to the power that indwells all of us who are in Christ. That is indeed awesome news, because we have a formidable foe with which to contend. Satan! He is a ferocious enemy, and we will need no less than a supernatural power to go toe-to-toe with him. But a loving God has prepared us for that task. (Amen)
In the Gospel of John, 14-16, we get a close-up picture of Jesus’ final hours with his disciples in the upper room after the Last Supper. Jesus told his disciples about his impending death and what it would mean to them as he laid out the series of events that would occur within the next few hours. He could tell they were shocked and frightened at the news…arrested, tried and crucified! Even worse, he also knew the men in front of him were – of their own strength – a rather weak lot. So when he told them he was “going away”, he also told them it was better that he left them so he could ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to be their comforter, counselor, teacher, and guide. This is key…he also told them they did not need the Holy Spirit at that time, because He was with them. In other words, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the essence of himself.
Jesus knew that for the past three years these men had drawn whatever strength they had from him, so he promised them he would not leave them as orphans. Instead would send the Holy Spirit to live in them; to empower them to accomplish God’s Will. (For a picture of the transformation that took place in these disciples, I would direct your attention to Acts, 2-4. These same men who were in hiding during Jesus crucifixion became giants among men in terms of spreading the truth of Jesus death and resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, Peter – the same Peter who recently denied Jesus three times – converted 3000 Jews to believers.)
GOD’S GIFT
God’s salvation plan is perfect! In fact, most people who are drawn to Christianity are drawn by the promise of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. That is certainly a powerful message of assurance and peace! And no doubt it beats the alternative of spiritual death and damnation! But the gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s promise that we don’t have to wait until after death to begin to experiencing the blessings of heaven. Through the indwelling and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can begin experiencing heaven on earth right here, right now, as we rise above the fallen world around us.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become a new creation in Christ. Our “old self” (our sin nature) is taken away and we are filled with a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, who’s role is to empower us to live the new life we are called to live in this fallen world. This is referenced in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone; the new is here. The obvious nature of our “old self” was to sin. But the nature of the Holy Spirit is not to sin, but to be pleasing to God. So now we are set free from our bondage to sin! Now we have choices we never considered before. As a new creation in Christ, we are empowered to make choices that help us grow in Him as well as bring honor and glory to God.
This was God’s plan even before Creation! (Ephesians 1:3) We are to draw our strength from the Holy Spirit the same way the disciples drew their strength from Jesus Christ. And like the disciples, as followers of Jesus Christ we are called to boldly carry the same message of truth (the teachings of Jesus), love, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, and service to others in our daily lives. In other words, we are called to live to a higher standard than the world around us, and that is indeed a formidable challenge for anyone! But God’s promise in 1John 4:4 tells us, “He that is in me (Holy Spirit) is greater than the spirit in this world.” (Satan) We are told we are already victorious. Now the question becomes…do we believe that promise? Will we boldly stand on it?
God has prepared us to become the person he created us to be…his “masterpiece”, as referenced in Ephesians 2:10. If our motivation is to bring honor and glory to God in everything we do, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to achieve that goal. Now we can boldly begin living the abundant life Jesus promised because we know we can be action-heroes of our own life. We have a power within us that would make Superman, Luke Skywalker or Batman envious. Now that we know that, our purpose is to be Jesus’ light in this dark world.
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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