VISITATION #3: JESUS IS THE OPEN HEAVENS
INTRODUCTION:
I love the New Year! It’s exciting to turn the calendar page from one year to the next. It’s a new beginning! Let’s decide to get closer to Jesus, and get to know Him better!
• I have been reading through and studying the Gospel of Luke – the life and teachings of Jesus– and we are going to journey through this book together from now until Easter.
• Two principles: Freedom (Holy Spirit may interrupt the series) and discipline (systematic study of a book of the Bible).
THE BOOK OF LUKE:
“Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.” (Luke 1:1-4).
• This is the first of a two volume work written by Doctor Luke. The second = Acts.
• Before we jump into our text in Luke, let’s go back to the Old Testament…
MALACHI PROPHESIES THE COMING OF A MESSENGER:
“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderer’s soap.” (Malachi 3:1-2).
• |Malachi was the last prophet to prophecy before the 400 silent years before Jesus came.
• In Luke 2, when Jesus’ parents brought him to the temple, Simeon was there waiting and seeking the Lord and he saw him (Luke 2:25-35).
• Then Anna, a prophetess, who served the Lord in the temple continually, saw Jesus.
• It’s important to go to church and seek the Lord. When we seek Him, we will find Him!
“Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the Lord of hosts. "But you said, ’In what way shall we return?’ … Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:7,10).
• God says when we return to Him, He will open the windows of Heaven and pour out a great blessing! When did this happen in the Bible? Four hundred years later…
OPEN HEAVENS:
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22).
• What are the open Heavens? JESUS! He is the blessing God promises through Malachi!
THE BIG IDEA: God wants to open the windows of Heaven in our lives and visit us personally in the person of His son Jesus. This will happen as we prepare our hearts and seek Him.
1. God wants us to repent – to turn from our sins and turn to the Lord.
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:1-2).
• Luke makes a point of including the historical and geographical context of the story of Jesus. This is no fable or fairy tale, but the true account of the life of Jesus!
• John’s job was to turn the hearts of the people back to the Lord.
• It’s the beginning of a New Year – let’s seek God and His kingdom together this year!
“And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” (Luke 3:3-6).
• John told the people that if they wanted to see salvation, they needed to repent.
• When we repent of our sins – turn from our sins and turn to God – we received forgiveness. That’s the greatest gift of all, available to all who will believe in Jesus!
2. God wants us to bear fruit worthy of repentance.
“Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9).
• The first thing John does is to help the people see their desperate situation: “Brood of vipers!” A snake represents Satan. He is saying that they weren’t truly saved.
• He then says that there is a judgment coming – the ax is laid to the root of the trees.
• Just because you go to church doesn’t make you a Christian.
• If we are truly saved, John says, bear FRUIT worthy of repentance! What is this fruit?
• “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23). How do we get this fruit?
• “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5).
• God wants us to abide in Jesus – spend time with Him in prayer and in the Word.
3. God wants us to return to the Lord with all of our hearts.
“So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:10-14).
• When the people asked, “What shall we do?” his response to all of them had to do with money and possessions. Why?
• Jesus would later preach: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34).
• This is what Malachi had said: “Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the Lord of hosts. "But you said, ’In what way shall we return?’… "In tithes and offerings.” (Malachi 3:7-8).
• Someone who has received God’s grace will be a generous giver.
CLOSING CHALLENGE:
“Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:15-16).
• John again emphasizes the reason he is calling the people to repent – to prepare their hearts and get ready, because Jesus is coming for a VISIT!
When Jesus was baptized: “He prayed and the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22).
• Do you want to experience OPEN HEAVENS in 2011?
• Do you want to get ready for a VISITATION of Jesus in your life and family?
• Do you want to hear God’s voice and have the Holy Spirit anoint you anew and afresh?
• After the Heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, He began His ministry of signs and wonders, healings and miracles. Do you want more miracles?
• Then it’s time to repent – to turn from our sins, and turn to the Lord.
• When we walk in sin: “And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.” (Deut. 28:23).
• Repentance precedes revival – opens heavens and a visitation of Jesus.
• The most wonderful part about this is as we repent, and our sins are forgiven, we are washed clean, and experience a new beginning!
PRAYER: (Isaiah 64:1-4).
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence-- As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil-- To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.”
• Lord, send your refiner’s fire and fill us with your Spirit anew and afresh!
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
