Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Even Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to fulfill the call of God upon His life. The Holy Spirit of God descended upon Jesus at His baptism by John the Baptist. Look at Luke 3:21, “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the Heaven was opened. 22 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.” Only then did Jesus begin to demonstrate God’s power and authority. How much more do we need the Holy Spirit to move in God’s power and authority?

Immediately after Jesus’ baptism in water and the filling of the Holy Spirit, He is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in Luke 4:1-13. Jesus is victorious over the lies and trickery of the devil because of the Spirit of God working in Him. This is an important point that can’t be overlooked; we also need the working of the Holy Spirit to overcome the temptations of the devil in our everyday lives. 

After the trials in the desert, the Bible says in Luke 4:14, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” In the same way, our testimony of overcoming temptation and sin should be a testimony of how the Holy Spirit helped us to have the victory. God is not glorified when you overcome sin by your efforts and mind but when the Spirit of God leads you to resist sin. 

Then in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Notice that Jesus was anointed to fulfill the Great Commission, the very same commission He has given each one of us. What does the word anointed mean here? According to a Bible Dictionary:

1. Consecrating Jesus to the Messianic office and furnishing him with the necessary powers for its administration. 
2. Enduing Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

I like how my good friend Pastor Frank Parrish defines the anointing. “The Anointing is none other than the Person and presence of the Holy Spirit, bringing with Him the necessary power, authority and gifts to fulfill the Father’s will in a given moment of ministry or assignment.”

The conclusion is that when we operate under the Holy Spirit, that is the anointing. The anointing is not about style, or how one presents themselves, the anointing is manifested by the Holy Spirit as that person submits to the guidance of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that it is not about skill or human performance in 1 Corinthians 2:1, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

The Evidence for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s take some time to look at the scriptural evidence in the Old and New Testaments.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesized in the Old Testament

Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant of Law and introduced the New Covenant of Grace.

The New Covenant was prophesized in Jeremiah 31:31 & 33-34, “Behold, the days are coming, the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.“

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was prophesized in Joel 2: 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” This is the same scripture that Peter quotes in Acts 2 to explain the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to the onlookers on the Day of Pentecost.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesized in the Gospels.

John the Baptist prophesized the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in Mark 1:7 when he spoke of the coming Messiah. “And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. 8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” The baptizer of the Holy Spirit is Jesus, Himself.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesized by Jesus in the Gospels.

Jesus was illustrating the graciousness and goodness of God in giving good gifts to His children. Luke 11:9, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Notice that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Jesus was talking to the religious leaders who were so entrenched in what they were taught that they could not see the truth speaking to them. John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Jesus made it clear that the fullness of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit could not come until He ascended to the Father.

Then in Luke 24:46, Jesus confirmed the promise of the Father, “Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” That power from on high was none other than the Holy Spirit, which was needed to overcome the trickery of the devil in the lives of Believers and to fulfill the ministry call of the Great Commission.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost as the Christian Church was birthed as described in the Book of Acts.

In Jesus’ own words, He said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Then we witnessed the fulfillment of the promise as the Holy Spirit came to anoint the 120 who were in the upper room. Notice that it was not just the 12 Apostles, but all the disciples of Christ in the room, beginning with Acts 2:1, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Notice that they were all filled, and they all began to speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit directed them.

Closing

As I close today, I want to make an important final point. When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they have believed, and repented of not believing in Jesus in the past, a miraculous thing happens. The Holy Spirit comes to live in them! The Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation; He is our confidence that we are Born-again. However, this doesn’t mean that they have the sensitivity or awareness of the work the Holy Spirit wants to do in and through the individual. This awareness can only happen when a person acknowledges the Holy Spirit’s desire to anoint the individual with authority and power. This is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

In plain language, a person can be Born-again and not Baptized in the Holy Spirit. They are going to Heaven, but the Christ-centered life for them is a struggle and is filled with the sense of trying to be a good Christian in their own human strength. 

The person who is Born-again and filled with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, always knows that they are never alone and have the spiritual anointing to resist temptation, overcome the plans of the devil, and experience joy and peace in whatever circumstances they find themselves in.”

Let me put this another way; every Believer had a moment in time when they experienced making Jesus their Lord and Savior. They repented, believed, and the Holy Spirit came to live in them; thus, they were saved. We could put all of this in one phrase, they surrendered to Jesus and received all the benefits of becoming an adopted child of the God most high. 

To move in the fullness of the power of God, promised to us by Jesus, we must surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This particular experience of surrender to the Holy Spirit is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

I will talk more about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in my next post.

God’s purpose in providing the Law through Moses for the Jewish people was to produce righteousness in the individual. The first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah (Hebrew) or the Pentateuch (English), contained 113 rules and regulations, including the Ten Commandments. 

For a Jew obeying, from the heart, the rules and regulations of the Law was the path to being in a right relationship with God or put another way to be found righteous in the Lord. Unfortunately, the only thing the Law proved was that it was impossible to keep all the Law all the time. The only thing the Law showed was the need for a Savior; in Hebrew, the savior is called Messiah, and in Greek, the savior is called Christ.

Through Jesus Christ, the Lord provided a “better Covenant based upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). Now, as New Covenant Believers, our righteousness does not come from what we do as the Law required, but our righteousness is because of what Jesus did for us, (Romans 4:22-24).

Jesus came to fulfill the Law in that His righteousness was now imputed or credited to the individual who would put their faith in Him. No longer did a person have to work at being righteous as in the Old Testament; now, a Christian’s righteousness is a gift of Grace wrapped up in faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The Believer’s Authority in the Old Testament

In my last post, Believer’s Authority in the Old Testament, I tried to make several points. The first point was that God doesn’t change; Hebrews 13:8 states that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Clearly, the miracles and wonders of the Old Testament or Covenant are still available today. 

The second point was that in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, would only fall upon Prophets, Priests, and Kings. The Holy Spirit in those days would come upon a person and sometimes be removed from a person. In a sense, it was temporary, available until the purposes of God were completed. 

The third point was to distinguish the difference between Authority and Power. In the natural, if a person has authority, it means that they have a legal right to do something, but it may not mean that they have the power or ability to do it. So, having authority alone is not enough to accomplish what you want; you also need the power to go with authority. 

The Believer’s Authority and Power in the early Church.

Christians do not live under the Covenant of the Law found in the Old Testament Bible; Jesus fulfilled the Law and therefore made the Law of Moses obsolete.

In Jeremiah 31:31–34, a New Covenant is prophesized, and then Hebrews 8:7 & 13 state the following. 

• “7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.” In other words, the Old Covenant was not enough to produce righteousness.
• “13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant. 

I have met people trying to keep the Old and New Covenants. Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 9:16, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Jesus said it is impossible to maintain the works of the Law and the gift of Grace at the same time. Every person who comes to Jesus must choose to follow Him and not the Law of Moses.

The Book of Acts, the New Covenant Church

The Book of Acts in the Bible gives a very clear account of the beginning of the Church, and it is clear the early church was filled with the authority and power of the Holy Spirit. We know that miracles, signs, and wonders were common in the early church. So, why was the early church so different from the Jewish temple and synagogues? The difference was that the Holy Spirit lived in the Believer and not just on the Believer. The coming of the Holy Spirit to live in the Believer was not a temporary event, and it wasn’t just something needed at the beginning of the church. The Holy Spirit is the One who enables us to live the Christian life, and it still comes with authority and power. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and distinguishes Christianity from all other religions then and now!

Our Authority. 

The word authority in the New Testament is defined as follows; Exousia, Gk.; delegated influence or authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength. (Used 72 times in the New Testament)

Simply put, authority means that we have the right and privilege to do something. The source of our Authority is in the fact that our citizenship is heaven, and we are ambassadors for Christ on earth.

• Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”
• 2 Corinthians 5:20, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God?”

Can you see that our authority comes from the Lord as ambassadors and citizens of heaven? In the natural, when a head of state sends an ambassador to another country, that ambassador represents the one who sent him; that is authority. In essence, the ambassador speaks and acts for the one who sent him. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ and represent Him on earth with authority.

Recall in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am?” And Peter responded by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Listen to what Jesus said to Peter and all who were listening in Matthew 16:17, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 

This statement shows that Peter had a personal revelation of who Jesus was. The Lord spoke to Peter in his heart and showed him the truth of Jesus; He was the Savior, God in the flesh! However, Jesus goes on to say, Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Some like to think that Jesus was building the church upon Peter, but if that were the case, then Jesus would have said, “you are Peter and on you I will build my church.” Instead, Jesus says, “on this rock”; the rock Jesus was speaking of was the Rock of personal revelation and faith in Jesus. It’s interesting to note that the name Peter (Petros Gk.) means “little rock,” and rock (Petra Gk.) means massive rock. Again, confirming that Peter is not the rock of the church, but Jesus is the rock! 1 Corinthians 10:4, “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

Keys of the Kingdom

Matthew 16:19, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Jesus is saying as my representative I give you authority (keys) to ask for anything that is allowed (loosed) in Heaven and to resist or defeat (bind) anything not permitted in Heaven. 

Binding and loosing is not permission to do whatever you think or want but is permission to follow the pattern of the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember, Jesus came preaching the “good news of the kingdom.” Part of the good news is that we have the authority and power to resist and bind all the works of the enemy, the devil. We also have the authority and power in the Holy Spirit to loose the power found in the Gospel of salvation.

Our Promised Power. 

The word power is defined as dynamis, Gk.; force; miraculous power, ability, abundance, strength, (wonderful) work. (Used 119 times). Dynamis is the root of the word dynamite.

The source of our power as Christians is in the Holy Spirit, the Person of God living in the Believer. Jesus Himself promised the Holy Spirit in Luke 24:49, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. That word “endued” literally means to be “clothed” in the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we use terms like being filled or led, or guided by the Holy Spirit to describe one who is moving in the Spirit of God. 

We see the fulfillment of the promise in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”The word “power” in this verse is the word dynamis, which is explosive or miracle-working power!

Jesus said He has all authority in heaven and on earth; He has imparted that authority through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have spiritual authority.

Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

That is the Great Commission, and as ambassadors of Christ, this is our responsibility. The great news is that Jesus didn’t expect us to do it all in our own strength; He gave us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to accomplish what He called us to do.

A final thought – You have not because you ask not.

James 4:1-3 teaches us a principle: “you have not because you ask not.” As Believers, we often turn to our own strength and abilities or look to other people instead of asking the Lord to empower us with His Holy Spirit. 

Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

John 16:24, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

When we ask the Lord with the right motives, then the Lord will move on our behalf. The key is to ask for Him instead of things. Luke 11:13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Remember, when you came to Jesus, you surrendered your life to Him, believing that He could do a better job with your life. Moving in the authority and power of the Holy Spirit also requires surrendering. More about that in the next episode. 

Authority and Power

In the natural, if a person has authority, it means that they have a legal right to do something, but it may not mean they have the power to do it. The key to authority is that it means you have a legal right or it is allowable. However, having authority alone is not enough to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, and you also need power to go with the authority. For example, a person may have the right or authority to build a home on their own property, but if they don’t have the resources or equipment to build a house, they are powerless to build it. 

When king Saul was pursuing the future king David in the book of 1 Samuel, Saul was using his authority as king to hunt and destroy David. However, Saul did not have the power to destroy David because the Lord was on David’s side.

Throughout the ages, God has given authority to men and women to act as His agents or ambassadors to accomplish His will. However, when God gives authority, He also provides power, which comes through the Holy Spirit of God!

Old Testament View of the Holy Spirit

In Old Testament times, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit would fall upon a person for a time for a particular purpose; in other words, the Holy Spirit would come and go. The Spirit of God would fall upon prophets, priests, and kings. Today as believers in Jesus Christ, we must embrace the truth that the Holy Spirit lives in us and He will never leave us nor forsake us; therefore, the Holy Spirit’s authority is always available to us. Here is a key truth, spiritual authority is available to fulfill the will and purposes of God. Spiritual authority is not available to us for our own wishes to do what we want. We are the vessels, but the power and authority are the Lord’s! Before we go further, we need to visit the doctrine of the Trinity.

Triune Nature of God

As Christians, we believe that we serve one God in three separate persons. I like to think of it as God the Father who initiates all things, Jesus Christ, the Word of God in the flesh, who came to earth to die for our sins and give us eternal life, and the Holy Spirit, who is often neglected, as the agent of change. The Holy Spirit makes things happen in the supernatural realm. The Holy Spirit is the power that crosses from the spiritual to the natural realm and makes things happen.  

The Holy Spirit takes what God the father says through the son Jesus Christ and makes it happen. What is important to understand is that the Holy Spirit it’s the one who makes the supernatural available to us. He is our connection to the supernatural realm of God, but here’s the important thing He is a person! He is not simply a force or power or energy, He is a person; he is God. Just as Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God, three persons in one. To reject the Holy Spirit is to reject God. 

The triune nature of God is a difficult concept for us as human beings to understand. We live in a place of time and space; however, God lives outside of time and space, he is a creator of all things, and nothing that was created or will be created exists outside of his will. The Trinity is a truth that the human mind can’t understand fully, which is why the Lord has given us a measure of faith to believe. Faith or trust is not needed if we understand; faith is needed when we don’t understand and still put our faith in God. We may not fully understand the Three in One concept of God, but we believe it.

There are at least three characteristics that God has; God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. 

1. Omniscient means God knows everything. There is nothing that He does not know. He is not like us; God does not learn; he simply knows. Past, present, and future it is all the same to Him.
2. Omnipresent means that God can be everywhere at the same time, and he hears all our prayers, worship, and praise and knows the motives and intentions of our hearts.
3. Omnipotent means that He is all-powerful. Nothing or no one can stand against Him. Satan, the greatest enemy of our Lord, is but a flea to God. God does not strain or stress, and nothing is too difficult for our Lord.

As you search the scriptures, you will see that Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit share in all these attributes. This is why we believe in one God in three persons.

In the Beginning, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

At the very beginning of Genesis, we know that God created the heavens and earth. An important point that we must see is in verse two “the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.” It is clear that the Holy Spirit was present with God the Father, and we know God spoke the Word and created everything by His Word. Then in John chapter one, we see that the Word became flesh. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” I say all of this to make the point that Jesus and the Holy Spirit existed with God from the beginning.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon or rested upon.

In Old Testament times, the spirit of the Lord would fall upon or rest upon specific individuals, prophets, priests, and kings. The Lord chose these individuals to work through for the sake of His people Israel. the Lord would take ordinary people and place his spirit upon them so that they became extraordinary people. We can see many wonderous works of God through the lives of many biblical characters. 

Here is a list of 14 Old Testament individuals that God used by placing His Spirit upon them:

1. Moses in Exodus 3:12, the burning bush experience where he received from the Lord the commission to be an instrument to set the people of Israel free from Egyptian bondage.
2. The 70 Elders chosen by Moses to help with the administration of God’s people.
3. The Judge Othniel in Judges 3:20
4. The Judge Gideon in Judges 6:34
5. The Judge Jephthah in Judges 11:29
6. The Judge Samson in Judges 13:25
7. King Saul in 1 Samuel 10:6 
8. King David in 1 Samuel 16:13
9. Joshua in Numbers 27:18 and Deuteronomy 34:9
10. The prophet Elijah in 2 Chronicles 20:14
11. The prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 2:15
12. The priest Jahaziel in Chronicles 20:14
13. The prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 24:20
14. The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 11:5

The examples I have chosen show the Spirit of God falling upon individuals. However, there is a particular case of the Spirit of God being removed from an individual because of disobedience. We see this when the “Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul” in Samuel 16:14. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. 

Faith

All these Biblical characters who were filled with the Spirit of God, or we could say were anointed by God, had to act by faith. Faith that the Lord would do what He promised and work through them to do the mighty works of God. They may have experienced fear and doubt at times, but when they had to act, they did not waver in unbelief. David, who was anointed to become king, was filled with the Spirit, yet the Psalms clearly show that David experienced times of despair and hopelessness; however, David never quit or gave up. Listen to Daniel 11:32, “… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” The lesson here is that when we become discouraged or defeated, we turn to our God and draw strength from our relationship with Him and hold on tightly to the promises of God. God never, never fails!

When we read about the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, we see the names of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, and Joseph. Then we see the faith of Moses, Joshua, and Rahab; some of the names of the Judges of Israel are also included, and then, of course, David. However, Hebrews 11 doesn’t stop with the well-known names found in the Bible. Hebrews 11 states that there were countless numbers of people who suffered persecution and even death because they believed that the Lord had anointed them to be used to fulfill His purpose. Again, I want to remind you that the Lord uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

All those whom the Lord fills with the Spirit and follow through by faith receive the crown. Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

As new covenant Believers, Jesus has granted us authority and power to represent Him. Because of the New Covenant or Testament, we have better promises made to us than all of the Old Covenant or Testament characters in the Bible. Jesus promised us a helper, which is the Holy Spirit who comes in power. As New Covenant Believers, we have authority as a result of the new birth or being born-again. As born-again Believers, we have spiritual authority, but have we learned to release the Holy Spirit’s power resident in us? That is the subject of my next episode: The Believer’s Spiritual Authority and Power.

A Better Covenant, based upon better promises. 

Let me close with a couple of scriptures from the book of Hebrews that reinforce the truth that we have a better covenant than the Old Testament believers.

• Hebrews 7:22, “by so much more Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant.”
• Hebrews 8:6, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, since He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.so much more Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant.”

The Book of Hebrews was written based on the superiority of Christ over the Law of Moses. Christ is better than the angels, for they worship Him. He is better than Moses, for He created him. He is better than the Hebrew priesthood, for Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all time. Jesus is better than the law, for He mediates a better covenant. In short, there is more to be gained in Christ than to be lost in Judaism. Pressing on in Christ and His Holy Spirit produces tested faith, self-discipline, and a visible love seen in good works. We can’t do any of this without the power of the Holy Spirit leading us.