As the ministry of The Trinity Church increases and moves temporarily online, Pastor Mark, Grace, and family will be releasing a special series of “Ask Pastor Mark” videos each week to help answer pertinent questions during this time! This question is about what steps men can take to lead their homes during this time.
When you are suffering, always remember that lost people are watching. Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den as punishment for praying to his God openly and publicly. God miraculously delivered him.
You’d never live in a house that didn’t have an architect but many people live in an un-architected life. In this sermon based in the book of Proverbs, Pastor Mark teaches on the importance of recognizing seasons and how to plan and organize a life you and your family can enjoy.
Do you consider yourself a good listener? One key to every healthy relationship is being a good listener. Sadly, sometimes believers don’t like what God is saying, so they choose to listen to a bad teacher who tells them what they want to hear rather than what God has said. As you grow to heed God’s Word and hear God’s voice you will be able to walk in the destiny that God has for you and your family.
Who has hurt you and caused pain that you are struggling to heal from? In this Sunday’s sermon, “Seven Reasons to Forgive”, you will learn that forgiveness is a gift will completely transform you.
Are you suffering? A loved one suffering? Learn the secret to Jesus’ suffering so that your woeful days can be used by God in wonderful ways.
Why are some of your relationships so life-giving and others so life-taking? In this Sunday’s sermon, “Facing Foolish and Evil People with the Spirit’s Wisdom”, you will learn how to have a healthy relationship with Jesus and other people.
Are you feeling emotionally bummed out, beat down, and need to be built up? In this Sunday’s sermon, “Jesus’ Secret to Emotional Health”, you will learn how to be emotionally healthy and hopeful even when life is hard.
Are you sick of falling into bad habits? In this Sunday’s sermon, “Five Weapons to Defeat the Demonic”, you will learn how you can overcome the temptation to do foolish and evil things and live in freedom like Jesus.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lordand the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.
– Isaiah 61:1-2 MEV.
Jesus lived every moment with the Holy Spirit.
When I tell people about meeting Grace on March 12, 1988, and that we have done life together every day since, it would be odd for me mention her every single time I say or do anything for the rest of my life. By knowing of our relationship, you should rightly assume she is involved in all my life whether I directly state that fact or not.
The Son and the Spirit have a similar relationship—they do all of life together, and the Spirit empowers everything Jesus does. For example, we read that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit,” “led by the Spirit,” and came “in the power of the Spirit.” In the synagogue after Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1–2, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,” He says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18–21). Luke continues by revealing that Jesus also “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21).
Former Wheaton College professor Gerald Hawthorne has also written on the subject of Jesus’ relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Not only is Jesus their Savior because of who he was and because of his own complete obedience to the Father’s will (cf. Heb. 10:5–7), but he is the supreme example for them of what is possible in a human life because of his total dependence upon the Spirit of God.
Since Christ matured by the power of the Holy Spirit, it follows that Christians who take His name also mature by the same power. To put it simply: the only way for a Christian to become like Christ is by the power of the same Holy Spirit who empowered the life of Christ.
Where do you need to mature? What do you need to learn? What temptation do you need to overcome? Where are you weak and falling short? Where are you proud and needing to grow humble? Where are you foolish and needing to grow wise? Where are you lazy and needing to find discipline? You need the Helper, the Holy Spirit, in every area, every day, for every need. You cannot and will not mature as Jesus did without the help of the Spirit. The people of Jesus can live by the power of Jesus.
Are you ready to mature and see God change your family? In this Sunday’s sermon, “Maturity for Your Family”, you will learn how you can mature like Jesus did and have a family that fulfills their destiny.
“I did not know Him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water: so that He might be revealed to Israel.” Then John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and have borne witness that He is the Son of God.”John 1:31-34 MEV.
We know very little about Jesus’ life during His teens and twenties, but all that changes at His baptism. The baptism of Jesus Christ is so significant that it appears in all four of the New Testament Gospels.
This event was not Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time. In the previous chapters Luke clearly tells us that the Holy Spirit was intimately involved in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ from the womb. Mary, His mother, conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, at every moment of His journey into human history through the womb of Mary, the Spirit was present in power with Jesus.
Jesus’ baptism was not where He received the Spirit, but rather it was a public event where the Father “revealed” to the crowd what Jesus already knew—that He lived in loving and constant relationship with God the Father and God the Spirit (John 1:31).
Since there is no authority higher than God the Father, His public validation was the highest validation possible to launch Jesus’ public ministry following His baptism. The presence of the Spirit like a dove reminds us of the days of Noah. In that day salvation from God’s wrath came through deliverance via a wooden boat carrying God’s people, and in Jesus’ day salvation from God’s wrath would come via a wooden cross carried by God Himself.
One of the primary purposes of Jesus’ baptism was to publicly announce that Jesus’ entire ministry— including preaching, healing, and delivering—would be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In John 1:32–33 John the Baptizer says, “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him…he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” The language of the Spirit “coming to rest” and “remain” on Jesus reveals an ongoing, abiding, and relational presence where everything in Jesus’ life will be under the control and by the power of the Spirit.