Hi everyone,
 
            I am currently in Ontario celebrating Jennifer’s parents’ SIXTIETH wedding anniversary! Wow! What a great example of committed love.
 
            I have been working my way through the book of John and I love how John the Baptist views Jesus. There is so much honour and respect there. At one point he describes Jesus as,
 
            He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
 
            Another time he makes this incredible statement:
 
“I must become less, and He must become more.”
 
            I love the testimony he gives about Jesus. He says,
 
                        I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him.
 
            What grabbed me so much about that statement was the word “remain”. The Holy Spirit remained on Jesus. That was why He could do what He did and be who He was.
 
            This is the amazing thing about Jesus, He was fully man when He walked the earth. He set aside His divine powers and was a human like you and I but filled constantly with the Spirit. 
 
            Major W. Ian Thomas, the founder of Torchbearer Bible School and the related Capernwray Bible School movement, states it well: “Jesus Christ, though He was never less than God, for 33 years chose to live as if He were never more than man, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.”
 
            We are invited to live the same kind of life that Jesus did. The Holy Spirit will descend on us, fill us, empower us, and REMAIN on us.
 
            Here are a few promises in Galatians 5 regarding the Holy Spirit:
 
            So, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 
 
            But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
 
            But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 
 
            My prayer is that we will live like our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will descend on us and remain on us. Don’t be satisfied with any other way of living. Jesus chose to live this way and He invites us to live this way, too.
 
            This weekend will be the last in our Skeptics’ Questions series. Pastor Michael is tackling the topic, “Is the Bible true?”  I hope you can be there to hear about this important subject.
 
            Have a great weekend.
 
            I love being your pastor.
 
Pastor Tim