Jon Thompson

“Our view of Jesus’s ministry changes significantly when we ask the question: If Jesus didn’t teach, cast out demons, or heal because he was God but did all these amazing things under the Holy Spirit’s power and direction, what does that look like for us today? How does his way of life and ministry intersect with ours? Did you make the connection yet? This is how Jesus chose not to grasp the power or privilege of deity: He did what the Father wanted by the power of Holy Spirit, period. Jesus did not do ministry out of his deity but under the power of the Holy Spirit only, exclusively, always! Jesus’s nature was not touched; he did not change. He just chose not to access who he fully was. Jesus operated under the Holy Spirit’s power, not his own (which he had set aside). Jesus used spiritual gifts to serve. He clearly had the gifts of teaching, miracles, healing, and discernment, to name a few. The Holy Spirit provided what he needed to carry out the Father’s purposes on earth. Do you see the connection? If we have the same indwelling Holy Spirit Jesus had, and the church universal has the same spiritual gifts he used, then together we can not only do what Jesus did, but actually greater things because there are more of us!”
― Jon Thompson, Convergence: The Transforming Power of Living Like Jesus Through Spiritual Gifts, Disciplines, and Unusual Experiences