A Spirit Powered and Directed Church

SPEAKER B Welcome to you shall receive power. I'm Ettienne McClintock and in the studio today is Colin Hone. Colin, welcome. SPEAKER C It's great to be here Ettienne, always. SPEAKER B Good to do these programs with you. Colin is the international director and speaker for Holy Holy Spirit Ministries and also the international distributor for the book 50 Days Prayers and Devotionals. To prepare for the latter reign and Christ's Return by Pastor Dennis Smith. Now, our current series is based on those daily devotionals that you find in these books. And today we're going to do, I think, lesson number four. So just before we start our program, please join us in prayer. Our Father in heaven, creator, redeemer and sustainer, we pray for your presence and the leading of your spirit as we study together today. Bless each listener, may your goodness and your grace draw us closer this day. We ask in Jesus name, amen. You are listening to you shall receive power and is based on the words of Jesus in Acts, chapter one, verse eight, where Jesus said 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 ends of the earth. Colin, looking forward to this lesson to. SPEAKER C See what it's about. SPEAKER B And as I look at the heading there, it says a spirit empowered and directed church. Now, I guess if the church is spirit empowered and directed, we need individuals who are spirit empowered and directed. So I'm looking forward to what we're going to learn from the lesson today. SPEAKER C Absolutely, yes. Well, you look back in the book of Acts, I believe it should really be called the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Yes, this church was a spirit empowered and directed church by the Holy Spirit. And you can know one of the most striking phenomenon following the day of Pentecost is the record of the Holy Spirit directing the church in very clear and dramatic ways. The Holy Spirit was in charge. Yes, it wasn't man directed, it was Holy Spirit directed. And we're going to just unpack a little bit today of how the Holy Spirit used the early church and what we can learn from that, that we can apply that to our church today. SPEAKER B Well, that's going to be very interesting. SPEAKER C So for example, you look in Acts chapter five, verse one to three. Acts, chapter five, verse one to three. SPEAKER B So I have it here. It says, but a certain man named Ananias with sapphira his wife, sold a possession and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles'feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and came back part of the price of the land for yourself while it remained? Was it not your own and after it was sold, was it not your own to control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed these last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. Now, it was about 3 hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her and said, tell me whether you sold the land for so much? She said, yes, for so much. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Well, that's an incredible story, Colin. SPEAKER C Amazing. So here you have the Holy Spirit revealing important information to Peter about deception in the church. So the Holy Spirit let Peter know about deception in the church. And what I found interesting too, that when Peter said to Ananias why Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. And then you read down in verse, just further down, he says, You've lied to the Holy Spirit. You've lied to God. SPEAKER B Lied to God? Yes. SPEAKER C So he connects together God and the Holy Spirit right there, that you've lied to the Holy Spirit, you've lied to God. SPEAKER B So it's clear here that God will reveal through the Holy Spirit things that people wouldn't otherwise know, because no one told Peter this. It was only the Holy Spirit that told him that these people were lying about how much they were going to give to the church and how much they got for the property that they had sold. So, I mean, it was theirs, wasn't it's? Very clear from the scripture it was theirs, they owned it. Why didn't they say, look, we're going to sell the property and we're going to give half or we're going to give 80%? Maybe they got more proceeds than they thought. And they thought, well, look, we were only planning on giving 20,000, but we got 25, so we'll keep five for ourselves and just give 20. No one will know. And here it is very clear. The Holy Spirit knows. God always knows. Nothing is hidden from God, nothing's hidden from the holy angels and the Holy Spirit. So it is really a lesson to all of us that we can't lie to God. God knows the end from the beginning. And it's very important that we make sure that when we walk with the lord, we walk with them honestly. SPEAKER C Well, that's what happened before. You see, the Church was selling their possessions and giving it and laying to the feet of the apostles and they were looking after people's needs. And we see that that's when we're introduced to Barnabas, which is called the Son of Consolation. He was like he had the gift of encouragement and having he sold some land and bought it to the money and laid at the apostles'feet and that sort of they. So Ananias and his wife Sapphira, they wanted to do the same thing, but there was deception. So the Holy Spirit? Yes. Revealed. So Peter was given the gift of discernment and he was given that and he was able to know from the Holy Spirit about the deception of the Church. You know, another great example was in Acts chapter five, verse 17 to 20, when angels intervened for the progress of the Church, when Peter was delivered from prison. Let's read Acts chapter five, verse 17 to 20. SPEAKER B Then the high priest rose up and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. SPEAKER C So you hear the Holy Spirit directing to angels to go and open the prison doors. And what were the apostles doing? You read earlier in verse twelve. It says they were healing people. SPEAKER B Yeah. Through many signs and wonders amongst the people. That's right, yeah. SPEAKER C So here we have the Holy Spirit working through for the direction of the Church. And we also see in Acts chapter eight, verse 26 29 and to 39, when Philip was directed by the Holy Spirit. And so an angel of the Lord and the Holy Spirit spoke directions to Philip concerning the Ethiopian, whom God wanted the Gospel taught. So the Holy Spirit directed Philip to go to speak to the Ethiopian. So let's just read what happened here. Just amazing. SPEAKER B Verse 26. And now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise and go towards the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candice, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot. And he was reading Isaiah, the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I understand? Or how can I unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was and he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. SPEAKER C So he was repeating the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse seven and 53, verse eight, when a prophecy was made about Jesus being a sheep, led to this slaughter like a lamb. And so here he is sharing that scripture with him. But did you notice in verse 29 so the angel, the well, verse 26, the angel of the Lord spoke to Peter saying, arise and go down to the south, said to Philip, Sorry, yeah. So the angel says, Go down there. And then in verse 29, so he's sitting there and he went then the Spirit said on, the Lord said to Philip, sorry, go near, enjoy thyself to the chariot. So an angel Lord, appears him go down there. And then the Spirit says, Go to that chariot. SPEAKER B Yeah, there's a directed work, it's very clear. SPEAKER C And I guess have you ever had that experience in your life where the Holy Spirit has directed you to go go and speak to that person and share something? SPEAKER B Look, I've got an interesting story I can probably share with you, something that happened to me this week as part of this program. You'll see there at the end of each of the footnotes, there talks about prayer and how we are to pray for certain things. And one of the things that encouraged us in the earlier lessons, and we can perhaps elaborate on that in some coming lessons, is that we are to contact five people and then ask them what they would like us to pray for in their lives. And then subsequent to that, we should just keep in touch with him on a regular basis or even ring them up and pray with them. Well, I've got a relative and his son over in another part of the world has been having some big problems with drugs and had addictions and that, and he's just started coming clean and he's just connected himself to a Christian organization over there. And he's been baptized, but he's still working through these and the urges still come. So I thought he'd be a good guy. I just felt convicted. Lord, who should I pray for? There's so many people to pray for. Who should I pray for? I need five. Contacted him and for some reason he didn't get the message. Two and a half weeks later, I still hadn't got the message. So I contacted him on Facebook, said, Listen, I sent you a WhatsApp message based on your phone number. Have you received it? He goes, no, I haven't received it. So I just sent him another test. The test came through, I could see on little ticks that he had received it, but he hadn't received the other message. From two and a half weeks, and I could see it hadn't been opened. So I resent it to him. And he was just absolutely blown away that someone would take interest in him to want to pray for him. And then after he gave me a whole list, seven things I've got to pray for because he had some great needs, he said to me, can you please just tell me why you selected me out of all the people? Because I've got a lot of family, all the people that you know, why me? And I said, Look, I just believe the Holy Spirit directed me to ask you so I can put you on the list and pray for your needs. He said, you won't believe this. About two and a half weeks ago, I asked the Lord that he would please give me an understanding and he would touch me in some way to let me know that he's real, that he exists and that he's interested in my life. And he said, I believe this is an answer to pray. No one else has ever asked if they could pray for me, what my needs are and so forth. And you from overseas, and I don't really know him that well because I left that country many years ago, more than half a lifetime ago. He was just absolutely blown away that the Holy Spirit, who he asked to show him something, had spoken to me. And this was the means by which Guida was touching him and answering his prayer. SPEAKER C And you asked God, reveal to me. SPEAKER B Who to pray for, who to pray for. And I believe the Holy Spirit led and the Holy Spirit answered his prayer through this. SPEAKER C And the Holy Spirit put that man, young man, on your heart yes, to pray for. And look at the result there. So the Holy Spirit leads us to even pray for people. Part of this 50 days devotional. Prayers and devotion to experience the latter reign and prepare for the second coming of Jesus is to ask God for five people to pray for. Ask God, Lord, who do you want me to pray for? And God will put it on your heart and give you names to pray for. And then you are to contact those people and ask them, let them know that you're doing the 50 days devotional and that you've been directed to pray for them and ask them what they would like prayer for and see what God will do. SPEAKER B I have more stories, but I'll share them at another time just of what's happened. I have been absolutely blown away by how God has worked in the lives of people and the needs of some of the people just through this prayer for people around the world. SPEAKER C It's an amazing, powerful, powerful prayer is. So we also see the Holy Spirit related specific directions to Peter concerning God's acceptance of the Gentile believers. You know how peter. Let's go to that in Acts chapter eleven, verse twelve. That's Acts chapter eleven, verse twelve. So the Holy Spirit has given directions to Peter, but interesting, at the same time he also directed Cornelius to seek out Peter. So here's the Holy Spirit directing Cornelius and directing Peter. So let's go and read that story and just see. Amazing how the Holy Spirit puts things together. SPEAKER B So do you want the whole story or just verse twelve there? SPEAKER C Let's read the whole story. It's a great story of showing how the Holy Spirit is working from both ends. He's working from Peter's end, and he's working on Cornelius to bring them together to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. And then, you know, the Gentiles were then filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Jewish people were amazed at this. SPEAKER B These stories are so remarkable. It says there, starting with verse one in chapter eleven of Acts. Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also believed the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, you went into uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, I was in the city of Joppa, praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners. And it came to me. Then I observed it intently and considered. I saw four footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again, from heaven what God has cleansed, you must not call common. Now, as this was done three times, and all were drawn up again to heaven, at that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. However, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house, and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you are, and all your household will be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the words of the Lord, how he said, john indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God has given them the same gift as he has given us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God? SPEAKER C Just amazing story. It starts off with Acts, chapter ten, where there's Cornelius, who was a centurion, and he believed God and feared God, and he found faith with God and he prayed to God, and God gives him a vision and he's to go out and find Peter at Joppa, and so he sends men down there. And then Peter at the same time is having a vision that three men are going to come and he needs to go with them. And so the Holy Spirit has just put together this, what I call divine appointments. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C Because it was what's called a divine appointment, where the Holy Spirit's orchestrated an appointment so that the Gentiles could hear the Gospel. And God even used a vision with Peter, with the sheet of all the unclean animals, because you know that the Jews wouldn't eat anything unclean. SPEAKER B That's right. SPEAKER C According to the God's word in Leviticus chapter Eleven. And so Peter says, I'm not going to eat anything unclean. Now, a lot of Christians have got that mixed up, thinking that it's okay to eat whatever you want now, but it was a vision regarding the Gentiles because the Jews would not associate or eat and associate with the Gentiles uncircumcised, uncircumcised, because they weren't clean. So here is God breaking down the barriers between the Jewish people and Peter and the early church apostles who were all Jews with the Gentiles, and using the unclean sheet as that they're not unclean anymore. Nothing to do with actually eating animals whatsoever. It's totally to do with the Gentiles being unclean and Jews associating with Gentiles. SPEAKER B And isn't it wonderful that the Holy Spirit directed all this? And then he told Cornelius there in verse 14 that in assignment, when he comes, he will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. SPEAKER C The Gospel. SPEAKER B Yeah. SPEAKER C So the Holy Spirit wanted the Gospel to preach to the Gentiles, and it's. SPEAKER B The same with the eunuch. Candace's was he treasurer? SPEAKER C He was the Treasurer of Ethiopia. SPEAKER B He was reading the Gospel, didn't understand it in the Old Testament, in the Book of Isaiah. And then God actually directs Philip, philip explains it to him, he receives the Gospel. And then in verse 39, there in, I think it was Acts eight, he was baptized. SPEAKER C Yes. And then he took the Gospel back to Ethiopia. SPEAKER B Incredible. SPEAKER C So this is how the Holy Spirit is directing the church. And I call them divine appointments. And I've had many divine appointments in my life where you've just all of a sudden you've turned up and then the Holy Spirit's orchestrated it, and then something amazing happens. SPEAKER B Well, people listening on the radio today, this could be a divine appointment for them as well. God wants them to hear. Or perhaps if you are a believer already and you have received the Holy Spirit, perhaps you can pray in your life, god, send me divine appointments today so I can share the Gospel as well. SPEAKER C Absolutely. So we also see that the gift of prophecy was in operation by the Holy Spirit in the early church. So they had the gift of prophecy was operation in Acts chapter eleven, verse 27 and 28. Let's go there. Acts chapter eleven, verse 27 and 28. SPEAKER B And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Akabus stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which was also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. SPEAKER C So here we have, there were prophets in the early church who were prophesizing a great drought. And we also look in Acts chapter 21, verse nine, acts 21, verse nine, where even men and women prophesied. SPEAKER B Verse nine, verse nine says, now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. Wow. And then verse ten it says, and as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. So Agabus is active there again, but it does mention the four virgin daughters. Now I believe this is Philip it's talking about, isn't it? The four virgin daughters of Philip. SPEAKER C Yeah, it could be, could be. You have to read on about that. But the most important thing is that the gift of prophecy was used in the early church. Men and women had the gift of prophecy. And I believe do we have the gift of prophecy in the last days as well? We can look at that at another time. I believe the gift of prophecy was used. I want to talk a little bit about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There can be a lot of confusion about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yes, but when we read in God's word, and especially in One Corinthians chapter eleven, one Corinthians, chapter eleven, it's the Holy Spirit that determines what gifts we get. It's the Holy Spirit that actually go to One Corinthians. Chapter Twelve. And we can see there that Paul is explaining to the Corinthians Church about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, where the Corinthians Church had started focusing on one gift and they got super hyper focused on one gift. SPEAKER B Right. SPEAKER C And then Paul is trying to explain them the diversity of gifts and who determines what gift you get. And it's incredible chapter. Just read a little bit from verse twelve and I think it let's read down from verse one. Sorry. Chapter twelve, verse one, and let's read down to verse 13, verse 13 about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Oh, this is incredible. Chapter, I love this chapter says, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. Okay, great. So we're going to have some explanation there so we don't stay ignorant. You know that you were gentiles carried away by these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaks by the Spirit of God cause Jesus accursed and that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one. For the prophet of all, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing. By the same Spirit, to another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy to another, discerning of Spirit, to another, different kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, as he wills. SPEAKER C I think that's the key text there. He distributes the gifts as he wills. Now, we can ask, but the Holy Spirit determines what gifts that we get, and we get different gifts. SPEAKER B Yes. The Holy Spirit obviously knows the needs of the Church better than we do, so therefore he gives the gifts as required for ministry. Yeah. SPEAKER C So we've got miracles, prophecy, discernment. Like Peter was given the gift of discernment. SPEAKER B Yeah, with Ananias and Sapphira. SPEAKER C Yes, that's right. SPEAKER B And then verse twelve for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, were the slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. SPEAKER C That's right. And Paul goes on to unpack that, using the body as an analogy of know, we're in the body of Christ and we all have different parts to play, like the hand and the fingers and the eyes, the nose. You need every part of the body to function effectively working together as a body of Christ. And when we lack some of those, if you cut the hand off or the arm, or pluck the eye out, we're not as effective as we are when we're using all our gifts. And I just love that when Paul then, just to make sure of it, says in verse 29 of chapter twelve are all apostles, are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues or different languages? Do all interpreting? And he's just saying, not everybody has all the gifts. We have different gifts. And the purpose of the gifts is to equip and build up the Church. SPEAKER B Because there's a lot of people that also focus on particular gifts, especially the gift of tongues seems to be very prominent. But the question is asking, do all speak with tongues? So if you have the Holy Spirit and receive the gifts of the Spirit, you may not receive the gift of tongues. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER B And that is definitely not an indicator. Whether you have the Holy Spirit or not, you've been given the gift of interpretation or you've been gift of healing or something else, or a gift of faith or gift of discernment. SPEAKER C That's right. And the problem, the Corinthians then Paul brings them back to them and says, listen, what you need to do is focus on the fruit of the Spirit. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER C And in chapter 13 he says you can have all these gifts and speak in tongues, but if you don't have love, it means nothing and charity. And I just love that. Paul, when you look back in God's word, in Acts chapter two, the function of the gift of tongues, or the other interpretation is called gift of languages, was that the apostles were all and disciples were speaking in different languages and everyone understood the Gospel was preached in their own language because there were men from different countries speaking different languages and they all understood the Gospel in their own language. That was the purpose of the gift of I agree languages. SPEAKER B Often when I want to see what the meaning and the true definition is of something in the Bible, I always go to the first time it was mentioned. And if you look at the first time tongues are mentioned, it's very clear that people understood them in their own languages. So it can't be anything else. I mean it's the same when it comes to, for example, creation and the fall of man. If you want to know what sin is, you go back to the origins of sin in Genesis and you can see what God said and then what Adam and Eve did. And you know that disobedience to God is sin. That's what it is. Sin is the transgression of the law. So every time we want to understand a definition, I advise everybody go to the first time the Bible mentions it and you have a clear understanding of what it's talking about. SPEAKER C And in Romans chapter twelve as well, paul also then unpacks some of the gifts and he says that chapter twelve, verse five. So we being many, are one body in Christ. Again he uses that body and everyone members one another, having then gifts differing according to grace. See there we have differing gifts according to grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry or teaching or exhortation or encouragement, different gifts are given to build up the church. Also. You can read that in Ephesians as well, where he gives another list. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And that's the purpose of the gifts is to build up the church. So here we have the Holy Spirit also determining what gifts we know. Sometimes people might say if you don't have a certain gift, then you haven't received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people and your gift might be. The gift of encouragement, could be the gift of prophecy, could be the gift of teaching, could be the gift of helps. There's many different gifts administration or administration or leadership. There are many different gifts that God gives out to build up his church. So when we get back to so obviously, the gift of prophecy was definitely used in the early church. We also see that the Holy Spirit told the church to set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work he had called them to do. So the Holy Spirit set aside Barnabas and Paul, and that's Acts, chapter 13, verse two. Acts, chapter 13, verse two. And here we have the Holy Spirit saying, look, I want Barnabas and Paul. I've got a certain work I want them to do, and I want them set aside to do it. So let's read that. SPEAKER B Okay. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them, and they having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Wow. SPEAKER C So here they were told to go to the Gentiles, and Barnas and Paul were given that direction by the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B But isn't it credible? They're praying and the Holy Spirit speaks to them while they're praying and fasting. SPEAKER C This was a very Holy Spirit directed church, the early church. They spent much time in prayer and fasting waiting for the Holy Spirit to. SPEAKER B Tell them sorry to interrupt you, but what's stopping us nowadays if that is the former reign and the former rain is to be with us from Pentecost right through until the latter reign comes, what is stopping us? To pray and expect the same things from the Holy Spirit as they did in the early church? SPEAKER C Well, it's ourselves. We're stopping ourselves. We're very self sufficient, I think, because we have a lot of wealth, depending on where you're from. We have a lot of wealth, a lot of resources, we have a lot of education, and so we've become a lot. And so, you know, we believe that we can do the work without the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Well, look, one thing is very clear, and I actually just put this picture on my Facebook page. Whether you're rich or poor, whether you're educated or uneducated, whether you're someone that's eloquent or someone that stutters, we all end up in the same place. We all end up six foot under. Yes, in a box, in the ground. Doesn't matter how beautiful that box is, we are covered. So unless we know the Lord really life, it's all vanity, isn't right? SPEAKER C That's right. So here we have again the Holy Spirit. And then there was what they did. They came together and they fasted and prayed, and then the Holy Spirit said, separate these people for the ministry that I have. So we also look at they had a very important council. They had meetings back in those days. They had their conferences and meetings, and they had a very important council that had been convened in Jerusalem determine what was to be required of the new Gentile believers. And so the church now had Gentile believers joining the church. And so the early church had obviously come from Judaism, and they'd taken a lot of their stuff from Judaism into the early church. And now the Gentiles have joined the church. SPEAKER B Don't have that background or that or. SPEAKER C The cultures culture or the background. And there's a lot of traditional traditions or traditions of men. Plus there were biblical directives, directives as well. So let's read that in Acts chapter 15, verse 28. Acts 15, verse 28, it says, for. SPEAKER B It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. It's always good when we can agree with the Holy Spirit. Seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. SPEAKER C So here the Holy Spirit directed them to have a meeting. And so they then had a big meeting. And so basically, they were discussing what to know, should they be circumcised? Should they not be circumcised? And they had a great discussion. And let's read that discussion. I think we can learn some verse six. Let's go verse six. Because they had disagreement, there are early sector of Pharisees who became believers. They said they should be circumcised. So let's see what happened in discussion. SPEAKER B Now, the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul, declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agreed, just as it is written after this I will return and will build the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up, and that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things. SPEAKER C And in verse 28, James wraps it up by saying in verse 28, for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. So here we are directed by the Holy Spirit. Again, even in making decisions in the church, the Holy Spirit was directed there. And we can see also the Holy Spirit intervened to stop a planned missionary journey and gave a vision to direct where to go in Acts chapter 16, verses six to seven and to ten. So here they wanted to go somewhere and the Holy Spirit nope, I don't want you to go there. Acts, chapter 16, verse six. SPEAKER B Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to MYSA, they tried to go to Bethenia, but the Spirit did not permit them. And then is it verse? Verse? SPEAKER C I keep going to verse ten. SPEAKER B So passing by Missia, they came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Now, after he had seen the vision, immediately assault to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to. SPEAKER C So amazingly, the Holy Spirit even directed where they should go. SPEAKER B So don't preach in Asia, you're going to Macedonia, that's where you're going to go and preach the gospel. SPEAKER C That's where the Holy Spirit wanted you to go. And they even gave him a vision just to confirm, you know, Asia maybe wasn't ready. SPEAKER B Yes, there could be many reasons for Holy Spirit, god knows. SPEAKER C Yes, that's right. So the Holy Spirit, no, you're going to go to here first. And so I find that even my own life today, there's sometimes that we're to wait on God to open doors and close doors. There's many times where God has closed doors for me, where I wanted to go there, and he just completely closed it. And every time I tried to open it, it just closed harder and harder. Yes, sometimes I had to close and hit me in the head just to basically God to get my attention. But then other times God has opened doors and it's so easy, you just go through and it's set up just like Paul on that was isn't it wonderful? SPEAKER B The best place to be is the place where the Lord wants you to be. SPEAKER C Yes. I've been like 24 countries over the last seven years, and I'll be honest with you, most of them, I didn't want to go. Okay, I didn't want to go to these countries. I said, Lord, I'd like to go to that country. But that was just my carnal self saying, this is what I wanted to do. Where I've learned to say, Lord, where do you want me to go? And what he does is he opens the door and everything goes and he closes doors where he doesn't want you to go, because maybe it's not ready yet to hear that message. Maybe it would do more damage sometimes. And so God knows when the time. SPEAKER B Is right, well, when we've given ourselves to the Lord, he directs and we want Him to direct because he knows the end from the beginning. He knows what's good for us. He knows who's ready to hear the Gospel. And we just praise God for that. He's so interested in people's lives, individuals, people that other people, like the Christian people at that time, were Christian people. The Jews at that time who had become Christians weren't sure about what do we do with the Gentiles. And the Holy Spirit then leads and directs them in regards to what they've got to say to them, what the requirements are for Christian living and so forth. Just a beautiful spirit directed movement. And we need to be part of that spirit directed movement even in our day. SPEAKER C That's right. We need to wait on God. We need to wait on God. We need to ask God and then wait on God. Lord, what do you want me to do? And wait on God to reveal that sometimes we like to go ahead of God? SPEAKER B Sure. SPEAKER C Where we can become very impatient. SPEAKER B Yes. Sometimes we'll run before we sent. SPEAKER C Yes, absolutely. And so let's look at another verse. Let's go to Acts chapter 20, verses 22 to 23. Acts, chapter 20 and verses 22 to 23. SPEAKER B Okay. And we read here and see now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await. SPEAKER C So and he continues on that because he's preaching the Gospel. Paul is saying the Holy Spirit even revealed to Paul all the future bonds and afflictions that he would suffer. It revealed to him that you're going to suffer for the Gospel, but it let him know that and it also let him know that God would be with him. God would be him. SPEAKER B Great encouragement. SPEAKER C Just amazing. SPEAKER B Nothing can surprise God. SPEAKER C And that's why I love know some people call it the Book of Acts, or the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. I think it should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Yeah, I agree. SPEAKER C It's moving, directing, empowering and convicting of the Holy Spirit are the same today. And we can be directed by the Holy Spirit today. I don't know about you, but I'm sure that every Christian who has ever read the Book of Acts in the New Testament has longed for the same manifestation of the Holy Spirit to happen in his or her life or in our church. Wouldn't we love to go back and be part of the Book of Acts. And I believe we are part of the Book of Acts. But you read some of the things there and you go, wow, wouldn't it be amazing if that happened today? And I believe it can happen today. I agree with you. SPEAKER B I believe it can too. SPEAKER C And so I guess we've got to look at is, well, how did it happen to them? What was the process that they went to that God could use them in a mighty way? SPEAKER B That's the question. Yeah, it'd be nice to answer that question. SPEAKER C And we know that the prophecy also says that the latter reign is going to even be more powerful than the early reign. It's going to be more powerful the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as God, through Jesus reveals Himself through his people. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And we've been living in the day of early reign since Pentecost, and I believe it's time for the latter reign to begin. But you know what? I believe that Satan will do everything he can, everything to can to keep us this from happening. He'll do everything possible to keep this happening, for he knows it'll be the death knell for Him. I was in the military for seven years. I was in the Navy, and I thought about this recently and I thought, if I was Satan, I would not want the latter rain of the Holy Spirit to fall, because when the latter rain falls, it says in Revelations 18, god's glory lights up this earth. SPEAKER B Wow. Yes. SPEAKER C And the three angels message is giving with greater power. It repeats the three angels messages in Revelations 18, verse one, and then it says, then Jesus comes, the seven plagues fall and Jesus comes. So if you were Satan, you wouldn't want the latter rain to come. SPEAKER B It will hasten his end. SPEAKER C That's it. SPEAKER B That's the end of him. SPEAKER C End of him. SPEAKER B But also it will take many precious souls out of his kingdom and put them in the Kingdom of God. SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER B There'll be brands plucked out of the fire, as we read in Zechariah. SPEAKER C So you can imagine them having a meeting. I can imagine them having a meeting in the know there is Satan with the demons, the evil angels, and they're having a meeting and they're saying, whatever happens, don't let God's people get the ladder rain and all the don't let. SPEAKER B Them pray, don't let them ask for it. Don't let them hum themselves before the Lord. SPEAKER C Don't let them receive the latter reign. SPEAKER B Keep the power out of the church. SPEAKER C And the evil angels say, well, how do we do that? He says simple. Don't let them grow and grow and receive the early reign of the Holy Spirit. Because enable to receive the latter reign, we need to receive the early reign and grow in the early reign in the likeness of Jesus in preparation for the latter reign. Yes. So that's his focus. So how do you do that? Let's have counterfeit satan always counterfeits everything that's true. So let's have a counterfeit baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let's have a counterfeit early reign where the focus is on the gifts of the Spirit. Because, you see, Satan can counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says he can counterfeit miracles. That is a gift of the Spirit. He can counterfeit false prophecy, false teachings of God's word, false tongues, speaking in tongues. So Satan can counterfeit all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Incredible. Yeah. SPEAKER C Prophecy, everything. But he can't counterfeit the fruit of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B No, he can't. And the interesting thing is that in Revelation 13, it says that he's even able to make fire down, come down from heaven in the sight of men to deceive them by the miracles which he's able to perform. SPEAKER C And what does the fire represent in God's word? SPEAKER B Well, fire can represent a few things, but it also represents the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER C Yeah. So he can have a false manifestation of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And then do miracles. And so miracles is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Of course it is. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER B That makes sense, that interpretation. SPEAKER C So he can counterfeit that, but he can't counterfeit the fruit of the Spirit. And I encourage people out there, when you're praying for the daily baptism, holy Spirit of Christ in you, the hope of glory is you're focusing on having Jesus live out his life in and through you and having the fruits of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, long suffering, temperance, righteousness, and goodness. And Satan cannot counterfeit those. And the gift, god will give us gifts, but focus on the fruit of. SPEAKER B The Spirit being a loving and lovable Christian. SPEAKER C Absolutely. So what did the disciples do? What did the early church do to receive Pentecost? I think that Satan also keeps us busy. He keeps us busy, involved in the world's cares and concerns. So we neglect earnestly to seek God for his spirit. One of the things they were asking, they were asking it says they were asking for the Holy Spirit. And there's a lovely verse there in Jeremiah 20 913, jeremiah 29, verse 13. And the question is that I have, and a question I have for you out there listening. Are we willing to seek God with all our hearts? Are we willing to seek God with all our hearts? They did that. They spent ten days in prayer with all their hearts, put all their differences aside, and God poured out the early rain on the day of Pentecost. So Jeremiah 29, verse 13, do you. SPEAKER B Have and you will seek me and find me if you search for me with all your heart. That's a beautiful promise, isn't it? SPEAKER C That's it. So we need to seek God with all our hearts, and only then we'll find him and know Him. Just as the five wise Virgins came to know Him. Remember, just before Jesus comes, he tells a parable in Matthew 25 of the wise and foolish virgins. Yes, he's given all the signs. In Matthew 24 are the signs of his second coming. When you see all these things, know it's near. And we're seeing all these signs today, aren't we? We're seeing political unrest, religious unrest, the wars, earthquakes, the floods, natural disasters increasing and the world's coming together. The climate change. Over 200 countries, I think it was 191 countries, just signed the climate change agreement, which they now want to it's just enacted into law just recently, in the last few weeks. So governments of the world have got to come up with ideas how we can combat climate. So they've seen all these increase in disasters, so we see all these things happening. But then Jesus says, this is what it'll be like in Matthew 25. He says there were five foolish and five wise virgins. There were ten virgins? SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And the difference was that the wise virgins knew the bridegroom. We need to know Jesus. And they had extra oil. They all had a little bit oil, but they had extra oil in their vessels, which means the vessel is representing their character. They had allowed the Holy Spirit to transform their character into the likeness of Jesus. They were daily filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they had enough oil to take them through. They knew the master. We come to know Jesus through daily communion with God in prayer and in His Word and in witnessing, and that's how we know Him. And because they knew Him, they were able to enter the foolish virgins. They're a little bit oil, but they were content. But they didn't really know Him. And Jesus says, I don't know you. SPEAKER B And when the call was heard, they then realized that they were running out of oil. Their lamp was starting to go out. Those who knew Jesus entered in with Him. With the bridegroom? Yes. Others went to go and find oil somewhere. They must have found something, because they came back. But whatever they found was not from the bridegroom, because he said, I don't know you, depart from me. SPEAKER C I don't know you. It was too late to go and find that oil because I can't give you my character. You can't give me your character? SPEAKER B No, we can't. SPEAKER C That's only the Holy Spirit can transform our character into the likeness of Jesus. That's found in two Corinthians, chapter three, verse 18, where we're transformed into the image of God from glory to glory by the Spirit, into the image of Jesus as we behold him. It says, as we behold Him. Behold him means spending time with Him and getting to know Him. SPEAKER B So as that oil represents the Holy Spirit, and of course the lamp, the light burning represents the word of God, and of course the vessel that holds it represents our characters. The word working with the Holy Spirit. Obviously, if we don't grow in the fullness of the former rain, when that last call goes out, behold the bridegroom go out to meet him. We will also be lacking oil. That's what it says to me. I don't know if that's what it says to you, Colin, but that's quite a serious counsel for us to make sure that we receive the fullness of the former reign now. So we are ready for that time. SPEAKER C And they're all surprised. Yeah, they're all surprised. Even the wise virgins were surprised. SPEAKER B Sleeping. Even the wise ones are sleeping just as much as the foolish ones. SPEAKER C But although it must have been some people awake because someone gave the loud cry. SPEAKER B Well, where does it come from? Because it's not from the ten virgins is it? SPEAKER C Comes from somewhere else, comes from the loud cry comes. And so the most important thing, though, is that we need to know Jesus and we need to be daily filled with the Holy Spirit. So first we must every day, and I encourage people there listening, that every day earnestly seek the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit. You're asking for Jesus to live out his life in and through you. Secondly, with this attitude of self surrender, we must petition Him day and night to revive us individually and as a church. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 62, verse six and seven. Isaiah 62, verses six and seven. SPEAKER B I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent and give him no rest till he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth. SPEAKER C Wow. And also, Second Chronicles, verse seven to 14, 2nd Chronicles, chapter seven, verse 14. SPEAKER B If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. SPEAKER C Wow, what a promise. Beautiful promise. Again, it's about surrendering. And if my people pray, there's a condition there, isn't it? Just like Jesus says in one John, verse nine, I believe he says if we confess our sins, jesus is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And here's the promise if my people pray that's right, god will do his part. SPEAKER B It's interesting, when I did some of my training, it would be sales training or negotiation training. One of the principles they taught you was the if then principle. If we were to do this, then would you be able to do that? And that's how you negotiate. So it's conditional negotiation. And here we also have the if and then principle. I said, if my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. SPEAKER C So what's the conditions? We got to pray. SPEAKER B Pray. SPEAKER C But also there was something else there. Humble themselves, humble ourselves. SPEAKER B Seek his face. SPEAKER C Seek his face. SPEAKER B Turn from their wicked ways and turn. SPEAKER C From our wicked ways means to repent. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And turn away from the sins. SPEAKER B That's what repentance means, isn't it? 180 degree turn to go in the opposite direction to which you were heading previously. Instead of being bound for perdition, now you are bound for glory, heaven. SPEAKER C If we do these things that God will do his part. And I believe we are to pray daily for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain, abundance and power. Zechariah ten verse one. Let's look up zechariah, chapter ten, verse one. SPEAKER B Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain, the Lord will make flashing clouds. He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. SPEAKER C Wow, what a promise. SPEAKER B Beautiful. SPEAKER C He's the promise of the latter rain. And so the question we have today, are we willing to do what the early believers did before the day of Pentecost? If so, we will in God's time experience the fullness of the earlier reign baptism of the Holy Spirit and the latter reign personally and corporately as a church. SPEAKER B So it starts with the individual and then flows into the church as individuals come together as God's people. Yes. SPEAKER C And there's a great, great quote by Ellen White from the book The Faith I Live By, page 53, and she says, the measure of the Holy Spirit we receive will be proportioned to the measure of our desire and faith exercised for it, and the use we shall make of light and knowledge that shall be given to us. So the measure is given for our desire and faith, asking for it, do we really want it? And if we get it, will we. SPEAKER B Use it right in proportion to our desire? Wow. So the more we desire, the more of the Holy Spirit we will have. The less we desire, the less we will have. SPEAKER C Yeah. The more we talk about it, more we pray for it, more we ask, God will see, we're insincere and will we make right use of it? I mean, God cannot pour it out if we're going to use it in the wrong way. SPEAKER B Yeah. So I pray that God will create that design, every person's heart, everyone that's listening for the Holy Spirit and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and that they would seek it earnestly and pray for it because God has promised. If we seek, we will find. SPEAKER C And that was the ambition of the early Church. The only ambition of the early church was to reveal the likeness of Jesus and to build up his kingdom. And that's what the early reign Holy Spirit is for. It's given to us so that we can reflect the character of Jesus because Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And also to build up his kingdom. And so I want to encourage people to pray and ask earnestly desire for the early and latter rain of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to baptize you with His Spirit and prepare you to receive the latter rain. Pray and ask God to bring revival to your own personal lives and in the church. Come together in church, our churches, as a small church. I go to my local church. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And we've just started recently. We're going through the 50 days once a week, over twelve months on a Wednesday night. Prayer night is our prayer night. And we have probably, I would say, a third of the church turning up on Wednesday night. SPEAKER B Praise the Lord. SPEAKER C Coming, eating together, praying together, fellowshipping and studying God's Word, and seeking and praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to bring revival to us in our church. Also, ask God to reveal five people for you to pray for and to reach out and ask them what would they like prayer for and see what God will do in their life. SPEAKER B Yes. At our next program, I'm hoping to share more of those testimonies of the five people I got in touch with. Some of the prayer requests are unbelievable, where you think people have walked away from the Lord and they've got absolutely no interest in God whatsoever. As I've been talking to them and praying for them, it's been very clear that these people, in their heart desire to be reconciled with God, to be part of his kingdom, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to do wonderful things for Him. But where they are, they just don't know where to go at the moment. They don't find that direction. Well, Colin, thank you for taking us through that lesson today. It's been a real blessing. We'd like to make available to you, dear listener, a book called Steps to Personal Revival being Filled with the Holy Spirit, written by Helmut Haubeil. We would like to make this available to you for only $1 plus postage. Now, this book has six chapters covering about 110 pages, and is filled with incredible material that will be a blessing to you as you walk with the Lord and grow in grace. To order this book or for more information, please contact us at three ABN Australia Radio in Australia. You can phone us on 024-973-3456 or you can email us at [email protected]. We look forward to catching up with you next time. And we pray that God will bless you and fill you with his spirit abundantly. Until we meet again. SPEAKER B You'Ve been listening to a production of Three ABN, Australia Radio.