The Fruit & Gifts of the Spirit, A Spirit Filled Fellowship

SPEAKER A Holy, holy, holy greetings and a warm welcome to You Shall Receive Power. I'm Ettienne McClintock, and with me in the studio today is my co host Colin Hone, who is the international director and speaker for Holy Spirit Ministries. And he also works as the conference prayer director for the North New South Wales Conference of 7th day Adventists. Our current series of programs features the book 50 Days Prayers and Devotionals to Prepare for the Latter Rain and Christ's Return by Pastor Dennis Smith. And as we start this program today, we just invite you to join us in prayer. Father in Heaven, it's such a privilege to spend this time with you, to study Your Word to be led by your Holy Spirit and Father in a special sense. Now we pray that you would anoint the listener today with Your Spirit, that you'll guide and lead him into all truth and her as well. And that as we look at the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, Father, that we'll have a deeper appreciation and understanding for the gifts that you are so keen to bestow upon us. Through your Holy Spirit may we receive this blessing. Father, may you open our eyes that we will able to see the beautiful truths from Your Word is our prayer. In Jesus name, amen. You Shall Receive Power is based on a promise of Jesus to his disciples, which includes you and me. And it's recorded in the Book of Acts, chapter one and verse eight, where we read, 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. Colin, I'm looking forward to today's study. It's one that's quite often misunderstood. But as we go through the Scriptures, the word of truth, we pray that the Spirit of truth will give power to this message and clarity of understanding to our listeners today. SPEAKER B So, Ettienne and we're going to talk about the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, and genuine Christian fellowship, a people of genuine Christian fellowship, how they all connect together. SPEAKER A That sounds like a wonderful study. SPEAKER B That's right. So genuine Christian fellowship will play an important role in preparing God's remnant people for the final Christ and Christ's second coming. And I believe sometimes we can call this fellowship God wants to have like new wineskin fellowship like that. Christ spoke of putting new wine in new wine skins. In Matthew, chapter nine, verse 17, he said, you can't put new wine into old wine skins. And so the kind of fellowship that will pair us for the last days is one in which the Spirit filled Christians consistently enter what the New Testament calls canoinonia. It's a hard word to say, but canonia, and in the Greek it means fellowship. For instance, we find the Greek word used in Acts, chapter two, verse 42, and one. Corinthians, chapter one, verse nine, we see this fellowship word and many other verses in the Bible. John even uses it to describe the fellowship we have with God and he with us. In one. John, chapter one, verse three, this fellowship, this word fellowship. And so this Greek word is used to describe the fellowship in the early Church. And this is where a fellowship where one's dreams, hopes, struggles and pains are shared, where we can share them with each other as Christians and allows for truly sharing one another's burdens. In Galatians six, verse two, it is this fellowship where we can confess the defeats, knowing that they will be loved, accepted and prayed for. So we can come when we build fellowship together and we can pray for deliverance for one another, and spiritual, emotional and physical healing takes place, as it says in James, chapter ten, verse 16. Yes, and it's this type of fellowship where there is a continual encouragement to continue in the faith. Hebrews, chapter ten, verse 23 to 25. So the early Church had this kind of fellowship on a continuous basis. When we look in Acts, chapter two, verse 42 to 46. Acts, chapter two, verse 42 to 46, we can see this type of fellowship, Eddie, where people came together. It says they were in one accord. Do you want to read that? Acts, chapter two, verse 42. SPEAKER A And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now, all who believed were together and had all things in common. SPEAKER B So here we have a church that fellowshiped together. You see, they were one accord. It says they studied God's word together, or doctrine, which is basically God's word. SPEAKER A Teachings. SPEAKER B Teachings. They prayed together, they ate together, and they fellowship together. And they all had things in common. They had a bond of love and unity that strengthened each member in their walk with the Lord. And so we need to have that type of fellowship. I know as seven day Venice, we're strong on doctrine, but often we can be weak in the quinonia fellowship area, our doctrines are good and important to understand and believe. However, simply knowing our doctrines is not enough. Genuine Christian fellowship must become a regular part of our Christian experience. If we don't make it through the time and trouble and be ready for Christ's second coming, that's actually why small. SPEAKER A Groups are so important. If you go to other parts of the world, in Africa and some other places, when they get together for worship, they'll spend the whole day together. There will be that fellowship, there will be that eating. There will be that time in the doctrine and that time in prayer. But in first world countries, quite often when the sermon is over and the last hymn is sung, people head off home and they might have a visitor, they might not. But we don't quite have that fellowship. That's why the small groups are so important, I think, in our first world culture. SPEAKER B That's true. That's so true. So German Christian fellowship must become a regular part of our Christian experience. I'm in a small group that I meet on Wednesdays. We come together on Wednesday evenings and we eat together, we study God's word together, we fellowship together and we pray together. SPEAKER A Amen. So there's those four elements of that fellowship. SPEAKER B Four elements of that fellowship. And it's just been a wonderful experience. We do that on a regular basis because God did not create us to stand alone. SPEAKER A Well, that's right. We're social beings. SPEAKER B That's right. SPEAKER A We created social by our Creator. SPEAKER B Kenonia fellowship, which is fellowship is necessary for the grow into the fullness of Christ. And so I want to read Ephesians, chapter four, verse eleven to 16. Ephesians, chapter four, verse eleven to 16. SPEAKER A And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come. To the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plottings. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things unto him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together, by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. SPEAKER B So there we have that kenonia fellowship is necessary to grow into the fullness of Christ. So God wants us to be in this fellowship, and that can't happen in a huge large crowd. That happens the best in a small group. SPEAKER A And it's interesting also that this fellowship you're talking about and coming to the unity of the faith talks about our knowledge increasing about the Son of God, that we can grow up to a perfect man, to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ. So they're designed to be like him and having the Holy Spirit work in us, which is Christ in us, a hope of glory. And then the other verses, that beautiful promise there that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men. So God will strengthen us, god will plant us solidly in His Word, so that those false doctrines, those heresies which are actually one of the works of the flesh, would not be able to actually arrest and take people away from the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. SPEAKER B That's right. So the Bible says in one John three two, that those ready to meet Jesus will be just like him. And so this New Wineskip fellowship is necessary for that to happen. And so how does this New Wineskin canoignia Christian fellowship happen? And why is it so necessary in order to become like Jesus and be ready for Christ's second coming? First of all, Eddie, this kind of fellowship to happen, the participants must be spirit filled. Yes, that's step one. The daily infilling of the Holy Spirit enables the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit to be manifest in fellowship. Both the fruit and gifts of the Spirit are necessary for the New Wineskip fellowship to take place. What is the fruit of the Spirit is love. Love is the first fruit listed in Galatians five, verse 22 to 23. Let's have a look at that. When it says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, and then it goes on and gives other fruits that come from that Galatians 522 to 23. SPEAKER A But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law. SPEAKER B And so above also, it says love is to be at the heart of a canonia fellowship agape love. It creates an environment for, like, spiritual, emotional, and physical healings that we need when we're together like that. And the goal of a genuine new mind skip canonian. Christian fellowship is actually fellowship with Jesus. And there are two ways we can fellowship with Jesus. First, Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit. Remember in John 14, verse 1518, jesus lives in the believer. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B Through the Holy Spirit. And as we daily receive the baptism or infill in the Holy Spirit, we are receiving Jesus into fellowship with us. Secondly, we fellowship with Jesus when we fellowship with one another. Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20. Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20. Where we can fellowship with one another. Matthew 1820 for where two or three. SPEAKER A Are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. SPEAKER B You see, when we're together or two or three. Sounds like a small group. SPEAKER A Does sound like a small group. SPEAKER B So Jesus comes to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we're together, we're two or three. I am there with you. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B So this is know, when Jesus spoke to Saul on the road Damascus, he asked him, Why do you persecute me? Jesus is one with his people. And so was Jesus being persecuted. SPEAKER A Yeah, well, he says he was, doesn't he, when he talks? SPEAKER B But who was actually being persecuted? It was the Christians. SPEAKER A Christians? Yeah. SPEAKER B But Jesus says you're persecuting me. SPEAKER A Yeah. Because he's so closely identified with Jesus. SPEAKER B Was with his people. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B So when God's people fellowship with one another, they are fellowshipping with Jesus also. This fellowship with jesus plays a major role in us becoming like Jesus, which is the goal of the gospel, is for us to become like Jesus when we are not changed so that we can have fellowship with Jesus. No, we are changed by our fellowship with Jesus. By our fellowship with Jesus. SPEAKER A Can you repeat that again? Because I think that's a very important. SPEAKER B So we are not changed so that we can have fellowship with Jesus, okay? No, we are changed by our fellowship. SPEAKER A With Jesus so we don't try and make ourselves good so we can have fellowship. We come to the Lord just as we are, and he changes us through the fellowship. Oh, that's beautiful, Colin, love that. SPEAKER B And Jesus is with us. When we're in together, we're in together. We weren't created to be alone. We're created to be we're relational beings. SPEAKER A Yes. Amen. SPEAKER B And so Paul uses the body as an analogy of this. The human body described the relationship of the members of the church. So let's go to One Corinthians chapter twelve, where we first describe the church as a living body of Christ. A living body of Christ. One Corinthians chapter Twelve. It's not a dead organization. SPEAKER A Okay? 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 Greek, whether slave or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. SPEAKER B So it says here that Christ is the head of the body, and each believer is a member of that body. Just like our hand or eye or heart are members of a physical body, they all have a part to play, don't they? So according to Paul, each member of the body has been given gifts of the Spirit of God, and these gifts are given for the benefit all who are in fellowship. One corinthians twelve, verse seven. Let's read that. SPEAKER A Okay, so it says there, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. Here we have that manifestation word again as we studied in the previous lesson. Yeah, it says, for 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 workings of miracle. To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits. 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 B So what are the gifts are given for the benefit of all who are in fellowship? One Corinthians, chapter twelve, verse seven. So Paul clearly points out that we need one another, and we'll have genuine concern for one another when this new Wineskin Coronia fellowship takes place in one Corinthians, chapter twelve, verse 21. So, in this new Wineskin Fellowship, each member will be used by God to minister to other members, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to minister one on each other, to edify or build up the church. SPEAKER A Amen. SPEAKER B And this takes place well, this will be taking place in an environment where the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 522 and 23 are present. So it'll take an environment where the fruit of the Spirit is present, won't it? SPEAKER A Yes, it will. SPEAKER B Where there has love and joy and peace and patience. And this requires a close, intimate relation with one another. Just as my hand must be in a close connection to my body, in order for my body to benefit from my hand, it's got to be close to each other, isn't it? SPEAKER A Of course. SPEAKER B So also God's last day remnant people will come into close intimate connection with one another and will enable the gifts of the Spirit to be functioning for the uplifting, strengthening and directing of those in fellowship like as we just talked about in Ephesians chapter four. And so this kind of fellowship enables the members to grow up into the fullness of Christ. That is the purpose of the fellowship. God's church is his family. We're like a family. SPEAKER A Yes, that's right. SPEAKER B And Paul describes that in Ephesians chapter two, verse 19. He describes God's church as a family. And families are usually a group of small people. Some people have large families, but the largest family I've ever seen is about twelve. Wow, that's today. Back in the day it used to be common, but today you don't hardly see people have got twelve children. But I know one family got twelve children. Wow, that's about as big as a small group gets. About twelve. I mean, Jesus was in a small group, a fellowship group himself. That's right, of twelve himself. So let's read that Ephesians chapter two, verse 19. SPEAKER A Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. SPEAKER B See, we're to be members or members of the household of God or a family. It means there. So the fruit of love towards one another is manifested continuously in God's family. We're to love one another in the family first, thessalonians two eight says we're to get along with each other, with the fruit of the Spirit. Just like a loving home is the best environment for a child to grow and mature, isn't know a home is the best environment for a child to grow up and mature. So also the environment of a loving Christian fellowship is the best environment for believers to grow and become more like Christ. As we fellowship with other, we become more like Christ, because Christ is there with right. SPEAKER A You know, the home is the nucleus, it's the fabric of society. When the family breaks down, then kids'lives are affected and impacted. And that's really what has an impact on society more than anything else. When kids are raised in a loving home where there's a father and a mother looking after him, that's the ideal and that's God's ideal. Now, we know that some people just can't have those circumstances, unfortunately. But we just pray that God will give you His Holy Spirit and giving you his wisdom, that you'll have your love in his life and you can do the best for your kids or if you're a child, that you can do the best for your family, for your mum, your dad, your sisters, brothers. SPEAKER B And when the family breaks down, that can affect the children. I mean, myself. I was brought up in a family where my parents were divorced when I was five, and there was a family breakdown and that affected the family completely. And it led to problems in our lives as children and even led to drug abuse and certain abuses because people are just trying to the pain in their lives from a broken family. SPEAKER A Sure. SPEAKER B And that can happen in a church as well. I've seen churches where their love is gone, the love of the unity, the fellowship has gone. And so there can be a breakdown. Even the church family. SPEAKER A Yeah. And we see that even in the first church mentioned in the Book of Revelation in chapter two there in verse, I think it's verse one and two, it says to the Church of Ephesus that they've lost their first, they left their first. You know, if there was love in the family, that can sometimes take away. That's why it has to be renewed daily through the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER B That's right. So Christian fellowship is the best environment for believers to grow and become more like Christ. But you can't have this kind of experience by simply going to church each week you go to church, whether it's you're going to church on Saturday or Sunday, and just go, Happy Sunday, happy Sabbath, and you shake hands, listen to a sermon, three songs and you go home. That's not fellowshipping in the biblical sense. What kind of family environment would take place? For example, let's just imagine this. What kind of family environment would take place if the members of the family met only once a week in a set of rows and listened to a lecture? SPEAKER A That's not fellowship. You did. Right. SPEAKER B Not much interaction would take place, would it? The families would not benefit from one another. The same applies to God's family, the church, the home environment is necessary for the best fellowship to take place. In fact, I believe as we approach the time of trouble or the final cris, that fellowship in church has become more difficult and home fellowship will become the normal. SPEAKER A Right. SPEAKER B That will become the normal. This will actually prove to be a blessing. In actual fact, it'll be a blessing for people because it will better facilitate the functioning of the spirits of the gift sorry, the gifts of the Spirit, which is necessary to prepare God's people for Christ's coming. You'll be in small groups. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B That is where the gifts can be used best. You can't use the gifts if only, like, one person's preaching. Three people are singing at church, one playing the piano, couple are taking up the offering, and 90% of people are sitting in the pews. That's not where the gifts of the Spirit function the best. It functions in a small group. And so I'm not saying the traditional church service are not important. I'm not having a go at that, of course. I'm just saying that God uses our gatherings at church to minister to us. The point I'm making is that we need more than just once a week church service. SPEAKER A That's right. SPEAKER B We must also experience new wineskin. Quinonia fellowship or small group? SPEAKER A Yes. A functioning, healthy church will have these elements that we read there in chapter two of Acts, where there will be the fellowship. They will come together to eat, to pray, and to spend time in the doctrine of Christ. SPEAKER B That's right. The early church was small groups. SPEAKER A They went from house to house. So you can't fit a big group in a house, typically. So a lot of small groups, and. SPEAKER B Even in the archaeological diggings, they're finding that even in the early first century, most of the churches, the majority were small churches of about 2015 to 20, so right. Yeah. Most of them met in their homes, or even the churches they build only were able to get to 15 to 20 people. So it's small groups and they just multiplied. SPEAKER A Right. SPEAKER B Fill up a home, go to another home, fill up a little church, go into another church, and so they multiplied. And so in these small groups, we need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You can see why the baptism of the Holy Spirit is necessary for this kind of fellowship to take place. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B So the daily influence of the Spirit allows God to manifest the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit in the lives of his children. And when they're in fellowship with one another, the fruits and the gifts of the Spirit will be used by God to minister to them. This kind of fellowship will play a major role in them becoming free of all Satan's oppression, spiritually, emotionally and physically by being together. And so what happened, though, is, in the early church, this is the way we're used to fellowship small groups. And Jesus was in a small group, the disciples, that's what they experienced. So they took that in the early church, was just small groups, and so they met in their homes. And so when you're in your homes, they ate together, prayed together, fellowship together and studied God's Word together, and people were invited along and they blended into these small groups. And that's how they grew. So what happened, though, is the church went into the Dark Ages. And so by the fourth century, constantine under the rulership of Constantine, this way of church, the way the Christians did, church changed. SPEAKER A Right. SPEAKER B So what happened is, for example, here's some of the things that actually happened. The Lord's Supper changed from a common meal to a ceremony. SPEAKER A Okay. SPEAKER B Worship changed from participation to observation. They started building big buildings and cathedrals and things like that for this new type of worship, mission changed from being missionary to supporting missionaries. Confession changed from public before a small group to private in a confessional. So before that, you would have a small group and you confess your sins. James says, confess your faults and sins to each other. That's what happened. Fellowship, for example, changed from in depth relationships and community living to more surface relationships in large gatherings. You don't make great friends when there's a church of 200, 300, 400 as well, do you? SPEAKER A You go to a church that's got a thousand or more members. Very hard to get to know all those members. SPEAKER B Yeah, all you get is a happy Sabbath on Sabbath. That's a shake of a hand. SPEAKER A And you got to spread yourself very thin if you want to know all of those people. You never have a good relationship with anyone. SPEAKER B In depth relation, community, small group change. And so buildings also changed from functional they were functional buildings to sacred meeting places. Right, okay. SPEAKER A Interesting. SPEAKER B And so this is what happened through the Dark Ages. And the historian Beckham, he wrote this. He said the transition from groups to buildings completed in the fourth century changed the face of the church. For the next 17 centuries, all of the above changes have continued to impact negatively upon the church as we know it. Could the way we are doing church today have more to do with what happened in the fourth century at the hand of Constantine than what happened in the first century at the hand of Jesus. Many searching Christians are beginning to suspect that. And what you're seeing now is you're seeing that God is bringing back small groups and this type of fellowship back to his church. Yes, because it's preparing us. SPEAKER A So what you're saying is quite radical, because typically a lot of people would think if they think of church, they think as a building, there's a few hundred people that come together. They worship together. They do their three hymns, they have a sermon, maybe do a little bit of a Bible study and then go home. But what you're saying is that worship is not supposed to be like that. There's got to be fellowship involved in our worship with God on a daily basis. And of course, also on the same. SPEAKER B Nothing wrong to coming public together to worship God. SPEAKER A No, we're not knocking that, but it's more than that. If it's not more than that, then power in the church will be waning. SPEAKER B Well, yeah. And there's power in Sabbath schools, for example. Or you might have Sunday schools. Sabbath schools where small groups where you fellowship and study God's word and pray together. Yes, you have a more intimate relationship in those Sabbath school. Or you might go to a Sunday school where you have those intimate relationships. And I believe that before Jesus returns, god will bring his remnant people back to a genuine noon wineskim kenonia for Christian fellowship back to small groups because he knows this is necessary for them to make it through the time of trouble and be ready for Christ's second coming when Jesus comes. It says, I read this in the Spirit of Prophecy by Ellen White that people will be in small companies and a rainbow will surround them. They'll be in small right. You know, in the early Advent Church Fellowship, our pioneers of our denomination, the Seven Day Adventist Church, understood the importance of this kind of fellowship. They called their gatherings social meetings. They said what's called social meetings. And one Adventist by the name of Chapman wrote the following in the review on Herald in 1884, expressing the need for Quinonia fellowship. This is what he wrote. He goes, Dear Brother White, could you but realize the utter loneliness of some of the scattered brethren situated far away from those of like faith? No one whom they can converse upon, their all observing subject of their afflictions, no one whom they can confidently unite their voice in prayer, no enjoyment of social meetings of those who hearts unite and burn with them as they meet and sing and pray and tell of the joys, their hopes, their trials. Talk of our great high priest Jesus in heaven, of the new heavens and the new earth and the sweet peace afforded them in obeying all the commandments of know people will spread out and are lonely, just like two or missionaries. Well, the early church Adventist Church had social gatherings every week. Yes, they came together in small groups and had social groups. SPEAKER A And their socials are quite different to our socials nowadays. They were actually spiritual in nature. SPEAKER B They were very so, you know, home fellowship groups of spirit filled Christians are a necessity, I believe in preparing God's people for the last days. And if we think we are doing church the way God wants us, by coming to church on Sabbath and sitting quietly in the sanctuary and listening to a sermon, then we have incorrect view of church. Yes, such activities are not wrong. However, we must not limit our church involvement to the traditional worship service. Such services are good as far as they go, but they cannot provide us with the cononia fellowship. We need and must have to be ready for the final crisis and Christ's soon return. So I don't know. I've been in small groups and fortunate. I've been small groups my whole 24 years as a. Christian. When I first joined the seven day Venice Church, I was invited into a small group. This small group has been running 46 years. It's in Melbourne, is that right? Different people have come and go, but they've been running a small group for 46 years. Little do they know that one person that came into their small group 24 years ago goes around preaching and teaching around the world and launching small groups in conferences and unions, saying, we need to launch small groups, not only for this new for canonian, but to work together to win souls together as well. It's the best way to work together in a team, working to save souls. SPEAKER A Yeah. And you get to know your fellow believers as know, and it builds that friendship and that relationship and also that love. SPEAKER B I remember a story when I was in Ethiopia that I heard a story about this American Menamite Ethiopian church. This church had about 5000 members back in the 1970s. And what happened is communism came into Ethiopia. And so all the pastors and evangelisms, well, the evangelists were sent back to America. The pastors were all put in jail. And even while I was there in Ethiopia, I met many Adventist pastors who had been put in jail, some of the older ones during this time. And so Christians were now not allowed to worship in churches anymore. Okay? So they were not allowed to worship in churches. They were shut down and they had to go underground. SPEAKER A Right. SPEAKER B And so for ten years, there was no pastors. There were no evangelists for ten years. But then a new government came in later on, and so all the evangelists came back, the pastors got let out of jail, they got together and they said, hey, listen, we better find out what happened to our church members. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B What happened to our flock. And so they did a headcount to find out what had happened. Now, the church had grown from 5000 to 50,000 in ten years with no evangelists and no pastors. It's incredible, because the members came together and met in their homes and they had kenonia quinonia. The gifts of the Spirit functioned best in the small groups. And so they were all involved in the mission of the church. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B It wasn't out there just going to a worship serve each week and being sitting back in the pews. They were all involved in the mission. So they invite their friends to come in their homes, eat together, pray together, study God's word. And they grew from 5000 to 50,000, even the largest church in one of the largest churches in the world, in Korea. It's an interesting story. I heard once, okay, there's 800,000 members in Korea. SPEAKER A That is incredible. SPEAKER B One church. And some Adventist pastors went up and asked him, how did you do this? How did you grow to 800,000 members? And he came back with a book called the book called Evangelism by LNG. White and he said small groups. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B Basically the DNA of that church was a small group, so he started with one group. Once that filled up, they multiplied into two groups. Two groups into four groups, 816, 32, 64, do the math. 128, 256, and they just kept on growing in small groups. So everybody is in a small group. It's the DNA of the church. So that's how he grew, by small groups. So we want to look at the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Do any of us have those fruit naturally? SPEAKER A I sure didn't. SPEAKER B No, we don't have it naturally. You see, when Jesus lives in us, jesus has the fruit of the Spirit. So when Jesus lives in and through us, those fruit will be manifest and seen in our lives. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B Galatians 522. Also in Ephesians chapter five, verse nine. In Ephesians chapter five, verse nine, it says the fruit of the Spirit is righteousness and goodness. So to have the righteousness of Christ imparted us, we need the baptism Holy Spirit. It's connected to righteous by faith. SPEAKER A Yes, indeed. SPEAKER B Because we receive his righteousness, imparted righteousness through Christ living in and through us. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B So there's righteous by faith. And how do we receive it? By faith. SPEAKER A By faith? SPEAKER B Yes, by faith. So the quality described in the list of the fruit of the Spirit are impossible to achieve separate from the infilling the Holy Spirit. They're not something you can just manufacture and say, well, I'm going to be more patient, long suffering, we have sinful natures. SPEAKER A Yeah. It wouldn't be legal currency, would it? That'll be what you call counterfeit if you had to try and manufacture it. SPEAKER B That's right. SPEAKER A Gifts. That's right. SPEAKER B And we'll fail time and time again if we try and bring these fruits into our lives by self will and determination. It's only through God's Spirit that they'll be manifest in the believer as he cooperates with the Spirit's inner prompting. And it's only as Jesus lives in us that we will manifest those fruits. So they're really his fruits? SPEAKER A That's right. Yes. SPEAKER B Not our fruits. You know, there's several chapters that describe spiritual gifts also, and the most prominent scripture concerning spiritual gifts are found in Paul's letters. The first one is Romans, chapter twelve, verse three to eight. Romans, chapter twelve, verse three to eight. Let's have a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit that function best in a small group. SPEAKER A For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that was given us. Let us use them if prophesy. Let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or ministry, let us use it in our ministry. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. SPEAKER B That's fantastic. So God gives these gifts to the church and they're different gifts, aren't they? Everyone has a different gift. SPEAKER A That's right. SPEAKER B Some people might get more than one. I mean, you look at the talents, for example in the Parable, Matthew 25, where Jesus says one had one talent, one had five and one had ten. SPEAKER A That's right. SPEAKER B God gives more gifts to different people, but we're to use those gifts to build up the church. And he mentions prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling and mercy. And let's look in one Corinthians chapter twelve as well. He uses the word wisdom there as a gift. Words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostles, prophets, teachers, helps and governments and leadership. These are all the different gifts. The Holy Spirit determines who gets the gifts. We don't determine what gifts we get. It's the Holy Spirit determined because if you know what, we might desire a gift, but it's for our pride. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what gifts to give us amen. That we'll use accordingly. And if we use it faithfully, we can ask to have more gifts. SPEAKER A So the gift of the Holy Spirit is given us and then coming with the Holy Spirit is other gifts that can be used in ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. SPEAKER B Yeah, but they must be used together. Yes, because everyone has different gifts. So we need to come together to use our gifts. And it's best used in a small group. God will give different gifts in a small group. Some will have teaching, some prophecy, some gift of prayer. I've seen people who pray, who just have a gift of interceding in prayers. SPEAKER A Yes, I've been in presence of those prayers. Beautiful. SPEAKER B It's just wonderful. And so these gifts serve as a very important role in spiritual growth of the individual believers and the church. And he uses the body to describe this and it's just a wonderful thing. And so what is the purpose of the gift is for the prophet or the common good of the church? SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B Okay, remember the analogy of the human body to do this. So we need all these gifts to work in the body of Christ. Now, here's the thing though, in the Bible it says that do you know that Satan can counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Spirit? SPEAKER A Right. Okay, so can he counterfeit all of them? SPEAKER B Well, let's look at him. Can he counterfeit tongues? SPEAKER A Yes, he can. SPEAKER B Can he counterfeit prophecy? SPEAKER A Can he have false prophets? Old Testament is full of false prophets. They wouldn't listen to the real prophet. They bring in all these other false prophets. SPEAKER B Can he counterfeit the apostles? Because it can be false apostles? SPEAKER A Yeah, sure, yeah. SPEAKER B What about teachers? He can have false teachers. SPEAKER A Teachers warn against those. SPEAKER B Yeah. He can have counterfeit, for example, gifts. SPEAKER A Of healing, for example, too. SPEAKER B That's right. It says he'll be doing miracles. He can counterfeit miracles, so he can counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so sometimes Christians can be focused on let's just focus on the gifts of the Spirit and forget about the fruit. Of course, see, Satan can counterfeit the gifts of the Spirit, but he can't counterfeit the fruit of the Spirit, because the fruit of the Spirit is Christ in you, the hope of glory, love, joy, peace, patient can't counterfeit them. So we as Christians should seek the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, to have Christ's love in our hearts. And then God will give us gifts individually to build up your church. So we know in the last days that Satan will do this. So we want to focus on the fruit of the Spirit. They still want to have the gifts of the Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit determines what there are. That was the problem with the Corinthian believers, when you read chapters 1112 13. The problem is they were so focused on the gifts of the Spirit, and they even drilled it down on the they were focused on one gift. They were so focused on the gift of tongues yes. That Paul had to admonish them and know, don't do this, let someone prophesy first. These are greater gifts, he said, this is even a lesser gift. He says, you know what you need? He says, you need the fruit of the Spirit. You need love. He said, without love, all the gifts mean nothing. SPEAKER A That's right, yeah. First Corinthians 13. SPEAKER B He says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol. Yes, I might have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all the knowledge, and though I have all faith, so what could remove mountains but have not love? I am nothing. And he goes on and talks about these things and even tells us that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different know. I've heard some churches say that if you haven't got the gift of tongues, you haven't received the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER A Well, that's not biblical, is it? SPEAKER B No, because it says in there, each person's given a different gift, some healing, some prophecy that's in Corinthians, chapter twelve, he says, now, concerning spiritual gifts, verse one brethren, I do you not want you to be ignorant? So straight away he's teaching us, I don't want you to be ignorant, guys. SPEAKER A Yes, right. SPEAKER B I want you to understand, you know, that you were Gentiles carried away with these dumb idols. However you were led, therefore I'll make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus a curse. And no one can say Jesus is Lord set by the Holy Spirit. Then he says there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, yes, there are different ministries, but the same Lord. So there's different ministries. It's not just one ministry. And that's right. Everybody has a different ministry that God has called us to be involved in. And he goes on, there are diversity of activities, but it's the same God who works in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. So the purpose is the prophet of all. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B For one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, the word of knowledge, the same Spirit to another faith, by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing, by the same Spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy. You getting the point. To another, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues or languages. I mean, the first use of tongues or translating languages was that the apostles were speaking the Gospel and people could understand it in their own language. You just read in the book of Acts, it's very clear they understood it. That was the first use of it. And to another interpretation of Sung. So if someone does speak, there should be someone who interprets the language. SPEAKER A If you speak a foreign language, how will the others be edified bird unless someone is there to interpret the language? SPEAKER B And here's the key in verse eleven. But one in the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills. SPEAKER A That's right. SPEAKER B So to say that everyone must be speaking in tongues is incorrect, according to the Bible there. SPEAKER A It's not biblical. That's right. Because I mean, if you even go further down on the chapter, then you read from let's see, let's start verse 29. Paul asked the questions under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Well, the answer is no, they don't. Because the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people. And not everybody's given the gift of tongues. For example, all the gift of prophecy. SPEAKER B All the healings, or any of the gifts, everyone has different yeah, that's right. SPEAKER A But to make that a test is actually unscriptural. It's not biblical because not everybody receives all the gifts. You just read that before. And then he says, of course, but desire the best gifts, and yet I'll show you a more excellent way. And then he goes and speaks about the fruit of the Spirit. He talks about agape love, which is the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned there. In Galatians chapter five and verse 22 that says that even if I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but they have not love, I'm a sounding brass and a clang symbol. And even if I was to have the gift of prophecy and understand mysteries and know all knowledge, though I have all faith and could remove mountains, but have not agape love, which is the fruit, the first fruit of the Spirit, I am nothing. And even if I bestow goods and give me my body to be burnt, but I have not agape love, which is again the fruit of the spirit, it profits me nothing. So we here see the contrast between, as you're saying, the fruit and the gifts. That's right. There is a difference. And he says the more excellent way is actually love, agape love, having the. SPEAKER B Fruit of the Spirit. SPEAKER A Fruit of the spirit. SPEAKER B Yes, that's right. Because all these other things will pass away. But that won't. SPEAKER A That's right. SPEAKER B That won't. I mean, even in chapter 14 of One Corinthians, he says, pursue love. And he says, and desire spiritual gifts. So he's saying there's nothing wrong with desire. SPEAKER A We're not deemphasizing those. They're actually very important and they're God given gifts, but we just want to make sure that they are in perspective from a Scriptural perspective. And these false tests that are not scriptural are the ones we're actually opposing, not the fact that people are to receive gifts because God has promised these gifts and we need them for the edifying of the body of Christ. SPEAKER B And Paul goes on to describe in chapter 14, he says, desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Yes, like he's putting that one as the one you should really desire. For see he who speaks in a tongue and again he's reverting back to the Corinthians who are just so focused on speaking in tongues. He says, but for he who speaks in tongue but does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands Him. However, in the Spirit, he speaks in mysteries, but he who prophesies speaks edification, exoctation and comfort to men. And he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. SPEAKER A Yeah, the verse four there of one Corinthians 14. That's right. So he's not edifying the church because he's speaking in a language that the rest of the church can't understand. He only understands. So he's the only one that's edified by it. And then Paul says, well, don't do that. SPEAKER B Then he goes on, I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesy. For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. So someone must be able to translate. SPEAKER A That'S what the person saying. SPEAKER B And then he goes on and says, basically, stop babbling in the church. If you keep on reading verse 14, he says, Stop babbling to the church. There's got to be order in the church. In verse 26, whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm or has a teaching or has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done in edification, let everything be in order but in verse 33. SPEAKER A For God is not the author of confusion amen. SPEAKER B But of peace. As in all the churches of the you know, I've seen things where it's craziness, people are know, flopping all over the place, it's speaking, there's no order whatsoever. And I read Paul's writings and I question and know what is that? So here we have the biblical model of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit decides and we pursue the fruit of the Spirit, amen. So we basically need the influence of the Holy Spirit to have the love, the fruit of love. Each believer was to become a Christ to the world. We're supposed to be mini Christs. Christ's ministry would be seen most fully as the church became fellowship of spirit filled believers. The fruit of the Spirit and the variety of spiritual gifts would be manifest through the various members of the body and without the Spirit's infilling the ministry of the body would be limited and have little or no power. It's just like the know, we can have a body together. Well if the arm's not working it's not going to be a really good body, is it? Or the legs aren't working. It's not going to be most effective. SPEAKER A Look, I just had a friend recently that had a stroke, paralyzed down his whole left side, his left arm wouldn't work. He'll try and send signals from the brain to the muscles, it just wouldn't work. Left arm, left leg and he's now persistent and worked really hard with the physios and that to get the muscles and the brain connecting again and working. But what a struggle it was from, he couldn't walk. It was such a great struggle. And just imagine God has a place for you in his church. But unless you're spirit filled, unless you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, then how will the church function effectively if you're not part of that? God wants us all to be part of his work and we can work side by side with our fellow believers and with God, spirit of God working in and through us. That is what God has called us to. He wants the whole world to be warned, to prepare for the soon coming of Christ and this is all to be done through the edifying of the gifts that God has given. But ultimately that is just a means to an end. Those are the tools required to present the gospel. But the greatest, actually greatest witness I believe for the gospel is the character of God revealed in his people that character of love, that self sacrificing love of agape that God wants to see in his people. And when that is seen, the harvest is ready and Christ will come. SPEAKER B That's right. Now, today we've been covering two lessons, Etienne. We've been doing the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, and we're talking about a spirit filled fellowship church right today. And we've blended the both of them today because they go hand in hand. And as I said, I believe that God's last day church will be spirit filled and will meet in that canonia type of fellowship in small groups and work together. When you go back and look in the Book of Acts, Acts chapter two, you find just the best ingredient of how they did the early church. Acts, chapter two. They just received a message from Peter. He just preached to them a powerful message where they realized that Jesus was the Messiah and they had crucified Jesus. Well, the Romans had crucified Jesus, but he went to the cross for their sins. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B All right. And they were crying out for it. And they realized that they'd crucified the Messiah. And it says they were cut to the heart. And they asked Peter and said, what are we going to do? What shall we do? And Peter just comes to them and says, listen, repent, be baptized, and you too shall read the promise of the Holy Spirit. So the first step of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to repent. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B A lot of times people talk about baptism of the Holy Spirit, filling her without repentance. And the first step is repentance. Yes, because God wants to dwell in us, but he won't dwell unless we've been cleansed of sin. That was the whole point of the sanctuary, wasn't it? SPEAKER A Yes, that's right. SPEAKER B The sanctuary was cleansed of the sin for the dwelling of the Holy Spirit or God to dwell in the sanctuary. And so we want to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And then you too should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then we look at the early church in Acts chapter two. I love it, how they grew. There's a beautiful quote. What happened to this church? 3000 people were baptized and they did these four things. They studied God's word together, fellowshiped together, broke bread together and prayed together. And many wonderful signs were done through them. And they all believed and were together and had all things in commons. And sometimes they sold their possessions and goods to give to those who needed. They took care of each other. It says in verse 46 of Acts chapter two. And so continuing daily with one accord, they were one accord in the temple. So they met at the church. They came together corporately in the temple, and they broke bread from house to house. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B So they met in their homes. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. They praised God and having favor with, feigning favor with all the people. So they found favor with the people. They're out there doing health ministry. They were healing people, they were feeding people, they were taking care of people. And it says they found favor with the people. And when they did all this, Eddie and it says, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So there is, like I call it, the ingredients of a Spirit filled church. Ate together, prayed together, studied God's word together, they met in their homes, they praised God, and they found favor with the people. They were doing good in the community or their villages or wherever they were, and the Lord added daily to their number. SPEAKER A Yeah. Beautiful. SPEAKER B It was. I want a church to be a church. I want to be part of a church that's like that. SPEAKER A I want to be part of a church like that as well, because obviously the love of God, these people were spiritful people. They had the fruit of the Spirit, which is that self sacrificing love called agape. But Jesus even said there in John, chapter 13, verse 35, before he starts talking about the Holy Spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit, if you love me, keep my commandments and I pray the Father, he'll send you another comforter, even the spirit of truth. He says there in John, chapter 13, verse 35, by this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have agape love for one another. So you can see that these people who hang together, they fellowship together, canonia that canonia fellowship. There's got to be love amongst them because they are in one accord. You can't have that one accord when there's selfish love still in the heart. And as you had mentioned in a previous program, Colin, these disciples were arguing who would be the greatest. Not many, many days before Pentecost, it might have been, what, 60 days or. SPEAKER B So till three and a half years. They were arguing all the time. They were with Jesus, they were converted, they were baptized in water. They were arguing with Jesus. They'd seen the crucifixion. They were restored back to ministry. Yes. And finally they got it. And what do they also do before they did that? They spent ten days in prayer. You go right through the Book of Acts. They were a praying church. That's where their power was. SPEAKER A Amen. SPEAKER B They were praying in church. You know what it's exciting, Eddie, and is that we look back in that early church and we say, wow, I want to be a part of that church. Yes, but do you know that we're going to see greater things than even they saw? SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER B Well, under the latter reign, under the latter reign. Listen to what Ellen White says in Christ's Object Lessons, page 120 and 121. It's a vital lesson for all of us, she says, about this early church, what happened in the Book of Acts, she says, one interest prevailed, one object swallowed up all others. All hearts beat in harmony. The only ambition of the believers was to reveal the likeness of Christ's character. SPEAKER A Wow. SPEAKER B And to labor for the enlargement of his kingdom. The Spirit of Christ animated the whole congregation, for they had found the pearl of great price. So straight away, what she's saying is the only ambition of the early believers was two things. One, to reveal the Christ's character, and two, to labor for his enlargement of his kingdom. That was what was on their hearts. Now, listen to this good news, she continues, and says these scenes are to be repeated. SPEAKER A Well, that's a beautiful promise, isn't it? SPEAKER B Hang on, though. And with greater power. SPEAKER A Wow. SPEAKER B The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the former reign, but the latter reign will be more abundant. Christ is again to be revealed in his fullness by the Holy Spirit's power. So if these scenes will be repeated, what will be the only ambition of God's last day, people? SPEAKER A Well, it'd be the same ambition again as to reveal Christ's character and to lay before the enlargement of his kingdom. SPEAKER B That's it. SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER B So that's what our churches should be doing. We would want to reveal the likeness of Christ's character and labor for the enlargement of his kingdom. That will be our only ambition. And when we come together as churches and we say, this is going to be our ambition, but you can't manufacture that. SPEAKER A No, you can't. SPEAKER B We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And when we're daily baptized with the Holy Spirit, that will be our only ambition to reflect the character of Christ and to build up his kingdom. And God will pour out his latter reign, holy Spirit, and we'll finish the work and we can go home. SPEAKER A Amen. Well, you know, in the early church, initially they were actually known as the People of the Way. That was the name. They were of The Way, which was the way of salvation, the way of Jesus. And it's not until later on and people started looking at them and said, well, we can see that these people have been with Jesus. They started calling them Christlike, and that's where the word Christian came from, because they revealed the character of their Savior in their lives. If you take on the name Christian, basically what you're saying is, I want to be like Jesus and I want to reveal his character to the world. SPEAKER B But how do you do that? Idiot. SPEAKER A The Book of John, chapter 15 talks about Jesus is the vine. We are the branches, and we are to abide in Him. And if we abide in Him, we'll get that SAP from the vine. It will flow through into the branches, who we are, and we'll reveal the character of God. But that happens. That's the fruit. That's what but. That happens to the Holy Spirit, we are to be baptized daily with the Holy Spirit? SPEAKER B Well, that's right. Remember the end of that Ellen White quote where she says christ is again to be revealed in his fullness by the Holy Spirit's power. That's how you can reveal Christ's character and build up his kingdom is being daily filled with his Holy Spirit. SPEAKER A Well, that's exciting. We're looking forward to those times. I've read in another place where she also talks about it'll come with ten times the power of Pentecost. But as we understand, there's a great conflict that lies ahead that Satan, through his powers will try to stop people hearing the good news of salvation, the gospel, the three angels messages that everlasting gospel that prepares the whole world for Jesus soon return in that judgment setting. He will do everything in his power to stop it. We know that God will come with even greater power to give power to this message. The whole world will be lighted with his glory, and the glory of God is the revelation of his character and his people, and then he will come. SPEAKER B So we want to encourage who are listening, you can be part of this great outpouring in the latter rain if you grow in the early reign. SPEAKER A Amen. SPEAKER B So we encourage you to go to Jesus on your knees and pray and repent of your sins, to ask him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and ask for the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit of Christ in the hope of glory in readiness for the latter reign. And God will start working for you. And the only ambition of you will be to reveal the likeness of Christ's character and to build up his kingdom. SPEAKER A Amen. Thank you for taking us through that study, Colin. And listen, dear listener, if you would like some tools to help you with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, receive the fullness of the former rain. To be ready for the outpouring of the latter rain, there's a couple of books that we would like to make available to you. You can either go to your nearest Avenue's book center or you can even contact us here at three ABN. The first book is the one that's part of our studies that we've been going through. It's 50 days prayers and devotionals to prepare for the latter rain and Christ return by Pastor Dennis Smith. So you can go to your nearest Adventist Book center as I said, or you can contact us here at three ABN. You can call us on 024-973-3456, you can email us at [email protected]. And we still also have that other book available to you. It's a slightly smaller book, but it's a great little book called steps to Personal Revival being Filled with the Holy Spirit by Helmut Haubeil. So dear listener, we pray that God will continue to bless you, that he will increase his desire in your life will be infilled with the Holy Spirit to reflect his character to the world more and more. And as that text says there in the book of John, chapter 13 and verse 35 by this all men will know that you are my disciples, because you have the agape love of Jesus Christ in your hearts and it's reflected in your dealings with one another. May God bless you. SPEAKER B You'Ve been listening. 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