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The Promise Of The Spirit! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 7/Issue 17 Prophecy: I’ve heard the multitudes sing to Me so often such lofty promises, “I will seek You all my days, I will follow all of Your ways, I will bow down; hail You as King, I will serve You; give You everything.” I’ve listened to the multitudes pretend to love Me and pretend to serve Me and watched them leave the churches and go on about their own ways giving Me nothing, less than nothing; serving Me with nothing but serving themselves, feeling like I am a stupid God that they can fool with their lies, pretend to worship and then walk away blessed because they fooled Me another day, another week; fooled themselves into thinking they’re My people when they have given Me nothing of their lives. But I will look upon this one, saith the Lord, not the one who tells Me he will serve Me but the one who has served Me faithfully – not the one who tells Me he will give Me everything but the one who has given everything – not the one who says he’ll hail Me as King but the one who has faithfully obeyed Me week after week, month after month, year after year. I will listen to that one and that one doesn’t have to tell Me what he will do for he’s already done what he has done. And that one belongs to Me, saith the Lord. And I tell you in My true church those are the people that are Mine. And I tell you in this place I’ve found such people and My heart rejoices over them. And I will glorify, not the ones who promise Me what they will do and haven’t done it but the ones who have done it. For this is even as I’ve said concerning the one who’s circumcised and does not keep the law, “does not his disobedience make his circumcision uncircumcision?” And what about the one who promises but doesn’t do; he is not Mine. But what about the one who does, then it doesn’t matter whether he promises or not, for what he has done stands and that makes him Mine and that makes Me his. And I will glorify My people and My glory will be upon them and My glory is My presence. And My presence is with My people and I tell you there are many who are Mine in this place and My presence shall increase and It shall abound and It shall glorify the house of My glory. And where My presence is it isn’t the things that men glory in, it isn’t the riches of men, it isn’t the fancy works, it isn’t the fine music, it isn’t the eloquent words, but it is the Supernatural! My people, who have been glorified by Me, walk in the Supernatural of My presence and things happen that no man can do. For I prove Myself to be with them and I honor them as they honor Me. And I will honor you as you honor Me, not with mere words but with a life that is fully dedicated unto Me. And I shall honor My people and they shall see My glory and they shall see My power. And others shall see and be humbled by what they see, saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at "My Father’s House") For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; (Rom 9:3-4) So the promises were made to the Jews and even more specifically: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is the Christ. (Gal 3:16) So the promises were not made to the Jews apart from Christ but first to Christ, the Messiah, and to the Jews, insofar as the Jews would receive Christ. So the Jews were mistaken in thinking these promises were made directly unto them because these promises could only be received by them through their receiving their Messiah. So one of the first and most pertinent promises made to them is that God would send them a Messiah and to receive any of the other promises God has made to them they must first receive the Christ! And another most important thing is that God promised He would send His people the Holy Spirit “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek 36:27) But here we see that promise was first made to the “Seed.” Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. (Gal 3:16) that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (v22) that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (v14)So Christ is the One who will receive the Holy Spirit from the Father and then share it with His followers. And we see in the book of Acts how that promise was fulfilled. (Acts 2:33) And John the Baptist preaches Jesus will baptize God’s people in the Holy Spirit and Jesus has come to fulfill the promise. (Isa 44:3, Joel 2:28-32, etc.) So the promise of the Holy Spirit has been made to God’s people corporately but the promise of giving the Holy Spirit has also been made to Christ the Seed singularly. (Isa 11:2, 61:1 etc.) So the Holy Spirit will first be given to the Seed, Jesus, and then Jesus will administer Him to the children of God. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (2Cor 1:20) And even though this promise was, in a sense, given to the Jews, it wasn’t given to them in such a way that they could receive it without Jesus. But God also promises the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh including the Gentiles. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:8,14) So the promise is unto Christ and then the promise is unto those whom Christ gives it to. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39) So that the promise is not given until it is given to Christ when He is glorified and after that Christ may impart the Holy Spirit to others. Thus the Jews cannot say God owes the promise to them if they reject Christ. And what did the Jews do? For the most part they rejected Christ and by that they rejected the promise of the Spirit. “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33) So God glorifies Jesus and gives Him the Holy Spirit and Jesus then pours out the Holy Spirit upon those who obey Him. “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:21,23) “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32) So again concerning the promise, Jesus is the One who first receives the promised Holy Spirit – and He’s the One who administers the Spirit to the believers – He’s the One who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. And also through all of this we can see the extraordinary importance of the Holy Spirit to the New Covenant. That in fact the New Covenant is a Spiritual covenant. Almost everything about it pertains to the promise of the Spirit. It is the covenant in which the believers will be baptized into the Spirit of Christ and then they will be baptized by Christ into the Holy Spirit. And notice, the giving of the Holy Spirit is not just a one-time thing. (See Acts 4:32) The New covenant begins with the washing of regeneration at water baptism in which we are Born Again. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col 2:12) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, (Titus 3:5-6) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; (Eph 3:17) So the beginning of New Covenant Christianity is to be convicted that you need to be born again and ask God to give you a new heart, and put a new Spirit in you; the very Spirit of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27) And you expect to receive that in water baptism by faith. And, of course, that is the first step of entering into Spiritual Christianity; having the new creation Spirit of Christ born into you. Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3,5-6) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Cor 5:17)And after being born again in water baptism by faith then you must begin the process of being transformed by the renewing of your mind, (Eph 4:23, Rom 12:2) where the Holy Spirit is your teacher “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26) And the word of God is your textbook. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Now under the Old Covenant, the High Priest could only go once a year, into the Holy of Holies, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest... (Heb 9:8) However this means that under the New Covenant the way into the Holiest of All is now made manifest. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience – concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. (vs 9-10) Another word for reformation would be re-creation. And we are now in the time of the new or re-creation. The time of reformation is a time when, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Cor 5:17) In this sense, the time of reformation has come. The reformation begins with the fact that you’ve been born again, born from above; the Adamic nature has been replaced with the Christ nature and in truth you are a new creation. But now you must draw on the Spirit and God’s word to renew your mind according to the Christ nature lest you would fall away and crucify again the Son of God and bring Him to an open shame. (Heb 6:6) This includes disciplining your body. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1Cor 9:27) And this must continue until you are established in the faith. (1Thes 3:2) Because you’ve been born again you potentially have the ability to walk in the Spirit and be a son of God by faith. (Rom 8:14) This is what the Old Covenant people didn’t have. They had a promise of it happening in the future at the time of reformation but in their time it wasn’t available to them. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, (Heb 11:39) One aspect of this is that God offered this promise of the Spirit to the Jew first because God did make the Promise to the Jews who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; (Rom 9:4) although not apart from Christ. So when Christ came He did not minister first to the Gentiles but ministered to the Jews. but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom 2:10) Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, (Rom 15:8) And at that time concerning the Gentiles, We were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. We had no hope. We were without God in the world. (Eph 2:12) So the promises were made to the Jews in the sense of their being the descendants of Abraham and Jesus came to fulfill those promises. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” (Gen 17:5,7) And in fulfilling these promises, Christ, Abraham’s seed, was to be the Administrator of the Holy Spirit which was what God had promised from the time of Abraham. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen 22:18) “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3) And Galatians calls this blessing of the nations through God’s promise to Abraham “the Gospel.” And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” (Gal 3:8) So this blessing of Abraham which Galatians speaks about is the promise of the Spirit. That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:14) Now in subsequent prophecies God expands on these promises indicating that He will bless the descendants of Abraham first and then later the Gentiles by the pouring out of His Holy Spirit. “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses. One will say, ‘I am the LORD’S;’ another will call himself by the name of Jacob; another will write with his hand, ‘The LORD’S,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” (Isa 44:3-5) People shall mourn upon their breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. (Isa 32:12,15) The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. (Isa 35:1,6) Here water speaks of the outpouring of His Spirit, as in, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” …this He spoke concerning the Spirit…(John 7:38-39) And, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28) And notice how the outpouring of the Spirit is related to fruitfulness. Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. (Joel 2:22) John the Baptist preaches the ax is laid to the root of the unfruitful tree. “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:9) So to be saved we must be made fruitful – and what the prophets are showing us is that it is in the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit upon us that we will be made fruitful trees. So John the Baptist is preparing the people for Jesus who will baptize them in the Holy Spirit to make the believers fruitful. John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16) And Jesus says, “If you abide in Me (My Spirit) you will bear much fruit!” (John 15:5) And in preparing the people for Jesus, what does John the Baptist tell them to do? Repent! (Matt 3:2) And Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17) So what is John the Baptist doing? He’s bringing the people into obedience so they will be ready to receive the Holy Spirit when Jesus the Messiah comes to baptize God’s people in the Spirit, because the Spirit will not be given to the disobedient. And the promise is first to Christ, Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. (Gal 3:16) Notice also, There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. (Isa 11:1-2) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, (Christ) because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;” (Isa 61:1) But the promise is ultimately given through Christ to Abraham’s descendants and then to the nations. Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39) Now look at Zechariah’s prophecy, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. (Luke 1:68-75) So how will God deliver us from the power of our enemies so we can serve Him without fear? He’s raised up Jesus our Horn of salvation who will baptize us in the Holy Spirit. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2Tim 1:7) “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.” (Acts 1:8) Through being baptized by Christ into the Holy Spirit we are empowered to be bold witnesses and to serve God without fear. The Jews who didn’t rightly understand the scriptures (Acts 13:27) were expecting the Messiah to destroy their enemies – which ultimately God will do. But first He gives us the Holy Spirit and in that gift He gives us a boldness to overcome our enemies – to be stronger than our enemies – to not fear our enemies. And He makes us fruitful even in the midst of our enemies through the pouring out of the Spirit. He makes us courageous. There is an awesome virtue in this that instead of just destroying our enemies and letting us be wimps that bear fruit because there is no one opposing us, Christ pours out His Spirit and makes us mighty warriors who overcome our enemies. He makes us powerful and fruitful in spite of our enemy’s attempts to try to stop us. “Praise God! Human wisdom and carnal men can never divine or prefigure the way God does these things.” Thus the Holy Spirit is promised to Abraham and his descendants through the Seed Christ. And the Holy Spirit is given to Jesus and He is fulfilling God’s promise to the Jews by offering the Holy Spirit to them first. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, (Rom 15:8) But their rejection of Him opens up the door to the Gentiles. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. (Rom 11:30-31) Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:46-47) For God prophesied He would pour His Spirit out on all flesh; which means He will give the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles too. And yet, it’s not that it is taken away from the Jews, but because the promise is given through Christ, the promised Seed, then He’s the One who will baptize in the Spirit. And only the people who come to Christ can receive the promise of the Spirit. Since very few of the Jews came to Christ, they cheated themselves out of the promise. They rejected Jesus, and by rejecting Him they made themselves aliens to the New Covenant because, as Galatians says, the promise is given to Christ the Seed and only through Christ to those who belong to Him by faith. So the unbelieving Jews have alienated themselves from the covenant, while the Gentiles who believe in Christ are entering into the covenant and through the Jews’ fall salvation has come to the Gentiles. (Rom 11:11,19-22) What so many people don’t realize about the New Covenant is that it is not just about Jesus as Savior but it is very much about Jesus as the Administrator of the Holy Spirit – the baptism in the Spirit. The New Covenant is an awesomely Spiritual Covenant – “the promise of the Spirit.” The New Covenant is when God’s people – the descendants of Abraham by faith – receive the Spirit of God in such a way that they may be true sons of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Rom 8:14) So that we may serve God in the newness of the Spirit not the oldness of the letter. (Rom 7:6) Now to “receive” Jesus but not receive the Holy Spirit is to reject the very purpose for which Jesus was sent. And if you reject the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has sent, you reject Jesus. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:20) “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16) And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” “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.” (Acts 1:4-5,8) And then on the day of Pentecost the promise of the Spirit is poured out and from that time the New Covenant age begins. The New Covenant church was born on that day. And being born again is the beginning of entering into this New Spiritual covenant. buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col 2:12) To be born again you must have faith in God to raise you into the new Christ life at your water baptism and you must repent and you must do, in a sense, what John the Baptist said, in bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance. So a proper water baptism is normally essential to salvation. (Mark 16:16) That you may have Christ born in you and the Christ in you at water baptism is, in a sense, as a child that has to grow. And Peter says you should then, “Desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby” (1Pet 2:2) because Jesus grows in you from a Seed born from the incorruptible word of God. (1Pet 1:27) He grows up in you by your feeding on God’s word. And so feeding on the word of God is a sure characteristic in the nature of a born again person. “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” “I am the bread of life.” “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:27, 48, 57, 63) When you find someone who claims to be born again and they don’t read their Bible or regularly attend Spirit led Bible teaching services they are lying to you about being born again. They don’t have the new nature. The first sign of the new nature in you is a hunger for God’s word – Jesus hungering to better know His Father. People who claim to be born again who are not hungering for the word of God are deceiving themselves. The new nature comes forth like a little baby crying for milk and that milk is the word of God. (1Pet 2:2) And as the Christ in you feeds on the word of God He will eventually grow into the mature Christ if the feeding properly continues. (Eph 4:23-24) In Ephesians Paul speaks about apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who are given in order that you may grow up into the perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:11,13) And what Christ’s true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers do is they break the bread of the word to you – they feed you the word of God. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom 10:17) So feeding on the word of God builds your faith – “that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.” (Eph 3:17) So a true believer doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matt 4:4) The just shall live by faith. (Rom 1:17) So as you feed your faith on the word of God – you grow into a place where you are established in Christ in which case you have attained to the promises. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2Pet 1:3-4) Now many so-called Spirit filled people have mistakenly thought the Baptism of the Spirit is a one time thing and “speaking in tongues” is a sign that, “I have the baptism in the Spirit now so I don’t need anything more because I speak in tongues” and yet the Baptism in the Spirit has a different purpose than for just speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is a gift that is given by the Holy Spirit to most people who receive the baptism of the Spirit but what Jesus emphasizes is, “You’ll receive the Holy Spirit and be witnesses unto Me.” (Acts 1:8) So the main purpose of the Holy Spirit was to empower you to bear witness to Christ and bring forth fruit; as in 30, 60, and 100 fold. (Matt 13:23) So the primary purpose of the baptism in the Spirit is to make you a fruitful witness for the ax is laid to the root of the unfruitful tree. (Luke 3:9) And, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:2,6) So continuing in your salvation is dependant upon you being fruitful – and the baptism in the Holy Spirit must make you a fruitful branch else you will not be saved, but eventually cut down and thrown in the fire. Of course, it’s gracious of God to give gifts of the Spirit with the Spiritual baptism because they will help you bear fruit by demonstrating and confirming the word of God with signs following. (Acts 14:3) Speaking in tongues is a precious gift that when exercised, it edifies or strengthens the Spirit man in you (1Cor 14:4) and therefore it is a good basic gift to receive when you’re young in the Lord and it will strengthen you Spiritually if you use it. But the first step of the New Covenant is regeneration. And after regeneration, having Christ born in you, you can go on to receive the baptism in the Spirit to be fruitful. So Jesus tells His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit before beginning their ministry and fruit bearing. And Jesus Himself didn’t begin His ministry until He was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the River Jordan. It was there, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove that Jesus’ ministry began. (Luke 3:21-23) And from that time He began to bear much fruit. And if you desire to attain to the kingdom of God, you also must bear fruit because, “the ax is laid at the root of the unfruitful tree.” So your salvation does not become secure until you are a fruit bearer. (2Pet 1:8,10) To be a real Christian and a true disciple of Christ, you must enter into a significant and Spiritual participation in the work of God. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:8) And this means you have to be a witness for Christ – and the Holy Spirit makes you a witness. If you’re not being a true witness of Christ then whatever you’re doing isn’t the Holy Spirit’s work. Because the work of the Holy Spirit in the Baptism of the Spirit is to make you a witness and being a witness is what makes you a fruitful tree. And as Jesus says, “if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will bear much fruit.” And you will be fruitful because whatever you ask for in prayer you will receive. (John 15:7,16) So to be really fruitful we must come to maturity in Christ; the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:13) At twelve years old in the temple Jesus was able to amaze people with His knowledge of God but that isn’t maturity. Maturity is where you see Him at thirty, preaching the Gospel, laying hands on the sick, demonstrating the power and presence, and the mercy and grace of God; and finally laying His life down as a martyr. Maturity in Christ is where you see Him in the fullness of His fruitfulness. (John 12:24-26) And that’s what every real Christian must enter into. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12) Your fruitfulness must be 30, 60, 100 fold or the word of God has not done its proper work in you. No exceptions! As Jesus says, the sower sows the word for this purpose that it may enter some noble and good hearts where it will bring forth fruit; 30, 60, 100 fold. (Matt 13:4-23, Luke 8:15) Now in His parable of the sower Jesus describes three unfruitful categories of people who hear God’s word but do not respond to it properly. And if you fall into one of these unfruitful categories there is no Heaven for you. If you let the cares of this world choke off your fruit, you’re not going to Heaven. (Matt 13:22) If you don’t endure and bear fruit even through the tribulations and afflictions that come for the word’s sake, you’re not going to Heaven. (vs 21) If you are one of the people whose heart is so hard you can’t properly understand the word, you’re not going to Heaven. (v19) The only way to Heaven is to bear fruit 30, 60, 100 fold – the only way to Heaven is, “Well done good and faithful servant.” (Matt 25:21) So to save you God has to make you fruitful. Fruitfulness is an essential part of your salvation. It is one of the exceeding great and precious promises you have to take hold of – “Lord, You have to make me fruitful” if you expect to partake of the divine nature. (2Pet 1:4) And to make you fruitful Jesus must baptize you in the Holy Spirit. But God doesn’t give the Holy Spirit to people who are disobedient. Nor does He give Him just so people can say, “Well I speak in tongues so now I know I have the baptism. That’s all I need!” What good is it to speak in tongues and claim to be baptized in the Spirit if you’re not bearing fruit? And this is what many of the Pentecostals have done with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They have made it into a trivial symbolic thing. “Well I have the baptism. I can speak in tongues.” Yes, but are you bearing fruit? The purpose wasn’t for you just to speak in tongues. The purpose was for you to bear fruit. So the speaking in tongues, if it helps you bear fruit, great! But if speaking in tongues becomes an excuse for you to think you don’t need to bear fruit then you’ve turned the gift into a curse instead of a blessing. And that is what’s happening in so much in the church. Now again, a true Christian baptism in water is for regeneration. Without regeneration you are not born of God; so you haven’t any possibility of being a son of God, led by the Spirit. Through the washing of regeneration, baptism in water, the process of being made like unto Christ begins. But the process continues through the renewing of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (Eph 4:23) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2) If you will then follow the Christ Spirit that has been put in you in regeneration, He will cause you to very much desire, just like Jesus, to glorify your Father, to do His will and to bear fruit. And this is another fallacy in many churches today. For example, many Baptist type “Christians” claim they’re regenerated but they reject the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The truth is if you are really regenerated and Jesus is in you, you won’t reject anything God offers you! And when people are rejecting the exceeding great and precious promises by which we are made partakers of the divine nature; they are rejecting God not man (1Thes 4:8) And they will not be partakers of the divine nature. And they prove themselves to be disobedient and rebellious and not real believers and certainly there can be no “Christ” in them! (2Pet 1:4) As, for example, after the initial believing on the Lord Jesus water baptism is the next step in the New Covenant. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16) So disobedience to the next step of water baptism means damnation. “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16) And following water baptism is baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized (in water) in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 8:14-16) When they heard this, they were baptized (in water) in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:5-6) Now the Spiritual covenant includes that you are to be born of God, you are to have a new heart, you are to have a new Spirit put in you to make you obedient to God. (Ezek 36:26-27) But it doesn’t stop there. The Spiritual covenant also includes that God will pour out His Spirit on His people to make them fruitful. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jer 31:33) “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28) Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. (Isa 32:15) “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32) “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:15-16) The Spirit of truth. (vs 17) Now remember, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Matt 13:12) So the one that God sees has a heart to love and obey God will receive even more of God’s Spirit to help him to love and obey God even more. When God sees, “this person is faithful to Me, loyal to Me. He loves Me and wants to do well, wants to do My will, wants to bear fruit and he shows it by his actions – shows it by his obedience to Me and his desires for Me.” Then God blesses that believer by giving him the power in His Spirit to do what he desires and to serve God even better. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2) Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12) And the one who endures temptation loves the Lord and will not give in to sin because that would be failing the Lord, it would be displeasing to the Lord. And if you love someone you want to please them and you don’t displease them. So you will see that one of the qualities of the elect who love the Lord is that they would rather suffer themselves than displease the God they love and one of the things we see in the word endure is that it means you don’t give in. ... for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (1Peter 4:1). Blessed is the man who endures temptation (James 1:12). One way to stop from suffering when the flesh is trying to make you do something that’s a sin is to give in to it. Give in to sin and the suffering in the flesh stops but you have not endured. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Rom 8:13) So to be saved you must overcome temptation by putting to death the sinful tendencies of your flesh by the Spirit. So the true Christian proves his love for God by his endurance and that is a characteristic of the elect and endurance is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the believer giving him the power to suffer and overcome sin. But the fruit of the Spirit is… longsuffering… (Gal 5:22) But it is a characteristic of the non-elect to give in to suffering and then maybe ask God to forgive them but they don’t love Him enough to suffer for Him. They like to think that God loves them enough to keep forgiving them. But the crown of life isn’t given to those who give in to sin, it’s given to the one who endures and doesn’t give in to sin because that’s the one who really loves God. (James 1:12) Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2Tim 2:19) God knows the ones who love Him are the ones who depart from iniquity, even if they have to endure sufferings in order to do that. So the beginnings of your Christianity is that you must be born again and receive the new heart to want to know God, to obey God, to learn the ways of God. And you would demonstrate you have this new heart and new nature in as much grace as you have, whatever talent God gives you use it rightly for God. And then God’s word says, “to him who has more is given.” And the one who uses what he has rightly will be given more. And so the “more” you will be given is Christ will baptize you in His Holy Spirit, and as long as you continue in obedience Christ will keep giving you more of His Spirit as it is needed. (Acts 4:31) And of course if you are truly growing up in Christ you will want to be as fruitful as possible that you may give as much glory to God as possible. (John 15:8) And it is after you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit that you receive the power to be a real witness for Christ and to enter into your ministry for Christ and to truly cease from sin (Gal 5:16) and bear fruit. “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;” “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.” (Acts 1:4,8) Previous to the baptism in the Spirit you are being prepared for fruitfulness. You are learning about the things you will need to minister to others but you need the baptism in the Holy Spirit to be commissioned for the actual work. The work of regeneration was not available under the Old Covenant. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jer 31:31,33) “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,” (Ezek 11:19) The New Covenant begins with regeneration at water baptism when the new heart and the new Spirit are received by faith and the believer is born again from above. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13) That’s the first work of the Holy Spirit of Promise to put Christ on the inside. Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27) So the Holy Spirit baptizes you into Christ – but then if you have truly received Christ in you – the Christ in you will lead you into the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the works of power and the works of fruitfulness that come through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12) The Holy Spirit or baptism of the Spirit doesn’t stop at one experience because there is more available every time you need more. (Acts 4:31) Every time the work becomes greater or the opposition greater there’s a greater amount of the Holy Spirit available to you. Now you receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:14) And whenever you have faith to receive more, God has more to give you. So this New Covenant is an awesomely Spiritual covenant in which the life is lived by faith for God to fulfill His promises concerning the giving of the Holy Spirit to work in His people. And another name for the Spirit of Christ in you is the Spirit of Sonship. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Rom 8:15) This is the indwelling Christ – it is not the same as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Sonship comes when you’re born again. And you become regenerated to seek the Lord to obey Him and live for Him. But the boldness to witness to others comes when you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit for fruitfulness; and you become not just a disciple, learning of Christ, but a co-worker, ministering with Christ. Now there are many denominations whose theological arguments center on the fact that if you are born again you are “saved.” And that nothing more is needed – so they reject the baptism in the Holy Spirit as unnecessary to salvation. But they miss the undeniably important point that if you are really born again and Christ is truly in you, He will lead into the baptism in the Spirit so that you may become fruitful and glorify God – so that if you do not go on to the baptism in the Holy Spirit that is a sure evidence that Christ is not in you and you haven’t even been born again. Salvation isn’t found in seemingly obeying God by merely taking one step of obedience then refusing to go on. You will not be saved unless you continue to obey God to the end. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,” (Luke 14:28-29) For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, (Heb 3:14) So you think because you are “born again” you don’t have to become fruitful, you don’t have to get baptized in the Spirit to be saved! Foolish one! If Christ were really in you He would want to glorify God in you. (John 15:3) So how can you claim to be born again if you don’t go on to glorify God? The whole point of salvation is that it’s a process of being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29, Eph 4:13) It begins with being born again into Christ Jesus. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. (Col 1:28) And continues until you’re perfected in Christ.You interrupt that process and what you’ve done is committed an abortion against God’s divinity in you. You have someone growing inside of you and if you take good care of Him, He will grow up into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:13) But if you start fooling around with saline solutions; heresies and disobedience and flesh then you’re going to kill Him. And that is what a lot of Christians are doing. They have Jesus in them to grow up in them if they will let Him, but instead of letting Him grow up they start arguing with Him. They start a process of aborting Him, instead of letting Him become what He wants to be: a full-grown Son of God who’ll bring forth 30, 60, 100 fold fruit unto the glory of the Father. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. (Heb 6:4-8) And to bear herbs useful, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary. If you don’t receive it, you won’t become a son of God who bears fruit. Whatever you bring forth will be wood, hay, and stubble if it isn’t by the Holy Spirit, and if it doesn’t come forth through the power of the Spirit. So the New Covenant is, in every way, connected to the promise of the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ inside you and then His baptism in the Holy Spirit lifting you into fruitfulness, leading and empowering you for fruitfulness. Just like Christ was guided and empowered. As a man, Christ had His own human soul and yet He did nothing of Himself except what the Father showed Him, and He received His Father’s guidance through the Holy Spirit. Also He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the mighty works which He did. (He had previously laid down His Godhead power in order to become a man. (Phil 2:6-8)) So Christ wasn’t working in His own power as a member of the Godhead when He was on earth. He was working in the power of His Father and the Holy Spirit and He always claimed that. “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10) Jesus also says, “If I with the finger of God (meaning the Spirit) cast out devils then you know that the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20) And He attributes His works to the Holy Spirit and warns us, “Don’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit.” The power in Christ to do these mighty works was not there until He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. As a Child, He did not do miracles because He had put aside His Godhead power to become a man. And as a man in order to put on the power of God, He had to put on the Holy Spirit. So the similarities between us and Christ are very much identical in the way we are to minister. If we are born again we have the Christ in us who is our new heart to love the Lord and cry out “Abba Father” and do the will of God. But for the power to minister we must be baptized in the Holy Spirit because the power to effectually witness and demonstrate the supernaturality of God is not by anything in us; not something that originates in ourselves apart from God. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.” “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3:12-13,16) It is in the name of Jesus but also by the Holy Spirit, “the promise of the Spirit through faith,” where the power comes from. And if we are to demonstrate the Spirit and power of God we true believers must receive the Promise of the Spirit including the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And yet many of the Pentecostal believers who have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit have come to think of it as a one-time experience as though once they get it that’s it and they don’t need to do any more for the Lord or their own salvation and they end up not being fruitful and they never follow after the Jesus within them and so they return to an unspiritual “Christianity.” And as such they will not be saved. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” (Gal 4:30) You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Gal 5:4-5) For to attain to salvation the true believer must understand the New Covenant starts with the water baptism in faith to be born again and moves on into fruitfulness through the Holy Spirit baptism but then continues in refillings of the Holy Spirit to keep the fruit coming and even increase it. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, (again) and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31) Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, (2Cor 9:10) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, (2Thes 1:3) And so the New Covenant is essentially a “Spiritual” Covenant and virtually everything that pertains to the New Covenant pertains to receiving the promises concerning the Spirit. Ephesians 5:2 says, that we should walk in love but verse 18 also says we should be filled with the Spirit. So you see that walking in love is a fruit of the Spirit of the indwelling Christ – that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:17-19) So to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16) is to walk in love. Then what are you believing? When you are believing or exercising faith to walk in the Spirit then you should be believing for Christ to dwell in you and for the love of God to be shed abroad in your heart (Rom 5:5) and it should be a perceptible experience that you’re walking in Christ and in His love everyday. Because you can’t walk in the Holy Spirit without walking in Christ and in His love, because you are required to do both and the one is the same as the other. And the New Testament tells you to do both. By this we know we have eternal life in us because we love the brethren. (1John 3:14) By this we know we abide in Him and He in us because, He’s given us His Spirit. (1John 4:13) And, Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1John 3:15) So again, if we have His Spirit, His Spirit will work into us a true love of the brethren. Now walking in love is to always be considering other people’s welfare, and especially that of the true brethren. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom 13:10) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Phil 2:4) So walking in the Spirit is having a continual consciousness of how you can benefit, edify, or help others particularly in the things pertaining to their salvation and growing up in their relationship to God. Conforming the brethren to the image of Christ is the Holy Spirit’s work, and that is the Spirit you are to be walking in. Now, all of this has to do with understanding what God expects of you as a New Covenant Christian. You are truly to be a manifestation of Christ to this world; a temple to the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ first but also in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. (Col 2:9) “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20) So you do not live unto yourself anymore. And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (2Cor 5:15) So as a new creation (vs 17) if you truly are “born again” your interests are now to be in the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God, and pertain to the advancement of the true brethren as in feeding Christ’s sheep (John 21:17) the good, fresh, living word of God which strengthens them and helps them be conformed to Christ. That’s what discipling is about. So as co-workers with Christ we’re very much concerned with not just awakening somebody to the fact that God exists, and not only getting them initially born again in just the beginnings of regeneration but we want to bring them to a place where they are established in Christ (Rom 1:11) walking in Christ (Col 2:6) where they have attained to the fullness of the stature of the Son of Man. (Eph 4:13) We are to bring them to maturity. Until the believers are brought to some measure of maturity they won’t be sufficiently fruitful. So bringing them to maturity makes them acceptably fruitful. And fruitfulness means that the ax is not laid to their root. And that is where a secure salvation is established. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; (2Pet 1:5-8,10) Now, of course, God can allow somebody to be cut off who is on the way, not fully mature, but growing and He can save them for their good intention. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. (2Cor 8:12) So they would have completed the work if given the time. So God can credit all to them according to their good willing if their early departure is in the interest of His plans. But to those who are given the space and time God requires a completion. but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. (2Cor 8:11) “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,” (Luke 14:28-29) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2Tim 4:7) But it’s according to what you are able to do, not according to what you don’t have but according to what you have. So whatever time you have, how well have you used it? See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:15-16) Then as long as you have breath you better be making every effort to finish your race with joy. Don’t think you can sit there in a baby Christianity state and never bear fruit and God’s going to welcome you into Heaven saying, “Well done good and faithful servant” because He is not going to welcome you. To the unfaithful servant who buried his talent and brought forth no fruit – God says – “And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 25:30) So what are we really talking about when we speak of God’s promises? By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2Pet 1:4) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:14) Predominately, concerning every promise, we’re talking about the Holy Spirit in some manifestation. In Philippians, Paul says he believes he will be delivered from martyrdom if the church prays For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, (Phil 1:19) He’ll be delivered because he will receive the supply of the Spirit. The Spirit can manifest deliverance in various ways. But in one case – when Peter was imprisoned by Herod and the church “constantly” prayed for Peter (Acts 12:5) God sent an angel to open the prison doors and free him. That is what a supply of the Spirit did in Peter’s case. Another example of the supply of the Spirit, is when Saul is persecuting the church and killing Christians and Jesus knocks him off his horse and blinds him in a very mighty Spiritual vision which has much to do with the prayers of the persecuted church and God answering the persecuted church’s prayers with the supply of the Spirit. So the supply of the Spirit can mean a lot of things. It can mean angelic visitations. It can mean miraculous manifestations. Because everything that goes on of this nature has to do with the Holy Spirit’s operation. And prayer brings about the supply of the Spirit when the prayer is coming from holy saints; when it’s coming from the people God listens to. So Paul is quite convinced that because of the supply of the Spirit through the church of Macedonia’s prayers for him, he’ll be set free; that God will hear and He will answer; there will be something the supply of the Holy Spirit will do to bring deliverance in his situation. So let’s think of it this way, faith is the answer to every problem you may have. But your faith must produce a supply of the Spirit to solve the problem. This is why the just shall live by faith! And this is what faith is for. Your faith in God will cause the Spirit of God to enter into and affect the situation you are praying about. And in one case the Holy Spirit may reveal some information to you that solves the problem. In another case the Spirit may work a miracle that solves the problem. In another case the Spirit may work in the heart of somebody else to help with the problem. Think of all the different mighty things the Holy Spirit can do and then in your heart consider this: what’s required of me is faith and faith comes boldly to the throne of grace, seeking mercy and grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16) And faith believes that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6) and so faith calls upon the Lord (Rom 10:12) and faith believes that it receives. (Mark 11:24) And what is most often received is the supply of the Spirit to solve the problem. But in the church, to be able to receive the higher levels of the promises and the activities of the Spirit of Christ we need unity. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Matt 18:19) So we have many teachings about being of one mind. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1Cor 1:10) fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Phil 2:2) Unity means we are all in the same Spirit believing the same thing and we’re agreeing about God’s things. And we all want unity and unity is a promise that has been given to Christ’s true church (John 17:21) but how do we get into unity? What is it called? Unity of the Spirit. (Eph 4:3) Now if I’m in a church but I’m seeing disunity among the members of that church what is lacking? The Spirit. There is one Spirit and where He is He will be teaching us all the same truth, showing us all the same thing so that we can all come into perfect unity with Christ and each other. Where there’s a disunity in the body, somebody’s not receiving enough of the Spirit; they are not seeing what the Spirit is seeing; not seeing what the Spirit is showing the others. So what’s the answer? That church or believer needs more of the Spirit. Almost every problem we have, the answer is more of the Holy Spirit. If there is a lack of somebody seeing, it’s a lack of the Spirit. This is the essence of what we are learning; our faith is in the Promise for God to give the Spirit and give the Spirit in such a degree that we will all see things the way God sees them and we will all be in one mind and in one heart. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1Cor 1:10) And we will be having a perfect agreement because we’re seeing the same things in Christ’s way because we’re all in the same Holy Spirit. And whenever somebody falls out of that unity it’s because something is wrong with their prayer life, their doctrine, or faith and there is a lack of the Spirit; something is causing them not to see right and not to be in unity. And what’s the answer? They need the supply of the Spirit. So, they need to ask for the Spirit and we need to ask for the Spirit for them. And we need to believe and have faith that God can pour out of His Spirit and bring His people into unity. Now, we have more unity in “My Father’s House” than any church I’ve ever been in. And why is that? Because we have an abundant supply of God’s Spirit here. But what are we to be aiming for? Perfection! So there is yet more to have and we will get there if we have faith for the Spirit to come in an even stronger supply. And to him who has more will be given. (Matt 13:12) And that’s another promise that can be related to the supply of the Spirit. For all the promises of God in Him (in Christ) are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (2Cor 1:20) There is no doubt whatsoever that God has promised His Spirit to us and the Holy Spirit is available and we can have even more. The only problem is our faith. Do we have the faith to receive more? And of course faith relates to obedience. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. (1John 3:21-22) So we cannot attain to faith without obedience else our heart will condemn us. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, (Now the Apostle exhorts us to attain to the promises by obedience to God in meeting God’s conditions) let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Cor 7:1) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? (2Cor 6:14) You can’t pretend to be born again when you enjoy fellowshipping with sinners. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles-- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. (1Pet 4:3-4) Do not tell us Jesus is in you if you are still running with the wicked. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.” (1Cor 5:13) Jesus does not fellowship with sinners in that way. His only fellowship with sinners is to bring them to repentance. And what accord does Christ have with Belial? (2Cor 6:15a) Can Jesus and the devil walk hand in hand? NEVER! The devil is an adversary; the devil crucified Christ. So if Jesus is in you how could you be walking with the devil or the devil’s people? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (vs 15b) How could you associate faith with unbelief? How can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3) What agreement has the temple of God with idols? (vs 16a) If you are a true Christian you are the temple of God. (vs 16b) What is the temple of God for? Idolatry? Covetousness? It’s a place where God is worshipped. What are you doing? Are you bringing lust into God’s temple and worshiping things, setting your affections on things that are enemies to God in His own temple? How can you do that? You are no longer God’s temple if you are doing that. If you find the world and the things of the world in a temple – then the temple is as the world’s temple when the things of the world are worshiped in it. It is not God’s temple. You see what happened in Ezekiel’s time? When the Jews brought their idolatries into the temple, God left. (Ezek 11:23) In the Mosaic Covenant God made a wonderful advancement from the patriarchs whom He would only visit with on occasion. But in the Mosaic Covenant God actually began living with His people on a permanent basis first in the tabernacle and then later in Solomon’s temple. Here was a people that were awesomely blessed to have the almighty God actually dwelling in their midst. But they drove Him out of the temple by their sins so that he wasn’t living with them anymore. And Solomon’s temple was torn down because of the sins of God’s people and they had to build another temple after the Babylonian captivity because of the incredible wickedness of the Jews that they drove God out of His own temple and out of their midst. Now, when you’re born again, Jesus comes into the temple of your body but you can also drive Him out if you continue to sin. Even though God said He would dwell in the midst of His people forever, (1Kings 9:3) the Jews drove God out by practicing idolatry in His temple. He wanted to stay forever. He was willing to stay forever. But they didn’t want Him to stay. Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” (Ezek 8:3) If you don’t get the iniquity out of you, Jesus will leave you. This is the promise, What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2Cor 6:16) This is an awesome and wonderful promise. That God would actually dwell in us – that we would be His people. But what is the cost of attaining to such a priceless promise – what is it worth to you? Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” The promise is conditional. This is the cost, the condition: “Come out from among them and be separate.” Here is the promise: I will be a Father to you. And you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises... (2Cor 6: 17-18; 7:1) The promise is awesome, but you have to make a choice. Would you rather fellowship with God or with the wicked because you cannot have both? To fellowship with God what is the condition? You must separate from sin. Get yourself away from the sinners. Come out from among them and be separate. Don’t touch the unclean thing. (2Cor 6:17) Then I’ll be a Father to you and you’ll be My sons. Therefore,... (because this promise is a certain and sure promise all we have to do is what God tells us and have faith for Him to keep His promises. So what are we going to do?)Therefore...let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and let us perfect holiness in the fear of God. (2Cor 7:1) What is the reward of obedience? (Acts 5:32) The reward of obedience is we will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith. God is coming to live in us. We will truly be His people. He will be our awesome God. He will be our Father. We’ll actually be His sons and daughters. Do you have faith? Show me your faith by your works. (James 2:18) Let me see you perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That’s the work of faith that is required here. Let me see you come out from among them and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. That’s the work of faith that God requires of you. Do you have faith for Him to keep His word? Then do the thing that He tells you to do. Build your “Noah’s” ark of salvation. If you have faith that God can save you from the coming destruction then obey God and build your ark, by becoming a clean and holy temple for Christ to dwell in. You have faith that you can be a son of God, led by God’s Spirit? (Rom 8:14) Then come out from among them and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” (Lev 20:26) And you will see that God will fulfill His word because His promises in Christ are “YES and AMEN!” (2Cor 1:20) And He has promised us all of His Spirit we could need to fulfill all righteousness in us, to sanctify us completely, to heal and deliver us from every wicked thing, to lead us and ground us and conform us to the image of Christ in perfect fullness – to make us His sons and daughters and accept us into His everlasting Kingdom through the abundant supply of His New Covenant Holy Spirit in Christ. Now obey Him – and have faith to receive all that He’s promised. In Jesus’ name, AMEN. Prophecy: My people I tell you, most of those who claim to be believers today think My Spirit is an imaginary thing; they think My Spirit is an imperceptible thing; they think My Spirit is something that comes out of their own thoughts and their own ideas and their own feelings. But I tell you My Spirit created the universe and My Spirit is a mighty power that flows forth from My throne; and a mighty wisdom who comes forth from My throne. And My Spirit is a mighty person of God who is with the people who are named by My name and who have faith to receive My gospel in Jesus Christ. And I tell you when I say that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance, I’m not saying that you put on the Holy Spirit by pretending to be kind or pretending to have love or by acting in your own strength in such a way as to be meek; but I tell you when My Holy Spirit is in you and upon you that meekness is the very quality of your life, love; and joy and peace flow out of you so that you do not have to force it or try to make it up because it is there by the very nature of the presence of My Spirit for you to be that way. And as I have said in the scriptures through My Apostle John, “By this we know we abide in Him by the Spirit which He’s given us” that indeed there is a reality to the presence of My Spirit. And in that reality there is a peace that comes not from you but into you through My Spirit; a peace that comes upon you from My throne. And it is through that peace which causes you to know that indeed you do abide in Me and I do abide in you. For I change the nature of those in whom I abide. For I put My peace and My love and My joy in them. I put all the qualities and attributes of My own personality into them and they don’t have to work them up, they don’t have to imitate them by their own strength; they merely believe, have faith, call upon Me and I put My virtues into them, saith the Lord. And it is by this that you can see the difference between the true and the false. For the false may attempt to put on some of the attributes of the Spirit but they cannot hold on to them when it comes time for their testing. But to those who have faith in Me, who live and abide in Me, the attributes that come through the supply of My Spirit protect and hold them up during the time of testing. And the attributes that come through the supply of My Spirit actually cause them to behave as I would during the times of trials and the times of afflictions. And they know that they are sanctified in Me. And they know that it is I that keep them. And they know that I am their strong tower and I am the One who makes them holy and I am the One who makes them overcomers. For they know that My Spirit is with them, thus saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at My Father’s House)
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