The Attitude that Achieves Greatest Results

Let each esteem other better than themselves.

𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟐:𝟑
𝟑 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

The more we do so in the church, the more we can see the Holy Spirit expressed among us.

Honour all those outside the church also, as we pray that God establishes righteousness in the earth - for the kingdom is the Lord's.

"𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘯. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥. 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨" (𝘐 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 2:17).

Even if others do not do so to us, we can still do so them - and all the more, trusting God.

"𝘉𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘬: 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩" (𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘸 5:5).

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘱, 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵" (𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 6:9).

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳" (𝘐 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 4:19).

The Lord shall:

"𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭" (𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘮 20:4).

He'll open the door. He'll make a way. Resulting in the whole body edifying itself in love.

Love never fails!

Ye Are Come Unto the Heavenly JERUSALEM

There is a JERUSALEM which is ABOVE, in heaven.

𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟒:𝟐𝟔
𝟐𝟔 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

Unlike the earthly city of Jerusalem whose citizens were in bondage (under the Old Testament Law, and under Roman occupation), Jerusalem which is above is FREE.

𝐇𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝟏𝟑:𝟏𝟒
𝟏𝟒 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞.

Not only do we have an eternal city in heaven, but it is coming!

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟓:𝟏
𝟏 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬.

It's our eternal home. Jerusalem which is above is the 'mother' of us all who have been born again, born from above (see also John 3:3).

(At Galatia, there were some who were disputing against the good news of salvation for all people simply through JESUS, insisting instead that it was necessary to become Jewish proselytes.

Paul countered that, by contrasting two women, Hagar and Sarah; their two different statuses: bondwoman, and the free woman; their two sons: Ishmael, and the promised son Isaac; and two cities: Jerusalem which then was, whose citizens were in bondage; and the Jerusalem which is above which is free.

Paul equated Ishmael with bondage under the Old Covenant law; the promised son Isaac he equated with people of all nations inheriting salvation simply by faith in JESUS Christ. Hagar he equated with Jerusalem which then was whose citizens were in bondage to the law of sin and death, the curse, and in bondage under Roman tyranny; while Sarah he equated with Jerusalem which is above which is free. Bondage or freedom, death or resurrection life—the choice was theirs.

When they believed in Jesus, they'd become children of God, coheirs with Christ, fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, part of God's new creation project - irrespective of their ethnicity, and without needing to become Jewish proselytes. There is Jerusalem which is above, and they'd become part of it. Paul didn't want anyone bewitching them back into a system which couldn't deliver.)

Not not only is the city in heaven, and not only is it coming, but we have already come to it. You already have a living connection to it.

In the epistle to the Hebrews Paul touches on all the themes of the city of God mentioned in Psalm 87, and applies it to us as believers in Jesus - and shows that it isn't only about the future: we have a connection to that city already.

𝐇𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐒𝟏𝟐:𝟐𝟐-𝟐𝟒
𝟐𝟐 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐌, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬,
𝟐𝟑 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭,
𝟐𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐞𝐥.

There is the heavenly Jerusalem, and you have come to it 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺, it says. It's not just a future hope: it's also a present reality.

𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟑:𝟐𝟎
𝟐𝟎 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭:

Our conversation - our community, citizenship, conduct - is in heaven.

Already. We are crucified, buried, risen and seated in heavenly places with Christ, blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, Paul taught.

The incorruptible inheritance is reserved for us in heaven, Peter said. That doesn't mean however that the blessing is to stay in heaven. John saw that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟏:𝟏𝟎
𝟏𝟎 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐝,

Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God.

"Thy kingdom COME, thy will be done ON EARTH, as it is in heaven," the Lord taught us to pray. That isn't about a future hope only: it's also a present reality. The gospel announces and demonstrates that the kingdom is so at hand that it's even been inaugurated among us though not yet consummated.

Even though John's vision of the city having the glory of God is at the end of Revelation, in part it symbolizes present realities, not only the future.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟐:𝟏,𝟐
𝟏 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛.
𝟐 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

The river flowing from God through that city isn't only for the future, is it: it's for 'whosoever will', right now.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟐:𝟏𝟕
𝟏𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐲.

The leaves of the tree in the middle of the city are said to be for the healing of the people of all nations, here and now. It is 𝘯𝘰𝘸 that healing is needed, and available - not in the future. The heavenly Jerusalem is NOW, not just future. Revelation isn't all strictly a lineal chronology: it symbolizes things both future and present (so chapter 1:19 said).

Ezekiel similarly saw a vision of a new city, and the river flowing from the Temple, bringing restoration wherever it flowed. John describes the same theme and imagery and shows its intended meaning and completion through Jesus, the Spirit and the bride. It's for all people of the earth, according to the gospel, and no other way, John saw. There isn't even any more need for a physical temple.

The theme of the kingdom of God in the Bible is both a future hope, to be seen at the second coming of Christ; and a present reality, by the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and by the Spirit, for us, in us, among us and through us for this needy world right now.

The 'hope of Israel' included the future resurrection of the dead, said Paul. But you have been brought near and made part of the commonwealth of the true Israel of God, right now, Paul told the Ephesians.

We still "...𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭" from heaven, Paul said (Philippians 3:20), but Jesus also said there is a present aspect to it:

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟏𝟕:𝟐𝟎,𝟐𝟏
𝟐𝟎 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
𝟐𝟏 𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐋𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐨𝐫, 𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐟𝐨𝐫, 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

The kingdom of God is inaugurated right now for, in, upon, among and through us - even though we still await the final, visible, full, eternal coming and rollout of the kingdom of heaven upon earth.

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟎
𝟐𝟎 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Jesus was already expressing the kingdom of God.

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟏𝟎:𝟗
𝟗 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Jesus bequeathed the same power to us, His body, the church.

Christ is making all things new, yes - but, new creation has also already begun:

First, it began in Christ Himself, by His resurrection from the dead:

"𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘵" (𝘐 𝘊𝘰𝘳.15:20).

He is:

"...𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥” (𝘙𝘦𝘷.3:14)

“𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥; 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦" (𝘙𝘦𝘷.1:18), He said.

In that He died, He dies no more: death has no more dominion over Him.

He is our forerunner.

And then, new creation has begun in us:

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟓:𝟏𝟕
𝟏𝟕 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲; 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰.

Although the present heavens and earth with its suffering and tyranny, are yet to pass away, and we do not yet see the new heavens and earth, yet because we are in Christ, new creation is therefore an inaugurated reality. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. I've experienced that. You've experienced it.

Jesus is the first-fruit of new creation, in heaven. In Him we also are new creation, in spirit, on the earth, while we await the redemption of the body, at His coming.

You have been "𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵" and "𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦" (Hebrews 6:4,5).

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an overflow of Christ's glory in heaven, and a foretaste of what's to come for us.

All the Old Testament promises of God, of which ancient Israel were the custodians, are yes and Amen in Christ Jesus unto the glory of God by us.

Since we have this hope, and are also experiencing its present reality inwardly and seeing it expressed powerfully by the Holy Spirit, we therefore:

"𝘋𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴" that we "𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘶𝘬𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮" we "𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥; 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦..." (Philippians 2:14-16).

As He is already in heaven, so are we in the world. We are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, showing forth the praises of He who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. (Even before the second coming there can be a spinoff of that benefit to this world to one extent or another depending.)

The way we are going to be (in future resurrection life and glory) hasn’t come physically and visibly in our experience yet, but when the time comes and we see Him, then we shall be transformed to be like Him (in all His resurrected glory), for we shall see Him as He is.

If we only had hope in Christ in this life, some of our persecuted brethren would be the most unfortunate people of all—but we have the hope of the resurrection, Paul said. But at the same time, since we are already receiving the ultimate outcome of our faith, which is the saving of our souls, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And we reign in life.

I remember the night I experienced becoming a new creation, a citizen of Jerusalem above, and received the future assurance and the present power of resurrection life, and was washed in the precious blood, and clothed in white - the glory of God came into my spirit. As they say, It’s better felt than told!

Have you been born again, and received your citizenship in Jerusalem which is above?

Take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.

"...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).

This Clears a Lot of Things Up

I think it clears a lot of things up, and helps make better sense of the whole Bible, when we face it that the claim the New Testament is really making, is that:

The GOSPEL is where the Old Testament was really going all along.

It is how the story was always going to end up.

JESUS Christ is what it was always really going to be all about.

The gospel isn't just something barely foreseen in the Old Testament, inserted merely temporarily into human history until the vision of the Old Testament finally picks up in future.

No, this is it - is the radical claim the New Testament is making.

The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is exactly what the Old Testament was promising, covenanting, foreshadowing, had encoded into law, was in essence celebrating in advance, foreseeing, foretelling, envisioning, prophesying, recording, stating and meaning. Nothing less, nothing more, nothing else - not now, nor in future - the GOSPEL only.

The gospel is the WHOLE end of the story.

I've often said: if God had a better card up His sleeve to play for the salvation of Israel, He'd be playing it now.

The gospel is the best, the only and the final plan God has for the salvation of all mankind - Gentiles or Jews - and for the salvation of the creature. It can't get any better than the best.

GOD has GIVEN His only begotten SON!

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟑:𝟏𝟔
𝟏𝟔 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟖:𝟑𝟐
𝟑𝟐 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬?

𝐈 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟒:𝟏𝟎
𝟏𝟎 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬.

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏:𝟏-𝟒,𝟗
𝟏 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥, 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝,
𝟐 (𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬,)
𝟑 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡;
𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝:
𝟗 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐍…

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟐:𝟐
𝟐 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟓:𝟏-𝟒
𝟏 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐧, 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝;
𝟐 𝐁𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐧.
𝟑 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬;
𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬:

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟖:𝟓𝟔
𝟓𝟔 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝.

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟐𝟒:𝟐𝟕,𝟑𝟐,𝟒𝟒-𝟒𝟗
𝟐𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.
𝟑𝟐 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬?
𝟒𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞.
𝟒𝟓 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬,
𝟒𝟔 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲:
𝟒𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦.
𝟒𝟖 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.
𝟒𝟗 𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟓:𝟑𝟗,𝟒𝟎
𝟑𝟗 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬; 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞.
𝟒𝟎 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟑:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟐 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐰𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡:
𝟏𝟑 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝:
𝟏𝟒 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭; 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.
𝟏𝟓 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.
𝟏𝟔 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲.
𝟏𝟕 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲.
𝟏𝟖 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.

𝐈 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏:𝟗-𝟏𝟑
𝟗 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬.
𝟏𝟎 𝐎𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮:
𝟏𝟏 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰.
𝟏𝟐 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨.
𝟏𝟑 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭;

𝐈𝐈 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏:𝟏𝟔-𝟐𝟏
𝟏𝟔 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲.
𝟏𝟕 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝.
𝟏𝟖 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭.
𝟏𝟗 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲; 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬:
𝟐𝟎 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
𝟐𝟏 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐧: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭.

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐖 𝟏𝟑:𝟏𝟗
𝟏𝟗 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.

𝐈 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟓:𝟐𝟎
𝟐𝟎 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏𝟔:𝟏𝟑
𝟏𝟑 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡...

𝐈 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟐:𝟐𝟕
𝟐𝟕 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟐𝟎:𝟑𝟐
𝟑𝟐 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.

Two Ways to Pray

TWO WAYS TO PRAY

Paul mentioned two ways of praying:

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟓
𝟏𝟓 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧? 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨: 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨.

(1) Praying with the spirit; and

(2) Praying with the understanding.

In the context, praying with the spirit meant praying in tongues.

So there were two ways Paul prayed: in tongues; and with his understanding.

Notice he said, "I will..."

“I will" indicates volition. It meant Paul could decide whether to pray (and sing, and give thanks, and bless) in tongues, or with his understanding.

Once you've been filled with the Spirit and initially spoken in tongues, thereafter you can speak in tongues whenever you will. Like Paul, you can decide whether you'll pray in tongues, or with your understanding.

Since it was possible to speak in tongues at will, that meant two things:

One, it meant they could make use of the great blessing of speaking in tongues more and more. And Paul encouraged them to.

Two, it also meant Paul could hold them responsible for how they were behaving publicly with the gifts.

(Some people have mistakenly thought that Paul was rebuking the Corinthians for speaking false tongues, mere gibberish, or even demonic tongues, rather than genuine tongues. But that wasn't the case at all. Their tongues were real. It was their behaviour that was a problem, not their experience with tongues.

If their tongues weren't real, Paul wouldn't have started out commending them for coming behind in no gift.

He wouldn't have commended them for being zealous of spiritual gifts.

He wouldn't have told them that when someone gave thanks or blessed publicly in tongues, they were indeed giving thanks and blessing well despite no-one understanding them.

He wouldn't have said that those who were speaking in tongues were edifying themselves.

He wouldn't have said that even though no-one understood them they were speaking to God, speaking mysteries in the spirit.

He wouldn't have reminded them not to forbid anyone to speak in tongues.

He wouldn't have said he wished they all spoke with tongues.

He wouldn't have said that two or three of them addressing the congregation in tongues would be sufficient before someone else with the gift of the interpretation of tongues should ideally be given a chance to interpret.

And he wouldn't have said that someone could himself pray to interpret. Why interpret gibberish?

And Paul wouldn't have told them that if there was no interpreter, they could continue speaking in tongues unobtrusively to God in prayer.

If their tongues weren’t real, he certainly wouldn't have identified with what they were doing by saying that he himself spoke in tongues just like them only more than them all.

He would have just told them to stop it and get real!

So, no - their tongues were valid: only, some of them were lacking common sense and courtesy while in church. Paul was just wanting them to behave sensibly in church, including in their expression of the gifts.

The fact that Paul was holding them responsible for how they expressed the gift, shows it was possible to speak with tongues at will - otherwise he couldn't have expected them to be responsible for where, when and how they expressed it.

If it wasn't possible to speak with tongues at will, the situation in the church at Corinth which Paul was addressing could never have even arisen in the first place. There could never have been a need for the advice Paul gave. Everything would have all been perfect all the time.

Some people also say that in order for tongues to be valid, they had to be tongues known to the audience. But Paul wouldn't have said what he said there, if unknown tongues weren't valid.

Some also say that the only valid purpose of tongues was to preach to unbelievers. But Paul wouldn't have said what he said if that was the only valid purpose for tongues.

It was entirely Scriptural for tongues to be unknown; and praying in tongues was a valid use of the gift - or else none of Paul's statements make good sense.)

You can pray in tongues; and you can pray with your understanding also. We can pray both ways.

Paul could say:

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟖 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥:

He was talking about praying privately to God in tongues. Paul prayed much in tongues! More than them all.

Tongues is a valid way to speak, sing, pray, give thanks and bless, Paul said.

Praying in tongues is praying with your spirit to God, by the Holy Spirit within you, praying out mysteries in the spirit, praying in the Spirit, as led by the Spirit, praying according to the mind and will of the Spirit, with utterance given by the Spirit, rather than praying with your understanding in your learnt language.

An evangelist I know who has the gift of the word of knowledge and who prays for the sick and has seen miracles, and demons cast out, says praying an hour a day in tongues keeps the pump primed for more powerful expressions of the Spirit. He pointed out that you can pray in tongues while doing little daily chores here and there: it all soon adds up to an hour a day. It keeps your spirit edified and exercised, ready to hear and move in the Spirit, he said.

I heard of a truck driver who decided to spend his eight-hour shifts behind the wheel praying in tongues. After some time he started getting revelations in the Word. He started recording MP3 files, and putting them online. Pretty soon people all over the world were benefiting from his exhortations. It all came from praying in tongues.

When another young minister was still a teenager, he'd spend time praying in tongues in a hay barn. One day he felt that by the time he would be in his 60s, one of the biggest thrusts of his ministry would be the printed page. And it came to pass. Some 65 million of his books came to be in circulation. Plus a monthly, free full-colour teaching magazine. He said he'd prayed it all into existence decades before by praying in tongues as a teenager in the hay barn. In fact he credited all the blessings in his ministry to two things: praying in tongues; and acting on the Word.

At another season he was often getting up in the night to pray in tongues. He was praying for a greater manifestation of the power gifts not only in his own ministry but in the wider body of Christ. One night, he said, he 'hit a real gusher' - and he knew it was accomplished. Soon afterwards, healing evangelists started rising up holding tent meetings everywhere, expressing the gifts of healing and the working of miracles. Praying in tongues contributed to that ‘voice of healing’ revival coming about.

Another time while praying, he saw a vision of a flower garden, he said: he foresaw what became known as the Charismatic Renewal. The Charismatic Renewal came about in answer to prayer in the Spirit.

When you pray in tongues, you can pray for things you mightn't know how to pray for with your own understanding.

Sometimes all it takes is a sentence in tongues, and it's like a 'reset' button for your spirit. It doesn’t always have to be long times of prayer. You straightaway feel refreshed. Restored. You might smile, or even laugh in the spirit.

You can also pray that you might interpret, Paul said. As you pray in tongues, revelation sometimes comes up from your spirit where you have been speaking mysteries, into your understanding.

You can pray both in tongues, and with your understanding.

𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝟓:𝟏𝟔
𝟏𝟔 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟒
𝟏𝟒 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭.

“‘If’ ye shall" ask, leaves room for the possibility that you might not ask. But if ye shall, Jesus will do it. Will you ask?

Then another way to pray, is to pray together with another person.

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐖 𝟏𝟖:𝟏𝟗
𝟏𝟗 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.

There's something about two or more praying together in agreement.

It's like the Psalm that promised that the Lord commands a blessing - life forevermore - where brethren dwell together in unity. God seems to smile upon believers meeting together.

There has been more than once when I was in a shopping centre, and I felt led to go down the travelator to the level below. I didn't know why, but I just did so. As soon as I got down to that level, I saw a brother I know in the Lord. We fellowshipped a little while, then went our ways. God loves it when two believers even just so much as come across each other in a shopping centre. There He commands a blessing.

How much more then, if two believers agree together in prayer and ask for something. Jesus knows His Father. God will hardly be able to help Himself. He will do it for them, Jesus said.

God also answers prayers prayed alone. But something special is promised when we get together with another believer, and when we agree in prayer together.

"Anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven," JESUS said.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

I’ve recently observed again that it really makes a difference when believers receive the Holy Spirit.

And there's no reason why any believer can't receive the Spirit.

It pays for those who have received the Spirit to be reminded again of what they got when they received the Spirit - so they can walk in the fullness of the blessing.

Being baptised in water is one thing: being baptised in the Holy Spirit is another thing altogether.

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐖 𝟑:𝟏𝟏
𝟏𝟏 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈, 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫: 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞:

Jesus spent time talking with His disciples about this, before He went to the cross.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟕:𝟑𝟖,𝟑𝟗
𝟑𝟖 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.
𝟑𝟗 (𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.)

Rivers of living water shall flow out of your belly, He said, speaking of the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit wasn't given yet, because Jesus wasn't glorified yet.

Then after His resurrection, before His ascension, He told them again to wait for it.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟏:𝟒,𝟓
𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞, 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞.
𝟓 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

They would soon be baptised in the Holy Spirit - as John the Baptist had mentioned.

'The promise of the Father', Jesus called it.

He said they would receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon them:

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟏:𝟖
𝟖 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐞𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡.

Then Jesus was caught up into heaven. And about ten days later:

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟐:𝟏-𝟒
𝟏 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞.
𝟐 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.
𝟑 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.
𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.

All 120 were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke in tongues.

It straightaway attracted a multitude. (The sight and sound of the manifestation of the Spirit always does.)

Peter explained that this is the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy:

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟐:𝟏𝟓-𝟐𝟏
𝟏𝟓 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲.
𝟏𝟔 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥;
𝟏𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬:
𝟏𝟖 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐲:
𝟏𝟗 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡; 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞:
𝟐𝟎 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞:
𝟐𝟏 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝.

Jesus had been glorified in heaven, Peter said. He received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father. Now He is pouring it out - which they'd all just experienced and seen and heard.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟐:𝟑𝟑
𝟑𝟑 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit, was JESUS giving them an overflow of His kingdom glory in heaven.

𝐇𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝟔:𝟒,𝟓
𝟒 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭,
𝟓 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞,

Being made partakers of the Holy Spirit, is tasting the heavenly gift, tasting the good word of God, the powers of the world to come.

It is a foretaste of our future: the glory to be revealed in us, at the Coming of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Christ's Divine glory is poured out on you, and shines out inside you.

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟒:𝟔,𝟕
𝟔 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.
𝟕 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬.

In Christ, we are promised eternal glory: by the Holy Spirit, eternal glory is deposited into you already.

𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏:𝟐𝟕
𝟐𝟕 𝐓𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬; 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲:

After hearing the gospel and trusting Christ, next the Holy Spirit of promise seals you. This is the advance receipt of our future eternal co-inheritance with Christ, until the Day the purchased possession goes off lay-buy for us, at His Coming.

𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟒
𝟏𝟐 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.
𝟏𝟑 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞,
𝟏𝟒 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience that is royal and priestly in character, and powerful - right now, before the Second Coming when we shall reign with Him forever.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟏:𝟓,𝟔
𝟓 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡. 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝,
𝟔 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫; 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐧.

It makes us one with Christ's heavenly, eternal, resurrected person, and His kingdom glory in heaven, and makes us expressions of that into this dark world, right now in advance of the coming Day of the Lord.

Christ is bringing many sons to glory - and God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts already.

𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟒:𝟔
𝟔 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐚, 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

Jesus didn't go away and leave us orphans. He sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to us:

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏𝟒:𝟐𝟑
𝟐𝟑 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐈𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

The Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the guide. Jesus said He will come and manifest Himself to us. It really makes a difference, the moment all of that becomes a person's living experience.

The outpouring of the Spirit, by Jesus Christ, is a sign - evidence in the here and now, of - Jesus' vindication; His glorification in heaven, His Christ-hood, His Lordship. The baptism in the Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus as He really is. Unites us with GOD.

 
That was the significance of the Holy Spirit first being given on the day of Pentecost, that is the Feast of Tabernacles. In future, our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ shall come, and dwell - be 'tabernacled' - with us. There shall be new heavens and a new earth, after the former heavens and earth shall have passed away. God shall remove all sorrow. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is God coming to dwell in us, his new creations, old things having passed away, all things having been made new, in advance of the coming Day - and we rejoice already in the Holy Ghost. A firstfruits celebration, in advance of that Day.

Meanwhile rivers flow through us, the city of God, from God above and from within - to this needy world. This is what John saw, what Paul taught and what Jesus said, and it's the greater meaning that was inherent within Ezekiel's vision and other Old Testament prophecies.

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (II Corinthians 1:20).

This promise is for every believer, in every generation, of every nationality. Just literally for everyone who has been called by the gospel.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟐:𝟑𝟕-𝟑𝟗
𝟑𝟕 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐌𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨?
𝟑𝟖 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭.
𝟑𝟗 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥.

"And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord," (Acts 22:15).

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟏𝟏:𝟏𝟑
𝟏𝟑 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧: 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦?

Dancing in the Spirit

 I remember one day many of us were gathered in our friend's lounge room, with one of our pastors, talking, praying and soaking in the Holy Spirit.

Some time before, one of our friends had shown us a video of a Kenneth E. Hagin meeting in which a multitude of people were filled with the Spirit and many began to dance.

I sensed in my spirit that an anointing to dance was to be released among us.

Suddenly one of the guys jumped up and began to dance before the Lord.

It wasn't something he was used to doing. He was just visiting us from out of town, and as far as I know he wasn't very much accustomed to a Holy Ghost atmosphere quite like that.

Then I knew in my spirit that one of our other friends, a young lady, was to dance in the Spirit also. In the spirit, I felt like telling her, in the Name of the Lord, "Get up and dance".

While I was musing about it, perhaps hesitating a bit, one of our friends said, "I feel we should pray for _______'s feet" - mentioning the very same young lady.

So we put our hands on her feet and prayed.

Suddenly, she jumped up and danced before the Lord.

Then she sat back in her seat, laughing in the Spirit.

It was out of character for her to do any such thing. She was a former Baptist, and we all knew she wasn't the most comfortable among us with such things, by any stretch.

It was the anointing.

The fact that the anointing to dance came upon the unlikeliest among us, was a sign and wonder to all.

There is such a thing as DANCING IN THE SPIRIT.

What I'm describing wasn't a mosh pit at a concert playing contemporary Christian music. It was dancing in the Spirit, supernaturally, if I can use that word.

Another time in a midweek meeting at the church, near the end of the meeting, after everyone had been 'soaking' in the Holy Spirit, we all stood around in a large circle and, unplanned, one by one different ones went to the centre and danced.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟏𝟑:𝟓𝟐
𝟓𝟐 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭.

During my teens, in churches in Charismatic Renewal days, ladies played with tambourines at the front, while everyone sang and many among the congregation danced.

𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐀𝐇 𝟑𝟏:𝟒
𝟒 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭, 𝐎 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥: 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲.

I was in a meeting in a church some six months ago. In the middle of songs, they had praise-breaks where the whole congregation danced spontaneously. Without singing, only the musicians kept playing - everybody danced, for around seven minutes, before they resumed singing the song again. And then the same pattern was repeated, with song after song. Just everybody, young and old, dancing together before the Lord. Communal dancing before the Lord. That was around 7pm - the meeting had started around 10am I think.

I've also seen revival meetings where, after three hours of the Holy Spirit filling everyone and working in different ways, all the people danced together and sang for half an hour or longer, praising the Lord for all that had just taken place in the meeting.

And there is such a thing as LAUGHTER IN THE SPIRIT.

𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌 𝟏𝟐𝟔:𝟐,𝟑
𝟐 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.
𝟑 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬; 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝.

But that's Old Testament, some might say.

As brother Hagin explained, David danced before the Lord - and the Old Testament was types and shadows - if David could dance in the shadow, we can dance in the light!

There is also SINGING IN THE SPIRIT.

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟏𝟓
𝟏𝟓 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨.

Singing with the spirit is contrasted with singing with the understanding. Singing in tongues is singing in the Spirit.

𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟓:𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟎
𝟏𝟖 ...𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭;
𝟏𝟗 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝;
𝟐𝟎 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭;

So, not only psalms and hymns, but also spiritual songs. Spontaneous songs, including singing in tongues.

Singing, laughter and dancing are each expressions of joy, thanksgiving, praise, hope, faith and the Holy Spirit.

It really makes a difference, being in that type of atmosphere - both to us, and to pre-saved visitors.

Remember in II Chronicles 20, as they did nothing, just praised the Lord and sang, placing musicians ahead of the army, the Lord Himself defeated their enemies and made them rejoice.

In Psalm 149, praising His Name in the dance, and singing unto Him with timbrel and harp, came before victory over the enemies.

"𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦: 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱" (𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘮 149:3).

Dancing, and praise are spiritually effective.

Smith Wigglesworth reportedly took communion by himself and danced before the Lord, every morning.

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟐𝟔
𝟐𝟔 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐧? 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠.

In Bible times, it was normal to see and hear congregations filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit, dancing, laughing, falling to the floor seeing visions and prophesying, and speaking, praying and singing in tongues and interpreting.

Could we admit that sometimes we can drift away from being Holy Ghost minded and become a bit natural minded, in our approach to church services?

Let the river of God sweep you off your feet again! Total submersion.

I desire to see normalised again, in contemporary churches, the things the Holy Spirit always anointed His saints to do in Bible times and in renewals and revivals since.

Personal Evangelism in Australia

 PERSONAL EVANGELISM IN AUSTRALIA

When a lot of people think evangelism, they straightaway think street evangelism. Or shopping centre evangelism. Of approaching people they don’t know.

And that's good. Really good.

Our church's Saturday night evangelism team have the most beneficial and supernatural encounters with total strangers out on the streets every time they go out. It's amazing.

And I'd like to suggest an additional way:

The Lord, and Paul often started at local synagogues - and from there their ministries spilled outside, into homes, the streets or elsewhere.

So I wondered, What might be a modern-day equivalent of the 'synagogue', in Australia - an obvious place to start?

And I thought, churches!

Aside from in our own homes, among our own family and friends, churches are an obvious place to meet others publicly with whom we might share our faith. There we find some of the ripest fruits for the picking - a place we oughtn't want to neglect.

While you're at church, put your spiritual radar up, and ask God, Who do you want me to talk to - who shall I spend time with - and see who is highlighted to you. And see if they’d appreciate you spending time with them sometime through the week.

It may be a newcomer to church. Someone who even recently answered the altar call, maybe. And now they only need someone to show them friendliness and try to establish a meaningful rapport with them. That could make all the difference for them.

When you approach a visitor at church, you hardly have to feel apprehensive about whether or not they'll welcome your approach. Most newcomers to churches want someone to talk with them.

They'll hardly be startled, even if you start talking about the Lord. Most visitors to church wouldn't think it out of place to hear about God at church after a service.

What everyone will warm to most, is love - love shown for its own sake, not because we're trying to get numbers to our connect group or something.

I've found, whenever I've straightaway invited someone at church to a connect group, they seldom came, no matter how sincere I was. But when I arranged instead to hangout with them outside of church, and did so more than once, purely for friendship's sake, eventually they'd say to me, "That home meeting you go to: can I come?"

'Love must be sincere, and active' (see Romans 12:9, Amplified Bible).

Through making that one friendship, you could then get introduced to the person's circle - salvation could snowball to their family and friends - and you could be the catalyst for it.

So, next time you feel like evangelising - and it doesn't happen to be a Sunday, or not your regular street outreach night - how about praying quietly for a moment, ask God, Who can I go see? And see who the Lord puts on your heart, who comes to mind.

Then see what's appropriate to do. Visit them at home. Go out for a meal together. Kick the footy around down at the beach.

It might be someone you've met at church.

Someone who's responded to the altar call recently.

Or someone who always used to come, but hasn't for a while. Pray the Lord draws him or her; rebuke any hindrances - you could end-up seeing them back next Sunday!

Jesus loved His own, to the end; of them which the Father gave Him, He lost none - John's gospel says. Imagine if we could say the same.

One time we prayed, "You send them, we'll love them." Then new people just started turning up! All we had to do was love them. Practically. Through the week. Actually becoming sincere friends. And aside from any other outreach programs at all, the church grew, just by that. Years later someone remarked, "Why are so many young men getting saved at your church?" We remembered our prayer. When God knows you'll love people, He'll send them.

Or, someone might come to your mind who hasn't been to church at all yet.

Evangelism doesn't always have to be among people you don't know yet down at the shops. It could be someone you've already met that the Lord will lay on your heart.

Instead of only one-off encounters on the street all the time, evangelism can also unfold a bit more naturally, organically, inter-connectedly, relationally, wholistically, and flourish, in multiple times and settings.

Evangelism is a shepherding activity too, not just a once-off encounter with people.

When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no SHEPHERD.

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matthew chapter nine)...

...then in the very next chapter (chapter 10) it says He called to Him His 12 disciples, empowered them and sent them out.

That means evangelism was an expression of the shepherd's heart. Shepherding involves knowing, following up, spending time with, feeding and caring for sheep known to the shepherd. Evangelism isn't all like ringing a bell to passersby. Though it is that too.

In time between us we'll end-up seeing people come to Christ, and praying with them - we'll see the supernatural power of God manifest, just as much. Anywhere and everywhere.

Just like we have been deliberate about street ministry - intentionally setting a time and place for it, making it regular - we can do this intentionally too.

Pray, Who can I go see, Lord? who can I spend time with.

Then go do it - with whomever, wherever and whenever seems best - purposely.

And keep up with the street outreaches and programs too.

Sunday School Teachers, Youth Leaders, Pastors

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS, YOUTH LEADERS, PASTORS

Can I encourage you to deliberately allow time for your members to soak in the Spirit, in your meetings.

I'll use that word, 'soak'.

Children, youth, and all ages.

Let them stay in the Spirit a while.

So, not just a touch of the Spirit during worship, and not just a quick laying on of hands then moving on - but once they start to experience the touch of God, let them stay in the Spirit and soak deeply for some time.

Let them interact with the Spirit. And with each other, in the Spirit.

Prolong the moment a bit.

And can I encourage you to be intentional about it.

Let it be a memorable time for them with God.

Often times the Lord Jesus, and the Father are wanting to do a bit of extra work in us. Once the Spirit has started to touch people, the longer we allow them to stay in the Spirit and soak, the further JESUS can go down the list of things He wants to do in each of them.

Often times I've seen young and old alike fall to the floor under the weight of the glory of the Lord - and if you let them stay in the Spirit for some time without interrupting it, their experience goes deeper.

Tears of healing soon turn to laughter for joy; then they might see visions, and prophesy; deliverance might start to break out spontaneously; some will speak with tongues, and interpret.

When all others have gotten up off the floor, very often two are still on the floor longer than the others, receiving an especially deep empowerment. Then they get up off the floor and begin going around laying hands on others, exhorting them and ministering the Spirit to them. Even teenagers.

You can see the Lord have His way to that extent, by just not cutting the moment short. And by not overriding it with other things.

Like, when the Spirit gets to moving like that and all are getting caught up in Him, it's better to cut the music - so there is nothing else that any of them feel they need to go along with at that moment other than what the Spirit Himself is directly doing in them and through them all.

After the Spirit has been fully experienced and expressed - after it's all said and done - for one and all to see and hear and be caught up in - that will be a nice time to start up the praise, singing, music and dancing again!

Derek Prince used to call it 'God's operating table'. He would lay hands on people, they'd fall to the floor - then they'd just stay there getting healed or delivered. They didn't get up in a hurry.

In Randy Clark's meetings, when people had hands laid on them and they ended up on the floor - they just didn't get up! They were experiencing a profound moment with God. In many cases in Randy's meetings, the people on the floor seemed to experience getting visions, or callings to specific new ministries.

Remember Ezekiel's vision of the river? When he first entered the river, it was ankle deep. And a little further, it was knee deep. Still further, it was waist deep. Then when he went further, it was too deep to wade through: he could only swim in it. And the water brought healing and life.

Let them stay a little longer, go a little further, go a little deeper, 'til it's an inundation - a Holy Ghost washout, for EVERYONE.

Thinking back on youth camps and church meetings I attended as a teenager in Charismatic Renewal days, there wasn't always a lot of deliberately making time in meetings for us all to have deeper, extracted, interactive experiences with the Holy Ghost together like that.

There was singing in the Spirit (we don't see a lot of that in contemporary churches); and opportunity was given for some to come forward and prophesy; we had altar calls, when there would be laying on of hands for salvation, or for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or healing. There was personal prophecy. There was a lot of falling under the power. But it mainly happened on altar calls. There was nearly always music being played during the altar calls. So the congregation as a whole didn’t always get drawn into the experience of those on the altar call. And there was deliverance ministry.

It was wonderful. But I often had a sense that there was more to come. There was often a sense that we were cutting it short with announcements or with the structure of the services.

Then the river movement. It was like a wave flooded the room. Ordinary parts of the programs, like the bands, song lists, and sermons couldn't get in the way even if they tried! Songleaders and musicians often ended-up on the floor. Preachers could hardly talk. It just broke out all over the room. The Holy Ghost held the floor. The whole room. After a few hours of that, everyone really had something to sing about!

John was 'in the Spirit' he said - and then he saw the whole book of Revelation. That wouldn’t have happened in just a minute or two. There's much that can happen when we let people stay in the Spirit, under the power. Then let them and the Spirit determine what happens next in the meeting. Let them, with the Spirit, carry it. Roll with it.

Even children. I've seen meetings where all the children were on the floor in the Spirit, for the whole meeting. Afterwards they told of interacting with Jesus, seeing the river and angels. Even nine year olds!

One day in Hong Kong a young person came to see me desiring me to come to his youth group to bring a move of the Spirit. But instead of going, I told him how to do it:

Ask the Father in Jesus' Name to send the Spirit; believe you receive it; intentionally let it take its time in the meeting, I said - don't be in a hurry to move on, and don't override it with music, or talking on the mic.

And away he went.

A week later he came back all excited. They did it, and to everyone's great joy, the Holy Spirit took them up on it. The young man was intentional about it: and the Spirit moved!

And because he'd seen it himself, he felt equipped to keep doing it in future. That was better than me going, wasn’t it.

The hand of the Lord will be with you too, in your meetings.

Reading the Bible

READING THE BIBLE

𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘎𝘰𝘥 - anon

Before my brother and I became Christians, my parents felt concerned that we weren't reading our Bibles. Then soon after we got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, I think they wondered whether we were spending too much time reading our Bibles.

My brother got himself an exercise book, and started writing his own Bible-study notes. So I did the same. He'd spend the evenings after school down in his room with his Bible, writing in his exercise book - and I'd do the same in my room. After a while he'd come up to my room and ask me what I'd been getting in the Word. That was how we spent our evenings, through much of our teens. I've still got all my notes. Exercise books full of them. Reams and reams. He was 15 and I was 12.

Before I got saved, I never finished a single book. Reading anything felt like a chore. The night I got saved (at Ipswich Christian Life Centre, at around 7:37pm on Sunday 16 December 1979) I was given the gospel of John and a new converts booklet guiding me through John's gospel over seven days.

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟓:𝟏𝟕
𝟏𝟕 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲; 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰.

My spirit had been born again. Everything had become new. Things I liked before, I didn't like anymore; and things I didn't like, I now liked - including going to church; and reading. I completed John's gospel that first week of my Christian life. It was the first book I'd ever finished. And the next Sunday I felt happy going to church - whereas before I'd never especially felt like going.

I remember being amused with the way Jesus is seen arguing his case with his opponents, in the book of John. I thought to myself, I can do this at school! That was a sign of another change in me: before I became a Christian I might have felt embarrassed to be seen carrying a Bible at school, but now I felt inspired to talk to my peers about the Lord!

I only remember witnessing to one or two of my classmates in the next few months though, and one of them got saved and came to church. And I don't remember very much about my Bible reading in the weeks that followed. Until a few months later I got filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues during a youth group activity (on Saturday night March 22 1980 at Christian Life Centre in Brisbane). That was the same night my brother got saved, a few months after I had.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒 𝟏:𝟖
𝟖 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐞𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡.

Without even trying to change, we became bold witnesses for Jesus at school. Crowds gathered around us sometimes, in the school grounds and in classrooms. One day three of my classmates got saved. I laid hands on them to receive the Spirit, and they spoke in tongues and one of them prophesied. That was the start of seeing a flow of our peers coming to the Lord. Students stopped playing soccer at lunch time, or chess, and spent their lunch times witnessing. This was a public State highschool, not a private Christian school. Truly we'd received power and were made witnesses, after the Holy Spirit came upon us, just like the Bible said. The Bible also became even more alive to us, after being filled with the Spirit.

𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏:𝟏𝟕-𝟏𝟗
𝟏𝟕 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦:
𝟏𝟖 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝; 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬,
𝟏𝟗 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬-𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫,

There is such an experience as being given by the heavenly Father the Spirit of wisdom, revelation and knowledge, enlightening the eyes of your understanding. And that was what we had come to experience. The Bible wasn't just ink on paper - it felt like my spirit was in contact with the 'living Word'.

𝐇𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝟒:𝟏𝟐
𝟏𝟐 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 [alive], 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.

One day one of my fellow-students, after we'd witnessed to him and his friends in the school grounds, said to me, "How do you know all this!"

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟕:𝟑𝟖,𝟑𝟗
𝟑𝟖 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.
𝟑𝟗 (𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝.)

The words and wisdom just flowed from us like a river, without even premeditating what we were going to say.

𝐈 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟐:𝟐𝟕
𝟐𝟕 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

When your spirit is born again, and you have received the Spirit, reading the Bible feels like you have your own private tutor, right there with you.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏𝟔:𝟏𝟑
𝟏𝟑 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞.

The Spirit guides into all truth. He speaks. He shows.

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟑:𝟏𝟑-𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟑 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝:
𝟏𝟒 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭; 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.
𝟏𝟓 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.
𝟏𝟔 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲.
𝟏𝟕 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲.
𝟏𝟖 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.

If some people's minds are blinded, like there's a veil on their hearts when they read the Bible, when they turn to the Lord the veil is taken away, by the Spirit. Then you can look with open face into the glory of the Lord. And as you do so, you're changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐀𝐇 𝟖:𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟖 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐈 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐙𝐢𝐨𝐧.

More and more your life becomes a sign and a wonder.

When I was a very young Christian, probably not yet 13 years old, I picked up a folder with many of dad's old sermon notes in it. It was like discovering a treasure! I'd sit outside on the back steps in the early morning dawn of a Saturday morning, and devour them.

I got dad's Bible and copied all his markings and marginal notes into my own Bible.

Dad modelled for us a true love for the Word.

As you behold Jesus as He really is, in the Word, you become an expression of the Word to all around you - and they shall see it.

BIBLE READING METHODS

Before I got saved, when the Lord started drawing me, I'd started going to see an old gentleman after school on my bike, to hear the Word of God. After I got saved during the summer holiday, I went back and told him I'd become a Christian. I often visited him straight from school. He'd offer me a cold glass of lemonade, he'd sit in his recliner, I'd sit opposite him, and we'd talk about the Word of God. Sometimes we just sat silently in each others company for a moment.

He was an avid Bible-reader. He had Bible verses posted on the front door, and all over the walls inside. One day he told me he'd read the whole Bible in two weeks. I looked in his Bible - he'd underlined every single word in it.

I desired to have a big Bible like his. He ever so kindly bought me one. It was a large print King James centre column reference Bible. I wanted my brother and friends at school to have one too. So he got five of them. It wouldn't have been cheap.

Now we each had the same Bibles. When we got to our church youth group on Saturdays, we eagerly shared with each other what had been revealed to us in the Word through the week.

After having read John's gospel first, I read Acts next, and continued through to Revelation. Somehow I instinctively knew the Epistles were written for us as New Testament believers. After reading Revelation, I thought to myself, "That's different". I decided I needed to go back to the beginning next, and read from Genesis all the way to the end: then see what meaning Revelation would have for me in light of the rest of the Bible.

I read in the Bible that the candle stand in the Tabernacle was tended to morning and evening. So for a time I decided to read several chapters of the Bible in the morning before school - then in the afternoon when I got home from school I'd take a smaller passage, or a particular book of the Bible, or a theme, and take my time studying it more meticulously, and write notes. I could hardly wait to get home from school in the afternoons to get back into the Word. I learned later that Dr Billy Graham also recommended both approaches to Bible reading.

One school holidays, I asked one of our good school friends at church on Sunday how he was spending his holidays. He answered that he intended reading the whole Bible through in two weeks. I decided right-away to join him. I had some catching up to do, because he was already three days into it. He'd ride his bike over to our place in the mornings with his Bible, marking pencils and a huge notebook. Nine days later we'd finished the whole Old Testament. That was a memorable school holiday.

One time I was on track to complete a reading of the whole Bible in one week. I was about halfway through the Bible, after about three or so days. Then some unexpected guests came over, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch up.

Many times I've decided to read a whole book of the Bible through in a single sitting. One time I went to an estuary, and sat and read the whole book of Acts through. Another time I sat on the side of my bed and read Romans through in one go. Also Daniel, in one go. After all, the books of the New Testament were probably written with the intention that they would be read that way: all the way through, in one go, out loud to a church gathering. When you take in the whole sweep of a book in a single sitting like that, you see things you mightn't have otherwise seen.

At the Gold Coast a couple of years ago, the whole Bible was read out loud publicly in one weekend. Volunteers took a time slot to read. What a weekend!

One time when I had to preach on a Sunday, I spent the Saturday before reading the whole book of Isaiah through in a single-sitting. That was my 'sermon preparation'. Then I just preached and ministered out of that full spirit.

Another time I read the Book of Revelation backwards, starting at the last chapter and working my way back towards the first chapter. I wrote down the major movements of each chapter. I did this in order to force my mind to notice what it actually says rather than what I'd heard or thought it said. Then when I finished, I read my notes back to myself in the right order. It was amazing what came to light, and what questions seemed instantly cleared up.

Other times I'd pick a theme or a word, and meditate on every occurrence of the word throughout the whole Bible, and write notes. I've still got extensive notes I wrote on 'Holiness' when I was 14. Writing it used up all the ink in maybe three biros.

Or I'd pick a book of the Bible, and take my time going through it. I've got notes on Genesis I wrote when I was 12 years old; and notes on Romans when I was 15.

I have some Greek friends, identical twins. When they were new Christians they similarly spent nearly all their time in the Word when they got home from work. They filled exercise books with notes written in miniature. And they were so enthusiastic to talk about it.

My brother still reads a set number of chapters from the Bible each morning, completing the whole Bible in a year. He's kept that practice up consistently for decades.

My mother also sits and reads morning and night, working her way through the whole Bible.

Recently during a fellowship lunch at a church I was visiting, someone asked me what my favourite book of the Bible is. I thought that was a refreshingly unusual question nowadays. So we got talking. He told me he worked nightshift for about a decade, and he was able to spend nearly the whole shift listening to the KJV audio Bible. He listened to the whole New Testament every two days - on repeat - for nearly the whole decade.

Another friend had a job where he could read the Bible at work. He was only a new Christian at the time, but he read the Bible over and over again, especially the New Testament. He and his wife ended up becoming a missionary, pastor and teacher.

When we were new Christians, our youth leader used to warn against merely having 'head knowledge' versus truly feeding on the Word. Our pastor also used to ask, "What did you get out of it?" He always challenged us to keep it practical and personal.

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. It's not how much we know, but how much love we have.

And the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, Paul said.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "Some read the Bible in Hebrew, others read it in Greek - but I read it in the Holy Ghost."

Spending time praying in tongues can cause revelation to spring up.

From a young age I made David's prayer my own:

𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌 𝟏𝟏𝟗:𝟏𝟖
𝟏𝟖 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐰.

Ask the Lord to open your eyes, as you read His Word.

When I first got saved, I saw Jesus in everything in the Bible.

𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝟐𝟒:𝟐𝟕,𝟒𝟓
𝟐𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟...

𝟒𝟓 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬

The whole Bible is all about Jesus. He opens your understanding.

𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌 𝟏𝟏𝟗:𝟗𝟕
𝟗𝟕 𝐎 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐰! 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲.

I remember when I was in my teens, one time I felt such love, I held my Bible to my breast, cherishing His Word.

𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌 𝟏𝟗:𝟕-𝟏𝟏
𝟕 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞.
𝟖 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.
𝟗 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.
𝟏𝟎 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐲𝐞𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝: 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛.
𝟏𝟏 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.

Recover your first love for the Word.

Must we read the Bible copiously every day? Early Christians didn't have their own personal Bibles yet. Many couldn't even read at all. Besides, Jesus is the Word.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟏𝟗:𝟏𝟑
𝟏𝟑 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝: 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝.

𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝟏:𝟏,14
𝟏 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝...

𝟏𝟒 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬, (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫,) 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡.

The Word is a Person. The Word is God.

As a good friend of mine says, Christians aren’t people who have a relationship with a book alone—we also have a relationship with Jesus Who is the Word.

The gospel is the Word of God. The Spirit guides us in our spirit.

But we do have an important relationship to the Scriptures too. Isn’t it a privilege that we can. I've visited remote places in the world that didn't yet have the Bible in their languages. Even in English, it was only a few centuries ago that the Bible was authorised.

My brother always said: 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴.

It just does.