Being Filled With the Holy Spirit—TOGETHER!!!

10/5/1999

Tuesday Morning, October 5, 1999

From a time together in Africa, translated to and from Chichewa, different brothers’ thoughts and heart expressions merged....

Recently, a brother was speaking about being able to hear Jesus’ voice and the necessity of living in Jesus to be able to hear His voice. This has very much to do with our personal relationship with Jesus. This also has very much to do with us being the Church of Jesus, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.

The Bible tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit must be in us and fill us all the way to the top. That’s a command from God. This means we can obey the command or disobey the command to be filled with the Spirit. We know that to be a Christian, we must be in Christ, and that Christ must be in us. Amen? However, it is possible to be in Christ and to not be filled with Christ. It is possible to never experience Jesus or hear Him the way we should. Unfortunately, this is the case for most Christians today. But there is revelation from God about how this can change. The solution has to do with building the Church properly so “the gates of hell cannot prevail.” We must build our lives so that all of God’s people, from the least to the greatest, can be filled with the Spirit—not just one or two leaders, but all of God’s people filled with the Holy Spirit.

Totally Immersed!

Let me draw a picture for you to help illustrate this idea. Suppose you have a bucket of water. Let’s say that being in the bucket of water is the same as being in Christ. Now picture a cup of water with a lid on it. The cup is like the individual that has Christ inside of them. In order for this person to be a Christian, he must be in Christ. So the filled cup must be in the bucket of water. If a person is filled with the Holy Ghost, he will be totally in Christ—the cup will sink to the bottom. However, if a person is not filled with Christ, if there is air in his cup, he will float to the top. If we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, as an individual, we may be in Christ and be saved, but we may never really be totally immersed in Jesus.

Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia (ch. 4), “I am in the pains of childbirth, like I am about to have a baby. I am having labor pains until Christ is formed in you.” He was writing to people in the Church of Galatia who were already saved (it says that in chapter 3). There was much weakness in this Church, however. They did not have Christ fully formed in them. They had some air in them, the air of the world, rather than just Christ. So they floated to the top. They were not totally immersed in the Spirit of Christ. Because they were not individually, totally filled with Christ, they didn’t sink totally into Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 states that in order to know the good, perfect and pleasing will of God—in order to truly hear God as an individual, we must not conform to the “patterns of the world.” We must not love what the world loves. We must not think like the world thinks or talk like they talk. We must raise our families differently than the world does. We must spend our time and money differently than the world spends their time and money. God said that our spiritual worship is not to be like the world in any way. God said to have our minds transformed, like from a caterpillar to a butterfly, by the Word of God. Then we can hear God. “Then we can know the good, perfect and pleasing will of God.” If we have some of the world in us, instead of being transformed by the Word of God, we float to the top. Even though we can be in Christ and be saved, we are no longer deep in the purposes of God.

We Need Each Other

The purpose of the Church is to help everyone be filled with the Holy Spirit, so we can help each other get the world out of our lives. Hebrews 3 says, “We must admonish and help and warn one another every single day so that none of us will be hardened and deceived.” The Bible says we must help each other every single day. We must get out of our homes and get into each other’s lives, in the workplace and in other people’s homes. We must look into each other’s lives and see how we can love each other. We need to help each other to no longer be conformed to the patterns of the world. Some people say, “I have my own relationship with God and I’ll leave everyone else to have their own relationship with God.” That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says, “Admonish one another every day so that no one will be hardened and deceived.” The Bible says we are a priesthood of believers and we help each other to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We each use the gifts that are inside of us to help other people to be full of the Holy Spirit. Every single member of the Church helps every other member of the Church.

This is very different from how most people around the world have built together in christianity. In most countries, people come together on Sundays and preach sermons, and maybe they have “bible studies” with the children or even with the adults. In most “churches” around the world, no matter what country, people come together on Sunday and sit in rows, and the official “holy man” comes before them and delivers a sermon. But this is not what the Bible says Christianity is supposed to be. We have, in every country, built the Church wrong for almost 2,000 years!

Why have we built the wrong way? Because we have built an Old Covenant way where there is a priest and a bunch of people in an audience. A Levite priest would offer sacrifices for all the people. He was a special man of God who would help other people to know God. That’s a good thing if you were a Jew 2000 years ago! If we want to be Christians instead of Jews, we should build like Christians. Amen? We have built wrong in Christianity in every country. But God is now restoring New Testament Christianity to every country.

A Kingdom of Priests

In the New Covenant, all of God’s people are supposed to be priests to one another. God’s intent is not one special holy man who can give sermons. The Bible says that Jesus ascended on high and gave His gifts to all of His people. He made a Kingdom of priests. He put part of Himself in each of His people that are truly converted, young or old. That’s why we need each other’s gifts. We need all of Jesus’ gifts! There are hundreds of gifts because ALL of Jesus was poured out on His Family. This is why Jesus said we are all to be brothers amongst brothers. We don’t need one man and one gift standing in front of us anymore. We must not permit that anymore. All of His truly converted and Indwelt, living in consecrated daily Life with one another and observably His (Heb. 3:12-14)—ALL are Priests!

God’s heart is that the gift you have would be given to me and the gift I have would be given to you. Jesus said, “Call no man a teacher or a leader. Call no man master, reverend, pastor or priest.” Even to the twelve apostles He said, “You are all brothers.” If that is true for Peter and John, surely it is true for all of us! The gifts that each of the sisters and brothers have are part of Jesus. Even the children have gifts that are part of Jesus. We need all of those gifts in our lives. We are all brothers. That’s what the Bible says.

“So when you come together, brothers, everyone has a word of instruction, a song, a revelation.” This is what the Bible has always said in 1 Corinthians 14, “When you come together, brothers, everyone has a word of instruction, a song, a revelation, a prophecy.” When we live that way, even the unbeliever falls on his face and cries out, “God is among you!” “When revelation comes to the second person, LET THE FIRST ONE SIT DOWN!” That’s what it says in 1 Corinthians 14. This is not popular with those who “love to be first” and love to be in charge and viewed as the “most spiritual” and take the money of the saints.

We must be a Kingdom of priests. We must admonish one another every day. If we won’t, the Bible says we will be hardened and deceived. Our conscience will be seared and we won’t have conviction about things in our lives that are sinful. If I don’t have you or several dedicated followers of Jesus involved in my life every day, and others are not in your life every day, then we will all become deceived and we won’t know what is true anymore. This is what the Bible has always said. We must live life together, helping each other every day. If you want to ignore the Bible and say this is not true, you may start your own form of religion. Many people have. But all of you have shown by your sacrifice that you will do anything for Jesus, so let’s go on to the highest places with Him now!

Every Single Day

Jesus is building His Church against which the gates of hell will not prevail. Jesus is bringing the gifts out of people and allowing them to all be priests now—not just in meetings, but every day. The Bible says, “Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed.” Wait! Do all of God’s people do this?!! When was the last time you confessed sins to your brothers or your sisters? Do you want to be healed? Do you want to see the power of God in your life? The Bible says, “Confess your sins one to another.” Why do we not do this? We often don’t do this because we are afraid. We don’t do this because the traditions of men have swallowed us up. We stopped being real because we have so much pride. God has said to you and to me, “Open up your hearts, become soft and humble. Confess your sins to each other so that you can pray for each other and be healed.”

This is one of the ways we help each other be filled with the Holy Spirit. We open up our hearts to each other. “Admonish one another DAILY, every single day, so that none will be hardened and deceived,” thus saith the Lord. God has said we must open our lives to each other every single day. If we build in such a way that we only meet on Sundays and then we go back to our houses and live separately with our families, we will disobey God.

God has given very clear words about how we should walk together and help each other be filled with the Holy Spirit. God said, “Admonish one another every single day.” God said, “I put My Spirit and My Gifts inside of you, now lay down your life for your brothers every day.” God said, “Confess your sins to each other every day.” God said, “Bear one another’s burdens—and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

You can see this is a daily thing. How can you bear someone’s burdens in a meeting? To fulfill the very law of Christ, we must bear each other’s burdens. And where are these burdens? Are they in a Sunday meeting? No. The burdens of life happen with our children, with our wives, with our husbands, in our workplaces. The burdens of life are when we don’t have enough to eat or when our child is sick. The burdens of life are when our Islamic or false religion physical family hates us because we have turned to the real Jesus. It breaks our heart, and we don’t know what to do. I need you to help bear my burden when my baby is sick. I don’t want to hear your sermon on Sunday, if you won’t be there when my baby is sick. I don’t want to hear your expert knowledge, and expert speech, if you won’t help me when I’m having a difficulty with my wife. It is a daily thing—it is not about meetings. Bear one another’s burdens every day, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

We have built the Church wrong in many nations for many years. God is calling now to a people who have enough courage and humility and self-sacrifice to build properly. If we will build God’s House according to the pattern that He has laid forth, the gates of hell will no longer prevail against God’s people. “Greater works than I have done, you will do,” says the Lord. When we look like Jesus as a Church, we will have the same Life and Power and Love as Jesus had when He was here. Jesus didn’t just talk; He lived the Life. John 1 says, “The life became the light of men.” It is the same now. The daily life becomes the light of men. If we want people to see the love of God, and if we want them to come to Jesus instead of the money and power of Islam; if we want to see people come to Jesus instead of their own selfishness and pride and worldliness, we must live the life of Jesus together every day.

Part of Each Other

We have talked about being like a cup of water being totally filled and then immersed into Jesus. We can also talk about another picture—a bowl of potatoes, or a bowl of uncrushed maize. This is how we have built the church for the last 2,000 years: people come together in a bowl on Sunday like a bunch of individual potatoes, or individual kernels of maize. God’s heart is not to have a bowl of potatoes, or of individuals in a bowl together for a day or two or three each week. And being in a home, instead of a religious facility is no better, if we do not change our hearts, and how we function with each other every day. Meeting together does not make us a Biblical Church. That is only what the Bible calls “a lecture hall.” A bowl of individual potatoes is not a Church. You can throw all the potatoes, or all of the kernels of maize in the bowl every Sunday and it will still not be the Church—not really. The True Church is like a bowl of mashed potatoes, or maize flour—all melted together as one. “Contending as ONE MAN for the Faith.” “One heart, one mind.” “All together” and “of one accord.” “We being many, are ONE.” “Baptized by one Spirit into ONE body” where “NO ONE says to another, ‘I have no need of you’” until next week.

A bowl of mashed potatoes or maize is your life becoming part of mine and my life becoming part of yours. When we are ONE as Jesus and the Father are ONE—that is the true Church. Others can be saved of course, without this daily life, but are not benefiting from Jesus’ Plan for a local assembly showing the world His Life and experiencing His Power. “I will build my CHURCH that the gates of hell can no longer prevail against!” For your growth! For your wife and children and neighbors! A local “joined and knit together” true Church is God’s Plan!

When your life is part of my life every day, and my life is part of yours every day...when your gift in Jesus is part of me and my gift in Jesus is part of you every day...when I confess my sin to you, and you confess your sin to me, and we pray for each other that we might be healed...when I know you well enough every day to know how to bear your burdens, when you know me well enough, so well that you can see in my eyes when I am hurting, and you bear my burdens—that’s when the Church is really beginning to become the Church of Jesus. Jesus said, “This is how all men (Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and the many weak and lukewarm in denominations) will know that Christianity is truly from Heaven. All the world will know that we are truly His by how we love each other.”

You can say words about the Blood and words about the Word of God, but until you begin to live it and truly love each other, they are only words. When the world sees us truly loving each other because our lives are totally lost in each other’s lives, then the power of God will fill us in extraordinary, immense, and powerful ways (and we will be persecuted and hated and lied about, according to Jesus!).

The Father loves the Son and we will begin to look like the Son, shining like stars in the universe, a city set on a hill that can’t be hidden. That is Jesus’ intention for His Bride, the Church. We must not just attend something and say some words. We must stop just sitting like little robots in chairs listening to someone give a speech. We must truly be involved in each other’s lives deeply every day, brothers amongst brothers. This is not about meetings, but about you offering your gift to me, and me offering mine to you, every day in our homes and in our workplaces, in the fields and in our families. This WILL require a change in how you choose to use your “spare time.” And you will need to change the things that you have previously considered “first” in your life, to instead “Seek first the Kingdom.”

True Family!!

Jesus said, “If you truly give away your life and become a Christian, you could have one hundred mothers, one hundred brothers, one hundred sisters.” That means one hundred intimate relationships. That’s the very definition of Biblical Christianity! You will have hundreds of relationships that are as close as a mother with a son, or a brother and sister together. Close, close, close relationships. He didn’t say one hundred third cousins or one hundred far distant relatives. He didn’t say one hundred friends or one hundred next door neighbors. Jesus said, “My Church means one hundred relationships that are as close as a mother is to her child.”

A good mother knows a child’s cry. She knows her child’s cry when he is hurt, or when he is hungry—those are two different cries. She knows her child’s cry when he is tired versus when he is angry. A mother knows her child intimately—everything about that child. Jesus said, “In my True Church, you will have hundreds of relationships that are so close it will be as a mother with a child.” You will be able to see in my eyes, and I will be able to see in your eyes when you are tired, when you are hungry, when you are angry, when you are sad. That’s not really about meetings, is it? That’s not about a Sunday morning service, is it? That’s about a daily life together, like a mother with a child.

Can you imagine a mother only seeing her baby every Sunday morning?! That would be a very bad mother, wouldn’t it? What would happen to the child? The child would die. That is what has happened to many Christians. We have built wrongly for so many years, with a man preaching and everyone listening, and we sing and dance, and then we go home and live separate lives. Because of this, many babies have died. Many mothers have broken hearts.

Jesus’ intention for His Church is that we have one hundred mothers, brothers, and sisters. Our lands and possessions and our time and money are not our own. We ourselves are not our own. We were bought with the price of the Blood of Jesus. So we make decisions to lose our life into each other’s lives every day. “Oh, I’m tired. I think I will go to bed.” No. You go see your brother and love on your brother. “Work while it is daytime; night comes when no man works.” “I think I will go do something that is fun for me.” Bring a brother with you; bring several brothers with you. Do it with other people. “Well, I have to go to the market; I don’t have time to be with my sisters or my brothers.” Yes, you do. Bring them with you. Do it together. And then you can talk to people about Jesus in the marketplace together. Along the way you will see what your brothers’ or sisters’ needs are and what things they like and what things are important to them, because you’re involved in their life. And their Gifts will be available to serve Jesus in the marketplace and events—not just your gift, which is too one-sided by itself. TOGETHER we have the Giftedness of Jesus and express His Life. The angel said, “Go together into the marketplace and tell everyone of this NEW LIFE that you have in Jesus!” “THIS is HOW all men will know: By them seeing you LOVING ON EACH OTHER!” “The LIFE became (and becomes) the Light of men.”

If we wait until we have all our busy things done in order to be Family, we will never be Family. Family does all the busy things together. We wash our clothes together and we go to the market together. We go on trips together to talk to other people about Jesus. While we are together, we confess sins to one another. We say, “Sister, would you please pray for me? I am very tired from my young children, and I even got angry with my baby yesterday. I have asked God to forgive me, but I want you to forgive me, too.” Or, “Brother, would you please pray for me? I was at work, and I got angry with another man who tried to cheat me, and I said harsh words to him. I went to him and asked him to forgive me, and now I’m confessing my sin to you. Please, would you forgive me and pray for me, so I will be stronger next time?” Of course we will have time to go into our closets and pray in secret, and have time for quiet and simple things. But somewhere we have lost the Heart for Jesus’ Way of lives melted together. Jesus even took three brothers with Him when He went to pray in the Garden, at the most painful and delicate time of His life! And so should we. “Anyone that claims to be in Him, must walk as Jesus walked.” It is a Good and Wonder-full way that has been lost in our modern culture of busy-ness, nuclear “family,” selfishness, laziness, and pride. Let’s reclaim it for Jesus, that the world may know and that we may grow!

Open Our Hearts

This is very key. We must crack open our hearts and let other people come into our hearts. This is absolutely essential. There is no way around it. We must open our hearts to one another so that Jesus can come in and our brothers and sisters can come in. “The Kingdom of God is neither here nor there,” Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” If you really want the Kingdom of God, it’s not just about believing the right things or going to a meeting. “The Kingdom of God is neither here nor there; it’s within you.” This means if I want the Kingdom of God, I have to get inside of you and you have to get inside of me. That’s where the Kingdom is. This takes courage, humility and obedience. Amen? We must be mashed potatoes or maize, not separate. We must be one hundred mothers, sisters, and brothers—not just one hundred good friends or acquaintances.

If we will begin to live this way more and more every day together...if we will get out of our homes and get into people’s hearts and lives and welcome them into our hearts and lives, then we will see a Church that the gates of hell will not prevail against any longer! We won’t need all the artificial divisions anymore of Baptist, Pentecostal, or Nazarene. We won’t need division anymore because Jesus will fill us! We will see the Glory of God descend into our lives in a wonderful way. We won’t need all these labels anymore. Now people will be filled with the Holy Spirit—all of them, and we will be immersed together in Christ.

We’ve seen these barriers broken down in many places. The Church that we are a part of has people from many different backgrounds that have put those backgrounds aside because we have fallen in love with Jesus, together, and we are helping each other grow to be like Him every day. Have that vision for your city. Jesus wants His people to be ONE. We won’t become one because we decide to throw away our doctrines. We will only become one when we decide to throw away our sins. Not everyone WANTS this—but YOU can live or even die for it!

A Kingdom Disarmed?

Suppose there were two kings—a good king and an evil king. The good king was much more powerful than the evil king. The army of the good king had weapons that could defeat the evil king. These weapons were extremely powerful. The evil king knew he could not stand against the good king. So the evil king called a meeting of his generals.

He said, “I have three plans. We cannot stand against these weapons, so let’s first convince the good king’s army that they do not need to practice with their weapons. Let’s have them just meet together and talk about their weapons. Their leaders can talk about how wonderful the weapons are. They will feel good about the weapons, but they will forget how to use them.”

“Here is my second plan. We will divide the good king’s army. We will sow seeds of dissension among them. So then, instead of one army, we will have one hundred little groups. They will not know how to fight together. We will divide them and defeat them.”

“And here is my third plan. We will convince the good king’s army that they should let anyone join their army. We will tell them that a big army is glorious and that anyone who is willing to put on a uniform can join. We will secretly send some of our soldiers to join their army. So, they have powerful weapons, but they won’t know how to use them. They will be divided against each other. And their army will be full of people who are loyal to me, their enemy.” In this way, the evil king was able to stand against the good king.

That is what has happened with the Church. The song is right, as we have just sung—the Blood of Jesus will never lose its power. The Word of Jesus will never lose its power. The Name of Jesus will never lose its power. Those are our weapons. Satan cannot stand against the Name, the Blood and the Word of Jesus. But the Church of Jesus has lost its power. Instead of being a priesthood of believers, we have become listeners or do-ers of programs and gimmicks. We have forgotten how to use the Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus and the Word of Jesus. We are satisfied with just getting together and listening to someone talk about those things. We are also divided against each other. There are hundreds of denominations, each with its own traditions. We let these divisions stand in our way so that we cannot join together and fight the enemy. We have also become impure. Many people in religious assemblies do not even know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They are confused. They think they know Jesus, but they are not even in the bucket, because they have never truly given their lives to Him.

A Testimony of Jesus’ Life

So, in all these ways the Church has lost its power. But Jesus said that the Church that He builds would be able to overcome the gates of hell. What we have been talking about today is the answer to this problem. If we build God’s way, we will be pure. Not because we are so good, but because many people are helping us each day. THIS is God’s Way. If we build this way, we will be unified. And if we build this way, each member will be using his gifts or her gifts for the good of the whole. We won’t just be listeners—we will be soldiers, and intimate Family. TRUE Family, according to Jesus in Mark 3:33-35. This is the way that the Church of Jesus can regain its power.

We rode here in a taxi this morning. The driver was saying, in pain, that Islam has been gaining much power in this country. Well, I personally don’t care who has the most money. I don’t care who has the greatest numbers. What I care about is that there will be a testimony of Jesus Christ on this planet. A testimony that is pure, that is strong, and that is powerful to defeat satan in the lives of men, women and children. That can only happen if the Church of Jesus regains its power. We must help each other. We must build our lives together, every day. If we will live this way, then the name of Jesus will be held in high respect and honor. People will begin saying to us, “Tell us about this Jesus that you know.” This is our destiny, if we will have the courage to build this way. Amen?

Take the Basket Off the Plant!

Hebrews 3 says that we must encourage one another every day. We must warn each other every day. We must help each other every day with our children, with our wives, with our jobs, in the fields, in the marketplace... helping each other every day! Hebrews 3 goes on to say that if we don’t do that, then two things will happen. We will become hard, and we will become deceived. If you have a cup of water and you pour it on soft ground, the soft ground soaks up the water. But if you pour that same water on this concrete, it rolls on the top. The ground is soft; the concrete is hard. Concrete is hard; it can’t receive. If we don’t live with each other every day as Hebrews 3 describes, we become hard. God’s Word, God’s Rain, God’s Water can’t get into our hearts; it can’t penetrate. Our heart has become too hard.

We were just in another city one hundred kilometers from here, near Lake Malawi. The ground by the lake is soft, because the water is always on it. Far from the lake, the ground that doesn’t get much rain is hard. We have to be in each other’s lives every day or we get hard. We can’t hear God. We can’t grow. If you put a plant under a basket, the plant will die. The plant needs sunshine. Water is not enough and fertilizer is not enough. The plant needs light. Just like us! Reading our Bibles is not enough. Praying by ourselves is not enough. Attending a meeting on a Sunday is not enough. Like a plant under a basket, we can die. We need Light. Together we live this way. We provide Light for each other. Without that Light, we die. Without the Light of each other in our lives every day, we become hard.

The second thing that happens is that we become deceived. That means we don’t know we are hard. We are deceived. We think we are soft, but we are hard. We like to sing and we like Bible stories. We might even like to speak a lot about Jesus. But we are hard and we don’t know it, because brothers weren’t helping us to be soft every day. This is very dangerous! If a person is blind, but he thinks he is a good driver for a bus, he is deceived. You wouldn’t get on his bus, right?! That is dangerous! Scary!

In the same way, we can become deceived. Without the light of God’s people in our lives every day, not only will we be hard, we will be deceived. We won’t see the part in us that is not like Jesus. Our minds will be deceived. This is a bad place to be. God’s Light can’t get in, and the bad stuff can’t get out. We won’t even know the bad stuff is there, because we are deceived. If you haven’t been living every day with each other the way the Bible describes, then you are hard and deceived. That’s what the Bible says. God does not lie. Everyone who is not building daily with other people, with the Word of God, becomes hard and deceived. But there is hope! If we will admonish and encourage each other daily, our hearts will soften and we will hear God more clearly through our brothers and sisters, and even through the Scriptures when we read them. When we live God’s way, we soften. God’s Light can come in. God’s Rain can come in and finish filling us, and get the bad air out. There is much hope if we live God’s way! There is no hope if we don’t live God’s way.

We have built the wrong way for many, many years. Most churches around the world are like plants under a basket. They may have heard good teaching, but they don’t have much Light in their lives. Many are dead, others are shriveled. We need to take the basket off the plant. One big way to do that is to be involved on a heart level with each other, to help each other, to encourage each other, to love each other—every day.

He is building a People of Power

He is building a People of Praise

They are walking along with God

And they’re growing by His Precious Name

Build Your Church, Lord,

Make us one, Lord,

In the Kingdom of Your Son

Build Your Church, Lord,

Make us one, Lord,

In the Kingdom of Your Son.

Take the Journey

The Bible is 100% true all the way through. It is about Jesus and His followers. These are Stories of how they hurt and how they learned in their experiences with God. We can definitely learn from their stories, but we can also learn the same way they did: by facing God together in our daily lives. In that sense, we too are “living letters.” All the reading in the world could never change us the way the together-experience of Life can change us. Deep things we want to know never get all the way down into our hearts when they’re just read from paper. As we work things out together every day, Jesus teaches us the deep lessons of life that we could never learn from all the Bible study in the world, though these truths are in everyone’s Bible. “The pillar and foundation of Truth is the ekklesia—the church.” “The LIFE becomes the Light of men.”

Life was not meant to be like a grammar school where we learn ideas and then believe a certain list or “creed” of things. Instead, God has called us to become the same men and women of God as those who went before us—connected to the same God that they were—deeply in love with the same Jesus that they were. In order to do that, we not only need to know what they knew, but we need to feel what they felt. In order to feel what they felt, God has to take us on a Journey similar to theirs. So we take that journey in applying the Word of God together to our lives. We take that journey with tears in our eyes, with our weaknesses and our strengths, loving each other, and helping one another—in the bad times and the good times—with our eyes on our Hope, our Messiah. We are always moving forward, trusting that God will be our provider, helping us as we stay together.

Peter denied Jesus after walking with Him for three years, but when he heard the rooster crow, it broke his heart. And immediately he was back with his brother John. It is the same with us. There are times when we will do bad things and times when we will do good things. But whatever we do, we should do it together with our eyes together on Jesus and let Him make us deeper and deeper and more and more dependent on Him as the days go by. “The Life becomes the Light of men.” We must learn much about Jesus by living together and helping each other. God, help us to open our eyes.

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  Being Filled With the Spirit, Together!