REVIEW
 
While we are going to continue looking at the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives over the next several months, today, I believe we are concluding our first series entitled “Communion of the Holy Spirit.” So, let’s review some of things we’ve learned in the first five parts of this teaching: 
 
We’ve used Second Corinthians 13:14 as our golden text for this series, as the apostle Paul was praying for his spiritual children—the Church of Corinth. And we saw that this was likely his last words to them. Therefore, this passage of Scripture holds super important truths, that not just Paul, but God Himself desires for us all to walk in.   
 
Again, the apostle Paul prayed-- “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (Second Corinthians 13:14).
 
So, we have seen that just as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father are critical things for us to walk in as believers, likewise the communion of the Holy Spirit is just as important. Yes, all three of these things—grace, love and communion—work together and are of equal importance just as the Trinity works together and all three members of the Godhead are of equal importance with one another. Yes, if the Lord Jesus is worthy to be praised and God the Father is worthy of all glory, then the Holy Spirit deserves some attention too. Therefore, if we know that both grace and love are important, then we ought to know that communion with the Holy Spirit is just as important.  
 
And one point the Lord has been hammering into us is that one vital part to enjoying this communion with the Holy Spirit is knowing that just as God the Father and the God the Son are individuals with real personalities, likewise the Holy Spirit is a person too. Therefore, we learned that the Holy Spirit is not a goose bump—because you cannot have fellowship with a goose bump! Nor is He a cloud, a vapor, or a feeling! Yet if you asked certain believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is exactly how they see Him. They relate to Him through these physical manifestations that He gives us—such as the goose bumps they feel, the cloud of glory they see, or the emotions they experience. But the truth is this: He is a real person with a personality and emotions.
 
And we have looked at some of these emotional, personality traits that He possesses such as His ability to be grieved (see Ephesians 4:30), similarly to how a betrayed spouse who has been hurt, wounded, betrayed, misled, lied to, and abused can feel because He is our partner and He hurts when we are unfaithful to Him. On top of that, we saw in James 4:5 that the “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?” And what we learned from that is that the Spirit that has come to settle down, make His home and permanently dwell in us, is bent with an all-consuming, ever-growing, excessive, passionate desire to possess us totally, and is envious and filled with jealousy toward anything or anyone who tries to take His place.
 
So, through having a personality, the Holy Spirit has the capability of being angry or sad. He is capable of being grieved or excited. Remember, He is the One who yields the fruit of the Spirit in us. Therefore, He is love, peace, joy, etc. In short, He is a Divine Person with a Divine Personality that we can and should have communion and fellowship with!
 
Therefore, I gave you a quote from the late Dr. R.A. Torrey who once said, “If the Holy Spirit is a divine person and we know it not, we are robbing a divine Being of the love and adoration which are due Him. It is of the highest practical importance whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we, in our ignorance and weakness, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal Being who is to get hold of us and use us...”
  
Church, it is time for us to recognize the latter—that He is indeed a Person who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, desiring to use us. And when we decide to invite Him into all of the rooms of our life and give this perfect Gentleman full access, He will then be able to give us a good house-cleaning and fill us up with the glory of God!
 
Now what we have spent most of our time doing in this series is looking at what this word “communion” means. So, let’s quickly go back through the various definitions and explanations that we have studied of this word:

1. Communion— We looked at the English word itself and saw what it means in order to get a better understanding of what the communion of the Holy Spirit is. So, we saw that as communion is the word used to describe the Lord’s Supper, it describes a uniting of two things or people together. Yes, it is a joining together of two parties to where they identify with one another and become one. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit could describe “the intimacy of the Holy Spirit.”
2. Common— We also looked back at the root word for the Greek word koinonia that is used in Second Corinthians 13:14 and saw that it means “common.” So, having communion with the Holy Spirit is us having something in common with Him. In other words, we have something in common with Him and share a common goal. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the similarity of the Holy Spirit.”
3. Fellowship— We also noted that the Greek word Paul used (koinonia) has several meanings. And we saw that in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, and likely is the best translation of this word. And we saw how enjoying “fellowship” with someone describes more than just having a relationship with them. It is something deeper, closer, and more intimate. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
4. Partnership— We then saw how the word koinonia can also be translated “partnership,” being used that way in Luke 5:10 to describe Peter’s “partners” in his fishing business. So, we saw how this word can mean being co-laborers or co-owners with someone. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the partnership of the Holy Spirit.”
5. Sharing— Then last time, we saw how the word koinonia is oftentimes translated as “sharing”—specifically as it pertains to the sharing of money and other material things. So, we saw how the Holy Spirit is also here to “share” and “give” to us when we feel spiritually bankrupt or we are simply at a loss. Yes, the Holy Spirit is there to “contribute” to our spiritual bank account no matter what the need is. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit can also describe “the contribution of the Holy Spirit.”  

 
So, there is obviously a lot to this “communion” that we have available to us with the Holy Spirit. He is there to join together with us to help us accomplish a common goal, and we can enjoy His fellowship, partnership, and all that He shares with us. Praise God, that is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God!
 
You see, the Holy Spirit is our helper, church! And when we begin to see Him as such and acknowledge this wonderful resource that the Lord has deposited into us, we will be “enriched” to be the kind of witnesses that the Lord has called us to be. One of the keys to us having an impact on the lives of others is forgiveness. Our forgiveness of others unlocks the Lord’s hands to move in their lives. And although forgiving others sets us free, it is even more important to set free the one we are forgiving than it is for us to be set free. Maybe the reason some haven't changed is because we have not forgiven them and released them to change. Amen.
 
THE EARLY CHURCH & THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
And that leads me to the point I have been wanting us to move into—How the Early Church walked in this communion with the Holy Spirit and the effect that they had on their known world at that time!
 
Now, if you recall, we have started in Acts chapter one looking at how the Lord spent 40 days after His resurrection, teaching His disciples things that pertained to the kingdom of God. And one thing that Dr. Luke specifically lays out to us that He taught them was about the Holy Spirit. So, let’s begin today by turning back over to Acts chapter one, and review very quickly what Jesus said to them.
 
Notice again that in Acts 1:1-2 that Luke said that Jesus did the things that He did and taught the things He taught “through the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, even He walked in the communion of the Holy Spirit—doing all of the mighty works that He did through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We went into some detail of that truth earlier in this series.
 
Then we saw how Jesus said in Acts 1:4 that He reminded His disciples how He had taught them about HIM. So, we looked at some of these verses and found that in just 9 verses contained in John chapters 14-16, He referred to the Holy Spirit with a personal pronoun 22 times! Therefore, when most of our translations say, “‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me.’” we saw how it would better be translated “Whom” and not “which.”
 
Then in verse 5, Jesus went on to tell His disciples how they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit like John had baptized in water not many days from then. Now we will get more into this in the future, but it is important for us realize that being baptized with the Holy Spirit is for all of the Lord’s disciples. As important as being baptized in water is, the baptism in the Holy Spirit yields its own wonderful benefits in our lives—and one of those benefits is found in the following verses.
 
But we saw how like so many in the church today, Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it here. They immediately transitioned to the natural side of things by asking Him if this was the time that he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel (see verse 6). But Jesus turned it back around to what was important when He said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (see verses 7-8). Let me paraphrase what I believe Jesus was saying here— “Times and seasons are not to be your concern. That is God’s sphere of authority, not yours. What is important, however, is that you understand what is in your control—and that is that you receive and walk in this power that the Holy Spirit will endow you with. For this is what enables you to be the kind of witnesses I need no matter what time or season you are living in.”
 
You see, church, so many people in the church today like to get into things like dispensationalism, end time events, etc.—trying to figure out when this is going to happen, what that is going to look like, etc. But what the Lord was communicating to His disciples, both yesterday and today, is that our focus needs to be on being quality witnesses for Him no matter what happens in the world around us. In other words, our attention doesn’t need to solely be on being able to tell what is going to happen; our attention needs to be primarily on being ready for whatever happens. Amen?
 
In fact, we see this illustrated in just a few verses when Jesus was supernaturally taken up and received into a cloud after He had spoken these very words to them. We are told that as the disciples continued to look steadfastly into the heavens that what were obviously two angels stood by them, asking them, “Why are you guys gazing up into heaven? The same way Jesus was taken up is the same way He will return” (see verses 9-11)
 
You see, too often believers put their attention on things that do no good. For example, there are those who keep looking for supernatural things that happened in the past (like His disciples were doing here) and become ineffective in the present. Others turn their attention to the heavens, only looking for His soon return, and are useless in the world we live in today. Saints, we certainly need to be cognizant of the fact that He is coming back soon and very soon, but not at the risk of taking our hand off the plow and seeking first the kingdom of God in our everyday life.
 
We need to be His witnesses in the time and season that we are presently living in, church! And the only way we can be effective witnesses for the Lord is by receiving this communion with the Holy Spirit! Now it is important to note here that it is when the power comes that we are enabled to be His witnesses. I bring this up because, how many Christians are trying to be witnesses for the Lord without ever receiving the power (or, ability) of the Lord? No, Jesus did not say that when we receive the Holy Spirit we will “go witnessing;” He said we will be witnesses! You see, witnessing is not just something you do; a witness is something you are. It is not just about going door to door, handing out tracks. Witnessing is testifying to something you have both seen and experienced. And the tragedy is when we go around trying to tell people about a Jesus that we’ve never experienced. Church, we need to see Him! We need to experience Him! We need to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives (see Philippians 3:10) so that we can be a true witness that Jesus is alive and still doing miracles in the earth today! When people see His goodness in and through us, it will validate what we are saying as His witnesses. That is what it means to be His witnesses! Amen!
 
And notice where Jesus went on to say that they would be His witnesses in the second half of verse 8: “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
 
Notice that the first place that Jesus mentioned for His Jewish disciples to begin was in the city where they were currently living—Jerusalem. Then He told them in all of Judea and Samaria, which was the surrounding country and region. And, last but not least, He included all of the earth so that they were not confused about His intention to preach the gospel to everyone everywhere.
 
But I believe this shows us a practical model for witnessing: We start where we are at—that being with our neighbors, in our city, or where we are at in our hearts. Then we move on to the next sphere of influences in our lives (i.e. our Judea’s and Samaria’s). And finally, we aspire to witness for Him even to the ends of the earth.
 
My point is this: The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us Christ’s witnesses! But, you know, many believers are terrified of witnessing. And why? One of the main reasons is because they are afraid they will not know what to say, but this is why we were given the Holy Spirit! He is in us to help us through those occasions where we are witnessing to an unbeliever. You see, He knows that person inside and out. He knows everything about them. So, all we have to do is approach the person when the Holy Spirit leads us to and then listen with the ear of our heart to how the Holy Spirit coaches us through it. He will give us creative examples to minister to them. He will bring Scriptures to our remembrance. He will prompt us when to listen and when to speak. He will guide us through the whole process if we will just depend on Him. I like to say that the Holy Spirit is witnessing made fun 😊! He will make us look good in witnessing (and in life in general) if we will just heed His instruction and learn to work together with Him. Amen.
 
But as one considers what happened beginning in Acts chapter two, they will see that His disciples got it! They truly became the witnesses God had called them be and turned their world “upside down” (Acts 17:6).
 
So now, I would like to conclude this series by us beginning to look through the rest of the Book of Acts and seeing how the Early Church walked in this communion with the Holy Spirit. 
 
So, I have made the following point already, but I feel it needs to be said again that most of our Bibles title this Book incorrectly— calling it “The Acts of the Apostles.” And the reason I believe that this is a misleading title is because it was not just apostles who did the things we see described in the Book of Acts. There were deacons, pastors, evangelists, and even children who were playing a part in turning the world “right-side up.” Therefore, I believe a more accurate title of this Book would be— “The Acts of the Holy Ghost through His Church.”
 
So then, seeing how the “Acts of the Holy Ghost through the Lord’s Church” illustrates to us not only what the Early Church did but how they did it, I want us to go through its various references to the Holy Spirit. Through it, we will see how they were a body of believers who were completely dependent on their communion with the Holy Spirit. Even though they did not have the privilege you and I do today of having the complete Word of God as through these 28 chapters, the New Testament had not even been written yet. Therefore, they were completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach and instruct them. Now through understanding this, compare the results of the early church with the results of the church today. It would be an understatement to say that they had more of an impact on their world than we are having on ours today. Amen?  It is for this reason that I believe the modern-day Church is not nearly as effective as the early, First Century Church was. Yes, it is because of the church of today’s lack of respect for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
 
THE EARLY CHURCH’S INITIATION
 
So, let’s begin this week going through some these examples:
 
Beginning in chapter two, we see them receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit when Pentecost had fully come. And then we see Peter standing before the people and preaching the good news of Jesus Christ and explaining to them about this outpouring of the Spirit that they were witnessing. So, this chapter is how all of these “Acts” began—through the Spirit coming upon all of those gathered together in the upper room! And that is how it will begin with us today too. We must receive this baptism in the Holy Spirit in order to see the rest of these “Acts of the Holy Ghost” in our lives.
 
Then in chapter three, we have the account of when Peter and John healed the man at the Beautiful Gate through the power of the Holy Spirit—for when Peter had this lame man look at him, he said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you,” and then he commanded him to rise up and walk. Now what Peter was basically saying here was— “I left my wallet at the house, but I have something else (more accurately, Someone else) that I’d like to give you instead!” Now if he hadn’t received the Holy Spirit in the previous chapter, he wouldn’t have had anything to give this man. But because He had the Power, he could give the power! And then of course Peter used that as an opportunity yet again to preach Jesus to the people that had seen this miracle.
 
Then chapter four basically describes another “dose” of the Holy Ghost as we see Peter and John’s arrest and addressing the Sanhedrin, them being warned not to preach in Jesus’ name any longer. It was at this time that we saw Peter, first, being filled with the Holy Spirit before he began speaking to Israel’s rulers and elders. And then we see the church’s prayer for boldness after they gathered together after Peter and John’s release, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit yet again. This teaches us that just as they needed to be refilled even after they had received their initial infilling of the Holy Spirit, likewise we will need to stay full of Him ourselves.
 
Then notice how after they were all filled with the Spirit (again), we see their supernatural grace to have all things in common (see verses 32-37). So, again, a product of the Spirit filled life is unity, commonality, etc. No, not “socialism”; but “Spiritism.” Therefore, when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, strife, contention, disunity with our spouses, our children, our church family, etc., will not be the fruit. Unity will be. Now, of course, the ungodly aren’t going to like it and will persecute us even further, but that is the difference in being in fellowship with one another. The reason we don’t share that is because we are full of ourselves instead of full of the Spirit. Amen?
 
So then, that brings us to chapter five, where we begin by seeing Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy Spirit by lying to Peter. Now I know we have mentioned this already, but it bears repeating that Peter was obviously walking in some serious communion with the Holy Spirit because this was a “word of knowledge” he was operating in through the Spirit. And by virtue of the fact that Peter equated them lying to him as them lying to the Holy Spirit shows me that he indeed saw he and the Holy Spirit as a team. In essence, he was saying, “Oh yeah, you think you are just lying to me, but you are also lying to the One who lives within me!” So, there is an obvious fellowship, communion, partnership going on here!
 
And then after everyone who was being brought to the apostles were being healed, the high priest and sect of the Sadducees had the apostles arrested, but after an angel came and set them free, they went back into the Temple and began preaching the words of this life. And when they went and arrested them again and brought them on trial, Peter said, “And we are His witnesses to these things (i.e. His crucifixion and resurrection), and so also is the Holy Spirit who God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)
 
So, here Peter is showing us that we are not the only witnesses that the Lord has on the earth; the Holy Spirit is also His witness—that is, He testifies of Jesus, glorifying Him in all things. And one of the greatest ways He does this is by the signs, wonders and miracles that He produces through Christ’s church. This is how He gives witness to the Lord’s resurrection—by exhibiting the same power in and through you and I today! So, Peter was basically saying here— “Yeah, we are doing our part in being Christ’s witnesses, but we are working together with the Holy Spirit who is doing His part in bearing witness of Christ’s resurrection!” Amen!
 
A GOOD REPUTATION, FULL OF THE SPIRIT AND WISDOM
 
For example, in the very next chapter, we see a man named Stephen being chosen to become one who would help handle the operational things in the church. Now in their day, this is what a deacon was—simply a servant. In the church today, a deacon is given perhaps a little more responsibility in areas, but that is neither here nor there. My point is that the apostles recognized the need to have others handle some of these operational things.
 
However, their criteria for selecting those to help in these “waiting on tables” issues was that they have a “good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (see Acts 6:3). Now in the church today, we don’t have many leaders who hold to this standard, much less with those who serve within our churches.
 
But what this should encourage us all with is that you don’t have to be called to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, or a pastor to possess these virtues! Amen! Every believer can have a “good reputation,” can be “full of the Holy Spirit,” and also be full of “wisdom” just like these seven were! Now it is not that God chose to endow these seven men with these virtues and everyone else God passed over. No, the fact is, these guys somehow, someway chose the things they were walking in.
 
For example, the first thing that the Holy Spirit inspired them to seek out among the disciples was that they have a “good reputation.” The word that is used here simply describes one who bears witness or has a testimony. In other words, this person must simply be a good, solid witness for the things of God. And it’s significant that this was the first thing they mentioned looking for in these men, even before the fact that they needed to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Why is this important? It is because if you do not have character, integrity and are not a good witness of the Lord in your everyday affairs, then your spiritual giftings and the wisdom you have accumulated are not going to be readily received. Yes, your good name is the first thing that qualifies you to be the Lord’s servant.
 
But most people only think one’s good reputation is what qualifies one for serving in the church, but obviously the apostles thought differently. They believed one must also be full of the Spirit and the wisdom that descend from above!
 
Now I want you to notice that they were not simply looking for believers who had been baptized in the Holy Spirit sometime in the past. No, they were looking for believers who currently were full of the Holy Spirit. There is a big difference in those two things.
 
You see, the church today tends to put the emphasis on whether you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit or not; but the New Testament puts the emphasis on whether you are full of the Spirit right now in the present moment.
 
Now this requires some explanation because most of us “charismaniacs” think that once we got Him, we got Him! And while that is true to a certain extent; there is another side to it that we need to understand. You see, there is a difference between you having the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit having you. The question is: Is He currently filling your body? Is He in control of your senses? Does He have room in your mind? All of these things are the fruit of being “Spirit-filled.”
 
You know, I have comically heard it put this way: A preacher steals the money from the church and runs off with the secretary of the church (That would be a double foul here😊), and people will say, “I just can’t understand that! He was Spirit-filled!” Well, not that day he wasn’t, and probably not a few days before that. You just don’t do things like that when you are Spirit-filled—again, not just when you have been Spirit-filled a long time ago in a galaxy far-far away, but when you are right now full of the Spirit.
 
How many of you have been to a church that was “full” of a lot of so-called “Spirit filled” people and you felt like you experienced a spiritual hornet’s nest and a brood of vipers? I’m sure, many of us have. And unfortunately, this has brought a reproach to the things of the Spirit. But this is when we must understand that just because somebody dances, shouts, and speaks in tongues, doesn’t mean that they are fully yielding to the Holy Spirit on the inside of them.
 
But again, even if your ministry is “waiting on tables,” you have the capability to have a good reputation, to be full of the wisdom of God, and to be full of the mighty Holy Spirit. No, it is not just those in the “ministry” that need these virtues in their life; we all are a part of this ministry together and need to first have a good reputation, a secondarily be full of the Holy Spirit of God and the wisdom of God.   
 
THE FRUIT OF BEING FILLED
 
So, let’s continue by looking at the life of this man named Stephen, who obviously lived a Spirit-filled life:
 
Then, in verse 5, after the whole multitude agreed with the apostle’s idea to select these “deacons,” they chose seven men, one of them being Stephen who was said to be not just full of the Holy Spirit, but full of faith too!
 
Now it is important to see that apparently one can be Spirit-filled and not be faith-filled—for none of the other six were said to be “full of faith.” Now what this indicates is that Stephen, on top of being full of the Holy Spirit was also full of the Word. Someone might say, “Wait a minute, Pastor! This verse said he was full of faith, not full of the Word.” Yeah well, how does one become full of faith? By hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), amen? So, it is to be assumed that if Stephen was full of faith, then he must have also been full of the Word—and this becomes rather obvious as you continue reading through Acts chapter 7. His heart was certainly filled with God’s Word!
 
So, we again see a healthy balance in the life of a believer—living in the balance of being Spirit-filled while also being full of the faith which comes through God’s Word.
 
Then, beginning in verse 8, we start to see into the life of this deacon Stephen as he, being full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then in verse 10 we see how those who came to dispute with him were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Notice that they were not able to resist not only the wisdom that he possessed, but also the Spirit by which he spoke—showing us that when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, that we can actually experience Him speaking through us.
 
I don’t know about you, but I have certainly experienced this—generally when I have stood in front of groups of people. It seems as though the Holy Spirit takes over and I am outside of myself listening in to what is coming out of my mouth. Now that is not just something reserved for your pastor. It should be the fruit of every Spirit-filled believer when we might be sharing one on one with someone. My point is that we all should be so full of the Spirit that our words confound those who oppose us. Like Jesus saying, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” or “He who is without sin throw the first stone.” This is both the wisdom and the Spirit we are all capable of speaking by! Amen!
 
Then when they brought Stephen before the council, God’s Word says that they looked at him and he had the face of an angel (vs. 15). Now that does not mean that he had a baby face and was clean-shaven. This is a reference to the Spirit that he was full of! So, what this means is that being full of the Holy Spirit will oftentimes change our countenance. He’ll make you better looking, praise God! But you know, people labor over all kinds of physical things to look better. I’m of the persuasion that the best form of “make-up” is the Holy Spirit! Amen! 
 
Then for 52 verses in Acts chapter 7, Stephen expounded upon the Word of God straight from his heart—which is another effect that being full of the Holy Spirit has on us, having a great knowledge and memory of God’s Word.  
 
Then finally, in Acts 7:55-56, after the council listened to Stephen’s long teaching and then his bold rebuke, they became very angry and gnashed at him with their teeth. Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So, by the wording here, we see that Luke was saying here that being full of the Holy Spirit is what enabled Stephen to perceive the spiritual realm. You see, many times we, in our carnality, have no perception of the spiritual realm whatsoever, but God wants us to be so full of His Spirit that we are more conscious of the spiritual realm than this physical realm.
 
So, all of these things point towards the fruit of a Spirit-filled life of communion between us and him: We will be bolder to both speak and share what God has given us. We will operate in union with Him—bearing witness along with Him. Our words will change. Our countenance will change. Our perspective will change. Yes, like King Saul did when the Holy Spirit came upon him, we will be changed into another man (see First Samuel 10:6)!
 
 
THE SPIRIT IN SAMARIA
 
So, let’s move on and look at some more of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Early Church.
 
As we move on to Acts chapter 8, we see how Saul then became the church’s greatest threat, being the one who consented to Stephen’s death. But as the church was scattered everywhere through Saul’s persecution, another one of those deacons named Philip began preaching the Word and performing signs and wonders, which teaches us an important lesson:
 
The beauty of the communion of the Holy Spirit, is that we are not man-dependent. Sure, Stephen’s death might have seemed to leave a big void in the Church because of the awesome reputation he had, the Word that He knew, and the signs and wonders he performed, but God raised up another one of those deacons to continue preaching Christ and operating in the supernatural. So, what does this teach us? It shows us that we should not put our trust in flesh and blood. Great men and women of God come and they go. And while we honor the gifts He gives us in these people, the Holy Spirit who anointed them to be the blessing they were is still here, and He can raise up another to take their place. Amen! So, I say this to say that we are not to look to man, but to the One who anoints them.
 
So, we see this man Philip going down to Samaria and spreading the good news in both word and deed, and he baptized many of them in water. So it was, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard of all of the conversions Philip was having, Peter and John decided to come and pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit.
 
Now this creates an issue with some of the belief systems out there that one receives all of the Holy Spirit that they need when they are saved, because these Samaritans were water baptized which shows that they were born again already. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that occurs after one is saved, not automatically as a result of one being saved.
 
So, after they preached the gospel in many villages in Samaria, we move on to the next event in Philip’s ministry where he shared with the Ethiopian Eunuch: Now we see how an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip in verse 26 to go south to a road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, this being a deserted place. This shows us the ministry of angels at work in our new covenant, which we should certainly be open to.
 
You see, Philip evidently needed these specific directions—for to go to a deserted place might seem a little strange and easily dismissed if these instructions had come in the more regular way that God speaks to us.
 
So, to Philips credit, “he arose and went” (vs. 27), and when he came to this road, he saw the Ethiopian Eunuch who just happened to be reading the Book of Isaiah. Then notice what happened… Verse 29 says, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake the chariot.’” That translation is somewhat difficult to understand, but basically what Philip was told to do was to “approach the chariot and be glued to it.” But my point is, who told him to do it? The Spirit said this to Him. We will get back into this in a moment, but first I want us to see what else happened in this story…
 
So, we know the rest of the story: Philips comes alongside of his chariot and hears him reading out of the Book of Isaiah. So, he begins a dialogue with him which results in his salvation and being baptized. Then notice how after Philip baptizes him and they came out of the water that the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away (the same terminology used in First Thessalonians 4:17 of the “rapturing” of the church at Christ’s Second Coming)—describing a snatching away of an individual with sudden force. So, here we see another potential ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
 
Now this does not mean that we need to go around “believing God” to start translating us physically from one place to another—for we don’t see any indication of Philip expecting this to happen. What it does mean, however, is that we need to certainly be open to this happening in our lives as the Spirit wills. And I believe that one of the ways that we can open ourselves up even further to this happening is by doing the things Philip was doing.
 
You see, Philip was busy! This guy would go anywhere the Lord told him to and do anything He told him to do. So, when we are about our Father’s business and are traveling from here to there, preaching the gospel and serving the Lord, we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Spirit of God giving us a little extra grace and helping us be even more productive. Never forget this one thing: If you and I are good stewards of the time we currently have, He will give us more of it (i.e. time)! And I believe that is exactly what the Holy Spirit was doing for Philip here—giving him more time in the cities from Azotus to Caesarea (see vs. 40).
 
But again, how did this supernatural experience come about? It was by Philip being sensitive to the direction God had given him and him being willing to work together with the Holy Spirit. Yes, when the Holy Spirit spoke to him, he obeyed. Amen.
 
THUS SAITH THE SPIRIT
 
In fact, we see this in other places in the Book of Acts. For example, if you look ahead to Acts chapter 10, you will find the story of God pouring out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius’ household in Caesarea. And do you remember what happened after God gave Peter the vision and he was sitting there thinking about what God had just communicated to him? Acts 10:19-20 says that as he thought about the vision, “the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing.’” So again, we see the Holy Spirit speaking directly to God’s children throughout the Book of Acts. 
 
Now, you know, when we hear the voice of God—receiving statements like this in our hearts—we need to understand who it is that we are hearing. In this case, it was the Holy Spirit. You see, I believe when we hear the voice of God (other than a booming voice from the heavens) that what we are hearing is the voice of the Holy Spirit—for He is the Member of the Godhead living within us. Amen! In fact, how did Luke know to say that it was the Holy Spirit who told Philip this? Why didn’t he say, “God said” or “The Lord Jesus said”? I believe it was because he apparently knew that this was not some audible voice from the heavens, but they were words that originated from within Philip.      
 
You see, church, the Holy Spirit desires to speak to us just like He did to Philip here—giving us specific directions and instructions. And the issue is not with Him speaking, but with us hearing. It is like with the example I’ve heard Pastor Robert use before of the man who wanted to test his wife and see how well she listened to him and so he, from the other room, asked his wife, who was in the kitchen, what was for dinner from the other room. So, when he didn’t hear her answer, he walked to just outside the kitchen and asked again. No answer. So then he came inside the kitchen and asked her again what was for dinner. Then his wife answered, “For the third time, chicken!” What is the moral of that story? It wasn’t the wife speaking that was the problem; it was his hearing that was broken.
 
Likewise, the problem is not with the Holy Spirit speaking. He is always desirous to speak to us and, in fact, is always speaking to us. So, it is not His transmitter that is broken; it is our receiver than needs fine tuning. Therefore, we ought not be praying— “Lord, please speak to me!” Our prayer ought to be— “Lord, help me to hear you speaking to me!”
 
So, I believe He wants to grant that petition right now: Let’s first look at Acts chapter 13 where I believe we can find one tremendous key to increasing our sensitivity to hearing His voice…
 
In this example we are looking at, we see Paul & Barnabas being set apart and appointed to the work God had called them to. Well, what we see in this is that it was the Holy Spirit who said to separate them for the work to which He had called them. But what was this group of men doing that initiated the Spirit saying this? Acts 13:2 says, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said…” So, I believe it was the fact they were both fasting and ministering to the Lord that positioned them to hearing the Spirit saying this to them. Therefore, learning to praise, worship and thank the Lord—ministering to Him through these things—and also fasting was what initiated this direction from the Holy Spirit.
 
Now how He said this, we are not sure, but I would venture to say it was through the prophets who were present. And that leads me to my next point…
 
I believe one of the biggest hindrances we have to hearing the Holy Spirit is in our belief system of how he speaks to us. You see, when we see Scriptures like these that tell us “the Spirit said,” we tend to look for his voice in a carnal fashion—meaning, we look for the words, sentences, and even paragraphs like we hear when speaking with one another. And while I certainly believe that the Holy Spirit speaks like this too—meaning, He we can hear His voice like Philip & Peter did in these examples—there are other ways in which He speaks to us that are much more subtle and can be missed if we are ignorant of these things. Let me give you some examples here in Acts:
 
In Acts 11:28 we see how a Prophet named Agabus, who came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, “showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world.” In other words, this prophet gave a word by the Holy Spirit which prepared the churches for this famine that was coming. We see more warnings like this from the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 21 when Paul was warned not to go to Jerusalem through the Spirit by some disciples in Tyre (Acts 21:4). In fact, we see Paul saying earlier in Acts 20:23 that the Holy Spirit was testifying in every city that he went, that chains and tribulations awaited him in Jerusalem. Then, just a few verses later in Acts chapter 21, that same prophet Agabus gave Paul a word in Caesarea that the Jews would deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (Acts 21:11). And in this example, we are told that when he prophesied this over Paul, he began by saying, “Thus says the Holy Spirit…”        
 
Saints, it is time that we begin to understand prophecy from a New Testament perspective, and not the Old: It is no longer God on the outside speaking from heaven saying, “Thus saith the LORD…” Now it is the Lord speaking from the inside of the hearts of men saying, “Thus saith the SPIRIT…”! Praise God! And He is still speaking today through the mighty Holy Spirit! He is still raising up prophets who are governed and inspired by the Holy Spirit, giving us warnings, directions, etc.
 
However, this is not the only way He speaks. Sure, the Holy Spirit will communicate words directly to us to where we hear His voice. Sure, the Holy Spirit will anoint men and women to prophecy in His name. But the Holy Spirit’s predominant way of communicating with us is through what I would call the inward witness. Let me show you a few examples of this in the Book of Acts:
 
IT SEEMED GOOD
 
In Acts chapter 15, we see that there was a big conflict that arose in the Church over the issue of circumcision. And after the council determined that the Gentiles should not be required to keep the law and become circumcised, they wrote a letter to the Gentile churches. And in this letter, they said something that I believe it very critical for us to understand. They said in verse 25 that it seemed good to them to send certain chosen men to them with Barnabas & Paul. Then, in verse 28, they said that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit as well as to them. Therefore, verses 25 & 28 both say that they made two major decisions based on the fact that it simply just seemed good to them and to the Holy Ghost.
 
Therefore, their decision to send these chosen men to these Gentile churches came as a result of it seeming good to them. But their doctrinal decision to not impose the burdens of the law on them was made because it both seemed good to them and to the Holy Spirit.
 
Now back up to verse 22 because I want you to notice who these chosen men were. Of course, there was Barnabas and Paul, but we are told that they also sent Judas (i.e. Barsabas) and Silas. (Remember this name Silas because he is a significant part of this chapter).
 
Then down in verse 28, we are told--“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” So, they also concluded that their decision to send them this letter and not heap their convictions upon them was not just what seemed good to them, but it also seemed good to the Holy Spirit as well. Amen!
 
So I want you to get this point right here: The church leaders were “led by the Holy Spirit” to both send chosen men along with Barnabas and Paul and also to make an extremely important decision in the time of the early church. So how were they led? By what seemed good to them and what seemed good to the Holy Spirit!
 
Now after this group of men were sent to Antioch to deliver this message to their Gentile brethren, they stayed there for a time exhorting and strengthening the disciples (see verses 30-33). But, this is another important point: After these chosen men decided to return to Jerusalem, we are told that it “seemed good” (again) to Silas to remain there (verse 34). Now it is important to note that Paul and Barnabas also stayed because they had already been called to that area before returning to Jerusalem earlier in the chapter with the prior issue.
 
Now a situation happened beginning in verse 36 where a contention arose between Paul and Barnabas: The background to this contention was that Paul suggested that they depart and return to every city where they had preached and see how these churches were doing. So Barnabas agreed, but he wanted to bring John (called Mark) along with them. Now Paul did not want to bring Mark because of how he departed from them on a prior mission. Well, the contention became so intense that Barnabas took Mark and departed from Paul. This, of course, left Paul alone. Who was he going to minister side by side with now? You got it! Silas—the one who had stayed in the area just because it seemed like the right thing to do!
 
So, let’s back up for a second: Why was Silas even sent to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to begin with? Verses 22&25 tell us he was one that was chosen to go because it seemed good to the leadership. And why was he still in Antioch even when the others had returned? Verse 34 tells us that it was because it seemed good to Silas to remain there. Amen!
 
So, what was the ultimate fruit of all of these decisions? Silas was in the right place at the right time to get hooked up with the great apostle Paul and to find the opportunity of a lifetime to travel and minister alongside of him! And he was put on the path God willed for him because, first, his leadership was led by the Spirit of God and, second, he was led by the Spirit of God. And again, saints, both parties were simply led by it just seeming like the right thing to do. So, we could say it this way: Silas was in a good place, at a good time, because it just seemed good. That is so powerful to me!
 
WHEN IT SEEMS BAD
 
But it is to be understood that if the Holy Spirit will bear witness with us when it seems good to proceed with something that He will also bear witness with us when it seems bad to proceed.
 
We see this in Acts chapter sixteen before Paul received his vision of the Macedonian man imploring them to come help them. You see, Paul and Silas would have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time (even though they were doing something good) if they would not have been walking in this communion with the Holy Spirit because we see in Acts 16:6-7 that, although they had originally intended to go to first Asia and then Bithynia, that the Scriptures tell us that were both “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” and that “the Spirit did not permit them.”
 
Now a good question at this point would be this: How did they know that the Holy Spirit was “forbidding” them to go into Asia and that He was not “permitting” them to go to Bithynia? Well, perhaps He spoke to them, but I believe (and have personally experienced) that the primary way that He does this is through that witness I’m telling you about.
 
You see, when I try to plan something and there is just this awkward, uneasy feeling in my heart, I have learned to pay attention to it. (And I am not talking about in my head, but in my spirit). How many times have you just known on the inside that you need to not go there or do that, and you did it anyways, and then it created all kinds of problems? Well, that “seeming bad” that you sensed was likely the Holy Spirit on the inside of you “forbidding” or not “permitting” you to do and you hit that proverbial override button.
 
Now the way that the Holy Spirit bears witness is perceived differently by each one of us. I have heard these “red lights” that He gives us as being a loss of peace, a scratching feeling on the inside, etc. To me, it is just a matter of if something seems bad or seems good. And I act only on what I am picking up on in my heart. So, however you would describe that Holy Spirit witness on the inside of you, the bottom line is that the Holy Spirit who dwells in our spirit is there to bear witness with us on the various steps we take in this life. So, it is up to us to learn how to discern His leading—not relying on our own understanding, but relying on what seems good in our hearts. This is the predominant way that the Spirit will direct us in our everyday lives.  
 
Therefore, we can clearly see the Spirit speaks, that He leads us, and that He helps us. And when we begin to work together with Him by learning to listen to Him, follow His impressions, etc., we will be in position to see the fruit that we so desire! And we see this in Acts chapter 9. So, let’s conclude this series by looking at Acts 9:31…
 
THE BEST CHURCH GROWTH FORMULA
 
Then after we see Saul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9, we see in verse 31 how “the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” So, notice how they were multiplied as they walked in both the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
 
Now we will get more into this in the future, but this “comfort” that the Holy Spirit was to the Early Church is what the Lord Jesus said He would be—the One called alongside of us to help us. This word describes His encouragement, strengthening, and assistance. And this help from the Helper is one of the ways in which the Church grew—showing us that the best “church growth plan” includes for each of us to walk in the help of the Holy Spirit. Far too many Christians and churches try to build things and grow in their own strength. And as the Scriptures clearly teach us—"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (see Psalm 127:1)
 
However, if we walk in the strengthening, leadership, and compassion—the communion—of the Holy Spirit, growth will always be the by-product. For example, if a church like us walks in communion with Him, we will always grow in numbers. Likewise, if an individual believer walks in this communion with the Holy Spirit, they too will grow. The increase comes from God, saints, and the Holy Spirit is who is working in us to both will and to do for His own good pleasure! Amen!  

REVIEW
 
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.  
Second Corinthians 13:14
 
So, we have seen that just as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father are critical things for us to walk in as believers, likewise the communion of the Holy Spirit is just as important. Yes, all three of these things—grace, love and communion—work together and are of equal importance just as the Trinity works together and is of equal importance with one another. 
 
So, we have spent time in this series defining this word “communion.” The first thing we noted is that it comes from the Greek word koinonia. We saw that in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, likely being the best translation of this word. But then we looked at the English word that is used in this verse and saw what it means in order to get a better understanding of what the communion of the Holy Spirit is. So, we saw that as communion is the word used to describe the Lord’s Supper, it describes a uniting of two things or people together. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit could describe the “intimacy or union of the Holy Spirit.” Then we looked back at the root word for koinonia and saw that it means “common.” Therefore, having communion with the Holy Spirit is us having something in common with Him. In other words, we have something in common with Him and share a common goal.” Praise God, that is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God.
 
Therefore, we learned that the Holy Spirit is not a goose bump—because you cannot have fellowship with a goose bump! Nor is He a cloud, a vapor, or a feeling! Yet if you asked certain believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is exactly how they see Him. They relate to Him through these physical manifestations that He gives us—such as the goose bumps they feel, the cloud of glory they see, or the emotions they experience. But the truth is this: He is a person with a personality and emotions. The Holy Spirit is as much of a divine person as God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ because He is, in fact, the Third Person of the Godhead.   
 
Therefore, we ended a couple of weeks ago with a quote from the late Dr. R.A. Torrey who once said, “If the Holy Spirit is a divine person and we know it not, we are robbing a divine Being of the love and adoration which are due Him. It is of the highest practical importance whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we, in our ignorance and weakness, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal Being who is to get hold of us and use us...”
  
Church, it is time for us to recognize the latter—that He is indeed a Person who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, desiring to use us. And when we decide to invite Him into all of the rooms of our life and give this perfect Gentleman full access, it is then that we, like both the Head of the Church and Early Church itself, will turn our world “right-side up.” Amen!
 
Now last week, we looked further into His personality by looking at some of the emotions that Paul used to describe the Spirit of God:
 
First of all, we saw in James 4:5 that the “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?” And what we learned from that is that the Spirit that has come to settle down, make His home and permanently dwell in us, is bent with an all-consuming, ever-growing, excessive, passionate desire to possess us totally, and is envious and filled with jealousy toward anything or anyone who tries to take His place. Then we saw in Ephesians 4:30 that the Holy Spirit can be “grieved,” similarly to how a betrayed spouse who has been hurt, wounded, betrayed, misled, lied to, and abused can feel because He is our partner and He hurts when we are unfaithful to Him. And we saw that, through having a personality, the Holy Spirit has the capability of being angry or sad. He is capable of being grieved or excited. Remember, He is the One who yields the fruit of the Spirit in us. Therefore, He is love, peace, joy, etc. In short, He is a Divine Person with a Divine Personality that we can and should have communion and fellowship with!
 
So then, we began looking at how the Greek word koinonia describes a partnership. We did this by looking at how an akin word was used in Luke 5:10 when James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were described as “partners” with Simon Peter. And we saw how this means that James and John were Peter’s “co-workers” or you could say, “co-owners” in Peter’s fishing business. So, we saw that just as the sons of Zebedee “partook” of the miraculous catch of fish because they were Peter’s partners, likewise we reap the benefits of being in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Yes, He throws the net, we help him pull in the miracle, and we are sitting on the beach with Him just relaxing and enjoying a tuna salad sandwich, sipping on an Arnold Palmer (sweet tea & lemonade)!   
 
So, we learned that the word koinonia also denotes “partnering together with something or someone.” Yes, koinonia carries with it the idea of “joint participation” or a “partnership.” Church, He is there to help! And we learned this from Romans 8:26 when Paul said that the Spirit Himself also helps in our weaknesses. We saw that the word “helps” here comes from a triple compound Greek word that basically means that Holy Spirit has come alongside of us, partnering together with us against our weaknesses, and is resolved to take ahold of them with us in order to get rid of them.  Therefore, we learned that to “help” doesn’t just mean that we ask the Holy Spirit to do it for us. This word in Romans 8:26 denotes that we have partnered together with Him. Yes, He is the One who brings the increase. Sure, He is the One who builds the house. But there is a cooperation with Him that must take place where we yield our bodies to Him and invite Him to work in and through us to accomplish His kingdom purposes.  
 
So, we learned that we have a partnership with the Holy Spirit? We are a team! We work together to see God’s kingdom come and His will be done! And, finally, we saw in the Book of Acts that He has been given to us to make us Christ’s witnesses. Notice Jesus did not say that when we receive the Holy Spirit we will “go witnessing;” He said we will be witnesses! You see, witnessing is not just something you do; a witness is something you are. It is not just about going door to door, handing out tracks. Witnessing is testifying to something you have both seen and experienced. And the tragedy is when we go around trying to tell people about a Jesus that we’ve never experienced. Church, we need to see Him! We need to experience Him! We need to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives (see Philippians 3:10) so that we can be a true witness that Jesus is alive and still doing miracles in the earth today!
 
You see, the Holy Spirit is our partner, church! And when we begin to see Him as such and utilize this wonderful resource our Heavenly Father has given us, we will become better witnesses—witnessing both the power and presence of the Lord in us and through us. Amen and amen!
 
THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP
 
Now let’s look at another instance where this word koinonia is used in the New Testament--Philippians 1:5: In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he addresses a group of believers who understood the meaning of “fellowship.” In chapter one, Paul begins by saying how thankful and prayerful he was for them (vs.3-4), and then in verse 5, he explains why he was so excited about them: He says, “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” Now when you consider the context, you will find that Paul was not just talking about their relationship in the gospel, but rather to their financial “partnership” in the gospel. So, Paul was filled with joy every time he thought of their faithful partnership in the gospel that God gave him.
 
So, let’s move to the end of his letter and pick up in Philippians 4:15 where Paul continues describing this church’s partnership in the gospel: “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.”
 
Now this verse is why those maps in the back of your Bible are so handy. Paul said that when he departed from the province of Macedonia that the Philippians were the only church to keep “sharing” with him. What makes this so significant is when you consider how far Paul was away. He was several hundred miles away from them yet they still gave consistently into his ministry. Now in our modern society this would not be that big of a deal but back then they did not have a telephone, fed-ex, e-mail, etc. The Philippians had to make a special effort to find out where Paul was even at, much less send someone to find him and give him his offering. For these Philippians to go through that much trouble teaches me several things. Namely, it teaches me that my seemingly inconvenient times to give are nothing compared to the inconveniences they had! And it was not like they were a prosperous people either. Actually, they were living in deep poverty while they partnered with Paul’s ministry (2 Corinthians 8:2)! This gives us no excuse to not be extravagant givers and faithful partners since we live in the most prosperous nation on the planet!
 
Now that leads me to my next point: We know that one church that we know Paul was making reference to here was the Corinthian church because he corrected them in Second Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 for their laxness in the area of giving. In Second Corinthians 8:1 Paul begins to tell the church of Corinth about how the churches of Macedonia (one being the church of Philippi, a city in the region of Macedonia) had been extremely liberal in their giving. He said that they had gone well beyond their ability and even implored Paul and his companions to take their gifts to their brothers and sisters who had needs (vs. 2-4). Paul used the example of the Philippians giving to spur on the church of Corinth.
 
Now notice that Paul did not just say “giving,” but he also said “receiving.” This is because Paul knew that “giving and receiving” go hand in hand. With giving comes receiving! This is the law of sowing and reaping! In Second Corinthians 9:6 Paul says, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This means that with the same measure that we use in our giving, it will be measured back to us in our receiving. (see Luke 6:38).
 
SHARING FELLOWSHIP
 
Interestingly enough, the term Paul used for “shared” here in Philippians 4:15 is an akin word to koinonia. Therefore, being in fellowship with someone describes also both partnering with them and sharing with them as well. Therefore, another possible definition for the word koinonia that is used in Second Corinthians 13:14 would be the word “sharing.” You find this word translated with the word “sharing or contributing” in several other passages of Scripture. So, let’s look at some of them:
 
Paul also used the word koinonia in Second Corinthians 9:13 when he said, “while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,”
 
Now this is obviously referring to the sharing of material things. There is no mistaking that—for in Second Corinthians chapters 8 & 9, the subject is strictly on giving, where Paul was attempting to stir up the church of Corinth to get in on this “fellowship” of giving and “sharing” with God’s people.
 
For example, in Second Corinthians 8:4, Paul describes how the churches of Macedonia were “imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” Again, this is “fellowship” of ministering to the saints was obviously referring to them giving a gift to help these poor saints. 
 
But do you see here just how excited they were to give in this verse? Paul didn’t have to work them up at “offering time.” No, they were imploring him to let them get in on this, not him imploring them to give. So, this verse shows us that these believers took the initiative in their giving. They did not wait for “offering time!” They actually approached Paul and begged him to let them get in on ministering to the other saints. You know why they were so pushy to get in on it? It was because they saw it as a “fellowship” with Paul’s ministry—that is, they knew they would get in on his reward for it. In other words, in their mind, “fellowship” was akin to “sharing and giving.”
 
In fact, it is also used this way in Hebrews 13:16 when the writer(s) exhort us to not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So, we can see that things like doing good and sharing with others is the kind of sacrifices that God is looking for under our new and better covenant—the sacrifice of giving to others.
 
Another example of this is found in Galatians 6:6 where Paul tells us that we who are taught the Word are to share in all good things with him who teaches. I think what some people have taken that to mean is that when someone teaches them the Word, that they are supposed to come share with the teacher their revelation or what they think. No, that’s not the kind of “sharing” that he’s talking about. The “sharing” there is talking about giving to them—no, not your opinion, but offerings. Amen. For this is befitting in the eyes of the Lord.  
 
THE SPIRIT’S CONTRIBUTION
 
In Romans 15:26, Paul used this same word in the same context of financially supporting the poor saints in Jerusalem, stating that if these Gentiles (from Macedonia and Achaia) have “shared” in their spiritual things, then it is fitting that they, in return, give their material things (see verse 27). But in this verse, Paul says, “For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.” The word “contribution” here comes from the word koinonia.
 
Now it is clear that what he is talking about here is that these Gentile churches were happy to “give, sow, or share” their material things with their Jewish brothers and sisters. And this was apparently an appropriate time to use the word koinonia too. Therefore, we can see that one thing that is involved in “fellowship or communion” is a sharing back and forth between those who share this kind of relationship. Amen?  
 
So, let’s consider this for a moment: First of all, how can we “share” with the Holy Spirit whom we are in fellowship with. How can you and I “contribute” to Him? Well, we can begin by simply acknowledging Him every day—giving Him the fellowship that He yearns for. Then, we can “contribute” to Him by (like we see here in Romans 15:26) ministering to the needs of the saints around us. Didn’t Jesus say that whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it unto Me (see Matthew 25:40)? So, when we “give, share, or contribute” to others, God takes that personal, and I just love what He says in Proverbs 19:17— "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.” In other words, when we give to the poor, it is like we are contributing to God Himself, and when we do that, God will never be any man’s debtor. He will pay it back (with interest, I might add)! Also, one of the benefits of giving is the giving of praise and thanksgiving from those who receive to the Lord for His provision. (See 2 Corinthians 9:11) We can cause God to be praised more!
 
So, this is how we can contribute with the Holy Spirit, but I want to primarily focus on how He contributes to us: What this shows us is that when you are walking in communion with the Holy Spirit, He is there to “contribute” to you when you feel poor and are spiritually bankrupt. Yes, when you feel broke—whether it be spiritually, emotionally, or physically—the Holy Spirit is there to make a “contribution” into your spiritual bank account.
 
For example, in Philippians 1:19, Paul says, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
 
The word “supply” comes from the Greek word epichoregeo which means “to fully supply” or “to abundantly provide.” This Greek word’s literal meaning is “on behalf of the choir,” as it was used in classical Greek to describe how a choir that had practiced hard and that had it all together received a “supply” that enabled them to perform. You see, this choir had practiced, they had prepared, they had done everything they knew to do on their part, but there was only one problem. They didn’t have the funds to travel and perform. That was when a very wealthy person stepped in and donated a large sum of money for their traveling expenses. He put the money in an envelope and wrote on it, “on behalf of the choir.”
 
You see, the choir had done all they could do to be successful but there was something extremely important that they needed in order to perform—they needed the finances. Likewise, we can do everything we know to do in order to be spiritually successful, but we need that extremely wealthy benefactor to step in and give us the “contribution” that we need. And we can clearly see here that this “supply” comes through the Spirit of Jesus Christ—that is, the same Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ had! Yes, the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and deposited into Him regularly throughout His ministry, is the same Spirit that will supply us with everything that we need to finish the task God has called us to. Yes, He is our wealthy benefactor who deposits the needed resources into our spiritual bank accounts that fully funds us to do what we are called to do. So when you come to the end of yourself, the Holy Spirit can come in and supply your need and get you through.
 
Yes, church, the Holy Spirit is a giver, a supplier, and a contributor! You know, there is a lot in the word of God in regard to us being givers. God is always encouraging us to give, give, give. But have you ever thought why God is so big on this? It’s because this is what He is! Yes, you have never met a bigger giver than God! Therefore, there is no one more apt to give than the Holy Spirit! Glory to God! He’s your greatest “contributor!”    
 
This is something that when you are in the position that we are in here stewarding a local church that you better understand—because you can be tempted to look to man as your source. So, as much as we certainly appreciate everyone here who tithes, gives offerings, supports special projects, etc., we look at God ultimately as our “contributor.”
 
Now Pastor Trey and Shannon give here. Pastor Robert and Doreen give here. And hopefully everyone else gives to this ministry. But the truth is we’ve had people that have come here that gave generously to this church, but now they’re gone. But we haven’t lacked. In fact, we are doing better now than we were doing then. And do you know why? Because God sent you and put on your heart to give your material things here. Therefore, He is one who “contributes”; He just chooses to use you and I to meet the needs.
 
Oh, and what a privilege it is to be used of God—for when we are obedient and purpose in our hearts to give, we cannot out-give the Giver Himself. He will give it back—pressed down, shaken together, and running over will He give into our bosoms (see Luke 6:38).
 
 WHAT MAKES LIVING WATER?
 
But I have personally found that the way that we tap into this fountain of living waters that supplies every thirst and meets every spiritual need, is by giving out like this.
 
Do remember the words of the Master in John 7:37-39 where we are told: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
 
You see, there is a reason that Jesus described the Holy Spirit as flowing, living waters here. It is because there is an activity that is expected. Church, we are not created to be lakes or ponds that just collect water but never give out. What happens to a body of water that doesn’t have a way of giving out and taking in? It starts to stink and it looks nasty. We are supposed to constantly be giving out while also taking in. This is what creates life in us.
ADDICTED TO GIVING
 
And, church, let me tell you, this koinonia of ministering to the saints is addictive! We see this terminology used in First Corinthians 16:15 when Paul said, “I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)” Giving is an addictive thing. But it’s a good addiction! We always associate addictions with bad things, but we ought to be addicted to good things like the Word of God, prayer, and GIVING.
 
You see, when you start doing it—the joy you receive from giving cannot be obtained in anything else—and just that joy itself makes it all worth it. But that’s not the only benefit! You will also reap what you sow. Therefore, when you give, it comes back to you!
 
Bless God, it’s like sowing any physical seed. When you sow watermelons, you reap watermelons. But guess what else you get inside those tasty watermelons? You get more seed! Hallelujah! So, when you sow watermelon seeds, you reap watermelon fruit (which in this case would be joy), and you reap more watermelon seed to start the whole process over again. Glory be to God forever!
 
So, when you start getting a positive cycle of this working in your life, you don’t want to start giving less; you want to give more! Yes, you get addicted to giving!    
 
So, when someone starts to notice the change in you, and pick up on the fact that you have gotten yourself addicted to something, get ready to give an answer to those who ask— “You look well. What is it that you have that I don’t?” Like it’s a disease, you just tell ‘em, “I got “the Stephanas” and there ain’t no cure!” LOL!   
 
THE KEY TO THE COMMUNICATION OF OUR FAITH
 
Now, in conclusion, let’s look at another time where the apostle Paul uses the word koinonia in the Scriptures: It is found in Philemon 6. In this verse, the apostle Paul says, “that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”
 
Now the word “sharing” here in this verse is again from the word koinonia, but this sharing is not just referring to the giving of material things. Here, it seems to be referring to all aspects of the fellowship of our faith from the “communication, fellowship, partnership, and sharing of our faith—both monetarily and verbally.”
 
But I want you to notice how our fellowship is going to be more effective, energized and powerful; it is going be accomplished “by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”
 
Now there are certainly a lot of good things that Christ Jesus has deposited into us, but arguably the largest deposit that He ever made in all of us was the Holy Spirit. Yes, the mighty Holy Spirit—the One who works many of these good things in us—is who we need to begin acknowledging. Therefore, this applies to the communion of the Holy Spirit by showing the importance of a lifestyle that is enveloped in communication. We need to stir ourselves up to communicate with Him, and we need to be open to having Him communicate back with us. In other words, keeping the lines open (i.e. not hanging the phone up). When we learn to acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will be able to direct our paths (Sounds like a good Scripture😊). Sharing with Him opens the doors to Him being able to share with you. Amen.

REVIEW
 
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.  
Second Corinthians 13:14
 
So, again, in this verse, the apostle Paul was concluding his second and last letter to the church of Corinth with this prayer for them. Now I have made the point that this was the last verse of 29 chapters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians (when you combine both his first and second epistles together), and were most likely the last words that he ever spoke to their church. And the reason this is important to understand is because these must be super-significant words to both the apostle Paul and to the Holy Spirit who inspired Him to write this prayer.
 
So, we have seen that just as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father are critical things for us to walk in as believers, likewise the communion of the Holy Spirit is just as important. Yes, all three of these things—grace, love and communion—work together and are of equal importance just as the Trinity works together and is of equal importance with one another.  
 
So, we have spent a little time all three weeks defining this word “communion.” The first thing we noted is that it comes from the Greek word koinonia. We saw that in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, likely being the best translation of this word. But then we looked at the English word that is used in this verse and saw what it means in order to get a better understanding of what the communion of the Holy Spirit is. So, we saw that as communion is the word used to describe the Lord’s Supper, it describes a uniting of two things or people together. Therefore, the communion of the Holy Spirit could describe the “intimacy or union of the Holy Spirit.” Then last week we looked back at the root word for koinonia and saw that it means “common.” Therefore, having communion with the Holy Spirit is us having something in common with Him. In other words, we have something in common with Him and share a common goal.” Praise God, that is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God.
 
Now, in this series, we are spending some time looking at the Book of Acts—as it illustrates to us how the Early Church operated. And we saw that they were a Body of believers who were completely dependent on their communion with the Holy Spirit. No, they did not have the privilege you and I do today to have the complete Word of God because throughout those 28 chapters, the New Testament had not even been written yet. So, they were completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach and instruct them. Now through understanding this, compare the results of the early church with the results of the church today. It would be an understatement to say that they had more of an impact on their world than we are having on ours today. Amen?  It is for this reason that I believe the modern-day Church is not nearly as effective as the early, First Century Church was. Yes, it is because of the church of today’s lack of respect for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
 
So, even though most of our Bibles title this Book— “The Acts of the Apostles” — I believe a more accurate title would be— “The Acts of the Holy Ghost through His Church.” You see, it was not just apostles who did the things we see described in the Book of Acts. There were deacons, pastors, evangelists, and even children who were playing a part in turning the world “right-side up.”
 
So, we began in Acts 1:1-3 and saw how even Jesus did the things He did “through the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, even He walked in the communion of the Holy Spirit—doing all of the mighty works that He did through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we saw how Jesus said in Acts 1:4 that He had taught His disciples about HIM. And we looked at some of these verses and found that in just 9 verses contained in John chapters 14-16, He referred to the Holy Spirit with a personal pronoun 22 times! 
 
So, we learned that the Holy Spirit is not a goose bump! Nor is He a cloud, a vapor, or a feeling! Yet if you asked certain believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is exactly how they see Him. They relate to Him through these physical manifestations that He gives us—such as the goose bumps they feel, the cloud of glory they see, or the emotions they experience. But the truth is this: He is a person with a personality and emotions. The Holy Spirit is as much of a divine person as God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ because He is, in fact, the Third Person of the Godhead.   
 
Therefore, we ended with a quote from the late Dr. R.A. Torrey who once said, “If the Holy Spirit is a divine person and we know it not, we are robbing a divine Being of the love and adoration which are due Him. It is of the highest practical importance whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we, in our ignorance and weakness, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal Being who is to get hold of us and use us...”
  
Church, it is time for us to recognize the latter—that He is indeed a Person who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, desiring to use us. And when we decide to invite Him into all of the rooms of our life and give this perfect Gentleman full access, it is then that we, like both the Head of the Church and Early Church itself, will turn our world “right-side up.” Amen!
 
Again, church, this recognizing Him as a person and then relating to Him as such is what makes us more usable. It is like a marriage—you and your spouse can live under the same roof but if you don’t have communion (that is, you are not intimate, you don’t enjoy fellowship, or you are not unified), then your marriage relationship will not be as productive as it ought to be.
 
Let’s look at a few verses that describe more about our Divine Partner—because I believe it will show us more of what His heart longs for. As I have said, we cannot have communion with a goose bump. Therefore, it is imperative that we see Him as He is in truth—the Third Person of the Trinity:
 
THE EMOTIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
Since He is a Divine Person that means that He has a divine personality. He has emotions and feelings just like we do. In James 4:5, the Word of God says, “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?”
 
Now the language here is very impacting when you understand what James was saying: First of all, notice that he describes the Spirit as “dwelling” in us. This word describes someone “residing” or “inhabiting” somewhere permanently. We would say that they are “living in their home.” Then the word “yearns” describes how someone would “greatly desire or long for” someone else because of their heart for them. And, finally, the word “jealously” is the common word used for “envy”—which is always (except for this one time) used to describe a work of the flesh, not a work of the Spirit. So, is the Holy Spirit violating His very nature here? Heavens, no! This simply describes His heart of love for each of us, and His unwillingness to share us with anyone or anything else. Yes, the Holy Spirit greatly desires, longs for, and yearns for you and I! And why? It is because His personality and emotional makeup is to have fellowship with you, and you with Him, that is not unfaithful in the least!
 
Now I am not sure where the specific Scripture reference that James is referring to here is located but I do know that there are a lot of references in the Old Testament to the Lord’s desire for his people to be faithful and not “play the harlot.” So, there are certainly a lot of examples that we can draw from in the Old Testament that describe the Lord’s desire to have this kind of “unadulterated” relationship with His people. Not to mention, this statement is preceded by verse 4 that calls us “Adulteresses” if we make ourselves friends with the world. That is because we are “married” to God and when we try and have a relationship with our ex-husband, the world, we are being unfaithful to our current mate. The Holy Spirit represents that current mate here and the Word says that He “yearns jealousy.”
 
Therefore, a paraphrase I like to use of this verse is as follows: “The Spirit that has come to settle down, make His home and permanently dwell in us, is bent with an all-consuming, ever-growing, excessive, passionate desire to possess us totally, and is envious and filled with jealousy toward anything or anyone who tries to take His place.”
 
Ephesians 4:30 portrays something similar: It says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The word “grieve” is the Greek word lupete and is most commonly translated to be sad or sorrowful. I have heard that it is used to denote the emotions of a betrayed spouse, such as, being hurt, wounded, betrayed, misled, lied to, and abused. He is our spouse and partner and He hurts when we are unfaithful to Him.
 
But a good question then is: What are some things that “grieve” the Holy Spirit? Well, the verses surrounding this one speaks of “lying, anger, stealing, corrupt communication, bitterness, wrath, unforgiveness” and so forth. This includes how we talk, and reminds us of the old rule, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Therefore, some of the things that make the Holy Spirit feel betrayed are when we choose these other things above what He desires and wants for us. Again, it is like choosing to be intimate with another, which has similar effects on the Spirit as that would have on our spouses.
 
You see, when we willingly turn our hearts from what our Divine Spouse desires from us, we not only “grieve” the Spirit, but we also can “quench” Him as well (First Thessalonians 4:18). “Quenching the Spirit” can refer to extinguishing the gifts of the Spirit, but I believe it also can refer to what happens when we continually grieve Him. The word “quench” means “to extinguish or to put out.” I believe this is why the majority of baby Christians lose their zeal and enthusiasm in serving the Lord. It’s because when the Holy Spirit starts to deal with sin in their hearts, they get to a point where they are unwilling to cooperate with Him, thus throwing sand on the fire that He’s given them and “quenching” the flame. We must honor and esteem His council in order to remain a gracious host for Him to live in. When we don’t do this is when the fire goes out of your relationship with Him.
 
So, through having a personality, the Holy Spirit has the capability of being angry or sad. He is capable of being grieved or excited. Remember, He is the One who yields the fruit of the Spirit in us. Therefore, He is love, peace, joy, etc. In short, He is a Divine Person with a Divine Personality that we can and should have communion and fellowship with!
 
THE SPIRIT HIMSELF IS THERE TO HELP
 
Now someone might have said throughout all of the references we have used to describe the Holy Spirit as a Person, “Aren’t there two verses in Romans chapter 8 that use the word ‘itself’ in reference to the Holy Spirit? I recall in my King James Bible these times where the Holy Spirit is referring to as an ‘it.’” And the answer to that question is this: “Yes, there are in the Romans 8:16&26.” The King James Version translates the Greek word autos “itself” in both of these verses. However, this word is translated “he, him, himself, etc.” over 3,000 times as opposed to “it or itself” which is only used 190 times. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the King James translators made the wrong decision in translating this word in these two verses.
 
And it is interesting that we are here in Romans chapter 8 because this chapter is such an important chapter in describing to us one of the benefits of walking in this communion with the Holy Spirit.
 
Did you know that the Holy Spirit is only referenced a couple of times in Romans chapters 1-7, but in Romans chapter 8 itself, He is referred to over 20 times! What that shows us is that, just as there is an obvious emphasis placed on the Holy Spirit in Romans 8, there is obvious importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives today to walk out our salvation!
 
You see, so many times, we feel like the person Paul described in Romans chapter 7. The servant of God described in this chapter wanted so much to please God and to do the right thing, but he lacked the power to perform those desires. His testimony was “Oh, what a wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24). And this is exactly what having a desire to do one thing, but lacking the strength and ability to fulfill those desires will do to us.  It will utterly frustrate us and make us miserable.
 
But, praise be unto God, we don’t have to live that way!  We have the solution to this dilemma in Romans chapter 8!  And the gist of Romans chapter 8 is the same as that of Philippians 2:13—that we have God living on the inside of us in the person of the Holy Spirit, and He is working in us not only the desire to do what is right, but also the ability to live what is right. This is the power of the Spirit-filled life, my friends!  He enables us to do what we could never do because of the weakness of our flesh. Thank you, Jesus!
 
Isn’t that wonderful, church? We have something in common with the precious Holy Spirit! And guess what that is? It is that the Body of Christ and the Spirit of Christ agree on seeing the kingdom of Christ increase more and more! Amen!
 
In fact, one of the Scriptures that we just looked at in Romans chapter 8 describes this beautifully. Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…” The Greek word for “help” here is actually a triple-compound word. It is the word sunantilambano (That would make a great password, wouldn’t it?). When taken apart, this word literally means “with, against, and to take,” meaning He is “with us” denoting partnership, that He has partnered with us to be “against” something, and to “take hold” of it. So, you can translate, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses”, as “Likewise the Holy Spirit also partners with us in being against weaknesses by taking hold of them.” Therefore, we have this thing in common with the Holy Spirit: We are both against our weaknesses, and we are both resolved in taking hold of those weaknesses and getting the help we need. Amen!
 
But “help” doesn’t just mean that we ask the Holy Spirit to do it for us. This word in Romans 8:26 denotes that we have partnered together with Him. Yes, He is the One who brings the increase. Sure, He is the One who builds the house. But there is a cooperation with Him that must take place where we yield our bodies to Him and invite Him to work in and through us to accomplish His kingdom purposes.   
 
For example, like in this verse, we might have a situation where we don’t know how to pray. We are at a loss, and don’t know what to pray for. Well, this is when that wonderful prayer language we have been given comes in handy. We simply yield ourselves to the mind of Christ within us and pray in other tongues for an extended period of time—believing God to give us the answers and pray out His perfect will through us. This is one of the ways we yield ourselves to Him and cooperate to see all things work together for our good. Yes, I spend time communicating with the Holy Spirit—both doing what I know to do and doing what He tells me to do—and then I can fully expect the Holy Spirit to help me in my weaknesses.  
 
You see, say I asked someone to come “help” me move the pulpit, but when they came up to help me, I sat down and expected them to do it themselves. That wouldn’t be them “helping” me; that would be them doing it for me. But the fact is, the Holy Spirit has been sent to help us and as we learn to be led by, yield to, and cooperate with Him, all things are possible for us because the “Helper” has something to work with. Amen!  
 
So, do you see that we have a partnership with the Holy Spirit? We are a team! We work together to see God’s kingdom come and His will be done!
 
PARTNERS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
And, in fact, this is another way that the Greek word koinonia—the word used by the apostle Paul to describe the communion of the Holy Spirit—is defined.  So, let’s dig a little deeper into this Greek word for “communion” that the apostle Paul used in Second Corinthians 13:14.  
 
Again, we have seen thus far that this word means “fellowship, union, and intimacy,” but I want to show you yet another interesting description of this word that goes along with what we’ve just seen: The word koinonia also denotes “partnering together with something or someone.” Yes, koinonia carries with it the idea of “joint participation” or a “partnership.”
 
Let’s look at another passage in the New Testament where a derivative of this word is used because I see it as a good illustration of what it means to have “communion” with someone: In Luke 5:10, the Bible says, “…James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon…” So, an akin word to “koinonia” is what is being translated “partners” here. Therefore, we might say that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were Peter’s “co-workers” or you could say, “co-owners” in Peter’s fishing business.
 
Now let me give you a good word of encouragement here: Just as the sons of Zebedee “partook” of the miraculous catch of fish because they were Peter’s partners (You see, their boat was filled too (see Luke 5:7), likewise we reap the benefits of being in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Yes, He throws the net, we help him pull in the miracle, and we are sitting on the beach with Him just relaxing and enjoying a tuna salad sandwich, sipping on an Arnold Palmer (sweet tea & lemonade)! Glory be to God!    
 
So, koinonia carries with it the idea of an intimate joint participation with someone or something. And like I made mention of last week, the root word koinos means “common.” So, when you apply this to “koinonia” you can see how “koinonia” carries the idea of “having something in common with somebody or having a common goal.” So, we could translate that part of Second Corinthians 13:14 like so: “and the partnership of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
 
BECOMING A WITNESS
 
So, let’s conclude today’s teaching by going back over to the Book of Acts and looking at some things that describe how the Holy Spirit partners together with us today:
 
Let’s pick back up in Acts 1:4, where the Lord was telling his disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;” Then he goes on to say in verse 5— “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Even John the Baptist said this in Matthew 3:11 when he said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
 
Now we will get more into this in the future, but it is important for us realize that being baptized with the Holy Spirit is for all of the Lord’s disciples. As important as being baptized in water is, the baptism in the Holy Spirit yields its own wonderful benefits in our lives—and one of those benefits is found in the following verses…
 
But like so many in the church today, Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it here. They immediately transitioned to the natural side of things by asking Him if this was the time that he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel (see verse 6). But Jesus turned it back around to what was important when He said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (see verses 7-8). Let me paraphrase what I believe Jesus was saying here— “Times and seasons are not to be your concern. That is God’s sphere of authority, not yours. What is important, however, is that you understand what is in your control—and that is that you receive and walk in this power that the Holy Spirit will endow you with. For this is what enables you to be the kind of witnesses I need no matter what time or season you are living in.”
 
You see, church, so many people in the church today like to get into things like dispensationalism, end time events, etc.—trying to figure out when this is going to happen, what that is going to look like, etc. But what the Lord was communicating to His disciples, both yesterday and today, is that our focus needs to be on being quality witnesses for Him no matter what happens in the world around us. In other words, our attention doesn’t need to solely be on being able to tell what is going to happen; our attention needs to be primarily on being ready for whatever happens. Amen?
 
In fact, we see this illustrated in just a few verses when Jesus was supernaturally taken up and received into a cloud after He had spoken these very words to them. We are told that as the disciples continued to look steadfastly into the heavens that what were obviously two angels stood by them, asking them, “Why are you guys gazing up into heaven? The same way Jesus was taken up is the same way He will return” (see verses 9-11)
 
You see, too often believers put their attention on things that do no good. For example, there are those who keep looking for supernatural things that happened in the past (like His disciples were doing here) and become ineffective in the present. Others turn their attention to the heavens, only looking for His soon return, and are useless in the world we live in today. Saints, we certainly need to be cognizant of the fact that He is coming back soon and very soon, but not at the risk of taking our hand off the plow and seeking first the kingdom of God in our everyday life.
 
We need to be His witnesses in the time and season that we are presently living in, church! And the only way we can be effective witnesses for the Lord is by receiving this partnership with the Holy Spirit!       
  
Now notice that Jesus said that when they had received this power after the Holy Spirit came upon them that they would be witnesses. And when Jesus had spoken in Luke 24:49 about them being “endued” with this power, that word meant that they would be “clothed” or “transformed” with the power. So, it is when the power comes that we are enabled to be His witnesses. I bring this up because, how many Christians are trying to be witnesses for the Lord without ever receiving the power (or, ability) of the Lord? No, Jesus did not say that when we receive the Holy Spirit we will “go witnessing;” He said we will be witnesses! You see, witnessing is not just something you do; a witness is something you are. It is not just about going door to door, handing out tracks. Witnessing is testifying to something you have both seen and experienced. And the tragedy is when we go around trying to tell people about a Jesus that we’ve never experienced. Church, we need to see Him! We need to experience Him! We need to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives (see Philippians 3:10) so that we can be a true witness that Jesus is alive and still doing miracles in the earth today! When people see His goodness in and through us, it will validate what we are saying as His witnesses. That is what it means to be His witnesses! Amen!
 
And notice where Jesus went on to say that they would be His witnesses: “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
 
Notice that the first place that Jesus mentioned for His Jewish disciples to begin was in the city where they were currently living—Jerusalem. Then He told them in all of Judea and Samaria, which was the surrounding country and region. And, last but not least, He included all of the earth so that they were not confused about His intention to preach the gospel to everyone everywhere.
 
But I believe this shows us a practical model for witnessing: We start where we are at—that being with our neighbors, in our city, or where we are at in our hearts. Then we move on to the next sphere of influences in our lives (i.e. our Judea’s and Samaria’s). And finally, we aspire to witness for Him even to the ends of the earth.
 
My point is this: The Holy Spirit is the One who makes us Christ’s witnesses! But, you know, many believers are terrified of witnessing. And why? One of the main reasons is because they are afraid they will not know what to say, but this is why we were given the Holy Spirit! He is in us to help us through those occasions where we are witnessing to an unbeliever. You see, He knows that person inside and out. He knows everything about them. So, all we have to do is approach the person when the Holy Spirit leads us to and then listen with the ear of our heart to how the Holy Spirit coaches us through it. He will give us creative examples to minister to them. He will bring Scriptures to our remembrance. He will prompt us when to listen and when to speak. He will guide us through the whole process if we will just depend on Him. I like to say that the Holy Spirit is witnessing made fun 😊! He will make us look good in witnessing (and in life in general) if we will just heed His instruction and learn to work together with Him.
 
The Holy Spirit is our partner, church! And when we begin to see Him as such and utilize this wonderful resource our Heavenly Father has given us, we will become better witnesses—witnessing both the power and presence of the Lord in us and through us. Amen and amen!

INTRODUCTION
 
So, we are continuing our journey today into a subject that is unchartered territory for so many believers—the Third Person of the Godhead, the mighty Holy Spirit.
 
Now we made the point that, sadly, the Holy Spirit is not talked about in many churches today. Yes, you can talk to a lot of believers out there about the Holy Spirit, and they would respond like the Ephesians did when Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed, saying, “We have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit” (See Acts chapter 19). Sure, He is mentioned casually here and there in some churches, but an emphasis is usually not placed on His everyday ministry in our lives. Now I made the point that in some groups, He is talked about a lot, but their emphasis is usually more on what He does, to where He is usually referred to as some force or power.
 
So, what we are going to do in this series of teachings is emphasize His Person—learning who He is, while also learning what He is here to do in our lives. We are going to do this by teaching on Him and His ministry up one way and down another, learning how to fellowship and partner together with Him. We will also learn of the advantages He provides to us in our everyday lives. We will look at all of the ways in which He is typified in God’s Word. We will also wind up looking at the gifts that He provides to us, the fruit that He produces in us, and how we are to be led by Him on a daily basis.
 
However, as I expressed last week, my purpose and intent through this series of teachings is not to primarily make you know more about the Holy Spirit; it is to provoke in you a desire to know Him—that is, to know the Holy Spirit personally and in a more intimate way. If what I accomplish through these messages is simply help you to acknowledge Him more in your everyday lives, I will consider this series a success. But if all we do is just file this information away in our memory bank and let it collect dust, then we are missing the point of why we are studying these truths.
 
So, let’s not do that. Let’s commit to applying these truths into our everyday lives, and I will give you the unconditional guarantee that your life will be much more Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered, and Spirit-filled. Amen.
 
 
REVIEW
 
So, let’s go back over to Second Corinthians chapter 13 and look again at our golden text—the last words that the apostle Paul likely ever uttered to the Church of Corinth—because this prayer Paul prayed over this church contains three powerful truths that will usher us into the importance of the entire Godhead’s ministry in our lives. Amen?
 
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.  
Second Corinthians 13:14
 
So, again, in this verse, the apostle Paul was concluding his second and last letter to the church of Corinth with this prayer for them. Now I made the point last week that this was the last verse of 29 chapters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians (when you combine both his first and second epistles to them), and again were most likely the last words that he ever spoke to their church. Why is that so significant, you ask? It is because it shows us how important the things contained in this prayer must have been to Paul!
 
Well likewise, in Paul’s mind, the things that he listed in this prayer must have been three of the most important things that you could pray for someone else or even yourself. On top of that, since all Scripture is inspired by God, we know that this prayer is the express will of God for all men. (This is further verified in that Paul ended his prayer with— “be with you all.”) So, since this prayer in Second Corinthians 13:14 reveals the perfect will of God for every believer for all time, and because it was important enough to the apostle Paul for him to conclude his ministry to the Corinthians with this prayer, shouldn’t we pay close attention to these three things?
 
Now one thing we looked at last week is that this prayer refers to all three members of the Trinity.
And that is what the apostle Paul is looking to do here—praying that the Church of Corinth would walk in the benefits of the Trinity’s ministry in our lives. But we talked about the fact that most people do not see the Holy Spirit in the light of Him being the Third Person of the Godhead. But He is! However, most believers do not see Him this way; rather, they see Him as something like a servant of God or a force or power that God uses. But the truth is that if He is the Third Person of the Godhead, He is both a Person and He is God. And we saw that because of this so many believers do not experience the life of God today because they have not yet learned to honor the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
 
But this is a great time for us to say, “Not us!” Not this church! We are going to learn to both respect and esteem the Holy Spirit in our lives and walk in the benefits of His ministry.” Amen? 
 
Now, regarding Paul’s prayer for the Church of Corinth, we looked at these three things in detail. We asked the question that if you and I were going to pray for only three things for someone very near and dear to our heart, what would those three things be? I would venture to say that our “Top 3” might not mirror Paul’s list. As I said last week, we might ask for “the healing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prosperity of God, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit be with me and my family. Amen.” But Paul, like in many of His prayers for the church, had different things in mind to pray for his churches. For example, in none of his prayers did he pray for these churches to increase in natural things. They contained requests only for spiritual perception (wisdom, understanding, discernment, and revelation) and for spiritual growth (power, strength, and fruit). And we saw that this prayer at the end of Second Corinthians was no different. Now even though our prayer requests might differ some from Paul’s, it is more likely that the first two items would be things we see as important—grace and love.
 
So, these first two things—the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God—mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his prayer are fairly obvious to most of us. Most churches would not object to these as being two out of the three final things that we were going to pray for someone, but the last thing probably wouldn’t even cross the minds of most of the church— the communion of the Holy Spirit.
 
So, we saw that if the apostle Paul included the communion of the Holy Spirit in his “Top 3 things to pray for those we love” then it must be just as vital to our success in the Christian life as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God is. Yes, they all three work together and are of equal importance. And can you understand why? It is because all three of these things represent the three predominant and present-day ministries of the Godhead in our lives! God the Father manifested and continues to manifest His love toward us! Jesus Christ provided all the grace we will ever need through His death, burial, and resurrection! And the Holy Spirit’s ministry on the earth is to have “communion” with us. Praise God!
 
So, we began a couple of weeks ago defining this word “communion” and we saw that it comes from the Greek word koinonia. We also saw that in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, likely being the best translation of this word. This is also substantiated by the fact that the majority of translations translating this phrase “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
 
So, we looked at a couple of verses in the New Testament where this word koinonia is used, one of them being Galatians 2:9 where we are told how Peter, James and John gave Paul and Barnabas the “right hand of fellowship.” So, we saw that what the apostles in Jerusalem were doing here was they were inviting Paul and Barnabas into their inner circle. Yes, they were associating themselves with Paul and Barnabas and considering them their friends and co-laborers in the gospel. Therefore, this word “fellowship” refers to “closeness and intimacy.” Therefore, we saw that just as we would be supremely blessed if we were to be invited into fellowship with someone on this earth that we highly respect and look up to, we should go around glowing all the days of our life because GOD has invited us into fellowship with Himself through the Person of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
    
Finally, we looked at how we enter into this “fellowship” with the Holy Spirit; and we saw that we do so by first understanding in our hearts that being invited into fellowship with the Spirit is far more valuable than our fellowship with any other man or woman. And then we saw that once we esteem our opportunity to commune with Him like so, then we simply begin a “monologue” with Him—that is, we begin talking to Him, saying things like, “Good morning, Holy Spirit … Thank You for being a part of my life today … I’m so grateful that you are going to work with me today to lead, guide and teach me … I love You … I value all of the help you give me … etc. etc. etc.” And then as you and I begin talking to Him like this, you open the door to begin a “dialogue” with Him. In other words, the more He hears your voice, the better you will hear His voice.
 
But we wound up our first teaching by seeing that He is a perfect gentleman and does not force Himself into our lives. In fact, this idea is where the old King James translation of “Holy Ghost” came from. In their day, a ghost was not something spooky or scary; a ghost was just another way of describing a “guest.” So, we could call Him in the “Holy Guest”—meaning, He is abiding with us as Jesus promised, but He will only do what we invite Him to do. And this is why the Holy Spirit is not to be feared. He is not going to force Himself on us. He will only perform in us what we invite Him to perform. Let’s invite Him today! Amen.
 
WHAT IS COMMUNION?
 
Now last week, we looked at this English word “communion” to see if we can find some more clues to what Paul was praying for this church and what the Lord desires for us as well.
 
Now when you hear this word “communion,” what is the first thing you think of? I would suppose that the first thing most people would think of when they heard this word would be the Lord’s Supper. Yes, when most of us hear “communion” used they likely think of crackers and grape juice or bread and wine. 
                                                                                               
So, what is communion? It is an act where we remember the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave His life as a ransom for whoever believes, and through His shed blood and broken body, we have been redeemed, healed, and saved. Glory to God!
 
Now the elements in themselves are not the issue. It is not about the bread and wine; it is about the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. No, it is not about the ritual or the method; it is about love and honor. It is a simple act of obedience to both solemnly remember His passion and to joyfully celebrate His and our victory. Amen! Yes, communion celebrates the Gospel of our salvation: Jesus was broken for us so that we can be fixed by Him. He suffered so we don’t have to. He became our sin and sickness so that we can become His righteousness and peace.
 
Therefore, communion is when either any one of us chooses to remember what He did for us in our own home by ourselves, or when we all assemble together to fellowship (like today) and remember Jesus Christ's sacrifice together. This is something that we are privileged to do as much as we would like.
 
But there is a reason that this word “communion” is the word used to describe this holy and sacred service. Yes, one possible meaning is that when we partake together as a “fellowship” of believers, we are participating together as a body in remembering what Christ has done for us. But I believe another wonderful benefit of “communion” is how we are called to remember our “fellowship” with Christ in His body.   
 
You see, the word “communion” comes from two words—the prefix “com” and the word “union.” Now the word “com” means “with, together, or in association with.” So, in other words, “com” denotes bringing two or more people, things, etc. “together.” This is clear when you look at words such as “combine” or “compare.” What these words mean by having the prefix “com” is “to bring together a couple of things” (i.e. combine) and “to set two or more things side by side and differentiate” (i.e. compare). But then notice that the other word used in “communion” is the word “union,” which obviously describes a “uniting or joining together.” Therefore, the English word “communion” literally means “to unite two or more things or people together.” In fact, when you look up some synonyms for this word “communion” you will find words like “intimacy, closeness, and togetherness.”
 
So, this is gives us another way of looking at The Lord’s Supper, doesn’t it? “Communion” is not just us coming together and remembering His sacrifice together; “Communion” is us remembering and identifying with the fact that we are united together with Him. You see, this is why we physically partake of these elements! It is because when we partake of His body and His blood, in our hearts, we are remembering our union together with Him and identifying together with everything He has accomplished for us. And the way we are uniting with Him is by symbolically having Him enter us.
 
Now then, I think we can now see a little deeper what is meant by the phrase— “the communion of the Holy Spirit.” Like the Lord’s Supper, the “communion” of the Holy Spirit is us uniting together with Him—coming into fellowship with Him and finding our friendship with Him—as He has entered our temples. Therefore, we have literally partaken of Him, and He now lives on the inside of us that we may feed on the myriad of benefits that He has to offer! Yes, the communion of the Holy Spirit is us remembering that He is with us and all that He is willing to perform in our lives. Hallelujah! 
 
So, when it comes to Paul’s prayer for the Church of Corinth that “the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” we could translate that phrase— “and the union and intimacy of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 
 
WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON
 
Now let’s look again at this word “communion” in its original language because there are several other ways in which it is described:
 
Again, as we have seen this word “communion”—the Greek word koinonia—literally means “fellowship,” fellowship being the most common translation of it. And it is interesting that I use the word “common” there because the root word for koinonia is koinos which literally means just that— “common.” In fact, koinos is the word that was used in the Book of Acts to describe the community and fellowship that the young church in Jerusalem experienced when they sold all of their possessions and lived in a communal type fellowship. The passage I am referring to is Acts 4:32, which says, “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” And, you see, it is of no coincidence that this great grace that came upon the Early Church to walk in this self-sacrificing level of community with one another was prefaced with the Holy Spirit filling them afresh and anew after they gathered together and prayed in one accord (see Acts 4:23-31). The reason I say this is because when one is filled with the Holy Spirit, they will imitate the nature of the Holy Spirit—which in the case we are talking about is “communion” (i.e. fellowship and having things in common).
 
You see, the Holy Spirit will always lead you into fellowship—both with Christ and with Christ’s body. I say this because how many people in the Body of Christ have said, “Well, I just don’t feel led to go to church today. I just believe the Holy Spirit is leading me to be by myself.” Church, those things we hear Christians say that lean more towards isolation rather than fellowship are usually not the Lord’s leading. They are being “led” alright, but it ain’t the Holy Ghost!   
 
Now don’t get me wrong—this is not to say that the Holy Spirit will not ever lead you and I to get alone with Him or to withdraw ourselves for short periods of time. Jesus did this, withdrawing from the crowds and getting away and alone with His Father. But what I am referring to are those who say the Holy Ghost has led them away from the fellowship of the Body of Christ for prolonged periods of time and even permanently. Friends, that is not the Holy Spirit leading them. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict the very Word of God which He inspired that strictly warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (see Hebrews 10:25). That would be, as Jesus said, a house divided against itself that cannot stand. Well, we know the Holy Spirit most certainly is standing strong, and there are no contradictions in Him! Amen? Therefore, He is not “leading” these people to forsake fellowship with the Body of Christ. They are being led by either their flesh or soul, not by their spirit.
 
But my point is that at the very root of the word for “communion” is the word “common.” So, when we look at the word “communion” we should see it as “having something in common with someone or having a common goal.” Praise God, that is what it means to have fellowship with the Spirit of God.
 
THE ACTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
Now do you know who truly walked in this kind of fellowship with the Holy Spirit? The First Century church did! They not only had all things in common with one another, but they walked in this communion with the Holy Spirit—that is, they had such a relationship with and reverence for Him that few have in the church today. And through understanding this, compare the results of the early church with the results of the church today. It would be an understatement to say that they had more of an impact on their world then than we are having on ours today. Amen? 
 
So, what is the difference? Why was their known world being “turned upside down” (or, more accurately, “right side up”) and ours is (at best) staying relatively the same? I believe the main reason is because of the church’s lack of respect for the ministry of the Holy Spirit today.
 
Throughout the one major historical book that chronicles the beginning of the church age—the Book of Acts—we can clearly see the fellowship of the Holy Spirit at work in the Body of Christ. Yes, by studying the Book of Acts, we can see how important the Holy Spirit was to the early church. 
 
Now, in my opinion, the Book of Acts has been incorrectly titled in many of our Bibles: If you look in the beginning of the Book, most of our Bibles call it—the Acts of the Apostles. But that is not all it consists of. For example, you don’t just see Peter, John, Paul, etc. healing people and being used by God in various ways. No, you have evangelists doing mighty acts. You even have folk’s daughters prophesying. For example, consider Stephen, who was simply a deacon in the church, but because he was “full of the Holy Spirit” (among other things), he did great signs and wonders. He was not considered an apostle, yet the Holy Spirit worked through him in a mighty way. So, the bottom line is that there were more than just apostles being used by God in the Book chronicling the history of the Early Church. We see all kinds of people in the Early Church performing these “Acts.” So, I think a better title would be— “The Acts of Jesus’ Church.” However, as we are about to see, perhaps an even more accurate title would be this— “The Acts of the Holy Ghost through His Church.”
 
Yes, if you take a close look at the Book of Acts you will find that the early church had great respect for the ministry of the Holy Spirit and walked in close communion with Him. In these various passages that we will wind up looking at over the next few weeks, Luke makes mention of the Holy Spirit like He is another member of the church. These verses also show us how He bore witness to certain things almost like He was physically in their midst. Luke paints the picture of the Holy Spirit being someone who played a key role in the church (imagine that). So, it is rather clear that they were in tune with Him and heavily relied on His direction and guidance. And why were they so close to and dependent upon Him? It was because He was pretty much all they had:
 
THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD AGREE
 
You see, they did not have their own personal copies of the Bible then. In fact, the New Testament, for the most part, had not even been written yet. The only “Word” they heard from time to time was from the public reading of the law and the prophets, known to us as the Old Testament. Certainly, they made the most of the Word of God that they had as evidenced by the Old Testament Scriptures that were quoted from in the Book of Acts, but they did not have nearly the privileges we have today of having the complete Word of God in almost every home. No, they had to rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to speak to them and lead them in the way they should go every day.
 
You know, the church today predominantly prides itself on the Word of God: Some (definitely not all, but some) see the Word as the all-inclusive solution to the world’s problems, and as important as the Word of God is, it is only half of the answer to a relatively ineffective and slumbering church. The Holy Spirit is that missing ingredient!
 
Please understand me, I am not trying to lower our estimation and perception of God’s Holy Word. I am just attempting to raise our estimation and perception of God’s Holy Spirit! No, we do not need to honor the Word less, but simply need to honor the Spirit more because they both work together for the edification of the church and are of equal importance. Therefore, we must lift the fellowship of God’s Spirit to the same level that we have placed on the written Word.
 
I would liken their equal and dual importance to that of a child needing both of their parents—their mother and father. While I do understand that God can supernaturally fill any void in our lives to where we will not suffer any disadvantages if we did not have both our parents involved in our life, the natural law that God put into motion is that a child needs both a father-figure and a mother-figure in order to be completely nurtured and correctly raised. If God is taken out of the picture, the child who only has one (or, no) parent figures in his or her life will have an uphill road to climb.
 
This is how I see the importance of both the Word and the Spirit in the life of a child of God: When one of them is absent, we are at a disadvantage, but if both of them are active in our lives, then we are more likely to become a mature and complete child of God.
 
This is why the Holy Spirit Himself is so vitally important to the Christian’s life: Without Him we are doing everything on our own. We are limited to being guided by our own finite understanding. We are limited to being doers of God’s Word through our own strength. We are limited to praying according to our inferior understanding. And the list could go on and on. The bottom line is that we are up the creek without a paddle without the help of the Holy Spirit.
 
So, if our Christian walk is doomed without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives then how glorious do you think our lives would be if we walked in a deeper and a more intimate relationship with Him? How much richer would our Christian walks be if we learned to take more advantage of His ministry unto us? You see, apart from Him we can do nothing, but through Him we can do all things! The communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all, indeed!
 
So, let’s begin this week going through the Book of Acts and look at many examples that we have of the Spirit’s ACTivity in the First Century Church:
 
HOW JESUS ACTED
 
But I want you to notice that the first thing we will find is that Jesus likewise lived in this union with the Holy Spirit. Notice that at the beginning of Acts, Dr. Luke says— “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3).     
 
So, we see here that after Jesus’ resurrection, Dr. Luke explains how Jesus “through the Holy Spirit” ministered the truths of God’s kingdom to His disciples. And this often-overlooked phrase provides an important point for us to understand:
 
You see, many in the church today incorrectly assume that Jesus did the miraculous things that He did because He was the Son of God, but that’s simply not true. In fact, we are told by the Lord Himself that the Son can do nothing of Himself—for He only did what He saw the Father doing. This was His own confession throughout His ministry.
 
In fact, you never see Jesus doing one miracle in the Bible until after the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove at His baptism. This is when, as the Bible says, He, being filled with the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Luke 4:1). And then, after successfully resisting the devil’s temptations for 40 days, Luke 4:14 says that He returned to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit.”
 
You see, these things all point towards the fact that Jesus did the miraculous things He did, not because He was the Son of God, but because of His union with the Spirit of God.
 
Let me show you one instance in Jesus’ ministry where Jesus validates this: In Matthew 12:22-32, we have the account of Jesus healing the demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. And in this event, Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out this demon(s) by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.
 
Now the obvious point that Jesus was making here was that it was completely irrational for them to accuse Him of using the “ruler of demons” to cast out demons because that would be Satan pitting his kingdom against itself. Well, how many of God’s people say basically the same thing about Him today? They say that God is putting a sickness & disease on one of His children to teach them something, to perfect them or to discipline them. Well, since God has clearly revealed Himself in the Word as our healer and Jesus went about healing everyone who came to Him in faith, would it make sense for Him to be healing in one moment and then to put sickness on someone in another? Not at all! No, this would be as Jesus described it, a kingdom or house divided against itself. Another example is when Jesus stilled the storm. How many people equate all of these natural disasters to being “acts of God?” Well, Jesus stilled the storm—proving to us that not all storms or acts of nature are of God because Jesus would have been acting against His Father there and they would have been a divided kingdom.       
 
But the point I want you to see today is that in verse 28, Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” So, what we can clearly see here is that Jesus just told us how He had the power to cast out demons: It was not because He was the Son of God, but because He had the Spirit of God.
 
Then notice at the end of verse 28, Jesus went on to say, “surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Again, when demons are expelled and driven out, this is a manifestation of the kingdom of God. You could say it this way—the kingdom of God is ruling when evil spirits are no longer controlling and ruling a person or place and the Holy Spirit is. Amen!
 
And in verse 31 Jesus reiterates this point that it was the Holy Spirit who was the supernatural power that was doing the “exorcising,” not Jesus, because he went on to address the “blasphemy against the Spirit.”
 
You see, notice that Jesus said here that people accusing Him of casting out demons by Beelzebub was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What this shows us is that Jesus equated His ability to cast out demons to the Holy Spirit working through Him. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit was the agent by which Jesus cast out devils, then He did not do it simply because He was the Son of God. Amen! 
 
HE IS A DIVINE PERSON
 
Then notice what Dr. Luke was inspired to go on to say in Acts chapter 1—that as they were assembled together the Lord commanded them to not depart from Jerusalem but to stay there and wait for the Promise of the Father, “which…you have heard from Me.” (see Acts 1:4)
 
Now the Lord did not just go about doing things through the power of the Holy Spirit and not tell His disciples about Him. No, He absolutely taught His disciples about the person of the Holy Spirit throughout His ministry. Notice here how Jesus went on to say, “…you have heard from Me.”
 
Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit A LOT! As we’ve seen already, He talked about the Holy Spirit in regard to Him being the power by which He performed His miracles. He talked to Nicodemus about how the Holy Spirit is the agent by which one is born again (see John 3:6-8). But the most concentrated teaching on the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ ministry was on the eve of His Crucifixion. And that leads me to my next point:
 
Notice that Jesus is quoted here in Acts 1:4 as saying, “which…you have heard from Me.” Now the word “which” here—the Greek word “hos”— can and has been translated several ways. It can be translated “which, whom, that, what, whose, who, etc.” And it is my opinion, that a better translation here would be “who or whom,” and I’ll tell you why: It is because if you look at John chapters 14-16, where Jesus taught much on the Holy Spirit, you will notice that not one time does He refer to Him with the word “which”; He refers to Him as “whom.”   
                                            
You see, as you have heard me say already, the Holy Spirit is one of the most disrespected people that has ever been on the earth. I refer to Him as a person because this is one of the main areas where people tend to disrespect Him the most.
 
You see, many in the church today do not see Him this way. So many see Him as an “it” rather than as a real person. We sing songs that, although they have catchy beats and appeal to our emotions, disrespect the Holy Spirit by referring to Him as something rather than somebody.
 
Let me explain it this way: Say, during the time that I receive new members to our church, I pointed one of them out and said, “I am so glad it has decided to join our church today. Let’s give it a big hand.” We just might not retain that new member, wouldn’t you think? And why? Because they are a person and not an “it!” They are people and not a thing. Well, how do you think the Holy Spirit feels? Now, of course, He wouldn’t have the same reaction as we would, being perfect love and all, but I’m sure it grieves Him for us to have such a misunderstanding and unfamiliarity with Him. But this is exactly what the majority of the church does today.
 
No, the Holy Spirit is not a goose bump! Nor is He a cloud, a vapor, or a feeling! Yet if you asked certain believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is exactly how they see Him. They relate to Him through these physical manifestations that He gives us—such as the goose bumps they sense, the cloud of glory they see, or the emotions they feel. But the truth is this: He is a person with a personality and emotions. The Holy Spirit is as much of a divine person as God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ because He is, in fact, the Third Person of the Godhead.   
 
But in order to have communion with the Holy Spirit we must understand one very important thing: We must understand that He is not an “it!” He is a divine person! He is not a vapor! He is not a goose bump! He is not a feeling! He is as much a divine person as God the Father and Jesus Christ! There is a lack of respect, due to a lack of understanding, in so many Pentecostal circles of the personality of the Holy Spirit. So many only relate to Him through His physical manifestations, such as the goose bumps they feel, the cloud of glory they can see, or the emotions they experience. But in order for us to experience “the communion of the Holy Spirit” we must see Him as a person and not as a phantom. The reason is, you cannot fellowship with a feeling; you can only fellowship with a person. The Holy Spirit has a personality that we can learn and become familiar with.
 
Let’s see how Jesus referred to Him in the Gospel of John:
 
14:16-17
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
 
14:26
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
 
15:26
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
 
16:7-8
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:”
 
16:13-15
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”  
 
(You see, some of you are already tired of hearing all of these personal pronouns being emphasized, but how do you think He feels when the majority of what He’s heard for the past 2,000 years is “it, it, it”?)
 
Notice that in these nine verses we just read, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit with a personal pronoun 22 times! Now when something is repeated in the Word of God so many times like this it is because it is an important principle for us to understand. And Jesus is making the point that the Helper who is about to take His place is a person.
 
Dr. R.A. Torrey once said, “If the Holy Spirit is a divine person and we know it not, we are robbing a divine Being of the love and adoration which are due Him. It is of the highest practical importance whether the Holy Spirit is a power that we, in our ignorance and weakness, are somehow to get hold of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a personal Being who is to get hold of us and use us...”
  
CONCLUSION
 
Church, it is time for us to recognize the latter—that He is indeed a Person who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, desiring to use us.
 
So, we can clearly see that Jesus did the mighty “Acts” that he did, not because He was the Son of God, but because of His union with the Spirit of God. And we can also see that the Early Church did the mighty “Acts” that they did, not because they were “apostles,” but because of their union with the Holy Spirit. So, if both the Son of God and His disciples did all that they did through the communion of the Holy Spirit, then how on God’s green earth could we ever dream that we are going to be able to do anything apart from the Holy Spirit? The truth is—we can’t.
 
However, when we decide to invite Him into all of the rooms of our life and give this perfect Gentleman full access, it is then that we, like both the Head of the Church and Early Church itself, will turn our world “right-side up.” Amen! 

INTRODUCTION
 
Now we are beginning a journey today into a subject that is unchartered territory for so many believers. Today, we will begin talking about the Third Person of the Godhead—the mighty Holy Spirit.
 
Sadly, the Holy Spirit is not talked about in many churches today. You can talk to a lot of believers out there and when you ask them had they received the Holy Spirit since they believed, they would respond like the Ephesians did when Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed, saying, “We have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit” (See Acts chapter 19). Sure, He is mentioned casually here and there in some churches, but an emphasis is usually not placed on His everyday ministry in our lives. Now in some groups, He is talked about a lot, but their emphasis is usually more on what He does and He is usually referred to as some force or power. But what we are going to do in this series of teachings is emphasize His Person—learning who He is, while also learning what He is here to do in our lives.
 
We are going to teach on Him up one way and down another, learning how to fellowship and partner together with Him. We will also learn of the advantages He provides to us in our everyday lives. We will look at all of the ways in which He is typified in God’s Word. We will also wind up looking at the gifts that He provides to us, the fruit that He produces in us, and how we are to be led by Him on a daily basis. It is going to be a fun journey this year @ HPC!
 
However, my purpose and intent through this series of teachings is not to primarily make you know more about the Holy Spirit; it is to provoke in us a desire to know Him—that is, to know the Holy Spirit personally and in a more intimate way. If what I accomplish through these messages is to help you acknowledge Him more in your everyday lives, I have done my job. But if all we do is just file this information away in our memory bank and let it collect dust, then we are missing the point of why we are studying these truths.
 
So, my point is—we must want to learn these things not to just accumulate more knowledge about a subject, but to apply the truths we are hearing into our everyday lives. So, can we all commit to doing that? Can we agree together today to be doers of the Word we are hearing, and not just hearers only? Amen and so be it.
 
So, let’s begin over in Second Corinthians chapter 13 by looking at the last words that the apostle Paul likely ever uttered to the Church of Corinth, because this prayer Paul prayed contains three powerful truths that will usher us into the importance of the entire Godhead’s ministry in our lives. Amen?
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.  
Second Corinthians 13:14
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE GODHEAD
 
So, in this verse, the Apostle Paul was concluding his second and last letter to the church of Corinth with this prayer for them. Now I want you to understand that this was the last verse of 29 chapters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians (when you combine both his first and second epistles to them), and again were most likely the last words that he ever spoke to their church. Why is that so significant, you ask? It is because it shows us how important the things contained in this prayer must have been to Paul!
 
For example, we have just recently looked at some of Jesus’ last words to His disciples in John 15:1-8, and I made a similar point that His words to them in John, chapters 14-16 were His last pieces of instruction before His Crucifixion. Therefore, those three chapters had to have contained some of Jesus’ most important sayings to His disciples.
 
Well likewise, in Paul’s mind, the things that he listed in this prayer must have been three of the most important things that you could pray for someone else or even yourself. On top of that, since all Scripture is inspired by God, we know that this prayer is the express will of God for all men. (This is further verified in that Paul ended his prayer with—“be with you all.”) So, since this prayer in Second Corinthians 13:14 reveals the perfect will of God for every believer for all time and was important enough to the apostle Paul for him to conclude his ministry to the Corinthians with this prayer, shouldn’t we pay close attention to these three things?
 
Now the first thing I want you to see about this prayer is notice that it refers to all three members of the Trinity. Now I know that there are some out there who do not believe in the Trinity—namely because this term is not used in the Bible. But what we need to understand is that even though the Bible might not use the term “Trinity”, the idea that God is made up of three distinct Persons is actually a very common principle throughout the Word of God. Let me give you a few examples where the idea of the Trinity is used together in one passage of Scripture:

1. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” … Here we see a very clear and concise reference to the three members of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
2. In First Corinthians 12:4-6, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” … In these verses, we have the activity of the Godhead as it pertains to the various gifts and ministries within the Church—that is, who does what. So, the Holy Spirit is the One who gives the different gifts (i.e. prophecy, tongues, gifts of healings, etc.), the Lord Jesus is the One who provides the different ministries (i.e. apostles, pastors, helps, etc.), and God the Father is the One who works in all of these gifts and ministries, giving the Body of Christ its activity.    
3. In First Peter 1:2, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” … In this verse, we see the different roles that the Godhead play in our salvation experience—that is, we are chosen and elected by God the Father, we are sanctified (i.e. set apart) by the Holy Spirit, and we are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
4. Finally, in Jude 20-21 we are told: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” … And in these verses, we see how we are able to work with the three members of the Godhead to keep ourselves built up: We do this by praying in the prayer language provided by the Holy Spirit, by keeping ourselves in God the Father’s love for us and through us, and by expecting the mercy that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us. 

 
So, we can see by all of these passages that the entire Godhead—the Three distinct Persons in the Trinity—are actively at work within us, providing different benefits to our Christian life. And Second Corinthians 13:14 is no different. And that is what the apostle Paul is looking to do here—praying that the Church of Corinth would walk in the benefits of the Trinity’s ministry in our lives.
 
The fact is, that most people do not see the Holy Spirit in the light of Him being the Third Person of the Godhead. But He is! But again, most believers do not see Him this way; rather, they see Him as a servant of God or something that God uses like a force or power. But the truth is that if He is the Third Person of the Godhead, He is both a Person and He is God.
 
And this false perception of Him has caused most in the church to not experience the full benefits of the Christian life that He is here to provide for us. For example, do you remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5—how they lied about the land that they sold and the money they kept back? Well, Peter said in verse 3 that they had lied to the Holy Spirit. Then in verse 4, Peter explained who the Holy Spirit is, and I quote, “You have not lied to men but to God”. Therefore, we can clearly see that the Holy Spirit is God and is, therefore, to be reverenced as God. And get this truth right here: Just as Ananias and Sapphira died because they did not reverence the Holy Spirit, many believers’ lives are dead today because they do not have reverence for the Holy Spirit. In other words, many believers do not experience the life of God today because they have not yet learned to honor the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
 
Somebody say, “Not us!” Not this church! We are going to learn to both respect and esteem the Holy Spirit in our lives and walk in the benefits of His ministry.” Amen? 
 
GRACE, LOVE, AND COMMUNION
 
Now, if you were going to pray for only three things for someone very near and dear to your heart, what would those three things be? I would venture to say that our “Top 3” might not mirror Paul’s list. We might ask for “the healing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prosperity of God, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit be with me and my family. Amen.” But Paul, like in many of His prayers for the church, had different things in mind to pray for his churches. For example, in none of his prayers did he pray for these churches to increase in natural things. They contained requests only for spiritual perception (wisdom, understanding, discernment, and revelation) and for spiritual growth (power, strength, and fruit). And this prayer at the end of Second Corinthians was no different. Now even though our prayer requests might differ some from Paul’s, it is more likely that the first two items would be things we see as important.
 
For example, the first thing he listed was “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and I believe we could all agree that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is super important for all of us to understand, possess, and walk in, am I right? Yes, the reason most in the church would agree on this is because most churches and denominations agree on the fact that everything we have received from God—from the forgiveness of our sins to the power to live free from sin—is by the grace that was made available through Jesus. As the apostle John said, “the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus” (see John 1:17).
 
Saints, this grace is a must for our everyday Christian life because everything we have and everything we are as believers is through the grace of God. It is by His grace that we are saved and it is by His grace that we live, and it is by His grace that we do everything in between! Yes, Grace is a must in the Christian life because you can’t be forgiven without grace, you can’t be holy without grace, neither can you do anything good and beneficial without His grace to do it. As Paul exhorted Pastor Timothy in Second Timothy 2:1, “…be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”—showing each of us that if a pastor of what was likely the largest church in the First Century needed to be encourage to be strong in the grace that Jesus provides, then all of us likewise need to be strong in this grace. Amen?
 
You see, we all sing songs such as “Amazing Grace” because we know how awesome His unmerited favor is. However, it is my experience and observation that there is a very high percentage of Christians who have never moved beyond the “kiddy pool” of the depth of His amazing grace—meaning, they have come to the realization of just enough of His grace to get saved, but they have not moved on to seeing just how life-transforming His grace can be to our everyday walks.  
 
So, yes, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ certainly is a necessity for us all, and the second thing Paul prayed is just as important— “the love of God…”
 
Now like the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, most in the church today could also agree that the love of God would be another item to include in our prayer because there are few things more important than understanding and experiencing God’s love in our lives. We know this because without the love of the Father we would not even have been able to be saved. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” Ephesians 3:19 also teaches us (in a prayer, mind you) that it is also important to have the love of God with us in our everyday lives because it’s by experiencing the love of God that we are filled with the all the fullness of God.
 
Now I personally consider the love of the Father as being the single greatest revelation that we could ever receive in our hearts. It is because having a revelation of the love of God is a vital key that unlocks a life of freedom and faith. Even Jesus included this same request in His final prayer for His followers in John chapter 17 when He prayed that we would know that the Father loves us just as He loves Him (see John 17:23).   
 
Church, I cannot express any more emphatically just how important “the love of God” is to our lives. It is life-transforming—changing our prayer life in how we approach the Father, changing how we love one another as we are commanded to, and changing how much we love God in our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. We love because He first loved us (First John 4:19). Amen.
 
However, like with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, very few know in their hearts the height, length, depth and width of the love of God the Father. Again, most have experienced it in a measure, but not the dimensionless love that He is, not just has (see First John 4:16).
 
So, these first two things mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his prayer are fairly obvious to most of us. Most churches would not object to these as being two out of the three final things that we were going to pray for someone, but the last thing probably wouldn’t even cross the minds of most of the church— the communion of the Holy Spirit.
 
So if the apostle Paul included the communion of the Holy Spirit in his “Top 3 things to pray for those we love” then it must be just as vital to our success in the Christian life as the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God is. Yes, they all three work together and are of equal importance. And can you understand why? It is because all three of these things represent the three predominant and present-day ministries of the Godhead in our lives! God the Father manifested and continues to manifest His love toward us! Jesus Christ provided all the grace we will ever need through His death, burial, and resurrection! And the Holy Spirit’s ministry on the earth is to have “communion” with us. Praise God!
 
WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
 
Now before we do anything else, let’s first look at this title given to Him in the Holy Scriptures—the Holy Spirit. While He is certainly called other things in the Bible such as the “Spirit of God”, “Spirit of truth”, “Spirit of grace”, and is even given a slew of names in Isaiah 11:2 (seven to be exact), the predominant name given to Him in the Scriptures is “Holy Spirit.”  
 
Now I know that there are some out there who believe that we should not call Him “the Holy Spirit”—which is technically accurate because in all of the references that I have looked up regarding the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, there is no definite article placed before the words hagio (Holy) and pnuema (Spirit). What that means is that there is no cause for putting the word “the” in front of them. So, yes, technically the word “the” is not necessary.
 
However, I will tell you that I personally do not believe that “Holy Spirit” is His literal name. No, I do not believe He is “Mr. Spirit” or “Sir Holy.” He is the Spirit of God, which makes Him hagios--holy, pure, clean, sanctified, and separate. In other words, He, being God’s Spirit, is unlike any other spirit out there. He is divine. He is sacred. There is none like Him. Therefore, in my opinion, referring to Him as “the Holy Spirit” is not inherently wrong—as long as we understand that He is a Person and that He is God. (We will get more into that throughout this series)
 
But let me make an important point along these lines, you can refer to Him however you want to. What is important, however, is that you have a working knowledge of His ministry in your life. A religious spirit will get fired up about trivial things like this, but when it comes down to what is really important—like, how well do you know Him, are you experiencing His fruit in your life, etc.— that’s not high on their priority list. Church, what is truly important in Christianity is not necessarily knowing the truth; it is walking in the truth we know. Never forget that.   
 
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
And the truth that we are called to walk in regarding the Holy Spirit is this principle of “communion”—may the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. So, I reckon we need to understand what this word “communion” means, right?          
 
Let’s first look at the Greek word used to translate this word “communion.” It comes from the Greek word koinonia. Now in the New Testament, this word is translated as “fellowship” more times than as any other word, and that is probably the best translation of this word, as evidenced by the majority of translations translating this phrase “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
 
In fact, we can see it being translated this way as it pertains to the Holy Spirit in Philippians 2:1 when Paul says, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy.”
 
Now the word “if” that is being repeated here does not convey doubt but rather makes a point of emphasis. It would better be translated “since” or “in view of the fact.” So, the four things mentioned in this verse are facts: We already have consolation in Christ! We are comforted and loved! We already have obtained affection and mercy! And we now have fellowship with the Spirit! So, again, we see the word koinonia being used in association with the Holy Spirit, and in this verse, we see how this fellowship with the Holy Spirit is available to all of God’s church “since” we are His children.
 
So, when we look at the writings of the apostle Paul, we see that the Lord desires all of us to walk in the fellowship of His Spirit and has readily made this fellowship with Him available to us all.
 
Now I want us to look at another passage of Scripture where Paul used the word koinonia and it is translated again as “fellowship.” However, in this passage, it is not used in reference to the Holy Spirit, but rather to a fellowship that was made available to Paul himself. Let’s look over at Galatians chapter two.
 
In this chapter, Paul was describing a private meeting that he had with some of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And the result of this meeting was that the pillars of the church—Peter, James and John—gave Paul and Barnabas the “right hand of fellowship.” (see Galatians 2:9)
 
No, not the “right foot of fellowship,” but the “right hand of fellowship.” I say that in jest, but it is actually quite sad because some of you are in this church today because when you received the One we are talking about, you got the boot from your particular denomination.  
 
But what were the apostles in Jerusalem doing here? They were inviting Paul and Barnabas into their inner-circle. Yes, they were associating themselves with Paul and Barnabas and considering them their friends and co-laborers in the gospel. Therefore, this word “fellowship” refers to “closeness and intimacy.”
 
Now, as evidenced by these terms I just used, there is a big difference between “relationship” and “fellowship.” For example, Peter, James, and John already had a relationship with Paul & Barnabas by virtue of the fact that they were brothers in the Lord, being a part of the body of Christ together. But this giving them the “right hand of fellowship” was another level in that relationship. It was now them saying, “Yeah, we agape you as the brethren, but now we phileo you as friends.”
 
Now just think about this! How awesome would this have been if you were living in the First Century Church to have Peter, James, and John invite you into their inner-circle? Let’s bring it down home for a moment—say, a group of your favorite big-name ministers said to you, “Hey, you want to hang out?” You would probably be glowing for weeks if you were invited to be at the right-hand of the one you look up to and admire! Yes, you would be so blessed to be able to have fellowship with them!
 
Well, guess what? You have something even better! You have been called into the “fellowship of the HOLY SPIRIT!” God is inviting you to be at His side and to enjoy “the right hand of fellowship” with His Spirit! Now that should send us around glowing all the days of our life because GOD has invited us into fellowship with Himself through the Person of the Holy Spirit.     
 
THE HOLY GUEST
 
So, how do we enter into this “fellowship” with the Holy Spirit? We do so by first understanding in our hearts what we just saw—that being “tight” with Him is far more valuable than being close to any man or woman. And then once we esteem our opportunity to commune with Him like so, then we simply begin a “monologue”—that is, we begin talking to Him, saying things like, “Good morning, Holy Spirit … Thank You for being a part of my life today … I’m so grateful that you are going to work with me today to lead, guide and teach me … I love You … I value all of the help you give me … etc. etc. etc.” And then as you begin talking to Him like this, you open the door to begin a “dialogue” with Him. In other words, the more He hears your voice, the better you will hear His voice.
 
Just think about it—probably the closest “fellowship” we enjoy on this earth is that of a husband and wife. Well, how good do you think your relationship with your spouse would be if, while you both obviously lived under the same roof, you never communicated with each other? That wouldn’t fly with most of you, would it? Well, all of us have the Holy Spirit living in the same house with us—that is, the temple of our bodies—and most of us do not ever acknowledge Him. This should not be so, church.  
 
You see, He is a perfect gentleman and does not force Himself into our lives. In fact, this idea is where the old King James translation of “Holy Ghost” came from. In their day, a ghost was not something spooky or scary; a ghost was just another way of describing a “guest.” So, we could call Him in the “Holy Guest”—meaning, He is abiding with us as Jesus promised, but He will only do what we invite Him to do. And this is why the Holy Spirit is not to be feared. He is not going to force Himself on us. He will only perform in us what we invite Him to perform.
 
So, this is one of the things we see in the apostle Paul’s prayer for the church at Corinth—that they would enter into fellowship with the Holy Spirit. This means us inviting Him into our inner circle, us becoming close with Him, and us accepting the invitation to enter into His right hand of fellowship. Amen!

REVIEW
So, we began a series a couple of months ago entitled The True Vine, which is based on Jesus’ teaching in John 15:1-8.  Essentially, these teachings have been aimed at showing us how to be fruitful in our lives for the glory of the Father.
Now we saw how these instructions by Jesus were a part of His last words to His disciples contained in John 14, 15 & 16.  Therefore, we learned that this particular teaching had to have been one of the most important lessons that He could have left them with—for wouldn’t you, if you were about to leave your Father’s business to those whom you have trained, give them some of the most important things for them to remember right before you left them?  And that’s what these verses are—one of the most important lessons one could learn in the wake of Jesus leaving the earth and sitting at the right hand of our Father.  
Well, in this parable, Jesus is teaching about the power and importance of “abiding” by using the analogy of how branches abide in their vine.  So, since Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing (see verses 4-5), this principle of abiding is evidently a very important lesson.  Yes, we must learn this principle of “abiding” if we are going to bear fruit for God or be able to do anything for Him.
Now we saw last time how the word “abide” comes from the Greek word meno which means “to stay, remain, live or dwell.”  So, when Jesus said to His disciples to abide in Him, what He was literally saying was— “remain and stay in me.”  Amen!
But we saw that a common misunderstanding of these Scriptures in John chapter 15 is that abiding in Him is the same as what the Apostle Paul commonly referred to as being “in Him.”  Those of us who are learned in the New Testament and the Pauline Epistles know that he commonly referred to who we are in Christ—how we are righteous and blessed in Him, and how we are holy, beloved, called, chosen, etc. in Christ Jesus.  But these truths are post-resurrection realities, not truths that occurred before the Cross. So, it would not have made any sense for Jesus to tell his unregenerate disciples to “remain in Him” when they were never “in Him” to start with.
No, the common understanding of the phrase “in Him” at the point Jesus was sharing this was of His disciples abiding “in the midst of Him” or “in His presence.”  That would have certainly made more sense to Jesus’ disciples.  Well, sort of… 
A good next question then is:  Why would Jesus tell His disciples to “stay in the midst of Him” or “remain in His presence” if He was about to leave them?  How would that have even been possible for them to do that?  And we found the answer to these questions to be that we can be just as close to the Lord (in regards to an experiential knowledge of Him) by faith as we can by sight.  In other words, we can walk with the Lord and practice His presence just like Enoch did, even though He was not physically present with Him.  Amen!
So, yes, the Lord can be just as real to you by faith as He would be if He were still physically walking this earth.  Amen!  This is what Jesus was teaching His disciples—that just because He was leaving them, they didn’t need to leave Him. Just because He would soon no longer be present, they could still stay in His presence.  In other words, just because He was physically departing the earth, their hearts did not need to depart from the truth of knowing that He would always be with them, even to the end of the world.  
Now another point that needed to be understood is that the Lord had always promised them these things:  As I just quoted from the last verse in the book of Matthew (Matthew 28:20), Jesus said, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Also, in the context of John chapter 15, Jesus said that He would not leave us orphans but He would come to us (John 14:18). He said in John 14:23 that He and His Father would come to those who love Him and make His home with them.  So, in one breath, Jesus was telling them He was leaving them and, in another breath, He would never leave them or forsake them. So, which is it?
Well, we came to understand two things:

1. Jesus is always with us spiritually. We see this in the Book of Revelation as He is quoted as walking in the midst of the churches, and in the Gospels that if two or three are gathered together in His name, He is there in the midst of them. But that is not the same as Him being there physically.
2. We also need Jesus with us naturally too—that is, His manifest presence with us in our gatherings and everywhere else we go.

You see, Jesus is with us when we gather together in His name.  Therefore, Jesus is in our church meetings, Bible studies, and He is with us today—RIGHT NOW!  But how many of you know, while we need to understand that Jesus is always with us and we don’t need to see Him as a distant God off in the heavens somewhere, we also need His manifest presence in our lives!?!
So, we need to understand that God is always present, but that does not mean that we are abiding in His presence.  There is a big difference between these two positions—Him abiding in us and us abiding in Him.  Sure, God is omnipresent—meaning He is everywhere, all the time.  But that does not mean that He is tangibly felt and experienced everywhere, all the time.
You see, there is a difference between the Lord being present in the spirit realm and being present in the physical realm.  And, oh, how there are so many benefits to Him being in the natural all around us!
And this is what we focused on last time:  How to abide in His natural, manifest presence.  And, in essence, we learned that the main way to practice His presence is by letting His praises continuously be in our mouth (see Psalm 34:1).  Yes, by rejoicing in the Lord always—constantly praising, thanking and worshipping Him—we can “stay” in that place where we are plugged in to the power source and are walking in His tangible presence!  Amen! 
Saints, we must learn how to abide in His manifest presence!  The promises are boundless!  This is where the power is experienced!  If we are going to truly be fruitful believers and eat of this fruit ourselves, we need this one thing—abiding in the Lord Jesus!
But this is just the first part of the two qualifications for asking what we desire and it being done for us.  So, this week, let’s look at the second component:
 
ABIDING IN HIS WORD
Jesus also said in John 15:7, “and (if) My words abide in you.”
So, again, the word “abide” means “to stay, remain, live or dwell.”  Therefore, Jesus was talking about His Words—that is, His sayings, His teachings, and the instructions that He gave to His disciples, or you could also say the Holy Scriptures themselves, etc. “staying, remaining, living and dwelling” in us.
Now, again, the terminology Jesus used of us abiding “in Him” and His words abiding “in us” does not only mean “on the inside” of something.  His Words could certainly remain inside of His disciples, but a more accurate rendering of the Greek word en that was used here would be “in the midst of.”  Therefore, Jesus’ Words abiding in them was referring more to His Words staying or remaining with them—that is, them keeping Jesus’ sayings with them to where they would not forget nor forsake them. In other words, what Jesus was wanting His disciples to do was “keep” the Word that was sown into them.
In John 8:31-36, Jesus said something very significant along these same lines of having His Words abide in and with us:  In these verses we are told: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’  They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.  How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?’  Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Now we see in verse 31 that Jesus began speaking to those Jews who believed Him.  Now although they believed in Him, this did not automatically make them His disciples.  Therefore, Jesus said to them that truly believed— “If you abide (i.e. stay, remain, live, and dwell) in My word, you are My disciples indeed…”  In other words, Jesus was saying that when those that believe on Him stay in His Word, then they truly become His disciples.  Allow me to paraphrase Jesus’ saying here:  “The way that you will prove that you are really My disciples is by remaining in My word—the word that you have just begun to believe.”
You see, many people like to quote just this part of Jesus’ statement in John 8:32.  But what is that at the beginning of this verse?  A conjunction, right?  So, what does that mean?  It means that whatever Jesus said right before this is tied into the reality of this verse.
And notice the fruit of becoming His disciple:  Jesus goes on to say, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  So, His disciples will both know the truth and that truth will make them free!  The word “know” that Jesus used here comes from the Greek word ginosko which, in this case, is the “recognition of truth by personal experience.”  So, first of all, if we remain in His Word and not let it depart from the midst of your heart, then we shall come to know the truth—that is, personally experience it.  How does this work?  By the truth of His Word being revealed to you! 
And notice what happens next:  Jesus went on to say that this truth that we have experienced shall make us free!  The word He used for “free” here comes from the Greek word eleuthero which means “to liberate, acquit, set free, or emancipate.”
So, the real question here is—free from what?  What will His truth liberate us from?  Well, considering the context, we see that Jesus was referring to the dominion of sin.  So, in the New Testament, this word was used to describe Jesus setting believers free from the dominion of sin.
But the point I want you to see here is that the one who is truly made free—from everything from sin’s dominion to those subtle little devils that steal the Word from our hearts—is by “continuing” (i.e. abiding) in His Word.  This is when we truly come to know the truth—the truth which makes us free.
 
A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE GOOD GROUND
Now if you recall, we have looked a little at Jesus’ Parable of the Sower throughout this series, and the key characteristic of one of the types of grounds (i.e. the wayside ground) is that it did not retain the seed that was sown into it.  So, you could say that the Word—the seed—did not “stay or remain” within this particular type of ground.  And if you look in Luke’s account at the one type of ground that actually produced fruit that remained (i.e. the good ground), you will see that this is one of the key characteristics of this type of ground—that the word “abided” within it:
Luke 8:15 says, “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”
So, notice that the good ground kept the seed that was sown into it. The words “keep it” come from the Greek word katecho which literally means “to hold down.”  So, to “keep” the Word that is sown into one’s heart is to “hold fast, possess or hold it”—not letting it get stolen out of our hearts.
Just think about this from the natural illustration that Jesus was using:  What do you think happens if a good seed is sown into good ground but the seed does not remain or stay in the ground for a sufficient period of time?  What if it either keeps getting dug up by the one who planted it or by a varmint?  You are not going to see any fruit, are you?  Well, this is the illustration Jesus is wanting to see “planted” (pun intended) in your heart.  
You see, the seed of God’s Word needs to have the time to “abide” in our hearts so that it has the sufficient time to germinate within us—putting its roots down before it begins to manifest in our lives.  
So, having this noble, good and patient heart—called good ground—is how one keeps the Word that was sown into it, and it is also what keeps those birds from stealing the Word out of our hearts.
You see, going back to the wayside ground, do you remember how Jesus described how the birds would eat up the seed that was sown on to this type of ground?  In fact, notice in Mark’s account that these birds of the air that devour the seed—the prince of the power of the air—come “immediately” to steal the Word that is sown in our hearts (see Mark 4:15).  In other words, they don’t wait for a few days after the root might start setting in our hearts; they devour those seeds quickly—when they are still lying on the ground and have not begun to take root.  
I’m telling you, church, this happens all of the time in the lives of those who come listen to God’s Word:  How many of you have ever come to a meeting, heard a good message, and then left, not being able to remember what the minister had said?  I’m sure we have all had that happen to us before.  Well, according to Jesus, that does not occur just because of mental or psychological reasons; there are spiritual entities involved in these things, and if our hearts are hardened, conformed to the world, etc., then the kingdom of darkness comes and steals those truths from our hearts.  Thus, we immediately forget what we’ve heard. 
CONTINUING IN THE MIRROR
Now a good parallel Scripture to this one in Mark 4:15 is found in James 1:22-25 where we are taught the importance of being a doer of the Word.  And I see this passage of Scripture as being the solution to keeping His Words with us after they are sown into us.  Yes, in this passage, James gave us a couple of good lessons regarding retaining the Word of God in our hearts.
Notice, first of all, how he likens us hearing the Word to looking at our physical face in a mirror and in verse 24, he describes the person who is not a “doer” as being like a person who observes himself in the mirror and, when he goes away, “immediately” forgets what kind of man he was observing.  So, do you see how the forgetting what we heard really occurs “immediately” just like the wayside ground “immediately” has the seed stolen that was sown on it?  So, this teaches us that one of the keys to retain what you heard is in having a heart to DO what you’ve heard (or, immediately apply the truth you heard).  So, let’s look at this passage in detail and see how one can keep from immediately forgetting the Word they have heard and having it abide within them:
In verses 22-24, James uses the analogy of a man looking into a mirror when describing how we hear the Word.  He says that a “hearer only” is like a person who looks into the mirror and sees what they really look like and then they leave and immediately forget what they saw (vs.24).   But then James gives us the remedy in verse 25.  He says, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does.”
The word “looks” comes from the Greek word parakupto (from para which means “right alongside of” and kupto which means to “to stoop down or bend over”).  So, this word literally means “to stoop down next to and to look intently.”  The word “into” comes from the Greek word eis and adds the meaning of “diligently stooping down next to and putting forth the effort to look intently into something.”  In fact, this Greek word parakupto was used in John 20:5&11 to describe the manner in which Jesus’ disciples looked into the tomb. You reckon you would have had undivided attention on what was in the tomb when you had been told that He wasn’t there any longer?  They were intently gazing into the tomb to find the Living Word as we should intently gaze into the Bible to find His Living Words—those precious nuggets that will change us forever.
Now, notice the phrase James used— “and continues in it.”  James is still teaching from the analogy of a man looking into a mirror.  So just as it is not enough to look into a mirror for a period of time in order to remember what we look like; it’s not enough to just have times where we intently study the Word or intently listen to a sermon and then disconnect from it.  No, we must take those words with us beyond the times that we initially heard them.
This phrase “continues in it” comes from the Greek word parameno. (This word is a compound word that comes from para which means “alongside of” and meno—the same word used for “abide” that we have been looking at—which means to “remain, stay, or abide.”)  This word literally means “to abide with”, “to stay alongside of”, or “to remain with.”  This is referring to the mirror we look into.  So, what James is saying here is to not ever leave the mirror that we looked into in the first place!  No, we must take the mirror with us and not leave it on our nightstand!  How do we do this because we can’t always be reading our Bible, nor can we take our preachers around with us everywhere we go?  The answer is that we can carry the Word that we’ve heard with us through our thinking faculties.  In other words, we can meditate on it day and night!
How can we keep our mind set on the Word?  We do it the same way we meditate on our problems all day.  This is one of the reasons why it is important to have time with the Lord in the morning, before you start your day, because you can carry it with you throughout the day.
So, according to this passage of Scripture, the main difference between the “doers” of the Word and the “hearers only” is that the “doers” never go away from the Word.  They take it with them!  They meditate on the Word day and night!  And when we learn to stay spiritually minded like this our thoughts begin to become established like concrete.
And James goes on to say in verse 25 that we will not be a forgetful hearer if our heart has predetermined to do what it has heard.  In other words, the person who immediately applies the Word to their life is the one who will not be a forgetful hearer.  This, of course, sounds like Luke’s description of the good ground because this person is showing respect for what they have heard.  Thus, the Word of truth will abide with them and in them, and they will certainly bear fruit.  
So how do you “keep” the mirror of God’s Word that you have looked into ever before you?  I love Hebrews 2:1—because I believe it shows us a very practical way to do this.  It says, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
What this verse is saying is that once we have heard something already (and in this case, having already seen the light of it and received it into our heart), that is not the time to quit hearing it.  This is when, as the author of Hebrews writes, (now notice this terminology) “we must (the Greek word dei meaning that it is necessary or imperative) give the more earnest heed to (them)…”
So after we have heard and received something initially, we do not need to hear it less; we actually need to hear it more!  Amen!  We need to make mental notes, take actual notes, and make plans on how to apply the Word we have heard.  And this is how you keep it in the midst of your heart, where the devil cannot snatch it away.  This is how to keep the mirror with you at all times.
ARE YOU AN APOLLOS?
Now, finally, if you recall from last time, I mentioned that there are two other components that a seed / plant needs to bear fruit in the natural.  They need hydration and they need sunlight.  So, by understanding these things, I compared the “abiding in Him” that we learned about last time to abiding in the light—to where His manifest presence causes us to grow towards Him.  Well, I see this other phrase that we are looking at today— “My words abide in you” —as how the plants that produce the fruit we desire in our lives gets “watered.”  So, let me show you a couple of verses that use this same analogy to describe the process that God’s Word has in our lives.
Let me first draw your attention to a verse in First Corinthians 3:6 where the apostle Paul was countering the partisan spirit that had infiltrated the Church of Corinth.  Paul had heard about the division that had developed—some saying that they were “of Paul” and others that they were “of Apollos.”  So, he made the following statement in this verse: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”  So, we see here the very principle we have been camping on in this verse—the process of planting seed and how the harvest comes.
Now an important point to understand from this verse is that we—mankind—are not responsible for giving the increase.  That is God’s job.  We cannot bear fruit in and of ourselves, which is why Jesus said in our golden text that apart from Him, we can do nothing.  However, as we have learned in this series, even though we are not responsible for the harvest, we are responsible for the planting and the watering.
And notice how Paul describes himself as the one who planted and Apollos as the one who came behind him and watered.  Well, how did they do this?  Obviously, Paul planted the seed by being the apostle who went to this region and ministered the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.   In fact, we have this described in Acts chapter 18.  In Acts 18:11, we are told that Paul remained in Corinth for 18 months “teaching the Word of God among them.”  This occurred after they had heard the gospel, believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8).  In other words, Paul was the one who first preached the Word to them, discipled them in the Word, and planted this church.
But then there was a man named Apollos—one who Acts chapter 18 actually gives us some information about—who came behind Paul and watered the seed that the apostle Paul had planted.  So, how did Apollos water the seed that had already been sown.  Well, let’s look back in this chapter in Acts and learn a little more about this man named Apollos.
Acts 18:24-28 says, “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.  This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.  So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.  When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.  And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”
Notice how this Jew named Apollos was said to be an “eloquent man” and “mighty in the Scriptures.”  The reference to him being “eloquent” is likely a reference to his speaking ability.  Some translations describe him as being a “learned man.”  But notice that not only was he an eloquent speaker, he was also “mighty in the Scriptures.”  Wow!  Wouldn’t you like that to be said of you—that you are “mighty in the Scriptures”?  Amen!  It goes on to say that he himself had been “instructed in the way of the Lord” and that “he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord.”  So, he instructed well which caused him to speak and teach the things of the Lord accurately.  However, there was a problem.  We are told that he knew only the baptism of John.  In other words, he had not yet been exposed to the teachings of Christ and the new and better covenant.  This is when Priscilla and Aquilla took him aside and “explained the way of God to him more accurately.”  But notice that he didn’t puff up and reject this new information that was explained to him like most people do.  No, he obviously received this more accurate view of the Scriptures because then, when he desired to go to cross over to Achaia (the region where the city of Corinth was located), that the brethren sent him a “letter of recommendation.”  And so, while Apollos was at Corinth—the city that Paul had already planted in—we are told he “greatly helped those who had believed (by Paul) through grace.”  Well, we know from First Corinthians 3:6 how he greatly helped them?  It was by watering them!
Well, how do you reckon Apollos watered the Church of Corinth based on what his M.O. was (i.e. method of operating)?  I can guarantee you that this Jew, who was mighty in the Scriptures to start with and now had his doctrine perfected by understanding the Gospel of Christ, was washing this church in the water of HIS WORD.  Amen?
So, we can see that in order to water with God’s Word, we are going to need to be an Apollos.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that we need to become grounded in the truth that we know and walk in the light that we do have like Apollos did.  You see, even though this dude didn’t know everything that he needed to know early in his ministry, he was still mighty in the Word and accurate in his teachings.  Then, when he was taught more accurately, he added his new revelation to what he already understood and became a powerhouse in the body of Christ as a teacher.
Now this certainly does not mean that the only way you are going to be able to water is by knowing a ton of Scriptures.  You can still water with the little you may know.  My point is that you just need to become “mighty and accurate” with what you do know and use that Word to water the seed in your life.
HOW TO WATER WITH THE WORD
Now the Bible gives us another reference to the Word being like water in Ephesians 5:26, when the apostle Paul was speaking to married couples and described how Jesus sanctified and cleansed His church with “the washing of water by the Word.”
What does this mean?  Well, it sounds similar to the verses we are covering in this series when Jesus said that the pruning / cleansing process that takes place in His disciples occurs through the Word.  In other words, that is how Jesus cleansed them was through his teachings.  Therefore, this “bath” that cleanses and sanctifies His church comes through the water of His Word!
However, I believe that Paul was showing the Church of Ephesus this, not just to show them how Jesus washes His church like this, but to show these husbands what they needed to be doing to and for their wives.  So, herein lies a great example as to how we do this washing with the Word:  Husbands, you can wash your wife with Scriptures.  And wives, this is not just for your husband:  You can wash your husband with Scriptures. (I have included an example at the end of this article that I gave to a woman who was seeking specific seed for her marriage.  But you can use this model and apply it to any area of your life that you desire fruit in.  Simply look up the Scriptures that apply to your situation and follow this pattern.)  
So, how do we do this?  Well, it is important to understand that the word used for “word” here is rhema--which describes the spoken, communicated and revealed Word.  Therefore, speaking the Word is how we wash with the Word.  
WATERING OUR NEW YEAR
Now let me give you a brief example of how you can do this in an area that we can all relate to right now—the new calendar year that we began this week.  You see, many people just hope and pray that God will bless them over the next 12 months, but why don’t we start planting the right seed and then water it and determine what our next 12 months are going to look like.  So, let me give you an example of how one might “water” their new year:
If you recall, the Lord gave our church a Word at the beginning of 2018 that He would crown our year with His goodness.  This was based on Psalm 65:11-13, which says, “You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.”
Now in the preceding verses (vs. 9-10): David said, “You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.”  So, there was a watering that took place here before the wonderful fruit contained in verses 11-13.  Likewise, there is a watering that must take place to see these promises come to pass in our lives!  
Interesting enough with us celebrating First-Fruits this week, this psalm is believed to be sung at the Harvest Festival at the end of their agricultural year!  In other words, it was the Jews’ psalm of praise for the First-Fruits!  
So, let me now give you an example of how to “water” your new year with these verses along with several others:
Father, I thank You that You are a God of new beginnings! You make old things to pass away and make all things new (Second Corinthians 5:17 & Revelation 21:5). And I thank You that you have promised in Isaiah 43:19 – “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” So, I receive that and declare that you will do a new thing in my life in this new year. It shall spring forth, and I shall know it! You are making a road in the wilderness and making rivers in the desert. Amen. These are the plans you have for me this year—plans of peace and not of evil, to give me a bright future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). I thank you that every morning of this year will be filled with new mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23) and that you are crowning my year with Your goodness (Psalm 65:11). Yes, my path this year is dripping with abundance (Psalm 65:11) because You said that the path of the righteous is like the shining sun: it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). So, I thank you that my path for 2019 is a path that gets brighter and brighter, better and better, and gooder and gooder. Amen!   
So what we have been covering today is what I believe to be the Lord “watering” our fields. Yes, we have been getting “washed in the water of the Word” and I am believing for a harvest of goodness in each of our lives for 2019. Amen and amen!    
 
 
 
 
 
 
HOW TO WATER YOUR MARRIAGE (FOR WIVES)
 
To encourage Yourself in the tough times:
Isaiah 54:5 – “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.” Lord, I rejoice in that truth that ultimately You are my husband! That is where my joy is found—that You are the best spouse I could ever hope for!
Psalm 27:10 (NLT): “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.” Thank You, Lord, that even if those I love (including my spouse) abandons me, You will always be there to hold me close!
Ecclesiastes 4:9 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?" Lord, I believe You have a good purpose for my marriage! It is good that we be together—for two are better than one! And I thank You that this is a benefit of my marriage, so we are getting a good return together, we are there to help each other, and we are keeping each other warm, on-fire for God! Amen! 
 
To deal with yourself and to do your part:
Ephesians 4:2-3 – “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." God, I thank you that you have put in me the ability to help maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in my home! Thank You, Holy Spirit, that you help me to operate in humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance with my spouse.
Colossians 3:14 – “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." 1 Thessalonians 4:9 – “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.” (Also compare Titus 2:4) Lord, on top of that, you are teaching me how to put on love and love my spouse, and I do this in obedience to You, knowing that love never fails!
Romans 12:10 – “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” Father, I thank You that you have showed me my part. So, I will prefer my spouse even when they might not seem to be preferring me. But I thank You that as I sow honor, I will reap honor!
 
To sow good seed:
1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” Thank you, Lord, that if bad company corrupts good behavior, then good company can also create good behavior. So, I thank You that Christ in me is working in them!
1 Peter 3:1 – “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over.” Lord, thank you that this is true, and my godly life is winning over my husband—not my words, but my holy behavior. As I walk in the light that I have, the light is working on them! (Men, this can apply to you as well if the roles are reversed)
1 Corinthians 7:14 (CEV) – “Your husband or wife who isn't a follower is made holy by having you as a partner. This also makes your children holy and keeps them from being unclean in God's sight.” Praise God, Your Word says that my spouse is made holy and sanctified by me. Thank You, Lord for constantly sanctifying them!

Those of you who regularly attend our church know that we have been talking about the power of seedtime & harvest and how to bear fruit in our lives. Well, today, I want to tell you about a Christmas miracle that occurred exactly like these things we have been learning. I want to teach you how Mary conceived a miracle and the Word was made flesh in her life.  
 
You know, we all desire to see God’s Word—His promises—manifested in our life. Yes, we desire that His Word be made flesh—that is, real, tangible, etc.—in our lives. As the apostle John said in his first epistle—he was declaring to them the things which he had heard, seen, looked upon, and handled concerning the Word of life. Likewise, we want to experience the truth and not just hear it. Amen?
 
Well, there is a girl who gave birth (i.e. manifested) exactly what we all desire to experience, and her name was Mary. So, I want us today to look at what transpired in this young lady’s life that caused her to conceive her miracle.
 
THE WORD IN THE BEGINNING
John 1:1-14
 
But let’s begin in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and we will go through the first 14 verses:    
 
Verses 1&2 say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” 
 
Here, we have an obvious reference to both the account of Genesis 1:1 (i.e. “In the beginning”) and of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, in His preincarnate position as “the Word”—or, the Logos. Now the term “Logos” basically describes “a statement, the expression or transmission of a thought, or a divine revelation or declaration.” The Scriptures are oftentimes what is being referred to when the word “logos” is used in the Word of God, but the fact is that both God’s Word and Jesus are one and the same in that they both reveal and express God’s love, goodness, grace, and truth. 
 
Notice as well that the Word was said to be “before all things” (Compare Colossians 1:17). Likewise, God’s Word is already true, self-existent and eternal. It’s true—the only true reality—whether we see any fruit of it in our lives or not. This is critical to understand because the very source of everything is the Word. So, if we do not esteem the Word, then we can essentially miss our miracle. This is reiterated in the next verse.   
 
Notice that John goes on to say in verse 3— “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
 
So, in the beginning, we see God making the heavens and the earth with His Word—that is, by speaking into existence all of the things that we see today. This is how God framed the world we live in today, by His Words. And notice that John said that without His Word nothing was made that was made—teaching us that God’s creative power is His Word. So, if we want to see life, light and love created in our life, we cannot have it apart from His Word.  
 
John 1:4-9 goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”
 
Again, we see an obvious reference to the Beginning (i.e. Genesis): First of all, we see that life originated from within Him. Secondly, we see a reference to the very first words God spoke in the beginning— “Let there be light.” Many believe that the literal rendering here is— “Light be!” So, the Lord looked out into the darkness—to the world which was without form and empty—and called forth what this world needed, LIGHT.
 
And, church, this is how God’s children ought to operate as well—calling forth the things we desire to see with our mouths. But someone might say, “Well, I just believe it calling it like I see it.” Well then, that’s exactly the way you will continue to see it. That’s not what God did. He called into existence what He desired to see, which in this case was LIGHT.  
 
Verses 10-13 go on to say, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
 
Likewise, Jesus was not born on this earth simply of blood, nor by the will of the flesh or the will of man; He was born of God. We see this in the Gospel of Luke when the angel appeared to Mary, explaining to her that this miracle would occur the same way that the original creation occurred—by the Holy Spirit overshadowing her and the Word conceiving in her. (We will get into this in a moment)
 
And finally, in verse 14, John said, “And the Word became 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.”
 
So, here we see again Jesus being described as the Mighty Logos, and John goes on to say He became flesh and dwelt among us. The word used for “dwelt” here literally means that He “tabernacled” among us. So, I see Jesus as being the One that even the Tabernacle itself was a type and shadow of. Glory!
 
But notice that it was this Word—the One who was, is, and evermore shall be the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the Life, the Light, the Creator, and the Only True and Living God—it is this One who became flesh and dwelt among us!  
 
But how did this miracle happen? How was the Word made flesh? In answering these questions, I believe we will find the answer of how God’s Word is manifested in our lives. 
 
MARY’S MIRACLE
Luke 1:26-38
 
We’ve looked at these verses in John one, that echo the verses in Genesis one. So, let’s go over to Luke chapter one, and see how Mary conceived the Word—the Light of the world—in her life:
 
Verses 26-28 tell us: “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’”
 
Notice that the first word Gabriel spoke to Mary was “Rejoice.” Church, rejoicing is such a significant part to conceiving a miracle in our lives because, as you have probably heard me say before, our attitude determines our altitude. If we are downcast, depressed and discouraged, our hearts are not the fertile ground they need to be to have strength to conceive seed.
 
Now we have an interesting parallel here: Do you remember how Hebrews 11:11 said, “By faith Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised”?
 
Now we know from studying the account in Genesis chapter 18 when this happened that Sarah was far from being full of faith when she initially heard the Lord’s messengers say that she would conceive and bear a child. We are told she actually laughed. Now we do not know if this was the kind of laugh that scoffed at the Word of the Lord or not. I personally do not believe it was. I believe it was more of a laugh that was saying, “Are you serious? Really?”—certainly not a laugh of “What a joke!” There is big difference in that. And the reason I believe this is because after Isaac was born, Sarah named her son, Isaac, meaning “laughter” and said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6). So, Sarah actually rejoiced in the promise of the Lord that she would bear her own child.
 
And guess what that did? Her rejoicing was the key to receiving the strength to conceive seed, for as Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Amen! So, by first telling Mary to “Rejoice,” the Lord was positioning her to receive the strength to conceive His Word! Amen!   
 
Do you remember what the Lord prophesied in Isaiah 54, immediately after giving us the great redemptive chapter of Isaiah 53? He says in verse 1— “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than of the married woman, says the Lord.” We see again here that the key to the barren bearing children is found in this word “Rejoice!”
 
So, I believe we are seeing a pattern here: In order for us to receive the strength to conceive God’s Word, our attitude must be that of joy. We have to be excited at His Word. We must get thrilled with His Word. We must have a heart filled with praise, thanksgiving and worship for what the Lord has promised us. This is where the strength will come in us for the supernatural conception of our miracle! Amen!
 
And we know that Mary did this because later on in this chapter, Mary indeed did sing and rejoice in God her Savior (see Luke 1:46-55).
 
But that’s not all Gabriel greeted her with— He also called her “highly favored one” and told her both that “God was with her” and she was “blessed among women.” Let’s quickly look at what exactly we should be rejoicing in:
 
In Luke 11:27-28, we have an account of Jesus teaching, “and it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
 
Now we know that this woman was referring to Mary, the one who bore and nursed Jesus. She was evidently overwhelmed at the miracle she had seen of Jesus casting out the mute spirit and then hearing the words of wisdom that proceeded from His mouth. So, she apparently could not contain her excitement anymore and interrupted Jesus’ teaching with this exclamation.
 
Now do you think that she might have been speaking out of what she could relate to? She, obviously being a woman, was probably thinking—“Wow! Whoever the lady is who had the privilege of giving birth to this Man was super blessed! What an honor to carry and nurse this prophet that God has sent to us!”
 
But we still do this today! We look at the Mary’s, the John the Baptist’s, the Peter, James, John’s, etc., and think that these people were more blessed than us because they got to be a part of the Word being made flesh and walking among us. 
 
But notice what Jesus responded to this woman’s statement with: He said, “More than that, (STOP!)”
 
More than what? More than the virgin Mary, who was favored and chosen by God to mother our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Wow! So what Jesus was saying here is that as blessed as Mary was and is to be chosen to be the mother of our Messiah, there are those out there who are more blessed than even her!
 
Now this is not an attempt to diminish or take away from her, for Mary was a blessed woman to be handpicked to be a handmaiden for the Lord, but this is an attempt to raise your value and make you to realize how these saints of old are not more blessed than you and I are today.
 
So, who is it that Jesus said is more blessed than even Mary? He goes on to say, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
 
Now we’ve been talking for over a month now about the importance of the Word of God in our lives. We have been seeing how having the Word sown in our hearts is what produces kingdom results in our life. Well here, we see this reinforced because Jesus is essentially saying that those who apply this kingdom principle into their lives (i.e. hearing the Word and keeping it) are the ones who are blessed all the more. Amen!
 
So, since Jesus is the Word of God, we can see what Jesus was alluding to: If hearing and keeping the Word of God is like it being sown into our hearts, then Jesus was basically saying that those who hear the Word and keep it are doing the same thing that Mary did.
 
You see, she physically carried the Word of God, Jesus Christ, in her womb, but those who hear and keep the Word are carrying the Word of God, Jesus Christ, in their hearts spiritually. Glory to God! Therefore, every one of us who have received the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, into our hearts are doing spiritually what Mary did physically—we are carrying Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27)
 
Therefore, we can be confident that just as Gabriel declared to the virgin Mary that she was “highly favored,” that she was “blessed among women,” and that “God was with her,” we can rejoice in the truth that we too carry the same blessedness and favor that she did and that we carry God in us. It doesn’t matter what our experiences were or what our situation is; we are blessed and highly favored because God is with us! Amen! 
 
Now this greeting provoked something in Mary. Verse 29 says, “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.” 
 
And this is exactly how many of God’s people react when they hear God’s messengers telling them that about the good news of Christ. They cannot “conceive” how God highly favors them, how God is with them, and how He would bless them. But again, the key to conceiving the miracle is in rejoicing in the gospel before we see the manifestation. We must get happy and believe in our hearts the good news of all that Christ is in us and all that we are in Him no matter what our experiences say to us. Hallelujah!
 
Then the angel said to her in verses 30-33: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God...” So, Gabriel encouraged her not to be afraid, and there is a specific reason for this: It is because fear stunts our faith. In short, he was saying to her— “Don’t fear because you’ve found favor.” Church, I’ll tell you—When you discover the favor you have with God, fear will be a distant memory.
 
And in verse 31 Gabriel continues to say, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
 
So, what Gabriel was essentially explaining to Mary was that the Word was going to conceive in her. The same WORD that created everything we see today will be the same WORD that will create this miracle in us. Glory! 
 
And notice Mary’s response to this news and then Gabriel’s reply: “Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” 
 
Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what was happening in Genesis chapter one when God spoke light into existence—the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters. What this shows us is that while the Word has its part in the miracle working process, the Holy Spirit has His part. He is the One who performs the Word—the power of God that brings into manifestation the Word spoken. Amen! Thank God for the Holy Spirit! The Spirit and the Word agree! 
 
Then notice what Gabriel goes on to say in verses 36-37: “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
 
Amen! Nothing is impossible with God! And as Jesus told us elsewhere, all things are possible to them that believe His Word—which is exactly what Mary did in the next verse: “Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”
 
So, if you are barren and have a need to conceive a miracle in your life today—desiring fruit—then your key is taking God’s Word and speaking it over the barrenness in your life, calling forth the fruit you desire, and letting the Holy Spirit do the work of bringing that miracle to pass. When you take God at His Word and essentially say, “Behold, the servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word!” this is how you too can conceive the Word and see it made flesh—that is, manifested and birthed in your life. Amen.  

REVIEW
 
So, let’s quickly go back and review some of the things we have learned thus far:  We have spent the first four parts of this series essentially talking about the kingdom principle.  No, not a kingdom principle; the kingdom principle.  That’s right—we have learned that just as Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, there is one way, truth, and life of the kingdom—and that is seedtime & harvest.  And we have learned that everything in God’s kingdom operates according to this principle.
So, we have spent time studying other parables that Jesus taught where He illustrated what the kingdom of God is like and how it works.  We’ve looked at His Parable of the Growing Seed from Mark chapter four, and we saw from this the process of the kingdom.  Then we looked over at His Parable of the Sower and saw the basic building blocks of the kingdom by studying both what the seed and the soil are.  So, from all of this, we saw that the seed is the Word of God and the soil is the ground of our hearts.  Therefore, we learned that if we will just take the seed of God’s Word—the specific seed for the fruit we desire to see—and plant it in the good ground of our hearts, we will eventually see the fruit we desire.  Yes, we indeed can count on this because it is a law in God’s kingdom.  This is how we get a harvest every time!
Then last week, we answered the question:  How do we sow God’s Word?  And we saw that we sow the seed of God’s Word by saying the seed of God’s Word.  Yes, sowing is saying and saying is sowing.  So, we looked at another parable that Jesus taught in Mark chapter four—the Parable of the Mustard Seed—and we saw how from other Scriptures that Jesus taught us that if we have faith as a mustard seed, we will say something.  In other words, speaking the Word of God is how our faith works.  Therefore, it is imperative that not only do we become a Word person in terms of getting into God’s Word and believing it, but we also need to become a word person in regards to understanding the power that is in our tongue.
Church, these are all kingdom laws.  And this is why we can count on verses like John 15:7—because the Lord has taught us how to receive our desires that are in accordance with His will.  
But herein lies the mistake of most believers:  They never learn the process, they don’t know what the seed is, and they don’t discover where the soil is, much less how to cultivate that ground.  My point is—if we want to receive from God, then we best find out how He has set things up because it is not good enough to hope and pray that God comes through for us because, after all, He has the power and ability to do it.  No, just like we must learn how to function on this earth—respecting its laws like gravity, seedtime & harvest, etc.—we must also respect the laws (i.e. the principles) of the kingdom of heaven.  That is the only way we are going to live in the fullness of His blessing and bear much fruit.  Amen?
So, now that we have become established in the kingdom principle of seedtime & harvest—understanding the importance of the seed, the value of the soil, and how to sow that seed in the soil—there are a couple of other things that we need to understand that are also important in regards to fruit-bearing.  And those things are the plant getting sunlight, being watered, etc.    
So today, I want us to move into those two very important truths that Jesus gave us in John 15:7 that position us to receiving the desires of our heart and the fruit that glorifies God.  In fact, I see these two qualifications as being both the hydration and the sunlight that a plant requires for growth.  So, let’s look at this verse again and see how to remain in the light and be watered continuously:
Again, Jesus said in John 15:7— “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”     
Now what are the key verbs that Jesus uses here to describe how one of His branches will bear much fruit?  It is the word “abide.”  Yes, the two key components to seeing the fruit of the things we desire is abiding in Him and His word abiding in us.  In fact, this word “abide” is the key word in this entire parable.  So, what we need to do is camp on this word “abide” and truly come to know what it means and how Jesus was using it.  
Now again, we talked about how this passage in John 15:1-8 was a part of Jesus’ last words to His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion.  And in these last words of exhortation, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His soon departure by telling them repeatedly that He was leaving them.  So here in John 15:1-8, Jesus was giving them an extremely important piece of information—to abide in Him.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ABIDE?
Now the word “abide” comes from the Greek word meno, which literally means to “stay, remain, live or dwell.”  So, when we hear this phrase “abiding in Him,” we need to think of “staying, remaining, living, or dwelling in Him.”
Let’s look at a few other New Testament Scriptures that use this same word meno in order to illustrate what it means to “abide”:

1. Mark 6:10— “And He said to them, ‘In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.’”
2. Luke 19:5— “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
3. Luke 24:29— “But they constrained Him, saying, ‘Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.’ And He went into stay with them.”
4. Acts 16:15— “And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.”

So, in all of these instances and many more where the word meno is used, the idea of “staying, living, dwelling, and remaining” is being presented.  In fact, as you can see from these four examples that I have given you, the most common way that this word is used in the New Testament is to describe “staying in someone else’s home.” (This point will become important as we make the point of what abiding in Jesus truly means)
So, when Jesus told His disciples to “abide in Him” several times in John chapter 15, what did He mean?  What did He have in mind when He essentially told them to “Stay in Him, to not depart from Him, to remain, stay, live and dwell in Him, and don’t leave Him.”
You see, in order to correctly understand Scripture, you must meditate the Word correctly.  And one of the ways that you and I do this is by asking questions—like, for instance, who was Jesus talking to here and why would He be telling His disciples this?  These are important questions to ask, and if you ask them, it will bring more clarity.
You see, I used to assume that “abiding in Christ” was the same as those “in Him” and “in Christ” truths that the apostle Paul made popular in his epistles.  But just by asking those questions I just mentioned caused me to find out that this couldn’t be true.  Why?  It is because it wouldn’t have made any sense for Jesus to tell His disciples to be “in Him” like Paul was referring to because He hadn’t gone to the Cross yet and all of those “in Him” truths are spiritual realities that took place after Jesus’ resurrection.  Plus, by considering the meaning of the word “abide” we can see something specific Jesus was saying:  He was telling His disciples who had been with Him over the past three years, to remain with Him.  In other words, it was as if Jesus were saying, “Don’t leave the house that you have been staying in for the past three years.  Do not depart from it.  Continue to stay in this place.”
Now what have we learned here at HPC about the house of the Lord?  For example, when David said in Psalm 27:4 that his one desire was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, what did he mean?  He didn’t mean he wanted to go to church every day; no, he was saying that he wanted to dwell (i.e. abide) in God’s presence all the days of his life.  This is essentially what Jesus was encouraging His disciples to do—to continue living in His house even though the house itself will be moving.  
You see, it needs to also be understood that the terminology Jesus used of abiding “in Him” can also mean to be “in the midst of someone” and not necessarily “inside” of them.  Now it can mean both, but the obvious meaning here in John chapter 15 is to be “in the midst” or “in the presence” of the Lord Jesus seeing that this is what His disciples had been experiencing for the past three years.
HOW COULD JESUS’ DISCIPLES STAY IN HIS PRESENCE?
So, the following question begs to be answered then:  How could they stay or remain in His presence when He was about to no longer be present with them?  That’s a good question, isn’t it?  
What Jesus was obviously instructing His disciples to do was to stay close and connected to Him.  Now what is interesting about this is that He was telling them this in the same breath as telling them He would soon be leaving them—obviously referring to His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God.  So, Jesus was letting His disciples know, in His last and (you could say) most vital words to them, that they must make sure that they stay in His presence—even though He would soon not be present with them. 
As we’ve seen, abiding in Him is what Jesus exhorted His disciples to do because He was about to leave them.  In other words, because they had been abiding in Him through His physical presence in their lives for the past three years, now He is telling them to remain in Him—especially in the wake of Him leaving.  So, in other words, He was telling them He would soon be leaving them, but for them not to leave Him.  Likewise, we too can see how we can obviously stay in His presence even if He is not physically present.  Amen!  This was what Jesus was teaching His disciples.
But we must come into this truth with this foundational understanding—that Jesus is always present with us.  Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).  Other Scriptures teach us that He will never leave us or forsake us and even describe Jesus walking in the midst of the church (Deuteronomy 31:6 & Revelation 2:1).
So, we need to understand that God is always present, but that does not mean that we are abiding in His presence.  There is a big difference between these two positions.  Sure, God is omnipresent—meaning He is everywhere, all the time.  But that does not mean that He is tangibly felt and experienced everywhere, all the time.
You see, there is a difference between the Lord being present in the spirit realm and being present in the physical realm.  And, oh, how there are so many benefits to Him being in the natural all around us!
This is such an important lesson for us, because with our tendency to be carnal, we want something tangible and want to “feel” something.  Jesus was exhorting His disciples in the wake of Him leaving them, to where there will be no more physical Jesus around anymore, to make sure they “remain in Him.”
STAYING CONNECTED
So, the Lord was exhorting His disciples then (and us as His disciples today) to stay in the midst of Him like He was still in their midst.  Amen.
And He uses the analogy of a vine and its branches to describe this principle of abiding.  So, what would be some words or phrases you would use to describe a branch “abiding in” a vine?  You might say, “a branch staying connected to the vine” or “a branch remaining attached to the vine.”
So, what if a branch did not stay connected to its trunk?  What if one day it was attached and then others, it was off doing its own thing?  What would become of that branch?  It might not completely lose its life, but it will never be able to produce its fruit.  Why?  Because as is with everything in life—being consistent is the key.  We cannot plant seeds one day and dig them up the next.  We cannot be connected to the Lord one day and then disconnected the next.  This is what Jesus was teaching them and us in this parable—being consistent, connected and attached to Him.
This is why Jesus went on to say in verse four— “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.”  In other words, unless we abide (remain, stay or dwell) in the vine, we cannot bear fruit.  Why?  Because we cannot bear fruit of ourselves.  We must stay connected to the vine so that the entire process of fruit production can transpire.
This is important in every area of life:  For example, when it comes to the healing of our bodies, we cannot bear the fruit of healing ourselves.  Healing, as any other fruit of our covenant relationship with the Lord, comes through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Every manifestation of God’s promises—barring special manifestations of the Spirit—is going to come through this process. 
WALKING WITH GOD BY FAITH
Now this describes the part faith has to play in this whole thing.  Did you know that you can have just as good of a relationship with the Lord by faith as you do by feelings, by sight, etc.  Faith has substance!  (Hebrews 11:1)!  So, when we make a decision that we are going to walk with Him by faith, we can have all the natural effects of walking with Him physically.  Amen!
Do you remember how God came down and was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8)?  This Scripture implies that this was not an uncommon occurrence.  Apparently, the Lord came to walk with Adam & Eve on a regular basis because we see how they were familiar with His sound walking in the Garden.  But then, when sin entered and they were banished from the Garden, a man named Enoch—being Adam’s great (x4) grandson—who was born outside of this Garden experience said, “I’m going to walk with God by faith!  
I like to imagine that what happened here was that Enoch heard about how his great, great, great, great Grandad, Adam, used to walk with God in the Garden.  Perhaps he went to see his great (x4) granddad and listen to him tell stories of what it was like to walk with God (Adam was still alive during Enoch’s lifetime, living for 930 years).  So, this stirred Enoch up!  Therefore, he determined that he was going to walk with God just like his great (x4) granddaddy did.  But the difference was that he was going to have to do it by faith—which he obviously did successfully.    
Now while we do not know if this is exactly what happened, what we do know is that Enoch indeed walked with his God by faith.  We know this because Hebrews 11:5 says that Enoch was translated because He had this testimony—that He pleased God, which was because He did this “By faith.”  Then verse 6 goes on to echo this truth by saying that faith is how one pleases God.   And that Scripture in Genesis says that He walked with God (see Genesis 5:24).  That’s all it told us.  So, we can see that what Enoch did that pleased God so much was He walked with Him by faith.  Not because God physically walked with him in the cool of the day, but simply because he chose to walk with Him by faith.  So, this excited God so much, that He just had to take Him a little early.
And this is exactly what we, as Christ’s disciples, are called to do—to walk with Him by faith and abide in His presence all the days of our lives.  This is how we can please our Lord and Savior the most—by abiding in His house every day. Along this line, let me encourage you to not waste your trials - they are opportunities to please God by “seeing by faith” the resolution of that trial while you are still in it.
HOW DO WE ABIDE IN HIM?
Now that leads me to the practical part of this message.  Since we are called to walk with Him by faith, the obvious question we should be asking is—How do we abide in Him?  In other words, how do we practically stay, remain, live and dwell in His manifest presence like He has told us to?
Well, let me recount to you something that the Lord told me before along these lines:  The Lord opened my eyes to this truth that we have been studying several years back concerning the importance of abiding in the Lord.  You see, I saw vividly how “apart from Him we can do nothing.”  Therefore, I saw how important it was that we indeed do learn how to abide in Him because He is our source for any and all fruit we desire to produce.
Now I had obviously experienced this connection with the Lord to a degree at various times during my life as we all probably have.  But what I had failed to experience was a consistent and continual abiding in Him that Jesus was talking about here in John chapter 15.
Well, this prompted me to hunger and thirst for this abiding relationship with the Lord.  So, one day, I was asking the Lord to teach me to continually abide in Him. I was saying, “Lord show me how to consistently abide! Teach me to continually abide in You!” and as I had intended on these words to come out of my mouth, I uttered a different prayer that by passed my understanding.  Instead, the words of my prayer turned into— “Lord, let your praise be continually in my mouth!”
Now this was obviously a Holy Spirit inspired prayer because I was not thinking this in any way, shape or form.  Then the Lord revealed to me that this was how we continually abide in Him—by His praise being continually in our mouth.  Amen!  In other words, the way we continually abide in His manifest presence is by His praise being continually in our mouth.  Amen!
The obvious Scripture that the Lord was leading me to pray was from Psalm 34:1 that says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”  And you have to know that the Lord, would not give us directions like this unless it benefited us in some way.  Why?  Because He is a God of love, and love is always seeking the welfare and benefit of someone else.
You see, God does not seek praise and worship because He is some glory hunter that just can’t get enough of everyone telling Him how great and wonderful He is.  No, the Lord gives us repeated instructions to praise & worship Him because He is trying to get something to us, not just something through us.  In other words, He knows how much our continually praising and worshiping Him ministers to us.
And so, what He was teaching me is that one of the greatest benefits of us learning to bless the Lord at all times is that we will abide in Him.  Now this should be rather obvious to us because of all the Scriptures that teach us how God inhabits the praises of His people and how worship draws us into the holy of holies.
You see, our feelings and experiences are directly tied to our thoughts and focus.  So, when we fix our eyes on Him—His greatness, glory and power—we begin to sense, become aware of, and feel His tangible presence.  In other words, it begins to affect our surroundings.  Amen!  
We see this clearly illustrated in Philippians chapter four:  In verses 4-8, we see the apostle Paul giving us some clear instructions that range from rejoicing always to thinking only on things that are praiseworthy.  But then he goes on to give us one of the primary benefits to applying these things to our lives. 
Notice how in Philippians 4:9 the Apostle Paul says, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Now, first of all, what does Paul mean when he said that the God of peace will be with us?  Didn’t the Lord promise to never leave us nor forsake us?  Didn’t He promise that He would be with us, even to the end of the world?  He sure did!  So, what does Paul mean when he said that God will be with us if we do the things that He taught and walked out in his life?  That seems contrary to these other Scriptures that teach us that we don’t have to do anything to keep God with us.
But we must understand that there is a big difference between God being with us spiritually (i.e. as pertaining to the spirit realm) and Him being with us physically (i.e. tangibly in the natural realm around us).  God most certainly is with us all the time positionally, but we also have the ability to have Him be manifested in our lives in an experiential and tangible way.
But we need to understand that this physical experience of Him is not automatic. That is easy to see.  Few believers consistently carry the presence of the Lord around with them.  But this is a blessed place to live—where His presence is experienced, felt, and tasted.  Amen!
But the Apostle of faith had a specific fruit of God’s tangible presence in mind here.  Mind you, the context here of all that he was teaching revolved around peace.  So, it can be surmised that he is concluding his instructions on walking in the peace of God by saying “the God of peace will be with you!”
So, again, why did he call God, “the God of peace” here?  It was because the subject up to this point in Philippians chapter four is the peace of God.  Now here is a powerful truth:  The fruit of having the God of peace manifested in our lives is having the peace of God manifested in our lives!  In other words, when we have the God of peace in our lives, we have the peace of God in our lives.  When we have peace, we’ve experienced a piece of God.  Hallelujah!  That is what the Holy Spirit had in mind as He inspired this truth to be recorded!
In other words, the example that Paul gave through his words and deeds is how we can experience more of the God of peace in our lives which in turn causes us to experience more of the peace of God in our lives.  Peace is the manifest presence of the God of peace.
You see, peace is the manifest presence of God.  This is why time spent in the presence of God is so important!  Strife is the manifest presence of the devil.  But when you have the peace of God all around you, it is proof that you have God all around you.  Fear and strife is the devil personified. Love, joy and peace is the Lord personified! 
So, herein lies a great way to know when you are walking in the experiential, tangible presence of the Prince of Peace—you will walk in His peace.
So, if Paul said that all we need to do to experience the peace of God in our lives is follow his example and his teachings, what is it that we need to follow?  Well, what did he say in verse 9 again? “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and…”
So, the key to experiencing the manifest presence of the God of peace in our lives—which results in us walking in the peace of God—is “doing” these four things in Philippians 4:4-8.  And, church, that is what all of this boils down to—being doers of these truths.  Deliberately, rejoicing in the Lord always.  Purposefully, not being anxious about anything and taking everything to Him in prayer.  Intentionally, thinking on these things.  If we keep our attention on Him through these things, we can expect the manifest presence of Jesus to go with us everywhere we go.  Amen.
You know, the Scriptures teach us very clearly that walking in peace is directly related to our minds.  Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.”
Now when you see the words “perfect peace” it is actually, in the Hebrew, “shalom, shalom.”  So instead of translating this verse as “peace, peace,” they just needed to add the emphasis that was being made—thus the translation of the words as “perfect peace.”  So, we are talking about some major league peace here—not just peace, but peace upon peace.
You could say that we are talking about what the Apostle Paul described in Philippians 4:7, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!  This is perfect peace—the peace that surpasses all understanding!  Amen!
But another good point to make here is that, as Paul said in Philippians 4:7, this peace which surpasses all understanding, will guard (or, keep) our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  And doesn’t Isaiah 26:3 say that He will “keep” us in perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him?  It sure does!  So, what we see here is that when we keep our minds stayed on Him, He will keep us in absolute peace!  Glory to God!
Romans 8:6 teaches us this same principle:  In it, Paul says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The Apostle Paul had just gotten done in verse 5 saying that those live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh and those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  In other words, where the mind goes the man will follow.  Our outward lives are a reflection of the way we think.  This is why I like to say (like the world says that we are what we eat) spiritually speaking, we are what we think!  Amen!
But what Paul is referring to here is the “setting of one’s mind” on fleshly things or spiritual things.  The phrase “set their minds on” comes from the Greek word “phroneo” and means “to regard or be mindful.”  It describes where our interests lie—what we entertain and how we are directing our mind.
ABIDING IN THE LIGHT
So, in conclusion, this walking with the presence of the Prince of Peace is simply another way of describing “walking in the light.”  Now I made reference earlier that just as we must have seed, good soil, and the knowledge of how to sow the seed into the soil, we also need to have sunlight and water to continue the growth process of the plant.  Well, I see abiding in Him as the keeping ourselves in the SON-LIGHT.  Let me explain:
Doesn’t the Bible teach us that God’s very presence is the LIGHT?  1 John 1:5 says, “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” James 1:17 also describes Him as “…the Father of light with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning.”  So, we can clearly see because of the light 😊 of these two passages of Scripture that God’s very presence is light.
So here is my point:  Just as the “Sun” is the source of energy of the plants, the “Son” is the author of life itself and He is the only One who enables us to grow to maturity.  In fact, just as plants grow closer to the light that is shining on them, so also, when we spend time in His presence, we will grow towards His image and likeness.
You see, all of this goes back to the saying- “You become like who you are around.” In other words, who you fellowship with will determine the fruit you have. We need to “hang out” with Jesus in order to be like Him because we will adapt to the environment that we are placed in.
Therefore, we must spend time in God’s presence if the seed inside of us is ever going to grow.  This is why I stress the importance of having a relationship with God.  We can go to church, be around other believers, and even hear good sermons and never grow.  It is not until we start spending alone time with God—worshipping and fellowshipping—that we are capable of growing towards Him.
Church, this is how we position ourselves to walk with God—by putting our attention on Him.  If we can train ourselves to continuously praise Him and to set our mind on Him, we can pull into this physical realm what is always a reality in the spiritual realm.  This is abiding in Him.  Even when we cannot see Him, we can be with Him.  Let’s stay in His house—that is, in His presence.  This should be our one desire as it was with King David—that we would dwell in His house (i.e. His presence) all the days of our life (see Psalm 27:4)—never leaving Him or forsaking Him. And when we abide in His secret place, there are a myriad of benefits including peace, protection and provision.  And according to John 15:7, we will begin to see the fruit of the things we have desired of the Lord.  Amen.

REVIEW
 
A few weeks ago, the Lord had us pitch camp in John chapter 15 where Jesus taught His disciples that He is the True Vine, that we are the branches, and how we can bear much fruit for the glory of God the Father. So, let’s quickly go back and review some of the things we learned:  
We have spent the first three parts of this series essentially talking about the kingdom principle. No, not a kingdom principle; the kingdom principle.  That’s right—we have learned that just as Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, there is one way, truth, and life of the kingdom—and that is seedtime & harvest.  Everything operates according to this principle. Amen.
Now when you bring up this principle of seedtime & harvest and you start talking about that we will reap what we sow, there seems to be negative connotation to it. For example, when someone says, “You reap what you sow,” everyone seems to only think how this works negatively.  But how many of you know that the same principle that can certainly work against you can also work for you?  Yes, we should get excited when we hear this because we are learning how to get good seed planted in our ground so that we can reap the harvest we desire. Amen?   
So, up to this point, we have spent time studying this very thing:  We have been looking at other parables that Jesus taught, where He illustrated what the kingdom of God is like and how it works:  We’ve looked at His Parable of the Growing Seed from Mark 4:26-29, and we saw from this the process of the kingdom.  Then we looked over at His Parable of the Sower and saw the basic building blocks of the kingdom by studying both what the seed and the soil is.  So, from all of this, we saw that the seed is the Word of God and the soil is the ground of our hearts.  Therefore, we learned that if we will just take the seed of God’s Word—the specific seed for the fruit we desire to see—and plant it in the good ground of our hearts, we will see the fruit we desire.  Yes, we indeed can count on this because it is a law in God’s kingdom.  This is how we get a harvest every time!
You see, saints, this is why we can count on verses like John 15:7.  It is because the Lord has taught us how to receive our desires that are in accordance with His will.  But herein lies the mistake of most believers:  they never learn the process, they don’t know what the seed is, and they don’t discover where the ground is much less how to cultivate it.  My point is—if we want to receive from God, then we’d best find out how He has set things up because it is not good enough to hope and pray that God comes through for us just because He has the power and ability to do it.  No, just like we must learn how to function on this earth—respecting its laws like gravity, seedtime & harvest, etc.—we must also respect the laws (i.e. principles) of the kingdom of heaven.  That is the only way we are going to live in the fullness of His blessing and bear much fruit.    
So, now that we have looked at two of the parables that Jesus gave us that describe how the kingdom operates, let’s look at a third parable today because I feel it answers the next important question that needs to be asked concerning this kingdom principle:  If the process is seedtime & harvest, the seed is the Word of God, and the soil is our hearts, then how do we sow the seed into our hearts?  That’s a great question, and the answer is found in this right here—a mustard seed.
Today, I want to talk to you about this very little, seemingly insignificant seed, which in Jesus’ day was considered to be one of the smallest seeds on the earth.  You see, the mustard seed was an object lesson that Jesus used three different times during His ministry. And what I want us to do today is look at all three of these references in order for us to answer this question:  How do we sow the seed of God’s Word?  So, let’s begin answering this question by looking at two of the three different references that He made to the mustard seed—two references that echo each other.
FAITH AS A MUSTARD SEED
We see Jesus twice using the analogy of a mustard seed in teaching His disciples how faith works, saying that if they just had faith like this mustard seed, they could see supernatural results:
In the first instance I am referring to (see Luke 17:5-6), Jesus’ disciples heard Jesus teach on the importance of forgiveness.  So, His disciples immediately responded to the call for unlimited forgiveness by saying, “Increase our faith!”
On a side note, why did they respond this way?  What was it about Jesus’ statements on forgiveness that prompted them to think they needed more faith?  It was because Jesus’ disciples understood something that most in the church today do not, and that is that we forgive by faith.  We don’t forgive just because the ill feelings for the other person have left.  Forgiveness is a choice—a choice to not hold the other person accountable for their offense any longer.  Jesus described it like erasing a debt.  If you forgive somebody of some money they owe you, what does that have to do with how you feel about them?  It has nothing to do with it because you have already released them of the debt.  Likewise, when we forgive others, it is simply a conscious decision that we are loosing that person from what they did to us, and any time feelings try to come back up when we see them, we respond to those feelings and say, “No, they are forgiven.  I have forgiven them and I’ve asked God to forgive them.  Now I will just love them.  And flesh, if you keep it up, I will do even more good to them.”  Now that doesn’t mean that you place them back in a position in your life and put your trust back in them immediately; but it does mean that you move on and don’t continue to stroke those feelings of resentment.     
Then Jesus goes on to explain to His disciples how faith works, which I see as Him countering their plea for more faith with— “Guys, you don’t need more faith! You just need to know how to put your faith to work.”  He said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:5-6).
You see, most people believe that the reason Jesus used the mustard seed was only because of the size of it.  In other words, He would use the mustard seed to describe how we only need a little faith to get the fruit we desire.  And while there is some truth to that (we will see more of that shortly), I believe Jesus was teaching us how faith works—it must be planted like a mustard seed and then it will grow and produce the fruit of the thing we desire.  We will get more into that in a moment. 
In the other instance where Jesus used the mustard seed as His object lesson, He was referring to the casting out of the demon from the epileptic boy, and when His disciples asked him why they could not cast it out, Jesus responded— “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you had faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing shall be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20).
So, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him why they didn’t get the same results with this boy that they had come to expect when praying for people, Jesus bluntly told them— “Guys, it is because of your unbelief.”  And this unbelief is not simply the absence of faith; it is the polar opposite of faith that counterbalances the effectiveness of our faith. If we have a ton of unbelief it can outweigh our faith.  That’s a whole other message. But along this line, we need to understand a few opposing truths: carnal people act on what they feel, whereas spiritual people act on what they believe; faith is spiritual while unbelief is carnal; and prayer increases our sensitivity to God, while fasting decreases our sensitivity to our flesh.
But what Jesus was saying here was— “Guys, the reason you didn’t get the fruit you desired here is because of the unbelief that’s in you.  However, I’m telling you the truth, if you just had faith like a mustard seed…”  Again, not necessarily a reference to the size of their faith, but to the way in which faith works—like planting a mustard seed and getting a mustard tree harvest.     
So, in both of these instances, faith is the subject and it is likened to a mustard seed.  Again, the obvious point that Jesus was making in these Scriptures is that we do not need great faith to see great results; all we need is faith as a mustard seed—which while widely-viewed in their days to be the smallest of all seeds, had the capability to grow and become a great herb bearing tree.  
But allow me to reiterate this point:  Many Christians err today regarding this, believing that they just need “more faith” in order to see “more fruit.” But this is exactly what Jesus was countering in both of these passages. No, friends, we do not need more faith; all we need is to use a little of the faith that we already have.  But someone will invariably respond to this, “But Trey, I do believe! I do have faith! Yet I am not seeing those results.”  But this is when we need to consider what else Jesus was saying in these verses.
Concerning this, it is noteworthy that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 17 that if you had faith as a mustard seed you will say, and in Luke chapter 17, He said that if you had faith as a mustard seed you can say.  This teaches me that if I have this faith and understand how it operates, then I both can and will say something—teaching us that our faith is voice-activated.  Yes, we have the ability to speak faith-filled words, but we also must speak these faith-filled words if we want to see results.  Amen.
You see, a little mustard seed does you no good if it is not planted and allowed the opportunity to grow and produce, does it?  And as we are about to learn in this Parable of the Mustard Seed, this particular seed has a supernatural ability to produce and grow to become greater than all other herb bearing trees.  To me, this is the point Jesus was making:  It is not about having more faith; it is simple about learning to plant the faith we have and allowing it the opportunity to grow and produce its supernatural results.
So, then the obvious question is:  How do you plant those mustard seeds of faith?  And the answer to this question is found in both of these passages of Scripture:  Again, Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “…if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there.’”  And also, in Luke 17:6, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea.’”
What is the common thread that you see here?  It is that the way we plant our faith into the situations and circumstances that are currently in our lives to see them removed is by speaking to them.  Yes, we sow little mustard seeds of faith by speaking faith-filled words!
This is how we sow, church—by saying!  Never forget this right here, saints:  Saying is sowing and sowing is saying.  We plant God’s Word by speaking God’s Word!  Let me say it this way:  When you say the seed of God’s Word, you are sowing the seed of God’s Word.
This is how faith produces wonder-working results!  It must be planted, and then allowed the time to germinate under the ground until it springs up in the natural and changes those situations and circumstances!  Hallelujah!    
But where you see this kingdom principle fail in so many believers’ lives is in that time between when the mustard seed is sown and when it begins to bear fruit in the natural.  And sometimes that is a long period of time, saints.  But this is how the kingdom generally works:  First seed, then time, and then, after what generally is a longer period of time than our flesh would like, the harvest!  In other words, His kingdom does not usually manifest when we want it to.  This is why we must say it, and keep saying it until we see the fruit.  I liken this to planting the seed, then watering the seed we’ve sown with the Word itself (Ephesians 5:26).  As Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (see First Corinthians 3:6).   
And this is exactly what Jesus was teaching in this parable that we are about to look at in Matthew chapter 13—that the kingdom of God is progressive and it is growing with the increase that comes from God.  But the key in understanding seedtime & harvest is in knowing that it grows underneath the ground first.  In other words, its progress is usually unseen.  And that is when we must believe that God is working—not when we see it, but when we know He said it.  This is faith, and this is kingdom living.
So, finally, let’s look at Jesus’ last reference to the mustard seed—the Parable of the Mustard Seed in Matthew’s gospel (it is actually located in all three accounts of Jesus’ “Sermon by the Sea”).
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus said— “Another parable He put forth to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Now, again, the key item in this parable is the mustard seed.  Notice that this is what Jesus was comparing the kingdom of God to when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.”
Now it is important to note that in both Mark & Luke’s account of this parable, they both quote Jesus as saying, “What is the kingdom of God like? And with what parable shall we picture it?”  This shows us that Jesus was drawing on the best natural example He could to paint the picture of what the kingdom of God is like.  In other words, this parable is the specific illustration Jesus chose to use to describe to us what the kingdom of God looks like.
Well, notice the next statement here in Matthew 13:31— “which a man took and sowed in his field.”
Now we know, in its purest interpretation, the man here in this parable is Almighty God.  He took He Whom was from the beginning, the Logos (i.e. the Word), and sowed Him to the earth.  And we understand that from the time Jesus was born in a stable to the time of His death on the Cross, He had “no form or comeliness” (i.e. no majestic form or splendor) and there was “no beauty that we should desire Him.”  As the prophet Isaiah also stated- “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.” (see Isaiah 53:2).
Yes, saints, Jesus was that mustard seed—that tender plant that grew up out of dry ground!  He was the Word sown by the Father into this world which is His field.  Indeed, our Heavenly Father said, “Light be,” and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. (Compare John 1:1-14).
GOD SAID TOO
But sticking with this biblical account, aren’t you glad that when God stood over the earth that was without form and void and beheld the darkness that was over the face of the deep, He didn’t say, “Man, its dark in here! What a mess! I wish this darkness would go. Me, I beg and plead with you to bring Me some light.”  No, what did God do?  Genesis 1:3 says, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”  He spoke of what fruit He wanted to see, and not the lack of fruit that He currently saw.  (This becomes more literal on the third day). 
And, church, this is the way God operates—He says what He desires to see, not what He sees in the natural.  We see this also in Mark 11:22-24 when Jesus taught His disciples more about how faith works:
We know the story:  how Jesus cursed the fig tree on the way to Jerusalem, and then when they passed back the next day, they saw it dried up from the roots.  So, when Peter said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away,” Jesus answered with— “Don’t try this at home, guys, because I am the Son of God, and you are not…”  No, that’s not what Jesus said! He answered with— “Have faith in God!”  Now the literal rendering in the Greek language says, “Have God’s faith.” So, while it is certainly important for us to put our faith in the Lord, and that absolutely has its place, Jesus was telling us here to have faith like God has it.  In other words, have His very own faith and practice it like He does.  Amen!
Then, Jesus goes on to further explain how we have the faith of God by saying in verse 23, “For assuredly (Now that means that you can be confident in this. It’s a sure thang!), I say to you, whosoever (Now we made this point during this series about how it doesn’t matter who the sower is.  You can be the poop of a bird that swallowed a seed that simply carries the seed to the ground, and that seed will bring forth its fruit) says to this mountain (So, we see here that we are not talking to God about the mountain; this is us talking to the mountain itself), ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” Notice that in this verse, the word “says” is mentioned three times, and the believing aspect is only mentioned one.
So, I believe that all of this means that the saying part is super significant, mainly because God Himself operates this way.  Amen?
THE LEAST OF ALL SEEDS
And as I was making the point of earlier, God did this very thing with His Word, the Lord Jesus!  Yes, Jesus was sown into this earth just like a seed is sown.  But, again, how was the Word sown?  By God saying…!  Yes, His Word was spoken and it was made flesh!
But although Jesus came to be the Light of the world and to shine in the darkness of this dark and perverse world, the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5).  As the Parable of the Mustard Seed went on to say, “which indeed is the least of all the seeds.”
Sticking with the interpretation of Jesus being the mustard seed spoken of in this parable, the kingdom of God and its Christ did not come in a grand and glorious fashion.  Jesus and His kingdom came as the least, humbly to be a servant of all.  From His own mouth, He said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28).
And, herein lies another great principle of the kingdom of God:  It is that the first will be last and the last will be first.  As this same passage in Matthew chapter 20 states— “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” (Matthew 28:26-27).  This is how God’s kingdom operates, beloved.  We see this by how the Christ and His kingdom came in an unassuming way.  And it will operate the same in our lives as we lay down our lives and learn to become “the least of all seeds” ourselves.  May it be so in all of us, Lord!  Amen. 
But I want us to look at this from a different perspective:  Since Jesus was (and obviously still is) the Word of God, then let’s look at this parable from that standpoint.  God spoke the Word, saying, “Let there be the Light of the World,” and the Light Himself was made manifest.  So, God sowed His Son—His Word—to the earth, and as Jesus went on to describe in the Parable of the Mustard Seed, “but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree…”  We certainly see this in the life of Jesus, Who was sown and now has become highly exalted, being given the name which is above every other name!  Yes, as Jesus went on to describe in this parable that when this little mustard seed grows to become this great tree, even “the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Saints, Jesus has received a more excellent name through His death, burial, and resurrection!  And now that He has been seated at the right hand of His Father and has been given the name above every name, He is far above all principality, power, might, dominion, and every name that is named! (Ephesians 1:20-21).  Hallelujah!
MUSTARD IN YOUR MOUTH
But, again, He did not start this way when He was sown to the earth.  He had no form or comeliness that we should desire Him.  This means that He seemed all too natural and didn’t seem to be significant according to the flesh—likewise our words seem like there’s nothing to them.
In other words, since Jesus is the Word of God, but came in a package that didn’t necessarily convey how powerful He truly was, many discounted His power and glory.  Likewise, the words of Robert, the words of Minton, the words of Shannon, the word of Trey, etc. might not give us the impression that they hold any weight.  But, bless God, if we would just sow those words, they have the capability to grow into a great fruit bearing tree!  Amen!
You see, people will hear messages like this on the power of our words and say in their hearts, “Yeah, well, I just can’t see how our words hold that kind of power. What difference does it make what I say?”  Well, that’s the problem right there.  We are seeing our words like a mustard seed, and not in what the mustard seed has the power of producing! So I have to learn to have faith in MY words. But in order to do this, I must be a person of my word. If I make a habit of not doing what I say (like telling someone I’ll be there in 10 minutes and always showing up much later than that), my heart will not believe what I say when I try to speak words of faith.
We have even seen recently from the Book of Proverbs just how many Scriptures there are on the power of our tongue.  And I’ll tell you—if both the second wisest man (i.e. Solomon) and the wisest (i.e. Jesus) had this much to say about our words, then we must be convinced that there is absolute wisdom in words and power in our tongues.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”  So, the ability to speak both death and life is in our mouth!  Then he goes on to say, “…and those that love it shall eat its fruit.”  So, now we have come full circle back to how to be fruitful because this verse describes to us that the power our mouth possesses is to eat the fruit that we desire.  Yes, the way to partake of the fruit begins with the tongue.  So, why does the fruit come this way?  It is because our words are the way the seed is sown.  We sow by saying, the words are made flesh, and then we partake of their fruit!  Amen!      
Moses said, in the 91st Psalm, “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.’ ”  He was making a confession that he was going to make a confession. In other words, he was premeditating that he would always say this.
This is the power of the mustard seed, church! So, can somebody say, “Pass the mustard, please.” 

​REVIEW
 
So, we began a new series a few weeks ago that we are calling “The True Vine,” which is essentially a teaching on how to be fruitful. And we have been learning that just as Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, there is a True Vine which shows us the Way of the kingdom, the Truth of how His kingdom operates and the Life we can have in His kingdom. Yes, this is the kingdom principle.  
 
So, we opened up this series by asking the question: How do we bear this fruit that He spoke of? How can we practically apply this truth to our lives so that we can produce His fruit in and through us? And the answer to these questions is found in John 15:7. Yes, this profound verse teaches us the two steps to receiving what we desire from God. Now I am hesitant to even say it that way because receiving from God is not in a formula; receiving from God is simply like receiving fruit. It just comes by submitting to His kingdom principle. Amen.
 
But what I want you to see in John 15:7 is that there is an absolute, concrete, and positive way to receiving all of these desires that we ask the Lord for 100% of the time! In other words, there is a fool-proof way to always getting the results we desire from God.
 
Notice that Jesus tells us the two things at the beginning of verse 7 that cause us to enter into the manifestation of our heart’s desires:
 

1. “If you abide in Me”
2. “And (if) My words abide in you.”

 
So, if we want to receive what we desire from the Lord, we need to find out two things: What does it mean to abide in Him? And what does it mean for His Words to abide in us? Because Jesus said if these two things are a reality in our lives, we will ask what we desire and it shall be done! How many of you want this? Amen! So do I! So, as we go through this series of teachings, we will answer these questions.
 
In part one of this series, we looked at one particular parable that the Lord taught us in Mark 4:26-29—the Parable of the Growing Seed. And we learned some very basic, practical ways in which Jesus said that His kingdom operates. In other words, we looked at the overall process of the kingdom—how it simply grows in our life by the principle of seedtime & harvest. No, it is not by our own self effort or our own intellect; the kingdom comes by sowing & reaping.
 
But again today, let’s go back to the beginning of this chapter and look at what Jesus taught that led up to John 15:7 in order to get the proper foundation laid:
 
We have seen in verse one that Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Again, by Jesus referring to Himself as the “True” Vine, He is implying that there are false vines out there too—that is, there are people, belief systems, all sorts of things that man tends to see as their source of life, peace, joy, etc. Likewise, there are things that we can tend to rely on, thinking they will make us fruitful and produce what we desire, such as our church, our pastor, a new teaching or ministry, etc.
 
And so our King—the Lord Jesus Christ—has given you and I the very laws of how His kingdom operates. Yes, the True Vine has taught us the very principle of His kingdom and we will see today that again, the physical laws of seedtime, harvest, and fruit-bearing are involved. And that is why I call this the “Kingdom Principle (for bearing fruit)” because it is only going to come by our connection to the True Vine Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Then, last week, we looked at verses 2&3 and saw how the Lord went on to tell His disciples: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
 
We saw how we must be careful to not let our experiences and things we’ve seen in others form our interpretation of what it means to be “pruned.” Many interpret this “pruning” to be sickness, disease, tragedy, suffering, etc., but we need to let the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures. In verse three, we see Jesus telling His disciples that they are “already clean…” The word for “clean” here is from the same Greek word translated “prune” in verse two! So, Jesus was telling His disciples that they were already pruned. How? Because of the word which He had spoken to them. In other words, His Words are what purge us—not circumstances and situations. So, His Word has a cleansing effect on us and what causes us to grow!
 
Jesus said something similar in John 17:17 when He prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” Therefore, it is clear that it is the Word of God that makes us fruitful—not circumstances, like some have interpreted John 15:2-3 to mean. No, church, it is not our circumstances that bring forth fruit; the Word does! Therefore, we will not yield more fruit simply by the situations we find ourselves in throughout our lives. The way God grows us is through the Holy Scriptures! In fact, we saw how Psalm 119:9 tells us— “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your Word.” Again, how are we purged, pruned or cleansed? By taking heed according to His Word! And God wants us to remind Him of His Word (Isaiah 43:26). Not that He has forgotten, but He wants us to stand on His Word and say, “God, You said…” and claim what His Word says about the situation you are dealing with. Once we have done this, God is obligated to perform what He has promised.
 
And that is what we camped on last week: Last time, we talked about the seed itself from this seedtime & harvest process: We saw in Mark 4:14 that Jesus said that the seed is the Word. Therefore, we saw that if all fruit began with a seed, and the seed is specifically referred to as the Word, then how on earth (and in God’s kingdom) do we suppose we will ever bear any fruit without God’s Word? It’s just not going to happen! The Word is the most critical element in us bearing the fruit that we desire in our lives. Amen.
 
Now one very important point that we made was that there is a big difference between one who sows and one who is a sower. For example, a farmer is different than one who farms occasionally. Why? Because a farmer is one who does this for a living, where one who simply farms might just be doing it as a hobby or for fun. In other words, one who farms for a living describes his or her lifestyle. Anyone can plant seed here and there, but if we are a sower—meaning, we do this as an occupation or a profession—then we are living our lives focused on sowing & reaping. The fact is that this sower in Jesus’ parable was intentional. In other words, He went out specifically for the purpose of sowing to get a harvest. Therefore, we need to see ourselves as “sowers” and live purposeful lives of going to and fro sowing seed wherever we go.
 
But we also learned that we need to be intentional in what specific seed we are sowing. I brought this out because it sparks a very good point: We need to know specifically what kind of seed we are planting. In other words, what is the specific Word that we are planting? You see, it is not good enough to just be general. We need to be specific and sow specific seed that we want a specific harvest in. You see, we wouldn’t go into a nursery and just grab a bunch of miscellaneous seeds to sow in our garden or field, would we? We wouldn’t say, “Oh, this looks like a seed. That’s what I need” and take it to go plant. No, we would search out the specific seed that we need, right?
 
You know, many Christians say things like, “Well, I’m just trusting God.” But what are we trusting Him to do? Specifically, how are we trusting Him? What is our trust based on? We need to be specific in our faith and not just general. When we do that it just shows our ignorance of how His kingdom operates.
 
No, when we are planting a garden, we prepare the ground. We buy specific seed. We systematically sow it. We then guard our garden—sometimes with some pretty extreme measures. We go through certain concentrated and calculated steps to get the fruit, flower, vegetables, etc. we want. So why would we do it any different in God’s kingdom? Saints, I’ll tell you, we need to become more deliberate, purposeful and intentional in what we are sowing into our lives—because, as a general rule, our lives are a fruit today of what we planted yesterday! Amen!
 
But we also looked at the fact that there is both a natural and a spiritual side to all of this. Many get in one ditch or the other when it comes to these things. Either they will get totally spiritual, believing that all that is important is God’s Word and it doesn’t matter what they do in the natural or they will put all their hope in their observance of natural laws. But we need to do our best to sow good seed first naturally and then after that, spiritually.
 
But we learned that as important as these natural things are, just doing them will in no way guarantee one that they will not lose all of their wealth or their health. The reason is because we live in a fallen world that leaves us subject to economy crashes and sickness & disease that do not come because we did something wrong. This is where God’s kingdom principles come in!
 
So, we learned last week how we sow the seed of God’s Word so that we can receive the fruit we desire in these specific areas. We used the example of our mental & emotional state and if we need to see fruit in that area, how do we sow God’s Word to reap that harvest in our soul. So, from this example, we saw that after we have gathered the specific seed that pertains to our area of need—this being what God’s Word promises us in that area—we now have the seed to sow.  
 
Then I illustrated to you how we then take that seed and begin to sow it: Regarding the example of prosperity in our soul, we would take those promises and say something to the effect of: “Father, I thank You that You, as my Lord and Good Shepherd, restore my soul (Psalm 23:3). You have promised to do so, to restore even the years that have been stolen from me. Thank You for restoring my soul. And I praise You that you have given me Your Word that You said converts my soul. So, I implant that Word in my heart and it is saving my soul. Glory to God, I have a sound mind that is already delivered and prosperous in Jesus name.”
 
So, I say all of this to say, what do you want to see changed in your life? Where would you like to see growth? What is your need? Well, I’m here to tell you that for every need, there is a seed. So, our only real need is to find out the seed and then plant it!
 
YOUR ONLY NEED IS THE SEED
 
Friends, the fact is—everything starts with a seed? Yes, everything with life in it starts with a seed! For example, you started with a seed. Each and every one of us started out as the seed from our father and then when that seed was planted, you and I were conceived.
 
It is the same spiritually: The new creation that we were born again into, started with a seed. As the Scriptures teach us, we were born of God and His seed remains in us. And First Peter 1:23 tells us that we were born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible seed, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.
 
Now Peter had the same kind of seed in mind here as our physical birth: He is referring not to a seed of a plant, but to the seed of a man. The Greek word used in this verse for “seed” is sperma—which is obviously where we get our word “sperm” from.  Peter was saying that just as we are physically born after the seed of a man is planted in the womb of a woman, likewise we are spiritually born again after the seed of God is planted in our hearts. Yes, the analogy is correct. When one is born again, he or she has received God’s spiritual seed!
 
Now we understand that the seed of a man is the carrier of all the nature and attributes of the man that it originated from. Therefore, it should not surprise us that the seed of God that we receive when we hear and receive the gospel contains the nature and attributes of our Heavenly Father! Wow! That is a powerful truth! And we know from Scripture that we are spiritually recreated in His likeness and image which includes His holiness and righteousness (Ephesians 4:24). The reason this is possible is because we have been born of Him! This changes everything! As Paul said, “Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new!”
 
This is why the Apostle John said in 1 John 3:9– “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” What this verse is saying is that when we are born-again, we will not continue to practice sin because we have become new creations and, therefore, no longer have the same sinful tendencies. Certainly, we do still commit sins after we are born again. That is not what John was saying. He was saying that the difference between our former life in the world and our new life with Christ is that our nature has changed and the lack of awareness of sin and the desire for sin has been crucified with Christ. We now have the law of God written on our hearts and have God’s divine nature that causes us to desire the things He loves and abhor the things He hates.
 
Yes, when we were born again, we received a new nature that will compel us to grow up to be like our Daddy. Just like we grew up to resemble our natural parents in appearance and personality, likewise we will grow up to resemble our Heavenly Father in spiritual appearance and personality. It is in our spiritual DNA!
 
Therefore, when we heard the Gospel and it impacted us, the seed of God was placed in our hearts and we were born again. Hallelujah, the Gospel was God’s divine seed that impregnated us and now Christ is being magnified in us until we end up having the same testimony as the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20— “It is no longer I who live but Christ living in me!” Glory to God!
 
But another point that 1 Peter 1:23 was making is that, naturally speaking, when one is born into this world, that natural seed that he or she is born from has death abiding in it. Therefore, mankind is corruptible. Eventually, after we have grown and matured, we will begin to decline and will eventually die. Our physical bodies will begin to become wrinkled, spotted and will begin to slow down. This is the inevitable consequence of the curse of sin that is in this world.
 
Of course, we as believers have the ability to supernaturally live above this curse-ridden world to a certain degree, but there are certain things that are inevitable such as physical death. This is just a part of being born of “corruptible seed.”  But the good news is that although the outward man is perishing, when one is born again, the inward man is renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16)! This means that although our physical self has death abiding in it, the spiritual part of us never ages. It maintains the same newness and perfection day after day. In the spiritual, eternal realm we do not go from birth to death; we go from glory to glory. Our flower will never fade. Hallelujah, this is the beauty of the new birth!
 
The seed of God has no death abiding in it—only life everlasting! Therefore, we are born again of an incorruptible seed because the Word of God lives and abides forever! Hallelujah! We now have eternal life!  
 
WHAT IS THE SOIL?
 
So that leads me to this next part of this series: We found out what the seed is; now where are we supposed to plant it? In other words, what is the soil that we plant the seed of God’s Word into? Well, just as Jesus tells us plainly what the seed is, the Parable of the Sower also plainly tells us what the soil that we sow this seed into is: It is our hearts.
 
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus specifically referred to the ground as being the heart of man (Luke 8:12&15). This should be fairly obvious even if Jesus would not have specifically mentioned our heart, for where else could the Word have been sown on the inside of us? Our hearts are the ground that, when seeds are planted in it, will produce the fruit of the seeds planted therein.
 
But when it comes to Jesus’ explanation of both the seed and the soil in His Parable of the Sower, it is noteworthy the vast difference in how much time He took describing them both: In fact, in Mark’s account of Jesus explaining this parable, we have 5 words used to describe the seed and around 150 words used to describe the ground. So, for every 30 or so words that describe the various conditions of man’s heart, we have one word for God’s Word. That teaches me that the issue is mainly not with the seed; it is with the heart of man that the seed is sown into. And the truth is that this is exactly where we see the difference in most Christian’s ability to be fruitful: the answer is found in the condition of our own hearts.   
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART
 
Now, let’s look at a few Scriptures in the Bible that describe just how important the heart truly is:
 

1. First Samuel 16:7 – But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  > Here, we see that one of the main reasons the condition of our hearts is so important is because it is what the Lord is focused on. No, He does not consider the condition of our outward man; He focuses on the inner man—that is, the hidden man of the heart. So, if this is what He looks at, then it must be what is important.
2. Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. > Here, we see that our heart follows our affections. Whatever we “treasure”—that is, what we value & esteem—is where our heart will be. Therefore, our hearts evidently determine what we spend our time, energy or resources on.
3. Luke 6:45 – A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. > Regarding where our treasure is, Jesus said here that whatever we treasure in our heart is what we will bring forth in our life—particularly, it will determine what comes out of our mouth. And we realize from God’s Word how important our words are, right? There is a lot in the Scriptures about that. So, if our words are so important, and what we treasure in abundance in our hearts is what our mouth will speak, then evidently our hearts play a huge role in this important subject of our words.
4. Proverbs 23:7 – For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. > Here, we see that however we think in our hearts (not just in our heads, but deep down in our hearts), those thoughts will reflect in our lives. Therefore, we—our lives—are a product of how we think in our hearts.
5. Other Examples > Jesus taught us in His Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:21-30) that sins like murder and adultery begin in the heart, and not simply with the action. So, if sin is conceived in the heart (see James 1:14-15), then what we allow to be sown into our heart is of the most extreme importance, as it is beginning of sin. Jesus also said in Matthew 15:19-20, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…”

 
So, our hearts are evidently super important, and through these Scriptures we can clearly see why: It is because it is where both the good treasures and the evil treasures of man’s life are conceived. Yes, how we think in our hearts is what we become in our lives. It is because we will bear the fruit of whatever we have treasured in our hearts. This will also produce the fruit of our lips—which are very important. And, finally, God is not just looking for the fruit that is produced from our hearts; He is looking at the heart itself.
 
So, the condition of our hearts is vital. Just as it is with the earth, our hearts hold the power to produce whatever is planted in them. You see, the earth’s soil does not discern what seeds are sown into it and then decide which ones to produce. It does not say, “I don’t want to produce these corn seeds that are planted in me. I think I will just produce tomatoes instead.” No, it does not have the ability to discern between good seed and bad seed. The earth will simply produce the fruit of whatever seed that is planted in it.
 
And our hearts are no different: Just like the earth’s soil, our hearts will just accept whatever seed we allow to be sown into it and then begin to produce the fruit of that seed. This is why it is so important that we watch what is sown into our hearts! Again, it is because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. It is just that simple.
 
So, just as that little muscle that weighs less than one pound plays such a vital role in our physical life, likewise our spiritual heart plays a similar vital role in our spiritual life, with even the power to affect the natural as well. 
 
GUARDING THE HEART
 
The wisest king Israel ever had understood this very well: We see Solomon exhorting us in Proverbs 4:23 to guard our hearts with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.
 
First of all, notice what Solomon says comes from the heart: He says out of it spring the issues of life! Now the words “spring” and “issues” give us a word picture that I believe is extremely helpful to understanding the heart: The word “issues” oftentimes was used in the times of the Old Testament to describe the “outgoings” of a body of water or you could say the “channels” that come from that body of water. So then when you combine this definition with the word “spring” the picture is painted of water that flows up out of our heart like a fountain or spring.
 
But it is not water that Solomon says flows from our heart; He says that the issues in our life are what flow out of our heart. You see, most of the conditions of our life are directly tied to the condition of our heart. Whew, that was a powerful statement! Let me say it this way since we are talking about a spring of water: The purity and satisfaction of our life is determined by the fountainhead of our heart! If our heart is corrupt and impure then our life will be corrupt and impure.
 
In the Middle East—especially during the days of Solomon—fountains and wells were watched over with special care. Why? It was because if the source of their water was contaminated, then their supply of water was useless. There were not many sources of water in those days, so they protected the ones that they had at all costs. It was vital for them to do that! Likewise, the part of us that all the issues of our life stem from must be protected at all costs, lest we allow the enemy to contaminate our life. This is a vital issue for us as well!
 
But not only do we see the analogy of a wellspring being used, but we also see the analogy of a garden:
 
Any of us who have ever had a garden understand fully well that it takes work to keep a productive garden. In many cases, if you do not spray it down with insecticides or put an electric fence around it, different kinds of bugs and animals will devour your harvest. Likewise, our hearts are like the garden and we must keep it with all diligence.
 
Let’s now look at this phrase— “Keep your heart with all diligence”: The word “keep” literally means “to guard.” It describes keeping something in a safe, secret place, and then, guarding that place. So, Solomon was saying that we are to keep our heart in a safe and secret place similar to how we would keep our wallet, checkbook, or jewelry in a safe and secret place.
 
Did you know that in the world an extremely valuable jewel is oftentimes placed in a high security vault with all kinds of motion detectors, etc.? And they do this for a rock which only has temporal value! How much more, should we apply this same kind of diligent guarding to our heart, which has eternal value?
 
Notice what Solomon goes on to say: He says that we are to guard our heart “with all diligence.” Actually, the Hebrew word for “diligence” here means “keeping or guarding.” That’s right—It has the same meaning as the word “guard” at the beginning of this verse! So, what the first portion of this verse literally says is— “Guard your heart above everything else you guard!” In other words, the Holy Spirit through Solomon was saying that the most important thing you have to guard is your heart. Therefore, guard your heart more than you would guard your most valuable possessions.
 
BREAKING UP THE FALLOWED GROUND
 
But the point I want you to get today is this: there is the principle that we see in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower: Once one takes the seed of God’s Word and sows it in a heart that is good, soft, & unadulterated, there will be a harvest that will come—for some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and others one hundredfold. It absolutely, positively will work 100% of the time!
 
But the fact is that Jesus taught us in this parable that only one out of the four conditions of ground bore fruit that remained. That means that the odds are not in our favor that we will bear the fruit that we desire. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean we just throw our hands up in the air and say, “Que Sara Sara.” No, we can purposefully and deliberately cultivate the ground of our hearts, so that it is the good ground that Jesus said bore much fruit. Amen?
 
So, if the ground of our heart is so vital to the seed’s ability to do what it is programmed to do, we ought to first guard it above everything else we guard. One of the ways we can do this is by paying particular attention to Jesus’ Parable of the Sower which deals directly with the four different conditions of the heart of man. Now, a couple of years ago, we did a very thorough teaching on these four different types of ground entitled “Guarding your Garden.” In this series, we looked at Luke’s account of this parable and saw how these four different kinds (or better yet, “conditions”) of hearts according to Jesus’ teaching are the wayside ground, the stony ground, the thorny ground, and, last but not by any means the least, the good ground. It was a very good teaching that went into much more detail than we will in this series. So, if you are interested in learning more on those four conditions of heart and their remedy, just let me know.
 
But the fact is, some of us have hearts that have already been molded and shaped into the condition they are in. Therefore, we need help, not just in guarding our hearts going forward, but in fixing the ground that is already in the condition it is in.
 
So, what I felt led to do this week is give you a good, general way to reshape and refashion our hearts to becoming the good ground that bears the fruit we so desire. So, are you interested in learning how to do that? While it is very simple, it is not easy. But if it were, then everyone would be doing it, right?   
 
So, considering this analogy of cultivating good ground, a good question would be—How do we “till” this ground and make it good ground that receives the seed, understands it, and keeps it? The Lord showed me the answer. So, are you ready?
 
Second Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” So, what we see here is how we can eliminate the wayside, stony, and thorny ground from our hearts.  
 
First of all, it’s diligence! It’ll take work, and you need to understand that! That ground did not get that way overnight. It has taken years to get in the condition it has gotten into, so it isn’t going to get softened overnight either. It will require diligently working that ground. How? By, first of all, being a laborer of that field who is unspotted from the world (i.e. presenting ourselves approved to God)—that is, not conformed to the world. This worker is not half-hearted and double-minded. They have removed themselves from the world and have set their hand to the plow, not looking back. Amen? This echoes what we see in Romans 12:1-2—that the first and foremost key to not being conformed to the world is by the renewal of our mind. 
 
Finally, Paul tells us this by telling Timothy how we do this: By rightly dividing the Word of Truth! The words “rightly dividing” in the Greek literally mean, “to cut a straight line.” This Greek word was used to describe the cutting of a straight furrow in a field or laying out a straight road. The making a straight furrow can refer to preparing the ground, which is making it good ground to produce the seeds planted in it. And laying a straight road can refer to laying concrete and a new path to travel on. So, the way we break up that wayside ground and make it good ground again is by cutting straight furrows in it—which comes through rightly dividing the Word.
 
Saints, the key to seeing the ground of our hearts changed is diligence in the Word of God—letting His Word renew your mind through diligent study, reading and meditation. As the Apostle Paul says in Second Timothy 2:15: this is what digs and lays straight furrows in that ground! So, as Hosea 10:12 & Jeremiah 4:3 say, “break up your fallow ground.” This means to break up that untilled ground so that the seed you sow gets where it can perform what it is meant to perform!  But Hosea tells us how break it up. “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” So we can break it up by using declaration such as, “Thank You, Lord, there is therefore now NO condemnation for those in You, so this that I’m feeling in my heart is not from You. I am not condemned, I am free from sin.” And we need to worship Him, focusing on Him and being changed into the image of who we behold. As we break up that ground, as well as being diligent to study the Word, we make room for that good seed to be planted and thrive. Selah!