Sunday Message - Rebuild the Holy Temple, Receive the Spirit’s Fire 4

27/04/08

<Exodus 40:34-38; Ez. 37:1-10; John 3:3-8, 6:63; Acts 1:4-8>

RECEIVE THE SPIRIT’S FIRE; MOVE THE HOLY TEMPLE

· What is the work of the Lord? It is the Lord’s doing that we get closer to Him

· Lord Jesus said, “My Father is always at His work till this very day, and I, too, am working”

· The Lord works daily. The belief that God wants us to have isn’t about fixing a certain vision, idea, timetable and wait for them to happen

· We must have a foundation now in seeing what God is doing in my family, studies and tribulations

· We could be strong or weak, as we come together. We shout with joy together when we are strong and we comfort each other when we are weak. We must testify God and walk towards the heavenly kingdom together

· We are still young. Thus, we get emotional easily. God has emotion, but He doesn’t remain in it. He is in the Truth

· Therefore, we must get rid of the false belief and rebuild the true belief thereafter. We can only completely tear down and rebuild by relying on the Cross that God has revealed to us

· We must get rid of all the wrong thinking, feelings, and knowledge. After that, rebuild the right one

· A lot of believers go after holy spirit movement but they do not really understand how God is leading them in their individual lives

· Therefore, they go into perverted belief and cause lots of problems

· In fact, God has already revealed everything in full. He did it with the Old and New Testaments

· The Old Testament emphasizes this: how do we follow God. The Israelites cannot worship God as they wish. They must build a tabernacle first. The 12 tribes surround the tabernacle. They move and stop as one

· Together, they come out from Egypt, cross the Red Sea, go through the wilderness, go to battles and enter the Canaan Land

· What God wants from us now? When we read the New Testament, Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven after fulfilling all His works

· After ascending to Heaven, the Lord stayed with the Saints through the complete Holy Spirit. The Saints didn’t go into the mountains to experience God as individual, after receiving the Holy Spirit. After they’d received the Holy Spirit, the more they gathered to fellowship, break bread, pray and remember the Lord’s teaching together

· These are the models in the Old and New Testaments

· The book of <Acts> tells us how the Apostles rely on the Holy Spirit to do everything

· We shouldn’t be held back by our body. This doesn’t mean that our body is not important. Because of its importance, the more we must be controlled by the Holy Spirit

· All of us have a different timetable. However, we must listen to the message with discretion

· All of us have emotions. We must control our emotions. We can only control our emotions and money when we are controlled by the Holy Spirit

· Today, we must know how to receive the Spirit’s fire. We must spread our strengthened life and influence others

Read <Exodus 40:32-38>

· v32 Though there are dark clouds, there must also be light. Though we may face tribulations, there must be a light in our lives. We will only have authority after we’d gotten the light

· There are clouds in the day and in the night. In other words, God has never stop working

Read <Ezekiel 37:1-10>

· The Israelites were able to see the Tabernacle but not the Spirit’s fire. Thus, they became dried

· It is the same for us. We listen to a lot of messages, but we only receive the knowledge without knowing what God is doing

· v2 there are a lot of people who know God, but most of them are dried (lifeless)

· v4 what is prophecy? It is sharing the word of God. It is telling people about God’s perfect will

· v6 This is the meaning of building the tabernacle

· v7 As one listens to the message, he understands suddenly and sees the big picture. Most people only know the perfect will of God in parts. Those who cannot see the big picture live in agony

· v10 We must become the “vast army of God”. We need to fight the battle. We cannot just listen to the message only. We have the ability to strengthen people and give them answer

Read <John 3:3-8>

· v3 The Lord’s emphasis is that people must be able to see God’s kingdom

· v6 If one judges by the flesh, it will always remain in the flesh. However, when one judges by the Spirit, he will understand the Lord’s desire

· In fact, we are the same as Nicodemus; we do not know what God is doing now. We only know how to go to church, read the Bible or serve. However, we cannot see God is at work

· Men will become hypocrites like the Pharisees when they cannot see. However, they cannot hide from God, Holy Spirit and Satan. Thus, they will be accused

· The result of being accused is that they will judge others and cover themselves up. They do not like to be together with others and thus lose the blessing of brethren living

Read <John 6:33>

· We can only be truly successful and blissful when we rely on the Holy Spirit

· God will not be pleased with everything we do, no matter how good they were done, if we rely on ourselves

Read <Acts 1:4-8>

· v4 The most important instruction that the Lord has given before He ascended to Heaven is to ask them not to leave Jerusalem

· v6 Believers often fix their perspective on the carnal things and wait for things that they want

· Some believers will even ask, “Lord, when will you open the doors of evangelism? I am waiting for that day”. This question sounds very spiritual, but it is in fact carnal. God has never asked us to ask such questions

· The answer that the Lord gives us is that we must get close to Him and know God’s desire now. This is the most important. We cannot be waiting continuously without knowing what God is doing

1. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing <John 6:63>

1) One cannot fulfill “matters of life” if not relying on the Holy Spirit

· The flesh is not beneficial. Nobody can overcome the lust of the flesh without relying on the Holy Spirit. All of us need to rely on the Holy Spirit

· Only by relying on the Holy Spirit can we be able to dislodge from the vicious roots of Adam, and be joyful

· Our problem is: we only understand the superficial meaning of the God’s word, but not the spiritual meaning behind it

· E.g. A quarrel broke out at home. Are we able to see that the evil spirit is at work behind that quarrel? Thus, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to drive out evil spirit

· The evil spirit will not leave unless we rely on the Holy Spirit. The evil spirit may seem to have gone but without relying on the Holy Spirit, he will actually not depart

· Thus, we must solely rely on God’s covenant and method. When we do that, the things that God has wanted to fulfill will definitely take place regardless of what the obstacles the world has placed for us. Nobody can stop it

· We need not worry over a lot of things. Since we are blessed now, our family and children will also be blessed

· When we rely on the Holy Spirit now, a lot of struggles in our lives will be removed and world gospelization will definitely be fulfilled

· The book of <Acts> records the work of the Holy Spirit

· We must have this perspective when we intercede for our family members

2) Things that happen when the Holy Spirit works

· What will happen when the Holy Spirit works?

(1) Evil spirits are driven out <Matthew 12:28-29>

· No matter what we do, we must first bind up the strong man

· We are often weak. We are disheartened even before we start praying for others. All these are the work of the strong man

· When we rely on the Holy Spirit on the same matter, the evil spirits will go away

(2) The change of the heart and spirit <2Cor 3:17; Rm 14:17> - Saw “Immanuel”

· Our hearts and minds will be changed only when the evil spirits had gone away. And only after that, will our perspective and judgment on all things be changed

· E.g. Nothing will go into our mind regardless of how many hours we’d studied if we study while we are very emotional or angry. A person who is able to concentrate in his study will reap the results even if he has only studied for an hour

· It is futile for us to do anything if our hearts cannot calm down

· People get distracted easily. Thus, we must rely on the Holy Spirit for concentration. When we are able to concentrate; even if it’s just for a minute, we will be able to understand a lot of things. If we are distracted, we won’t be able to understand a thing even if we have been pondering for 10hrs

· How can we counsel people? We will know what a person is struggling for, after we hear him up for a couple of minutes with the concentration from the Holy Spirit. Only then, we are able to counsel or help that person

· We are easily affected by others’ words or information received when we do not rely on the Holy Spirit. Thus, we aren’t able to influence or drive out the demons in others

· Sometimes, we might ask our wives, why they are moody and start suggesting what they should or shouldn’t do. They will only get more frustrated when we do that

· When we rely on the Holy Spirit to view someone, we will see the true (and deep) reasons behind that person’s moodiness. Only then, we will know how to respond, uphold and free that person

· That strong man will not go away when our hearts and minds are not changed. Problems will not go away no matter how much strength we put in

(3) The revelation of God’s perfect will <John 14:26>

· We are not able to do anything when our hearts are troubled. Thus, to become a spiritual person, we must understand the meaning of spiritual environment

· When the spiritual environment is not good, people tend to react impulsively. Thus, they will be sarcastic, quarrel with others or are unable to teach their children etc

· Parents can beat their children, but they must do so by relying on the Holy Spirit. We will only have authority when we rely on the Holy Spirit

· What is Holy Spirit? Holy Spirit has a close relationship with our daily lives

· What is the problem of Saints? They are not interested in the Holy Spirit at all. How would those who are not interested in the Holy Spirit be able to rely on the Holy Spirit? Only those who want to know the Holy Spirit will able to rely on Him

(4) The revelation of God’s authority and power <Eph 3:16, 20; 2Ti 1:7>

· We will only be able to see the Lord’s love when our hearts and spirits are changed. Only when the Holy Spirit’s perfect will was revealed, God’s dried / stagnant word (Logos) will become lively (Rhema)

· The sentence of God’s word is dead. However, when the Holy Spirit reveals God’s perfect will to us, the dead sentences will become alive. We will receive a different conviction when 2 or 3 sentences are joined up

· Thus, we are able to use the whole Bible to know how to judge and perceive all things

· E.g. In the midst of our problems, we will not receive any strength by simply reading the word itself. However, we will restore strength when we have the lively word, which enables us to understand God’s desire and perfect will

· God speaks to us using different “Rhema” everyday. We must learn to see this all our lives

· Those who see it will be strong and courageous, and receive God’s great power. This enables us to surpass our body, tiredness, disappointments, sadness, etc

· Therefore, people will receive authority and power to preach. And those who listen to such preaching will surely be submissive

· E.g. When David sang hymns by the Holy Spirit, the evil spirits in Saul will go away

(5) See the result of Holy Spirit’s work <Eph 5:22-23; Acts 1:8>

· We will create a lot of problems for ourselves when we don’t rely on the Holy Spirit

· E.g. When we speak unkind or discouraging words to our spouse

· When people cannot see God, they will say “fiery” words, which hurt others easily. People are not able to see God’s word in small problems. Thus, one little comment could start a fire, just like a matchstick igniting into flames

· Don’t we even understand our parent’s mind? Can’t we even win the hearts of our children?

· We will have family gospelization only when we’d restored this. Our colleagues will like us. Thus, there will be regional gospelization. The work of world gospelization will become a reality when we are able to influence our fields. This is the work of the Holy Spirit

· We must self-examine what our reliance level on the Holy Spirit is. Do we rely more on the Holy Spirit or more on the worldly knowledge?

· Although knowledge is important, it is complete only when we rely on the Holy Spirit. We will only know which knowledge to use when we rely on the Holy Spirit

· We receive a lot of information. If we don’t rely on the Holy Spirit to know which information to use, the information we receive will only make us fearful

· People can still have a spousal relationship, can still educate their children or even evangelize without relying on the Holy Spirit. However, God will tell us that He never knows what we have done

3) How can we receive “the Holy Spirit’s fire”? = the more we rely on the Holy Spirit, the more we will restore “normal, daily and always”

· When people have different opinions on how we can rely on the Holy Spirit, a lot of “perverted beliefs” were evolved from era to era. A good example is “asceticism”

· Asceticism = stopping our feelings/desire. E.g. Gnosticism. They are cults and they exist even in Jesus’ times

· They started off with strong emphasis on spirituality. They only talk about spiritual matters. This becomes two extremes: The first is asceticism. Since spirituality is so important, people must control or stop their physical desire

· The second extreme is hedonism. They think that since the spirituality is the most important, we can do whatever we want with our body. People cannot accept hedonism because, they know that spiritual men shouldn’t waste their body

· Asceticism is related to “remaining single by choice”. People who follow this belief cannot get married. They claimed that Paul had also asked people not to get married. In fact, they do not understand Paul’s actual intention. A lot of problems will arise when people refrain themselves from any physical desires

· Asceticism will gradually bring about mysticism and extreme devoutness / piousness. They seek to see God by suppressing their physical body

· Therefore, our belief system is very important

· No matter, what decision we make; be it when we are looking for a job, or how we should teach our children, etc; we will go through our belief system before making that decision

· People may also experience some miraculous signs when they are into mysticism. E.g. figurine of deity can drink milk; figurines of saints will shed tears etc. However, the greatest miracle is the miracle of “having something from non-existence”

· What is more difficult? Great miracle taking place, or having everything in order, in balance, in sequence in our daily life? Although a family still has problems, God sustains the peacefulness in that family. Evil spirit doesn’t follow procedures / sequence

· Is there anywhere in the Bible that says, we must all be single, or we must devout our lives fully?

· <Ephesians> says, God works in our lives. We have received God’s great love. Therefore, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit and have brethren / fellowship. It also tells us how to lead a spousal relationship. How can we teach our children to walk with God? How can we serve God with our work in the company? We must pray and have concern for one another

· All these are the work of Holy Spirit and it doesn’t come from refraining ourselves or remaining as singles

· Therefore, the more we should gather and have fellowship when we are upset. Only then, will we be able to receive answers

2. In order to restore “the normal Holy Spirit”, there must be some “essential requirements”

· The leading of the Holy Spirit is very normal, daily and always

· E.g. A husband told his wife that she was exceptionally beautiful one day. However, the wife scolded him and told him not to look at the matters of the flesh and be more spiritual. Is this wife spiritual? Nobody will like her

· E.g. A child tripped and fell down. Will a spiritual person just stand there and command the child to stop crying and to stand up? A spiritual person will lift up the child and comfort him

· The more spiritual a person, the more normal he will become. The more spiritual is a person, the more interest he has on others. Not because they are busy bodies, but they want to bless more people

· A spiritual person is open-minded. Although he will receive hurts sometimes, he will also restore his strength quickly

· We will feel terrible when we have some ill-feelings with our brethrens. However, when we put ourselves down, we might ever be willing to make sacrifices for them

· How then, can we rely on the Holy Spirit normally?

1) The Holy Spirit will come upon which type of people?

(1) To those who really believe in “God’s word (Gospel)” <Eph 1:13-14>

· We must take God’s word that we’d already known to be words that God speaks to us personally

· God has already given the answers to our situation countless times. However, we always do not accept it

· The Holy Spirit’s conviction will stop when we are not upright. When God’s word is absent, there won’t be Holy Spirit

· E.g. Believers and non-believers cannot become one. God’s word tells us directly. However, when we rationalize this word, the Holy Spirit’s conviction will stop

· The work of the Holy Spirit’s will stop when we rationalize. When that happens, a person will not be able to accept any of God’s covenant

· Some believers will come out with a rational reason to be with non-believers. Some might say “there were broken marriages between Christians also and didn’t they sin daily too? But we can be more holy than them when we are with non-believers”

· If their marriage turn sour, they will blame God for not helping or blessing them

· Just like David, we must admit our mistakes after having sinned

· Although David had committed adultery, killed and deceived people, God still loved him because he was upright with God and didn’t hide anything from God. He admitted his mistake and was willing to be disciplined by God. Thus, David was able to write <Ps 51>

· If a person admits his error after sinning and prays to God; the Holy Spirit will gradually reveal God’s perfect plan to him once again. However, if they rationalized their actions, the conviction of the Holy Spirit will stop immediately

(2) To whose who had built in their hearts, “life’s ideology” and “systematic operation of living” in accordance to the “word of God” they heard <Ex 40:1-38; Num 2:1-34, 9:15-23; Jn 2:19; Lk 24:25-27, 44-49; Ac 2:36-47>

· We have come to know a lot of God’s words. However, there seems to be some contradictions within God’s words itself

· There may seem to be contradicting verses, because God’s words were revealed according to the situation, location, people and era

· After knowing the word of God, we must format it to become the ideology of our lives

· There is a process and different priorities in God’s word. Thus, we need to format

· God’s word must be linked up with the operation of our family lives, our serving and brethren living

· Satan is very cunning. He will even use God’s word to tempt people. Thus, if we don’t format God’s word, he will use God’s word to accuse us

· E.g. He will use God’s word to tell us that our work and our families are very important too. We will not have a good testimony if we didn’t take care of them well. Thus, we should not go for too many church meetings every week. This is trying to rationalize God’s word

· Those who rationalize God’s word like this will only cause himself and others to fall

(3) To those who always strive to test and approve God’s perfect will and rely on the Holy Spirit <Lk 11:13; Mt 7:7; Jn 14:26; James 1:5-8; 1Th 5:19; Eph 5:15-21, 6:18>

· God’s conviction will come when we have the desire to seek God

· Before we format, it is useless regardless how strong our desire is

(4) To those who like to submit to God’s perfect will and wanting to see God’s leading continuously <James 2:18; Gal 5:16; John 14:23-24>

· The Holy Spirit will only reveal the next step to us when we submit

· God will only tell the Israelites how they can cross the Jordan River when they are there. Thereafter, God told them to get circumcised. And God gave them the plan to conquer the Jericho walls after that

· Before they step foot into the Jordon river, God will not tell them the paths ahead

· Therefore, we shouldn’t always say that we do not know what God’s perfect will is, or we do not know what God wants us to do in the future. The important thing is to know what God wants us to do now. God will reveal the next step to us after we’ve passed this step

(5) To those who always cleanse their hearts and guards their righteousness <Mt 5:8; Jn 14:21>

· After the Holy Spirit has reminded us that we aren’t upright, or we didn’t love God and people, we must go to God’s presence and change

· We just need to get cleansed for the things that the Holy Spirit has reminded us

· A lot of people do not know God’s perfect will because they have a lot of complicated thoughts. Thus, they need to get cleansed

2) The secrets to understand the Holy Spirit lies in learning, confirming and developing

(1) Holy Spirit is also a “personality”. Thus, we need to learn (through introduction) to know and to develop the relationship through conversation

(2) The mystery of the Holy Spirit lies in the hearts of all those blessed born again people

(3) When those blessed born again people confirm the content in their hearts which they’d learnt, the Holy Spirit’s mystery will be revealed to them

(4) Learn to see how the Holy Spirit is leading in all things and at all times

(5) Understand “the perfect will of the Holy Spirit” from the evidences that are built upon a strong foundation

· The Holy Spirit isn’t at other places. He is in our beloved hearts and minds

· Sometimes, we think of something and we will feel joyful or freed. Do we know if that joy, freedom and peacefulness come from the Holy Spirit, or do they come from our feelings? Have we tested and approved this before?

· If we have known someone by his looks, physique, name, etc, we are able to recognize him when we see that person, no matter how crowded that place is

· When we are anxious or when we are in a queue, we can quiet ourselves down, ponder the things that God wants us to think, and receive a peaceful mind. All these peace and conviction come from the Holy Spirit

· E.g. when we are tired, we know that the Lord is pleased with us and thus get comforted. This is the Holy Spirit’s conviction

· A person who has tested and approved before will able to receive the Holy Spirit’s conviction regardless of the situation he is in

· A person who has confirmed before will not go into wishful thinking

· There is a foundation for Holy Spirit’s conviction. Without this, people will either go into wishful thinking or fearful thinking

· Wishful thinking means, we do not know what God has done in the past, or what God is doing now. However, we are able to say that we know what God wants us to fulfill a year later. Wishful thinking does not have any foundation

· Fearful thinking will make a believer think, “I can follow God now, but will I end up having nothing in the end?”

· Wishful thinking makes people feel disappointed while fearful thinking make people not able to see God’s current work

· We need not have any fear if we are able to see how God has led us from the past till now

· God will not abandon the people suddenly after bringing them out from Egypt. People in the wilderness who do not know how God is leading them need not dream that they are already in the Canaan Land

3. In the process of connecting with brethren, co-work with them and expand the life missions, one will see the leading and fulfillment of the Holy Spirit

1) The work of the Holy Spirit will definitely be among the Christian’s fellowship

2) Receive our individual role, position and duty in accordance to the Holy Spirit’s gifts

3) Be joined and held together to learn, pray, serve and evangelize as one, each according to his strength

4) The expansion of network and fellowships

· Individuals who had already confirmed must get connected with brethrens, co-work with them to expand the life mission

· People who have passed this belief system will not go into perverted belief

· The 12 tribes must move together. The Church has a systematic structure

· Everyone receives their salvation at different time. However it doesn’t mean that a person who has believed in the Lord longer will definitely have a better spiritual life

· The principle of the Bible is that, the front will be the back, and the back will become the front. Thus, a believer who has believed in the Lord for two years could have a better spiritual life or love life than an Elder in the church

· A person who wants to grow up among the brethrens must pass the Holy Spirit’s wash. Without relying on the Holy Spirit, a person’s growth is false. This is a great principle

· God has given us brethren living and different fellowships

· The first important brethren living is the “church” and the most important thing a church must have is the altar. The work of the Holy Spirit is to lead our lives through the altar. Therefore, we must lead our spousal relationship and family lives with the altar’s teaching. This, then, is an expanding brethren living with roots and foundation

· Secondly, we need to bring this altar back to our workplace. From the altar message (Rhema given by God) we will know how to do our work. And we will know how to treat our parents and handle our relationship etc. All these are the result of living water flowing from the altar

· When we are together with believers from other churches, we need not compare anything with them or force them to accept our message. A true belief needs not compete with a false one. The truth will definitely influence the false

· In our physical fellowship, we just need to be faithful in the role, position, character, condition, gender, network that God has given us. Thus, a pianist must play faithfully and a Sunday School teach must teach faithfully

· Our network will expand as we co-work using our different roles and conditions

· All of us are hoping our family members will come to accept the Lord. However, we should not be hoping only. We must really know how to pray for our family members. We must confirm God’s timetable for us

· God will reveal His guidance and timetable to us as we live with our brethrens and walk with the altar

· Very often, we will ask the Pastor to pray for us whenever we face a problem. However, it is useless for us not to ponder or bother about the altar’s message but to put our hope in our Pastor’s prayers alone

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1. When the Holy Spirit works, everything will be smooth sailing and abundant: have I ever experienced this before? When I rely on the Holy Spirit, do I see that the people around me being influenced by the Holy Spirit as well? What are the things in my daily life that I am able to rely on the Holy Spirit easier? And what are the things that I always forget to rely on Him?

2. The Holy Spirit works in this Universe according to His own plan. He will start working in a person’s heart and environment as soon as He found a blessed person with a right condition. Refer to the 5 conditions listed in main point 2; confirm if my heart coincide with these 5 conditions? Am I able to see the Holy Spirit at work always? Is there anything that I need to enhance?

3. The mystery of the Holy Spirit lies in the hearts of those blessed people who are born again. Have I really understood: what are the conviction, power, work and fruits of the Holy Spirit? Have I confirmed this before in my heart? Through the changing of my heart, I am able to understand clearer: God’s “will, abundance, comfort, rebuke and anointment” that He has revealed to me? What is the level now? Can it be expanded further?