2017.2.19_The Church that Hears the Words of the Holy Spirit

The Church that Hears the Words of the Holy Spirit

The identity of a child obtained through ministry of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

God is spirit. Generally, the spirit is not physical nor tangible, so it cannot be seen by the human eye. That is why people can so easily say that God does not exist. But the Christian has seen God. This is because the Word which was with God from eternity has come to this earth as a man.
Jesus Christ is God. He is called the Son of God, not because he is inferior to God, but because he is equal to God. When you hear the word “God,” many think of the Father. However, the word ‘God’ is a word that refers to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
God the Father has established His righteous and perfect will. The Son of God revealed His will to the world. Through the Son of God, we have come to know and receive God’s will. The Holy Spirit declares the righteousness of God. If we only know the Son of God and have not received the Holy Spirit, we may possess the righteousness of God, but we will not declare it.
No one had ever seen God until Jesus Christ came to the earth. However, the Old Testament indicates that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses had seen God. They certainly saw someone who was perceived as God. It was an angel of God who was sent from heaven. (Ex 3: 2) On the other hand, the God we see today is not an angel. We have seen Jesus Christ, the heir of God, who has received all authority in heaven and on earth from our Heavenly Father.
God has resurrected Jesus Christ and has taken Him up into heaven as His heir, who came to this earth and was slain according to His will. The mission of the angel who kept the heavenly throne in the name of Jehovah was completed at that time. The Son of God taking His place and sitting on the throne ushered in the age of His reign over the heavens and the earth. Christian faith is neither ideological nor subjective. Christians place their trust in God who sent Jesus Christ to this earth to accomplish His will two thousand years ago to die for man’s sin, in order that He might raise him from the dead to the heavens.
Within the same Bible, there is a difference in inspiration between the New Testament and the Old Testament. There is the Law that was delivered through angels in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament there is grace and truth from Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The preaching of grace and truth is done by the Holy Spirit. After Jesus ascended into heaven He sent the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit did not come and dwell in anyone before Jesus Christ was glorified (John 7:37).
Of course, not everyone who wants it can receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will only come to those people who are holy in God’s sight. People’s standards and God’s standards are different. No matter how good a person’s character is, or how deep their knowledge is, in God’s eyes they are still a sinner. God recognizes as holy those who confess they are sinners, clothe themselves with the power of the Blood of Jesus, and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Confess that your righteousness does not come from yourself but from faith in God, and keep that which you have gained
Those who are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit. Those who are born of the Spirit are born in heaven and born of the Spirit. Their status is quite different from that of unbelievers. Unfortunately, many Christians today are forgetting their noble identity. The Holy Spirit has come into us and we have become a temple of God. If we treat our identity lightly, we defile the temple (1 Corinthians 3:17). Jesus did not deny His identity as the Son of God even while He was being crucified. So we must confess our identity in Him and through Him regardless of the circumstances.
It is not by our own righteousness or deeds that we keep our identity as children of God. Paul regarded all his accomplishments, charisma, great learning and things that were beneficial to the body as dung (Philippians 3: 8). No one will treasure rubbish. Likewise, if we have repented, been baptized, and become children of God, we must not apply our own righteousness. There should be no criticizing the church and judging church members based on our own standards.
Judas Iscariot had many great qualities in order to surpass many other people from Galilee and become one of Jesus’ disciples. He was smart enough to earn Jesus’ trust in a short period of time, and had insight into philosophical thought forms. But he fell for his own trick and eventually used it to betray Jesus.
The church at Jerusalem chose seven people who were filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom as deacons. Among the seven was Nicola, a Gentile who had converted to Judaism. He must have been full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom in order to be recommended as a deacon over other Jews. However, he began to criticize and evaluated the church based on his respectability and talents. People who were dissatisfied with the church for different reasons flocked to him and fostered a negative public opinion, which gave the church great difficulties. Revelation 2: 6 says, “You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” It is very important that the Saints have good personality and skills. But it should never be a hindrance for God’s righteousness. It is only because of the fact that we have acknowledged that there is no righteousness in ourselves that we have received grace. We should not lose sight of the things we learned at the beginning.

Do the deeds you did at first
The Ephesian Church, one of the seven churches in Asia Minor, was so highly regarded in many respects that Paul stayed there for three years and taught his disciples. The Ephesian Church received praise from God in many ways but was rebuked because they had forsaken their first love (Revelation 2: 1-4).
What is your first love? Many are they who repent and are baptized and they say, “I will love the Lord, who has been gracious to a sinner such as I am for the rest of my life, and I will continuously devote myself to the church that shared the gospel with me and disciplined me.” And so they confess. However, as time passes, they begin to complain about their faith and criticize the church. This is the first sign that their love is growing cold.
The bride and groom promise each other a lifelong love. However, after a few years, those promises are often broken and become a cause for shame. When a couple begins to complain about one another without fully understanding each other, it can escalate and ultimately become overt dissatisfaction, and when this type of behavior is repeated, trust is broken and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the family together. The same kind of things happens in the church. Those who are ordained as deacons often commit themselves to the Church in sincerity and with tears. However, there are some who very quickly begin to lack any care about the work of the church, and some even attack the church.
The more people in the church lose their first love, the more difficulty the church will face. Just as the professions of love that married couples give should not change, confessions of faith before God should never change either. Revelation 2: 5 says, ” ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.” If you took a wrong turn, you must retrace your steps, find out where you went wrong, and start again from the beginning. That is repentance. Repentance is not simply a word of mouth. True repentance is painful, but once you succeed in repentance, you can be led by the Holy Spirit.

Let us hear the word of the Holy Spirit
We must be the church that listens to the word of the Holy Spirit. The word of the Holy Spirit is not a new word. The Holy Spirit does not speak on his own but tells us what Jesus has said. It is a spiritual word. Jesus also said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ” (John 6:63, NASB). No matter how well someone speaks with charisma and impressive knowledge, it is not the word of the Holy Spirit if it merely asserts the righteousness of the flesh and does not provide man with spiritual benefits.
Revelation 2: 7 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” When you hear the word of God preached, the word comes to your ears. But do not treat it as just another of the many sounds that come to your ears. He who judges or criticizes the word of God as the voice of a mere man cannot triumph in spiritual life, and he cannot eat the fruit of the tree of life since he is not victorious.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden so that they could not eat the fruit of the tree of life. God wants to give the tree of life to those who firmly hold onto their first love. Our hope is not on this earth. Do you not want to eat the fruit of the tree of life that God will give to those who are victorious? Do you not want to experience how the tree of life will change you? Therefore, when we repent and are baptized, we must firmly hold onto the love we had when we repented and were baptized with a true confession before God to the end. When Jesus returns we will be resurrected and go to heaven where we will have glory with Jesus. Therefore, we must acknowledge the righteousness of God, no longer our own righteousness, which has already been counted as rubbish. You must remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.