I would like to begin our study by looking in a text of Scripture that perhaps would seem unrelated to what I want to study with you. It is in Genesis 32:9. This is the experience of Jacob when he was going to meet Esau. Notice what he prays, "Then Jacob said, '0 God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you.' I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the end of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

Notice the experience that Jacob was having. He said, "Lord, You promised! You promised me that if I would do this, then You would do this;" and now it looked like everything that God had promised Jacob was not going to happen. Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred armed men. You do not go to meet somebody with four hundred armed men in order to have a party, just in order to be able to embrace one another or greet one another. Jacob knew he was in terrible, terrible danger. And he said, "Lord, You promised me. You promised me that You would deal well with me and that my descendants would become an innumerable multitude." And now it looked like every one of Jacob's children would get killed that night or early the next morning.

Let me ask you this question. You have read the story on to the end. Did God keep His promise? Yes, he did. But right at that time it did not look like it. Have you ever been in a situation when what you understood that God had promised, and what was happening to you just did not seem to fit? Have you ever been in a situation like that?

That is the situation that Jacob was in. I am going to read to you right now a promise from inspired writings, a promise that has not happened yet, but I want to be like Jacob and say, "Lord, You have promised us that this is going to happen." Arid it has to happen before Jesus can come.

I am going to read this promised from the book, The Great Controversy, 464. It is a very, very interesting statement. Perhaps you have read it. It is talking about the various Christian Churches in the world and it says, "Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before the final visitation of God's judgments..

Now there is going to be a final visitation of God's judgments and it is called the seven last plagues. It is recorded in Revelation 14, 15, 16 and also in 18, and 19. But before that happens, before we actually come to the end of the world and Jesus comes again, something else is going to happen, according to this prophecy. Now listen to what is going to happen.

It says, "Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth, there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times." Now that is a very interesting statement.

When you look in the inspired writings for the term "primitive godliness," every single time you will find ut is talking about the early church in the time of the apostles, every time. I want to study with you for a few minutes about primitive godliness.

According to this statement it is something that they had, and friends, it is something that we do not have. They lost it, and before Jesus can come again, you and I--if we are going to be ready--have to find it again. And it has not been around since the time of the apostles. It is a primitive godliness.

Now there have been many godly people, but there is to arise among God's people, among the people of the Lord, a primitive godliness such as has not been seen since the time of the apostles. Would you like to be part of that? What is this primitive godliness?

I want to study three things about it with you:

1. What is this primitive godliness that they had?

2. How did they lose it?

We read in Revelation 2:1-6 that the church had already lost it when the apostle John was still alive. It is very clear. Revelation 2:1-6 says it very distinctly. Revelation was written right at the end of the first century, between 90 and 100 AD and they had lost it by that time.

3. How can we get it back?

So, we want to study these three things; what is this primitive godliness that they had? When you find out what they had, let me tell you, you will find out it is the most desirable thing in the world. It is better than anything else that you could get. What did they have? How did they lose it? And, most important of all, how can we get it back?

What Did They Have?

Well, friends, here is what they had. The twelve apostles had been with Jesus and Jesus was the greatest Educator that this world has ever known. The apostles learned directly from the lips of the divine teacher, with the exception of the apostle Paul. He Sadie was like one born Otto of the time, born at the wrong time. What was it that they learned?

Well, what they learned is what they had. It takes several words to explain it, but I am going to read it to you in the simplest language that I have found. In the Scriptures the apostle John kept talking about it over, and over, and over, as long as he lived.

I am going to read it to you from The Desire of Ages, 550, 551. This describes what they had. "In the kingdoms of the world, position meant self-aggrandizement. The people were supposed to exist for the benefit of the ruling classes." [You can see that easily if you study the history of either the Greek or the Roman Empire]. "Influence, wealth, education, were so many means of gaining control of the masses for the use of the leaders. The higher classes were to think, decide, enjoy, and rule; the lower were to obey and serve. Religion, like everything else, was a matter of authority. the people were expected to believe and practice as their superiors directed. the right of man as man, to think and act for himself, was wholly [that is completely] unrecognized. Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles."

Notice, the kingdom of Christ is established on different principles than all of this that we have just read about. Well, what are these different principles? "He called men, not to authority, but to service; the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ's disciples it is said, 'All things are for your sakes.' 2 Corinthians 4:15. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28).

"Among His disciples Christ was in every sense [Now notice what Jesus was to His disciples]. a caretaker, a burden bearer. He shared their poverty, He practiced self-denial on their account, He went before them to smooth the more difficult to places, and soon He would consummate His work on earth by laying down His life. The principle on which Christ acted is to actuate the members of the church which is His body. The plan and ground of salvation is love. In the kingdom of Christ, those who are greatest follow the example He has given and act as shepherds of His flock. The words of Paul reveal the true dignity and honor of the Christian life: 'Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,' 'not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 9:19; 10:33. In matters of conscience, the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty."

Do you like that freedom? It says, "God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. 'Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.' Romans 14:12. No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. It all matters where principle is involved, "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Romans 14:5. In Christ's kingdom there is no lordly oppression, no compulsion of manner. The angels of heaven do not come to the earth to rule, and to exact homage, but as messengers of mercy, to cooperate with men in uplifting humanity. The principles and the very words of the Saviour's teaching, in their divine beauty, dwelt in the memory of the beloved disciple. To his latest days the burden of John's testimony to the churches was, 'This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.' 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.' 1 John 3:11, 16."

Now notice the next sentence. "This was the spirit that pervaded the early church." Ibid., 551. What was the spirit that they had? Oh, they loved They had love for each other. They had so much love for each other that they would freely give their lives for each other.

There came a time when the Christian Church came under dreadful, dreadful Roman persecutions, and they were taken to the amphitheaters. Sometimes they were placed in the amphitheaters singly to be torn by wild beasts, and sometimes they would be placed there in groups.

On one occasion there was a whole group of Christians placed in the amphitheater to be torn by the lions. The lions had not had anything to eat for several days, of course, so they were very hungry when they were let out. When they were let out, there were some young men in this group who said, "These lions are not going to kill and devour these women and children until they kill and devour us first."

They stood in front, and when the lions came out they started to fight them with their bare hands. The amphitheater was full of thousands of spectators. They had never seen anything like this before. This, by the way, according to history, was the last time that Christians were thrown to the lions in the amphitheater. As the crowd watched what was happening, they stood up; and do you know what they said? They said, "Behold, how they love one another."

I want to tell you something, friends, that is something that they had that we must have again if we are going to be ready for Jesus to come. We have to have the primitive godliness that they had.

Now we could look at other aspects of this primitive godliness that they had. They had Christianity in its purity. Their teachings, their doctrines, all came from the Word of God. They did not teach the traditions of men.

Their ordinances were uncorrupted by the devices of men. They practiced the ordinances of the church exactly as they were given in the Bible. They made no compromise with sin. You can read about that in Galatians 1 and 2. The apostles made no compromise with sin. But the most important part of the primitive godliness that they had was the love that they had for one another.

In the book, Acts of the Apostles, it records what the power was in this primitive godliness that the early church had. Read it in your Bible in Matthew 17:8. It says, "When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only." That is why they came to be called Christians because they were teaching and talking about the incarnation of Christ.

They were teaching and they were talking about the life of Christ. They also taught and talked about His suffering, about His death for the sins of the world, about His resurrection on the third day and about His ascension. And most important of all, the very keynote of their teaching was the fact that this same Jesus was going to come back again and we must be ready to meet Him with a spotless character-- as Peter said in 2 Peter 3:14-17.

That is what they had. They saw no man save Jesus only. He was the throne of their doctrine, of their teaching, of their life, of their thought, of their imagination. And every Christian was attempting to imitate the life of Christ. They loved one another so much they would fight the lions with their own hands to keep somebody else from getting hurt.

They loved one another so much they would offer their lives for somebody else in the church. Oh, friends, we have never seen what they had, because it has never appeared in the world since that time. They lost it. The statement in The Great Controversy, 464 makes it very evident that they lost it, and Revelation 2 makes it evident that they had already lost it by 100 AD.

Do you remember what Jesus said to those people? The apostolic church, represented by the church of Ephesus, was one of their largest churches. Jesus said, 'I have something against you.' What was it that He had against them? Was it because their doctrines were not right? Oh, no, you can read very clearly, they had the right doctrines. Their theology was all right.

But He said, 'You have lost your first love.' I want to tell you, friends, as kindly as I know how, no matter how much theology you know, no matter how much Bible doctrines you know, even if you do everything right--those people were not rebuked because they were doing something wrong. Their doctrines were right, their theology was right. In fact, they would not even tolerate evil among them at that time. (See Revelation 2:1--6.) In the church today we have fallen so low, that people will even tolerate evil. The church at Ephesus would not do that. But they had already lost their first love, and when you lose your first love, if you do not get it back, eventually you are going to lose everything else.

So I want to come to our second point because this is something that we need to study. They had the most wonderful thing in the world. It was so wonderful that millions of people around the world, during the time of the apostles, accepted the Christian religion. We do not know how many, but we know it was in the millions. We know that from the records of history.

Millions of people during that hundred-year period accepted the Christian religion in spite of the fact that they were persecuted and often martyred for doing so. They had the most wonderful thing in the world, but they lost it.

How did they lose it?

Look at 2 Corinthians 11. There are many, many texts of Scripture in which the apostles saw it happening and predicted it happening even more. The apostle Paul is writing to the church. He says, "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ [that is a pure virgin]. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted--you may well put up with it."

Notice, a triple danger is listed in verse 4. The danger that they would accept another Jesus. Now I want to tell you, that happened! And the second danger was that they would receive a different spirit than they had received. And that happened! And the danger that they would accept a different gospel than the apostles preached. And that happened, and it is with us in the world still today. All three are with us in the Christian world today.

Notice, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. and no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

What is the danger? "Oh," Paul said, "I am afraid that you will be deceived." Were they deceived? Yes, the great majority in the early church was deceived. It did not happen in one year, it happened over a period of time.

Here is the way Ellen White describes it. "Satan was at work to cause apostasy in the early church; and in accomplishing his purpose, doctrines were introduced through which the church was leavened with unbelief in Christ and His coming. The adversary of God and man cast his hellish shadow athwart the path of the believers, and dimmed their star of hope, even their faith of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ....That which Satan has led men to do in the past, he will if possible lead them to do again. the early church was deceived by the enemy of God and man, and apostasy was brought into the ranks of those who professed to love God, and today, unless the people of God awake out of sleep, they will be taken unawares by the devices of Satan." Review and Herald, November 22, 1892.

What happened? False doctrines were introduced. We just noticed three of them listed right here in 2 Corinthians 11:4. Let me tell you, when you get the wrong gospel and you believe in the wrong Jesus and you have the wrong spirit; you think you believe in the real Jesus but what you really believe in is an anti-christ! You may think that you have the Holy Spirit but it is a different spirit; and you may think you have the gospel but it is a gospel that will never take you to the kingdom of heaven.

I want to tell you, friends, I say this kindly. I am not out to point a finger at anybody, but I think we ought to study the Bible. According to the Bible, the great majority of the Christian world will end up lost when Jesus comes. Did you know that? Somebody might say, "Pastor John, that is pretty hard." Friend, I did not make that up. I read it in my Bible. Read it in your Bible. Read Matthew 7. Read the last part of Matthew 24. Read Revelation 1. Over and over again the Bible points out, and the book of Revelation is full of it, that in the last generation the devil is going to deceive the whole world. If you read Revelation carefully, you cannot miss it. Why? How are they going to be deceived? Well, they are going to think they have the Holy Spirit, but it is the wrong spirit. They are going to think that they believe in Jesus, but it is the wrong Jesus. They are going to think that they believe the gospel, but it is not the gospel of the New Testament, and that is the only gospel that will save you.

Now we are not going to answer those questions today. We cannot do everything at one time. So, if you do not know for sure what the Bible teaches about the nature of Christ, if you do not know who He is; if you do not know for sure what the characteristics of the Holy Spirit versus other spirits are; if you do not know for sure what the gospel according to the New Testament is, which is completely different from what most people are teaching as the gospel today, you had better start studying your Bible.

You do not have to be a scholar. Read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7. You will see the difference right there between what is taught today and what Jesus taught. Read it carefully. Or read John 8, just that one chapter. That is a very different gospel than is taught today. Or read 1 John 3. It is completely different than what most people teach today.

You do not even need to read the whole New Testament. Just read those few chapters 1 mentioned and you will see the difference. They lost what they had. And the way they began to lose it was when they lost their first love. Now, of course, that had some consequences and effects that went on for a long time and eventually what happened was that the great majority of people who call themselves Christians accepted heathen rites and customs. That is where it ended up. They accepted heathen rites and customs and as a result they lost the Spirit and the power of God and the consequences of that are with us clear to the present day, too.

There are many common customs today that do not come from the Bible at all. Just for a quick example, have you ever read anything in your Bible about Easter eggs?

I want to tell you, they had something that was wonderful. In the early church, the apostolic church, in the primitive godliness they had there was more closeness within the church than people even had with their own blood relationship. There was more of a closeness in the church than that!

Talk about a wonderful experience! No wonder multitudes came into that. When they saw that love they recognize that it was so much different than a thing they had ever seen or heard of was. They said, "I want it!" Friends, when we have it again, when we have the primitive godliness that they had, we will see multitudes all over the world flocking into the church.

But we will never see that happen, no matter how much we preach or teach or whatever we do, until we have the primitive godliness that they had, until we love one another enough to die for each other. When we have that, we are going to see a change in God's work. Primitive godliness. They had it. Millions of people accepted Christianity but they lost it.

When they lost it, of course, the church had to go to the State and get united with the State in order to force people to do what was right because the attendance went down. They had to figure out a way to bolster it up, so they had to make laws to try to make people good again. That is the history in a nutshell of religious legislation in the last eighteen hundred years.

In the early church they were a terror to evildoers wherever their character and doctrines were known. There was a group of people who were living a righteous, holy life in harmony with God's Word; who loved each other enough to die for each other. The world had never seen anything like that before, and they have not seen anything like that since. But according to what we read, they are going to see it again before Jesus comes.

Would you like to be part of it? Are you going to pray like Jacob did and say, "Lord, you have promised this is what is going to happen and I am humbling myself before You and I want to be part of it. I want to experience primitive godliness again."?

Here are twelve steps on how they lost it:

1. The early Christians began to look for defects in one another. Do you know what? If we begin to look for defects in one another, we will probably find defects in one another, this is how they lost their primitive godliness.

2. They were dwelling upon mistakes. Now if you start to dwell on somebody else's mistakes, do you know what the third thing is that happens?

3. They become involved in unkind criticism. Do you see how the love is starting to evaporate, to leak out of the church? And as they began to look for defects in each other, dwell on their mistakes and indulge in unkind criticism, they were looking at each other and;

4. Now they lost sight of Jesus and the great love that Jesus had manifested for sinners. I want to tell you, friends that it is only the love of Jesus Christ for the chief of sinners that gives you and me any hope. And if Jesus treated us the way we treat each other, how many of us would be saved? So as they got involved in dwelling on mistakes, unkind criticism, and losing sight of the Saviour and the great love He had for sinners;

5. they lost I of his love. This is still with us today.

6. they became stricter in regard to outward ceremonies. We could spend a lot of time on that, because that is also in the Christian Church yet today.

7. They became more particular about the theory of the faith. You have to have the right theology. Or let us say it real simple, the way a child would say it. You gotta believe it the way I believe it or you are wrong! They became stricter about the theory of the faith. Now the apostles had the truth, but when you lose love and you become stricter, (Remember, in the religion of Christ no one is to dictate to somebody else in matters of conscience. That is a principle that Jesus set up. I am not to dictate to you and you are not to dictate to me in matters of conscience. We are both to go to the Word of God and find out what it says and then do it.) They became stricter in regard to outward ceremonies and they became more particular about the theory of the faith, and then

8. They became even more severe in the criticisms. In fact, they got so severe in their criticisms that by the middle of the Second Century there was a man over in Rome who was the bishop there. He sent a letter to some bishops, some ministers in the eastern Roman Empire and he let them know that if they did not follow certain religious practices the way he had outlined, they could not have any fellowship with him. In other words, he was going to disfellowship them! That is how bad it was by the middle of the Second Century, and especially by the end of the Second Century.

9. So they developed a zeal to condemn others and in their zeal to condemn others;

10. They forgot their own errors. You know, friends, do you want to face up to this? None of us can say that we do not have any errors. None of us can say, "I understand the Christian religion perfectly." None of us can say that. But they got severe in criticizing others and they forgot their own errors. and then awful, awful, awful, it says.

11. They forgot the lessen of brotherly love that Christ had taught. And when they forgot that, they had lost their first love and the primitive godliness that the church had in the time of the apostles was gone. Oh, they still had the right doctrines at that time. They would not tolerate evil. They were very strict about that. In fact, they got so strict that they started adding requirements. Just like the Jews did. But last of all; saddest of all,

12. They were unconscious of their loss. They did not realize what had happened. They did not realize that happiness and joy were going out of their lives and soon they would walk in darkness having shut the love of God out of their hearts. And when that happens, then the minister wonders, "Why are we not baptizing anybody any more? Why is not anybody joining the church?"

Well, friends, think this through. Why should anybody join the church if there is no loving? Why should they? Even if you do have the right teachings, even if you do have the right doctrines? The whole basis of the Ten Commandments is love to God and love to your fellowmen, and if that is not there, no matter what you teach, what is it worth? Why should anybody join your church if there is no love in it? So they lost it.

Friends, we just read a prophecy from The Great Controversy, 464, that before the final judgments--(now some people think that this is not going to happen until Jesus comes again, but that is not what the prophecy said. It does not say before Jesus comes again, it says, before the final judgments of God in this world. Now the final judgments of God in this world are listed in the last part of Revelation, especially Chapters 16, 17 and 18. Those are God's final judgments that are coming on this world.)-- But before that happens, it is predicted that something else is going to happen. What is it that is going to happen? There is going to be a development again of primitive godliness among God's people such as has not been seen since apostolic times. Now this is a divinely inspired promise. Do you think we ought to do what Jacob did and say, "Lord, it has not happened yet, but I want to be part of it."?

How are we going to get it back?

This is the third thing we are going to look at for just a few minutes. How are we to recover the primitive godliness that they lost? Well, friend, when you start studying this subject, it is so simple that you cannot believe why we do not already know it.

Do you know how we are going to get it back? We are going to get it back the same way the apostles got it. In other words, we have to learn to know Jesus. Do you know Him? Are you memorizing what He said? What He taught? What He did? Are you letting Him in your mind, are you thinking about Him?

Do you have some time every day when you turn off the television and lay down the newspaper and magazines, all of your hobbies and everything else that you do, and all of your business and you say, "Lord, I want to know You. I want to spend some time with You and I want to know You."

Do you? We are never going to get primitive godliness back by just coming to church and listening to good preaching. We are never going to get it back unless we spend time individually in the Bible, especially in the gospels, and find out what is it that they had? They learned to know Jesus and when they learned to know Him, it changed everything in their lives because He put love within their hearts. They saw His love for them and they responded to it.

You see, you cannot force somebody to love. Only by love is love awakened. But when they were with Him and they saw how much He loved them, they responded to that love and it changed their lives. They began to know Him. You see, yon cannot know Him unless you experience His love, unless you first of all receive it and then learn how to give it out to other people.

If we are going to have the primitive godliness that they had, we are going to have the same experience that they had. We are going to have to spend time with the Lord and learn to know Jesus Christ. Not just know a story, but actually experience His love for us and receive so much of it that we have something to give out. Love is the most powerful and the most precious thing in the world, and there is all too little of it in the world and in the church today.

But there still is enough to go around if you come to Jesus, because He is the source of love. Here is what Ellen White wrote about this. She said, "If you would stand through the time of trouble, you must know Christ, and appropriate the gift of His righteousness, which He imputes to the repentant sinner." Selected Messages, book 1, 363.

1. If we are going to recover it, we must know Christ. We must get acquainted with Him. we must receive his love inside and we must begin to live it out to our friends, but most important, to our enemies. "The world," Jesus said, "loves its friends, but My children love their enemies." (See Matthew 5.)

2. If we are going to recover what they lost, we must receive the Holy Spirit. Now that is a subject too big for us to cover today. What is involved in receiving the Holy Spirit? There is much instruction in the Word of God about what we must do to receive the Holy Spirit.

Incidentally, no church, no group of people who are deliberately breaking the Ten Commandments can make any claim from the Bible to receive the Holy Spirit, or expect to receive the Holy Spirit. According to 2 Corinthians 11 you can receive a spirit that is not the real thing. You can read about that from the words of Jesus in John 14. Read it carefully.

Jesus made it very clear that obedience to the commandments is a prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit inside. Now the Holy Spirit is trying to plead with sinners all over the world, but we are not talking about that. We are talking about receiving the Holy Spirit inside so that you live a spirit-filled life, so that the Spirit of God is in charge of your imagination, your mind, your feelings, and your affections and is directing your life.

That was the secret of the power in the early church. "Without the enlightenment of the Spirit of God we shall not be able to discern truth from error and shall fall under the masterful temptations and deceptions that Satan will bring upon the world. We are near the close of the controversy between the Prince of Light and the prince of darkness, and soon the delusions of the enemy will try our faith of what sort it is. Satan will work miracles in the sight of the beast, and deceive 'them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." 1888 Materials, 1075.

And I want to tell you, that has already started to happen. Have you noticed? It has happened right in Wichita and it has happened in other parts of the world, all over the world. Thousands and thousands of spiritualistic apparitions appearing to people, and the devil working all manner of wonders and miracles by which this world right now is being deceived. Are you awake as to what is happening in front of your eyes?

Unless you receive the Holy Spirit you will not make it. You will be deceived. You will not even know it has happened. You will think that you have the Spirit, but it will be the wrong spirit. You will think that you know Jesus, but it will be the wrong Jesus. You will think that you believe the gospel, but it will not be the gospel in this Book because the counterfeit gospel, the gospel according to antichrist, is much more popular in the Christian world today that the gospel that the apostles preached.

3. How are we going to recover what they lost? We are not going to recover what they lost unless we do what Jacob did. Unless we come to the Lord and say, "Lord, I'm surrendering totally to you, but You have promised me something." Has God promised something to us? Yes, in this Bible there are several promises that the people in the last days are going to receive a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Do you think that we should be claiming those promises in prayer? As a church? Individually? This was written in The Review and Herald, November 29, 1892. It says, "0 that we as a people might humble our hearts before God, and plead with Him for the endowment of the Holy Spirit! If we came to the Lord in humility and contrition of soul, He would answer our petitions; for He says that He is more willing to give us the Holy Spirit than are parents to give good gifts to their children. Then would Christ be glorified, and in Him we should discern the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

Are you humbling your heart and pleading day by day for the Holy Spirit? I am very happy that in recent months we have had more and more requests in our Prayer Meetings that we pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you something, people can pray for each other, but if you are going to actually receive the Holy Spirit, you are going to have to pray yourself. It is not enough for the other members of the church to pray for you. You are going to have to pray and say, "Lord, I want to receive the Holy Spirit and I am surrendering my heart and my life to You so that I can receive what You want to give me."

By the way, this might be bad news for somebody here but you need to hear this. If you are living in sin, (now sin is the transgression of God's law, 1 John 3:4.) and you ask to receive the Holy Spirit, the first thing that the Holy Spirit will do is to rebuke you and reprove you of your sin. You will never receive anything else until you turn around. Read that in John 16. When the Spirit comes, he will reprove the world because of sin. That is the first thing that happens. You cannot have the Holy Spirit inside unless you are willing to turn away from your sins.

And what is the result of receiving the Holy Spirit? The result will be the unity in the church that we have not seen since the time of the apostles either. And we pray and we work and we weep and we say, "Lord, why is there so much division? Why is there so much dissension?" Well, you see, friends, we have lost what they had and we have not gotten it back yet.

According to the prophecy I read you, there are going to be some people that get it back, and I would like to be part of that group. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the early church, the Scripture says, the whole multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul. They had unity. They had brotherly love. It was the most wonderful group to belong to that anybody had ever belonged to since Adam and Eve fell.

the spirit of Christ made him one. With the spirit of Christ to that again today? Yes, it would. That does not mean that all of them thought exactly the same on every subject. But they had unity. This is the fruit of abiding in Christ, but if dissension, envy, jealousy and strife are the fruit we bear, it is not possible that we are abiding in Christ.

Would you like to see it happen again? Would you like to be part of it? It is going to happen. That is not the question, because it is part of prophecy, the only question is, will you be part of it? Will I be part of it? It is the most wonderful experience you can have this side of heaven. Once we have that experience it will not be very long until we will be in heaven.

I pray that everyone of us might experience this primitive godliness.