But I would like to invite you to just bow your heads with me and pray before we open God's Holy Book.

"Father in heaven, we are at that part of our worship service now where we are going to open Your Holy Book and read it. And we humbly but earnestly request that Your Spirit will speak to us as we read and as we study. We pray that your Spirit will make clear to each one of us that which we need to understand this morning. Help us to hear that still, small voice saying, This is the way. Walk in it. And we pray that You will give us a heart to obey. We pray that You will give us a heart to follow. Lord, I pray for each person here. How I would like to see every single one in the kingdom of Heaven. Help us to understand what we must do so that we can receive that infinite gift that Jesus came to bring within our reach, the gift of eternal life in a place where there is joy and peace and where sorrow and sighing will be forever at an end. Lord, help us to understand a little bit about the value of this gift and put our whole heart and soul into being ready to receive it. So help us now as we study. May Your Holy Spirit be poured into our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen."

I want to study with you from John 17. This prayer, by the way, was given just a few minutes before Jesus walked into the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus knew exactly what He was walking into. He knew that in just a few minutes He was going to be suffering super human agony to pay the price for the sins of the world.

And yet, we find in this prayer, that which is uppermost on His mind is not what He is about to suffer. In fact, He does not even mention it. That which is uppermost on His mind is His great hope for the unity and harmony of His followers. Did you know that Ellen White has told us that this is the strongest evidence that can be presented that God sent His Son into the world for our salvation?

It is the strongest evidence that can be presented, more than any kind of theology or doctrine or teaching. In fact, she says that the world cannot contradict this kind of evidence, a group of people who are in harmony and unity. That evidence is so powerful that the world cannot contradict it. They cannot gainsay it. And before Jesus comes again, there is going to be a group of people who will be scattered all over the world, but there is going to be a group of people who are in harmony and unity with each other.

Ellen White says that she saw them in vision. She says that they were perfectly united. I want to tell you, friends, even in this world-I am not talking about when Jesus comes, I am talking about the here and now- We are going to experience a closeness, a brotherhood, a brotherly love that you have never yet seen. Ellen White says it has not been seen since the time of the apostles.

Would you like to be part of it? God has many more blessings for us in the church than we have yet received. Of course, you know, the devil is after us to try to prevent us from receiving it, because he knows that this is the strongest evidence, to him and the world.

You see, the devil was cast out of heaven when he rebelled against the law of God. And that is the one single principle of the devil's government. All you have to do to be part of the devil's government is just decide that you are going to break some part of the law of God. That is the one law of the devil's government, that you do not acknowledge the law of God. You do not keep all of that. And when the devil and his angels were cast out from heaven (you can read it in the book, The Story of Redemption) they immediately had strife and controversy among themselves, and their happiness was at an end.

And that is the way it is. That is the way it has been in this world ever since. We have all kinds of worldly organizations that, on the outside, look wonderful. But the unity of this world is a veneer. Inside, in this world, there is strife. You know that I am telling you the truth. If you work for the state, the county, the city; if you work for the churches, the clubs, the fraternities, the educational organizations, the military organizations, whoever you work for, you know that I am telling you the truth.

It looks wonderful on the outside, but you get into the inside and you find that there is something going on. Oh, we have a nice name for it-we call it politics. And I want to tell you politics exists. It exists in the national governments; it exists in the state government, the provincial government, the county, the city, and the educational institutions. It is everywhere in this world. There is not real unity of heart and spirit. The unity is external.

And that is part of the big problem with the ecumenical movement. There are many people in this world who would give anything if they could belong to an organization where all of this hen pecking and politicking did not exist. Because even the worldly people do not like it, at least the people I have run into in the world do not like it.

I cannot even remember the number of Bible studies I have given where people have told me what is going on where they work. Some of these people are working in some of the most successful companies in the world. But when I give them Bible studies, I find out about things going on at their work that people who are not in the company do not know anything about.

Why is this? Why is it that we cannot, in the world, achieve this inner harmony of spirit and heart that will give people rest of spirit? Do you know why? There is a principle involved. It is found in Luke 22. There is a principle that was involved when the devil was in heaven. You see, the underlying principle of God's law, the underlying principle can be divided into two parts.

Those two parts are the first four commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and the last six commandments, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said in Matthew 22, On these two principles hang all the law and prophets. And you see, the devil violated both of those principles because he wanted power.

I have a book in my library, a paperback book, a very interesting book. It appeals to worldly people. The name of the book is How to get your Boss's Job. And that is what the devil wanted. He wanted his Boss's job, and all of his followers want their boss's job. So as you work on that principle, everybody is trying to get their boss's job-we talk about it quite freely in our society-we call it 'climbing the ladder.' You have heard about climbing the ladder.

And, of course, when you climb the ladder, you have to walk over people. And so as long as you are working on that principle, you can never have unity and harmony. And by the way, if you start working on that principle in the church, you can never have unity and harmony in the church either. You will have the same strife that you have in the world.

Within the people who are taken to heaven to spend eternity, there will not be one person who is trying to make himself a center of influence-like the devil tried to do in the beginning. When the Lucifer got the angels together to talk, he had a subject and his subject was himself. But the Bible says do not think on the things of self, but everyone think on the things of others. "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery [thought it not a thing to be grasped] to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking [and took upon Him] the form of a bondservant, and coming in the [was made in the fashion, or in the] likeness, of men [mankind]. And being found in appearance [fashion or in the likeness of] as a man, He humbled Himself." Philippians 2:5-8.

How much did He humble Himself? He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus died a public death of shame. There were many reasons why His death was public. One is so that it could be proved and nobody could ever contradict the fact that He actually did die for the sins of the world; and it was arranged so that after He died, the Roman soldiers took a spear and stuck it in His side, and it proved that He had died.

If He had not already died, He would have died instantly from that wound from the spear, because it was directly to the heart. And so we read John 17 and we realize that there is going to be a group of people in the world who are going to come into perfect unity and harmony. But now here is what you might think of as the bad news. Nobody is going to be part of that group who is working on the devil's principle of trying to make himself a center of influence, who is trying to control other people and be in charge of the work and all of those things. Nobody is going to be part of that.

Now that will exist until Jesus comes, but they will not be part of the group where the latter rain is poured out. Let me read something to you about that. This was written a little over one hundred years ago to the Editor of The Review and Herald. His name was Uriah Smith. Ellen White wrote him as follows. You can find this in the 1888 Materials, 1017.

This is a frightful statement. This is what was happening at that time. She says: "Every individual is striving to become a center of influence; and until God works for His people, they will not see that subordination to God is the only safety for any soul. His transforming grace upon human hearts will lead to unity that has not yet been realized; for all who are assimilated to Christ will be in harmony with one another. The Holy Spirit will create unity."

Now there are several important points in that paragraph. First of all she says, that among Seventh-day Adventists, people are striving to be a center of influence. In other words, they want to be leader; they want to be in charge. And some of these people who are striving to be leaders and be in charge, if they do not get what they want, there is big trouble.

And then she says, we need to realize that none of us are safe until we surrender ourselves fully to the Lord. We have to quit trying to be a center of influence ourselves and just try to surrender to the Lord. That is the only safety. And she says that if we do that, "His transforming grace upon human hearts will lead to unity that has not yet been realized."

Notice, in Uriah Smith's time, the unity that God wanted us to have, we did not yet have. We did not have it yet. I say this humbly, but I am speaking in the fear of God when I say that I am very sure we do not have it yet in 2001. Somebody is going to come into unity and harmony with what God has in mind.

Here is the scary thing about it, friends, I have told my associates at Steps to Life Ministries this more than once. It is one of my great fears. If we are too hard to get along with and with each other, do you know what is going to happen eventually? God will finish this work with somebody else!

Do you realize, friends, that God is not dependent on me? God could finish this work with somebody else. God could finish this work with heathen princes, if He chose. Are you aware of that?

And God is going to finish His work in ways that we never suspected, or dreamed, or thought could happen, if we do not come into harmony with what the Lord wants to do. We need to surrender to the Lord and take a very humble position toward the Lord, and she says that if we do this, His grace upon our hearts is going to lead us to a unity that we do not have now.

And she says, "All who are assimilated to Christ will be in harmony with one another. The Holy Spirit will create unity." Is that not a wonderful promise? Turn in your Bible to John 17 and let us read just a few verses in this chapter.

How does the Holy Spirit work on our hearts to create unity? Notice what it says. He is talking about unity that we might be one just as He is one with the Father. He mentioned that in verse 11. And then notice in verse 17, He says, "Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth." The Holy Spirit uses the Word, which is the truth, to sanctify human beings.

Now error does not sanctify. That is why the ecumenical movement will not work-it is not based on truth-it brings people together but not on the basis of truth. Error does not sanctify. The Holy Spirit uses the truth of God's Word to change my heart and the Holy spirit uses the truth in God's Word to sanctify my heart. Sanctification simply means holiness. To sanctify is to make something holy. And the thing that makes you holy is the Holy Spirit using the Word, the truth, to work on your heart, to change your heart, to bring you into harmony, in your heart, with God's Word.

And when that happens, when you are sanctified, unity is the result. You can read words like that in Gospel Workers, 391 or 392. Sanctification, unity and peace all are ours, through the truth. The Holy Spirit works on the heart to bring my heart into harmony with what I am reading in the Bible. That is why you have to pray when you are reading the Bible. The Bible is not a book to just read like a storybook. It is a book that, as you read it, you should be checking your heart. Is my heart in harmony with what I am reading? Am I living in harmony with what I am reading?

And as the Holy Spirit continues to work on my heart through the truth, what happens? Turn to Ephesians 4, and notice what will happen. He is talking here about the gifts of the Spirit that Jesus gave to His church when He went back to heaven.

Look at what the result is going to be. These gifts were given, it says in verse 12, "For the equipping of [perfecting of the holy ones or] the saints for the work of ministry [service], for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ, till we all come [into] to the unity of the faith." Notice, that is the result of receiving the Holy Spirit, receiving sanctification, we come into the unity of the faith. "[Unto a mature] and of knowledge of the Son of God, to [unto] a perfect man."

Now that is not talking about a perfect man, physically. We are not going to be able to throw away our glasses or our hearing aids or our canes, or whatever has to do with our physical infirmity here in this world. We are not going to be able to throw those things away until Jesus comes. When He comes, then we are going to get a new body. Then we will get a perfect body that will not be subject to death or sickness.

We will never experience physical pain again. We will experience some mental pain after Jesus comes, because during the millenium there is going to be a lot of mental pain. But notice, when it talks about a perfect man here in Ephesians, it is not talking about the physical man. We are going to have a perfect body when Jesus comes. It says that He is going to change our vile body and make it like His glorious body.

Ellen White says our body will be made of much better material. That is good news, is it not? But it is talking here in Ephesians 4, not about the physical body; it is talking about the spiritual man. It is talking about the spirit. You see, the way the gospel works, the gospel is just like when you have a wound. Your body heals the physical wound. The body heals it from the inside out. It does not heal it from the outside in.
And that is the way it is with the sin problem. As Ellen White says in Christ's Object Lessons, we have to be saved from the devil's power inside before we can be safe from his power outside. You see, there are a lot of people, even people in the world, who want to be saved from the devil's power over them on the outside. But in order to be safe from the devil's power over you on the outside, you first have to be safe from his power over you on the inside.

And what is the devil's power over the human race on the inside? Oh, it is the temptations he brings. Some people say, Oh, I cannot make it! Jesus came to prove that, through His power and grace, you can make it. You can overcome! So much is that true, that more than once Ellen White writes that there is no human being who is so vile, or has fallen so low, but what they might find deliverance in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You are promised, in Ephesians 4, that you can come to the condition of a perfect man. It is not talking about physical man. It is talking about your spiritual man, your spirit, your mind. "To the measure," it says, "of the stature of the fullness of Christ" until you are perfectly Christ-like.

Now, I have a question for you to think through. What would happen, in this church or in any church in the world, if every single person in that church came 'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to a perfect man in the unity of the faith'? What would happen in this church if every member got into that condition?

Do you know what would happen? Then Jesus' prayer in John 17, would be fulfilled, because then you would have perfect unity right here. Now they may not have perfect unity any place else in the world. And anybody who reads the news knows that is something that apparently does not exist anywhere in the world. But even though it does not exist anywhere else in the world, if every member of this church came to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and to a perfect man, spiritually, in this church you would have perfect unity and that is how it happens.

The Holy Spirit creates it and the way the Holy Spirit creates it is by working a change in my heart. And this, my friends, is a process, a growth. If you will notice in Ephesians 4 it talks about growth. It talks about perfecting. It is talking about a process. It is not talking about an electric shock. You know, you are living like the devil and then you get a shock and then-bang-everything is perfect. No, that is not what it is talking about. It is talking about a process, like the growth of a plant or the growth of a child.

Let us think this through. As the people in the church are growing, they are growing spiritually, they are becoming sanctified, they are reaching closer and closer to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. They are coming closer and closer to a perfect man. They are coming closer and closer to the unity of the faith. What should be happening in that church? They should be coming closer and closer to perfect unity. Should they not? And if we are not coming closer and closer to that experience, then we need to do some praying and say, Lord, am I part of the problem? Because it does not take many people to make a problem. In the kingdom of heaven it just took one. It just took one person, one angel, one intelligence to destroy the unity.

So we should not be discouraged if we do not have unity in our churches right now, since it only took one person to destroy the unity in heaven, it would only take one person in any one church to destroy the unity down here. However, what is going to happen? Let us think that through. Let us make it simple.

Let us suppose, in this church, that every single person is reading the Bible, seeking to receive the Holy Spirit, seeking to come into harmony with the Word of God, seeking to develop and become a part of that perfect man who is described. Each person is seeking to become part of the unity of the faith, the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ. Each person is trying to do that, except one.
Now do not decide that you know who the one is. We do not know those things. The disciples did not know who Judas was until he had committed the unpardonable sin. Right up until the time that he committed the unpardonable sin, and a few hours after that, they did not know that he was not true blue. They did not know that Judas was the main one who was stirring up all that strife among them.

We read about that in Luke 22. Judas was the main one doing it. In fact, it was so bad that the disciples could never have unity and harmony until Judas was out of the way. And you know that is going to happen in this church. If everybody in this church is seeking to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, seeking to come into harmony with the Word of God, and the church itself is coming closer and closer to unity, they are still not going to have unity as long as there is a Judas in the middle who is not having that experience.

So the next question is, What is going to happen to that person? Ellen White said in her day that we might have twenty Judases among us. Boy, it only took one to wreck it with the disciples. She said we might have twenty. What is going to happen to that person? Well, we are in the shaking time. One of two things is going to happen. One of two things is going to happen.

You know, when Judas was there in the upper room with Christ and the disciples, Jesus was trying to win him. This is one of the most amazing things to me about the character of God. Jesus knew ahead of time what Judas was going to do. He knew the decision that Judas was going to make, and yet He did everything that a God could do to try to help him make the right decision.

I like that about the character of God. Even the people who make the wrong decision, God gives them every opportunity that a God can give so that they can make the right decision, make a different decision and repent. And do you know, when Judas was there in the upper room and Jesus was washing his feet, Ellen White says that his soul, within himself, thrilled through and through with the idea that he ought to tell Jesus now that he had made an agreement to betray Him. That he should confess it and tell Him that he was sorry. He just about did, but he did not.

And do you know, that is going to happen to every Judas. If everybody in this church is having the experience that those eleven disciples had, learning more about Jesus, getting closer to Him, becoming sanctified by the Holy Spirit, being changed in character, but one person is having the experience of Judas, one of two things is going to happen to that person. You see, the church is going to be purified. It is going to be purified before the end. One of two things is going to happen. Either they are going to confess and repent and make things right, and they are going to come into harmony with God's program and receive the Holy Spirit so there can be perfect unity and harmony in that church, or if they do not, eventually the angels will separate that person from the church.

By the way, it has not been given to any church to handle this kind of a problem. The angels separate the tares from the wheat. That is what Jesus said. The angels will separate that person from the church. That happens at the judgment. You can read that in Testimonies to Ministers. The separation of that person, from the rest of the people in the church, or even in the family, she says, happens during the time of judgment. That is the judgment of the living.

And God is going to have a church that is purified, and when the church is purified, they are going to have perfect unity and harmony. Let me just read this one sentence from Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 179. It says, "Perfection of character means perfection in unity." And so we are individually called upon to strive for perfection of character. When you have a church where the people have perfection of character, you will have perfection of unity.

You will have something that the devil cannot create. I say it respectfully, but the United States Government cannot create it. I say it respectfully, but no educational institution has been able to create it. This is something that only the Holy Spirit can create. Ellen White says that it is the strongest evidence that God sent His Saviour into the world to save mankind. And the devil is determined that it is never going to happen.

And so the devil is working among us to try to keep it from happening. Let me read how he is doing that. This is Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 143. How Satan attempts to prevent "The unity of the church (which) is the convincing evidence that God has sent Jesus into the world as its Redeemer. This is an argument which worldlings can neither withstand nor controvert. Therefore Satan is constantly working to prevent this union and harmony, that unbelievers, by witnessing backbiting, dissention, and strife among professed Christians, may become disgusted with religion, and be confirmed in their impenitence. God is dishonored by those who profess the truth while they are at variance and enmity with one another. Satan is the great accuser of the brethren, and all who engage in this work are enlisted in his service."

How does the devil try to prevent it? The devil tries to prevent it by coming in among God's professed people and creating strife and variance. By causing, she says, strife, backbiting and dissention. The devil's purpose in doing that, is so when the people of the world look at God's professed people, that they will become disgusted with religion. He tries to do that in our homes, too.

The people who know about your home and what goes on in your home, what do they think about your religion? Are they disgusted with your religion and do not want anything to do with it? Or do they say, 'You know, they have something that I wish I had in my home'? Ellen White says that a Christian home is the strongest evidence for Christianity that can be presented.

Look in your Bible to Ephesians 4:27. The apostle Paul talks about this same subject that Ellen White is talking about here in Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 143. He says, "Neither give place to the devil." Verse 29: "Let no corrupt word [every rotten word] proceed [come] out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, [whatever is good for the building of those having need in order] that it may impart [give] grace to the hearers [those hearing]. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for [unto] the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, clamor [and crying out] and evil speaking be put it away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another."

The next word, (eusplangxnoi), is a word that sometimes translated, is where we get the medical word the 'splanchnic area.' That is a Greek word that says that very thing. You see in ancient times they thought that your feeling of tenderness and compassion were located in the bowels. That is where you get the expression in the King James Bible about having bowels of mercy. In other words, being tenderly compassionate or sympathetic or empathetic with each other.

We do not have an exact English word to translate that, but being tenderly sympathetic or compassionate with each other, forgiving each other just as also God in Christ brought forgiveness to us.

Oh, friend, if you and I are going to be forgiven ourselves, we must have this experience where we forgive others. You know, I have thought this through in my mind. There are some people who are waiting to forgive those who have wronged them, for the people that have done the wrong to confess it. Have you ever seen anyone like that? They are ready to forgive as soon as they will confess it. Have you ever been on the receiving end of that? Somebody is waiting to forgive you of some mistake you made, if you confess it?

Well, we have the counsel in the Scripture that we are to forgive each other as God in Christ forgave us. Now, how did God in Christ forgive us? Do you remember the first thing that Jesus said when He was nailed to the cross? He said, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." Now did Jesus forgive them before or after they confessed?

They had not confessed it. He said right in His speech, they do not even know what they are doing. How could they confess something that they do not even know that they are doing? And Ellen White says that that prayer took in the whole world. "Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." Now, please do not misunderstand. Please do not anybody misunderstand.

If I have offended somebody, if I have done wrong to somebody, the Bible is very clear that I am to go and confess that and make it right. Yes, I have a duty when I have done something wrong, to confess it to God, if it is a secret sin, but if I have injured my brother or sister, when that comes to my knowledge, I am to tell them that I am sorry.

But if I am the one who has been wronged-was Jesus being wronged when He was being nailed to the cross? Was He? Well, that is the most heinous crime that has ever been committed. And the first words out of His mouth when they were committing it, was "Father, forgive them."

There were seven things Jesus said when He was nailed to the cross and during the time that He hung on the cross. The first thing was, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

By the way, do you need to be forgiven of anything? I need to be forgiven of a lot. Have you made mistakes?

I remember one time a minister was telling me this experience. This was a leading Seventh-day Adventist minister. If I told you his name, most of you, in fact, probably almost all of you, would know who it is, so I am not going to tell you his name.

He was telling the story of a man who came to him and said, "You have no right to be"-and he mentioned the office that this man held in the Adventist Church. He said, "You have no right to be that."

And the minister said, "Why?"

And so he listed five things. He said, You have made these following five mistakes.

And when he got through telling this minister of the five mistakes he had made-I do not know if the minister did the right thing or not, but he started to laugh. I do not know if that was a good thing to do or not. But the man could not figure out why, when he had just given the minister this tirade, the minister was laughing.

When he asked why the minister was laughing, he said, "On an average day, I make more than five mistakes."

Oh, friend, if you are a Christian, the one whom you claim to be serving; the one whom you claim as the Lord of your life; the one whom you claim you will obey and serve for eternity; when He was being nailed to the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." And if we belong to Him, we must receive the same spirit that He had.

And I want to tell you something. What I am talking about is not natural to human nature. It required a miracle of the Holy Spirit. It is not natural.

If you want to know what the natural is, watch your little two and three-year-old children play and see what they do when somebody hits them. They will show you what is natural.

But the Christian religion is a religion of the super-natural. And a large part of getting ready to receive the Holy Spirit has to do with having the spirit of forgiveness in my heart for those who have wronged me, and then watching what I say so I do not go on injuring people all the time.
In closing, I want to read you quickly several statements from Ellen White on this subject. She says, "If a word is dropped that is detrimental to the character of your friend or brother, do not encourage this evil speaking. It is the work of the enemy. Kindly remind the speaker that the word of God forbids that kind of conversation." That I May Know Him, 153.

Here is another one. "Evil thinking and evil speaking are the fruit of an evil tree." Spaulding Magan, 273. That is an illusion, of course, to Matthew 7:16-20. Here is another one. This is from Testimonies to Southern Africa, 30. You may not have that book. It says, "All envy, jealousy, all evil surmising, is of the enemy. All evil-speaking, all bitterness, all impatience, all malice, must be purged from the soul temple, and kindness, compassion, forbearance, meekness, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, hope, love, must be cherished every day."

And then she shows that it will result in unity among God's people. Here is another one. "Evil-thinking and evil-speaking are a great offense in the sight of God, and those who do these things are not born of the spirit, but of the flesh." The Home Missionary, December 1, 1894.

And finally, "The church will never as a whole receive the latter rain unless they shall put away all envy, evil surmising and evil speaking…." Ibid, August 1, 1896.

Did you know that Ellen White wrote us that God's spirit could not be poured out in power until we had overcome every unlovely trait of character? It cannot happen because we are not ready. What do you say that we get ready?

What could happen in our churches if we had people who were struggling and striving and saying, 'Lord, I want to receive the Holy Spirit. I want to overcome every unlovely trait of character and I am going to be done with this spirit of animosity and backbiting and all of this stuff that goes on all over. I am going to be done with that. I am going to come into harmony with what Your Word says. I am not going to bite and devour my neighbor. I am going to forgive him.'

By the way, do you have anybody whom you need to forgive because they have done something to injure you?

If you do, that is a little test for you. You see, if you can forgive the person who has injured you, then the promise is, Jesus says, I am going to forgive you, too.

The latter rain is coming, but it is not coming on everybody. But I would like to be a part of that select group who receives it, would you not?

We are going to see miracles, friends. We have little idea of what we are going to see. We are going to see people, all of a sudden, instantly, speaking in foreign languages just like they did in the days of the apostles. Ellen White says that is going to happen again. We are going to see the sick healed.

She says we are going to see many signs and wonders. But we are not going to see it until we are ready for it. We are not going to experience it until we are ready for it. And when you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power, let me tell you, you are going to have all the fruits of the spirit in your life.

You are going to have love and joy and peace and gentleness and long-suffering and self-control and goodness and meekness and faith.

It is going to be an exciting and wonderful experience, and when the saints come together, it will be just like a little bit of heaven. I would like to be part of it. Would you? But we cannot be part of it unless we have character preparation first.

Before we sing our closing song, let us pray that the Lord will help us receive what He wants to give to us.

"Father in heaven, we have been studying some very serious things from Your Word. We realize that none of us are going to receive the latter rain power of the Holy Spirit until we are prepared in character to receive it. Lord, we pray that You will help each one here, whose heart is crying out to You for strength and grace and power. We pray that we may receive power from You to overcome every unlovely trait of character so that we might be ready for what You want to do for us. Oh, Lord, help us to realize Your great longing to pour out Your spirit, to finish Your work, and to get us out of this evil place. Help us to do our part so that it can happen. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen."