"And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out

of his sleep. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof-. And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 4:1-6 "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;" Acts 2:16

"By My Spirit"
In it's birth the church was totally a product of the Holy Spirit. Builded for a habitation of God, it's ultimate purpose is to be the vehicle of expression. It is a wonderful thing to think that God would make a creature called man, in order that by that means He might write for revelation, His own thoughts and mind. In eternity past God thought thoughts, desired desires, and willed wills, man was then created that God's thoughts , desires, and wills could be revealed through his person. The Word says, when He, the Holy Spirit is come, men will dream, see visions, prophecy. In our text Peter says, "This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel." In other words, the anointing has come so there should be sons and daughters demonstrating the very life of God through the church. The gospel is now to be preached in power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. New Testament Christianity is, by the anointing, revealing God to a lost world. The meaning and value of the Holy Ghost is, firstly, to give us detailed knowledge of God's plan. As the Spirit of truth He is to guide us into all truth. God has a purpose and that purpose can only be known by the Holy Ghost. He knows the laws and the principles that govern the purpose. God's purpose is the church, and from the first mention of that purpose until it works itself out in detail, the principles never change. The Holy Ghost, who is the custodian of that purpose, never under any circumstance violates those principles. If in the super structure there is something that is out of harmony with God's basic principle, that is going to be the defect that will spell tragedy sooner or later. The system instituted by Moses was a representation of Christ to a fraction, because of this God's command was, "According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." (Exodus 25:9). The church is not the only thing, but it is the central thing in redemption. It is so precious to Christ as to make Him willing to pay the price of the whole universe in order to have it. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." (Matthew 13:44). The church is the focal point of redemption, because she is that which is coming to the perfect image of Christ. All else is secondary. There will be a reflection of Christ through the church, His light will fall on all else. All else in this universe will take it's character from what He is in the church. Because of what the church is, and what she is to become the principles that govern her must be followed to the letter. The pulpit must determine what the church believes. When there is a deviation from the principles of God's word it must be rejected. We must have compassion but our compassion must never override our convictions. The church is the object of God's love, and must never be intimidated in her stand for truth. \When the pulpit ignores the Holy Ghost, and violates the principles of the Word of God, at that point the church becomes something other than God intended. Instead of reflecting Christ she becomes a misrepresentation of God, a curse and not a blessing.

The anointing is an absolute, because the Holy Ghost alone knows the thoughts and purpose of God. Only the Holy Spirit can speak and work in utter consistency with what God wants, and this alone brings the presence of God. As we worship according to His plan His presence will inhabit that worship, and when He is present there will be a demonstration of that presence. The overriding principle that must govern the church is, THE CHURCH IS A HEAVENLY BODY, IT CAME FROM HEAVEN. She is not of this world, she came in with the advent of the Holy Ghost. The church is to be what Christ was, and is, as the Heavenly Man. This is the soul and purpose of Pentecost. Only that which is of Christ, the heavenly Man, is eternally effective. This means that what was, and is true of Christ as the Heavenly Man, as to His being, as to His ministry, as to the laws of His life, is to be true of the church. For this the Holy Ghost was given. We are speaking of Christ as the Heavenly Man and not of His deity. The church is not to be thought of as Jew or Greek, male or female: these and all other earthly distinctions are lost sight of and set aside, and one new man is brought in, where Christ is all and in all. (Col. 3:1 1) Christ in His essential nature has never been of earth, He is the Lord from Heaven. He stressed this fact with, "...I am from above ..." (John. 8:23). What is true of Christ is also true of the church. The church has never been an earthly thing in God's thought. Paul shows us that the church was in the heavenlies before ever the fall took place. The church is spiritual and must not be touched by the carnal. That which is spiritual is Holy, and God says we are not to touch that which is Holy. To touch the Holy is to touch God and disaster always follows. The church is heavenly and nothing of the carnal will work in it. For the church to come into the place of the open heaven, where the glory of God abides, the self life must be broken in all of it's ramifications. In the ultimate issue nothing but what is of Christ will be allowed. Because this is true all the activities of God in discipline are introduced. The upward movement, both in individuals and movements are always by a succession of deaths and resurrections. This experience is not relative to the early stages alone, but continues throughout the course. It is the outworking of this law of death and resurrection, that with God nothing but what is of Christ will be allowed. Only what is of Christ can be effective and our experience means that more of the mixture will have to go. God is seeking to bring the church to this goal, to be the fullness of Him that fills all and all. Satan knows it is either him or the church, so we can expect him to react violently when the church begins to move into the place God has ordained. In His reaction to God's purpose Satan has set up his imitation, it is called "The Mystery of Iniquity." Satan, in his pride, attempted to exalt himself above the throne of God. His purpose in the rebellion was to turn the worship of heaven to himself, and in his failure another worship was born, the worship of the beast. Through this other worship Satan attempts to usurp the rights of God. The cross is the central recognition of the eternal rights of God. At the cross and in the cross all the rights of God from eternity are recognized and acknowledged. God has rights. God's rights are, that the whole universe shall render Him undivided, unrivaled, unreserved worship, acknowledging that all things are His by right, and that no one else in this universe has a right before Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His own person, secured the rights of God, thus outlawing every other form of worship. In Christ the Father found the place, the worship and the glory, without rival. He brought that to the throne in His own person. With the church the issue is the same, and God's command is, "Give no place to devil." Only the Holy Spirit in the power of the victorious Christ, and by virtue of His shed blood can meet that challenge. We do not talk lightly about this thing. We view that ultimate issue with great joy, but we recognize it can only happen by the Spirit of God. "Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6). If the Lord Jesus needed the eternal Spirit to over come Satan, how much more we the church. The church did not come into being until Christ was in heaven. When the wind blew through that

upper room Peter said, "This is that." He made it plain to all, that this which had come was what gave the ability to speak in tongues, prophecy etc. All of the manifestations in the upper room were the result of, and not the cause of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The harlot imitation of these last days believes it can reproduce Pentecost by reproducing the manifestations. It is an abomination to God. When Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father the church came into existence. Which means the church has come to Christ in heaven, on heavenly ground in a spiritual way. She has never been of this world anymore than Christ was of this world. When man, through the flesh, reduces the church to a thing of earth he destroys her. We the church, are planted in enemy territory, therefore to make friends with the world is to become an enemy of God. In the fall of man the world system fell into the hands of Satan, the Bible calls him "the god of this world." He has set up his own system of religion for the purpose of transferring the worship of God to himself. To do this he must reduce the true church to a thing of earth, her foreignness in this world must be lost. Satan's strategy for this evil work, is to invade the church culturally by the planting of tares, imitation saints, among the true believers. Satan is, in this way, able to gain a stronghold inside the church. These agents of darkness bring with them a worldly spirit that rebels against the message of 'holiness and separation' taught in the Word of God. By their imitation of the gift of tongues, in spite of their worldliness, these imitation saints are able to deceive the simple. The church having been infiltrated by the world, has become something other than God intended. The results, she is no longer a threat to the darkness because the darkness, in the form of tares, is free to worship in her altars. The angels surely must be weeping. We, the church have come to Christ in heaven, and are different. We are aliens on the planet, "in the world but not of it." We are a spiritual people, the church must return to this. When the world loves us we have lost touch with spiritual reality. This world is the place of Christ's rejection. If Christ had come in Isaiah's time He would have been rejected. If He were to come to your town He would be rejected. "As He was in this world, so are we." When we are accepted by those who reject Him we have become something other than God intended. It is not a new program we need, we need to come back to the ground of the Holy Spirit. We are here to "be" more than we are to "do." The Church has got to leave earthly ground and really be a Heavenly, spiritual body, while still here in relation to Christ in Heaven. That is a divine law, and the principle is clear in the New Testament especially from the book of Acts onward. It is not something new it governed the people of the old Testament. Notice, Isaac was not allowed to leave the land to get a bride. The bride had to brought to him. "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou earnest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again." (Genesis 24:1-6). Today there is a Bridegroom at the right hand of God, and the Holy Spirit is on the earth gathering a Bride for Him. Jesus is not coming back until there is a Bride. Many are called to be a part of that Bride, but out of many few are chosen. Every born again believer is called to be in the Bride, but the vast majority disqualify themselves in the every day tests and trials of life. God uses the trials of life to test and ultimately prove those who will be the Bride. God proves that He may approve, and what is approved is chosen. The Bride will be a tested, approved, chosen people. There is much dispute among theologians whether God's covenants with men are conditional or unconditional. If they are unconditional what is the reason for the testing? God led Israel into the wilderness crisis, "and there proved them." (Ex 15:25). God later referred to a test which proved that they did not love Him. "I proved thee at the waters of Meribah." (Ps. 81:7) The words, examine, test, try, prove, carry with them the idea of putting something to a test to determine if it is genuine or counterfeit. It is these testings that determine who will be in the Bride. The Bride is above all else

spiritual.