Message 56: The Gifts of The Holy Spirit and The Rapture-Readiness of The Bride

– Mark Chen 1-23-2015 

Dearest brothers and sisters-in-Christ, a number of you have asked me about what we need to do to be part of Christ’s Bride, and how to be ready for the coming Rapture of the Bride. I have decided to write this teaching message relating to the specific context of the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. In addition, I have asked the Lord Jesus to share His important thoughts on this essential subject matter that so many believers are struggling to understand.

“My dearest children, My son, Mark has requested that I explain what it takes for my saints to be ready for the coming Rapture of My Bride, in the context of My Spirit’s gifts to my church. It is my pleasure to do so, for I do not wish for any of you to be confused and fearful that you will be left behind because of some false teaching you have received previously. My loves, know this simple truth—there are only three spiritual gifts that every member of my Bride must possess, as the requirement to be ready for the coming Rapture. What are these, dear ones? They are the spiritual gifts of Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of them is LOVE.

Has not my apostle, Paul, clearly explained in my written Word that Love is the foundation and the key to all other spiritual gifts? My children, many among you have sought what you believe to be the greatest spiritual gifts through My Spirit. You hold up the gifts of knowledge, tongues, prophecy, interpretation and healing as those to be esteemed and you forget that every single one of these ‘favoured’ gifts does not matter without the ever-present need to exercise them in the Love of God, through Me, His Son. I tell you the truth, My loves, every spiritual gift serves its function in my Body, the Church, for a limited time ordained by My Father, but the gifts of Faith, Hope and Love will endure forever.

Therefore, dear saints, let no one deceive you or cause you to worry, for many claim that unless you have the gift of tongue-speaking, you do not have My Holy Spirit’s baptism within you. Not only so, some have gone further to say that such believers will not be ready for the Rapture. Woe to those who have unwittingly allowed the devil to use them in spreading fear among My children, through his lies and falsehood. Repent of this, My children! For I have not given you a spirit of fear, but I have given you a spirit of power, a spirit of love and a sound mind. Stop your erroneous and ignorant teachings, as I will hold you accountable for your words and actions when you stand before My Judgment Seat! Instead, let the Love of God rule in your hearts, for I AM the Lord, your Saviour, who has commanded you to love one another, as I have loved you. My children, I did not command you to tear one another down through fear and confusion, but I have instructed you to build each other up in My Love.

I say this to all of you: Do not fear or worry, for the gift of tongue-speaking is not given to every member of My Body at this time, and neither does My son, Mark, speak in tongues at the present time. It is for My Father and I to decide whom We will anoint specific gifts through the Spirit, and we are never wrong in our choices. My son has long learned to ask for the greatest gifts of all: Faith, Hope and Love, for he knows that these are the spiritual gifts that will endure, even beyond My Millennium Kingdom. He has not asked for the gift of teaching, nor the gift of prophecy, but nevertheless, these have been given to him, for I have chosen him before the foundation of the world to fulfill this end-time role, which is God’s calling and anointing in his life.

I love you greatly, beloved sheep of My flock, and I AM coming sooner than many of you think. I have entrusted to My son, the task of elaborating My Words here to you, and he will explain further on this important subject. Hold on to what you have received from Me, My loves, for much tribulation will take place before My coming for My Bride, as is written in My Scriptures. The world is crumbling into great chaos all around you, but rest assured that those who belong to Me will never be snatched out of My hand, nor My Father’s hand. My Father is greater than all.”

~ Jesus Christ, the Father’s LOVE

1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 27-31 (NASB)

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
And I show you a still more excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NASB)

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Note: 
By the grace of God and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, I shall explain further what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to us in this important message. Here is a simple way to understand God’s truth-- only His saints who are bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their lives daily by walking faithfully with, and obediently to, His Will in their lives will be ready for the Rapture of the Bride. If we possess the fundamental spiritual gifts of Faith, Hope and Love, in increasing measure in our journey of salvation, we will very likely show evidence of all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

The Lord is explaining to us that the manifestations of ‘mighty’ spiritual gifts in believers’ lives (often sought after by many Christians), including the gift of tongue-speaking, are NOT proof, by themselves, that a Christian is Rapture-ready. Indeed, without any one of the three most important gifts of the Holy Spirit: Faith, Hope and Love, a Christian CANNOT be Rapture-ready, no matter how impressive his tongue-speaking is, or how vast her knowledge of the Bible is, or even how many sick people he has healed in the Name of Jesus Christ. Please understand how serious this is, because too many believers are mistakenly thinking that they are ready for the coming Rapture of Christ’s Bride, when they have wrongly placed their confidence in their spiritual gifts, such as tongue-speaking. They have neglected to examine their hearts and minds to see if they truly have Faith, Hope and Love through the Spirit of Christ in them.

Worse, these believers teach others that those who do not have the gift of tongue-speaking are not going to be taken in the Rapture, because they wrongly assume that tongue-speaking is the only evidence of the Holy Spirit’s manifestation in a Christian’s life. They fail to see that the most important signs pointing to the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s walk, are the manifestations of Faith, Hope and Love. The Lord Jesus Christ is calling them to REPENT in this message, and to stop spreading these false teachings which instil fear and confusion in the minds and hearts of fellow Christians. Otherwise, they will have to give an account to Him on that Day! (2 Cor 5:10)

Let us briefly examine Faith, Hope and Love, each in turn, in order to understand them better, and how they relate to our Rapture-readiness as Christ’s holy Bride.

1) Without Faith, we cannot be Rapture-ready, for only those who have faith in Christ’s return for His Bride will have the courage to obey Him and to prepare for His coming by living according to His Will for them in these end times. Indeed, God exhorts us to persevere faithfully in Christ Jesus, His Son.

Hebrews 10:35-39 (ESV)
35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Indeed, the apostle Paul writes in Romans 14:23b, ‘For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.’ Hence, we see the importance of Faith in our preparation for the coming Rapture of the Bride. However, a person may ask, “But, what is faith?” Let us look to God’s Word for His definition of Faith, and why it is so important for us to have faith in God, through Jesus Christ, His Son.

Hebrews 11:1, 6 (NASB)
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

2) The Lord Jesus helped me to come up with an acronym last night, which links Faith and Hope together. F.A.I.T.H. = Firmly Anchored In The Hope. What is this Hope? All of us who have been crucified with Jesus, and buried with Christ in His death through our baptism into Him, carry this blessed Hope of being raised with Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:3-9), of which He is the first-born among many brothers and sisters, ie. us (Romans 8:29). Why is this Hope so important to us? Paul explains this clearly in his letter to the Corinthian Church:

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 (NASB)
12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

So, we cling onto the Hope of Christ in us, as the apostle Peter affirms in his epistle to God’s saints:

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NASB)
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Though we have not received the perfection of our salvation in Christ Jesus, we see it coming very soon, as we eagerly and patiently await the Day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6), when the resurrection of those who are ‘dead in Christ’ (Galatians 2:20) will take place.

Romans 8:24-25 (NASB)
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Titus 2:13 (ESV)
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Without the Hope that the Rapture of the Bride will happen before God pours out His full wrath upon this wicked world (1 Thess 5:9), we will likely not be watching for the coming of our Bridegroom, to rescue us from the coming wrath of God (Revelation 6:12-17). If we are not watching and waiting for this blessed Hope, we shall not be counted worthy to escape the coming tribulation, and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36).

3) Finally, we look at the importance of the spiritual gift of Love, the most important of all the Holy Spirit’s gifts to the Body of Christ (1 Cor 13:13b). Why is this so? It is because God is LOVE, and this LOVE is embodied in His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16), whom the Father gave to us for the redemption of our spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23, Romans 8:23). Without His Love in us, we have no Christ in us, even if we profess His name, or claim to believe in Him as our Saviour. We are liars if we do so. This is what the apostle John explains in his epistle.

1 John 4:19-21 (NASB)
19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Therefore, any Christian who harbours anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment or revenge in his heart will NOT be ready for the coming Rapture of the Bride. It matters not if this person is a tongue-speaking believer, miracle-working prophet or a knowledgeable minister of God’s Word. To qualify as a member of Christ’s Bride, we must love as Jesus did, and we must forgive our enemies as Jesus did. More than this, any believer who fails to do so will not only be left behind to enter the time of God’s Wrath (ie. Great Tribulation), he or she will also be in danger of the fires of hell itself, unless there is true repentance! Please pay full attention to what the Lord Jesus Christ says about this serious matter:

Matthew 5:22 (NASB)
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

Matthew 6:15 (NASB)
"But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Revelation 3:19 (ESV)
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

I pray that the Lord’s Rhema Word here, together with this teaching message I have posted, will help to clarify the confusion that many Christians have regarding the issue of spiritual gifts and the Rapture-readiness of a believer. Shalom!

In Christ’s Faith, Hope and Love,
Mark Chen