As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:9–13 Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Tonight we are pleased to present John Klassek with part four of his inspiring six week study on the Fruits of The Holy Spirit. Tonight’s topic: The Joy of Jesus. During the past 20 years, John Klassek, through Message Week Media Ministries, has produced over 530 short gospel films. All of John’s featured videos are about the most influential person in history: Jesus!

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21–25 Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Tonight we are pleased to present John Klassek with part three of his inspiring six week study on the Fruits of The Holy Spirit. Tonight’s topic: Goodness. During the past 20 years, John Klassek, through Message Week Media Ministries, has produced over 530 short gospel films. All of John’s featured videos are about the most influential person in history: Jesus!

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.  Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 1 Corinthians 12:1–6 Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Tonight we are pleased to present John Klassek with part two of his inspiring six week study on the Fruits of The Holy Spirit. Tonight’s topic: Gifts. During the past 20 years, John Klassek, through Message Week Media Ministries, has produced over 530 short gospel films. All of John’s featured videos are about the most influential person in history: Jesus!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Tonight we are pleased to mark the return of John Klassek to our weekly Bible study. During the past 20 years, John, through Message Week Media Ministries, has produced over 530 short gospel films. All, in some way, are about the most influential person in history: Jesus! Join us now as John embarks on a six week study on the Fruits of The Holy Spirit. Tonight’s topic: Patience. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9–13

There were three major periods in the preparation of the apostles for the work that laid ahead of them: first, they had three-and-a-half years of watching Jesus work; hearing him teach; asking him questions; and, finally, watching him die. This was their first huge preparation period—the three days that Jesus was in the tomb would have been the worst days of their lives. But that all ended with the resurrection. Then began 40 days of visits by Jesus. They were to be able to ask questions, get answers, and get things clarified that they had not quite had straight before. Here is where they were able to make sense of so many things that Jesus had said and done. Now, after Jesus' ascension, they had to somehow attach meaning to everything that had happened. Ten days were not very long, but they could begin to get the bricks into place. Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Over the past few weeks, we've followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain...a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15–17 NIV This weekend concludes those seven weeks, so tonight we'll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.

As we wrap up this study of the so-called Jewish Sabbaths leading up to Pentecost, we need to continually ask ourselves: Are my beliefs based on emotion and tradition or are they based on the Word of God?

Paul instructed us to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.

We're told in Colossians 2:6:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

I'm Ronald Dart. Stay with us now as we complete our Sabbath Days Bible Study.

Many people have called Pentecost the birthday of the New Testament Church. It has also been called a lot of other things down through the years. It has been called a harvest festival. It’s been called a celebration of the resurrection. It’s a celebration of the Holy Spirit. It’s been called the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits, and the name we generally use—the Feast of Pentecost, itself a curious little Greek word signifying that it is the fiftieth day. In the very beginning, though, Pentecost was a harvest festival. Let’s begin with the very earliest reference to the feast, found in the 23rd chapter of Exodus. Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Over the past few weeks, we’ve followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain…a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15–17 NIV This weekend concludes the sixth of those seven weeks, so tonight we’ll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.

I think the disciples had spent the last five weeks in a state of shock. They were running high before Jesus was arrested and crucified, and it's hard to imagine their thoughts after he was dead and buried. Jesus had told them this would happen, but they still did not anticipate it. So it makes some sense that Jesus would spend a lot of time with them in these days after the resurrection—talking with them, teaching them, and helping them understand the meaning of all he had said before. Over the past few weeks, we've followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain...a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15–17 NIV This weekend concludes the fifth of those seven weeks, so tonight we'll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.

If you could have lived during the time of Christ, would you have wanted to be close to him? Would you have wanted to be with him? I think it's fair to say that, by the time of the 40 days between Christ's resurrection and ascension, his disciples were close to Jesus. After all they had been through, and the experiences they had shared, they had come to the point were they were quite close. Those three and a half years of Jesus' ministry probably were not particularly easy times. Would you have wanted to be one of those people? If so, why? Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Over the past few weeks, we've followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain...a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15–17 NIV This weekend concludes the fourth of those seven weeks, so tonight we'll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.

Sheep, grain, bread, salt, seeds. In the gospels, Jesus uses many metaphors when describing both the harvest that is before us and our own roles as workers, bringing in that harvest. Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible. Over the past few weeks, we've followed Ron Dart in taking a closer look at the Passover, the resurrection of Christ, and the beginning of the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. As we find commanded in Leviticus 23: From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain...a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15–17 NIV This weekend concludes the third of those seven weeks, so tonight we'll join Mr. Dart in examining this time of year and its accompanying harvest—both of grain and of men.