| continued
It’s interesting, it says “When
the feast of Pentecost was fully come.” Now
it was one of the three mandatory feasts [Holy Day Feast seasons,
1) Passover/Unleavened Bread, 2) Pentecost, 3) Trumpets/Atonement/Tabernacles--those
are the three feast seasons] when every Jewish male that was
able, was to come to Jerusalem. Pentecost was one of the most
crowded. Passover, a mandatory feast, no doubt, many of these
same people had had been in Jerusalem on Passover when Christ
was crucified. And they knew of that situation. When Jesus
walks with the two on the road to Emmaus [Luke 24] and they
don’t recognize him, and he says “Why are you so
sad?” and they say “Oh, because of the things that
have transpired here lately.” He said, “What things?”
And they says “Are you the only guy in Jerusalem that
doesn’t know what’s happened here?” Paul, when
he’s before Felix says “This thing was not done
in a corner, certainly you know about it.” So as the
multitudes from many nations had come and gathered there on
Passover, many of them had already come in contact with the
crucifixion of Christ and the rumors of the resurrection.
Now on Pentecost, which was 50 days later, June or July, the
weather was warm, the lanes of shipping were open. It was
often more difficult to get there for Passover because of
how early it was in the season. The shipping lanes were completely
open at this time of the year and Pentecost tended to be the
feast that was more crowded. Tabernacles would be the other
mandatory feast [Trumpets/Atonement/Tabernacles] in the fall.
Paul tells us that they were a shadow of things to come, the
feasts and the Holy Days, but that Christ himself was the
body that cast that shadow into the Old Testament. And certainly
in the Passover we see all of the beauty of the types and
shadows of Jesus, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, stepping into time and fulfilling those many
Passovers that had been celebrated. Certainly in Tabernacles
we’re looking forward to the coming of Christ and the
setting up of the kingdom. [Click
Here for a fuller description of those shadows.] But it
says, “When the feast of Pentecost was fully
come”, and it doesn’t mean that the day
was fully there, it has the idea when the feast of Pentecost
had finally come to express all that it was fully meant to
express in the first place [much like that very Passover 50
days earlier when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for
the sins of the world]. The idea is that there had been over
1500 Pentecost’s that had passed since Leviticus 23 legislated
this mandatory feast. Over a thousand Pentecost’s had
come and gone without seeing what Pentecost was meant to see
[or represent]. And now, it says “When the feast of Pentecost
was fully come they were all with one accord
in one place”, on a Sunday, by the way. It tells us,
Leviticus 23, that you count seven Sabbaths from the Passover
and then add one day. So you’re adding one day after
the Sabbath, which is Saturday. Sunday is the day the Church
is born, Sunday, that the day the Church worships [except
for the Sabbatarian and Messianic Jewish branches of the Christian
Church], Sunday the Lord rose, Sunday called the Lord’s
day, the first day of the week when they gathered, over in
Acts 20.
Sunday, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they
were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there
came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind [do you
know what tornadoes sound like?], and it filled all that house
where they were sitting.” Now it doesn’t say there
was a wind, that all of a sudden their hair was blowing in
the breeze. They didn’t turn around and look at each
other and see everybody’s hair flopping around. This
was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, where
they were gathered, suddenly, all of a sudden. One of the
translations translates “The sound of a mighty breathing”,
which is interesting, the “Ruach” in the Old Testament,
“the breathe”, the same word [in Hebrew] used for
spirit. It was the sound that came and settled, of a mighty
rushing wind, no wind, but the sound coming upon the place
where they were sitting. Notice that. They weren’t on
their face, they weren’t kneeling, they weren’t
groveling, they were sitting. I like to sit and pray. No rules,
I like to stand and pray. I like to drive and pray. I need
to drive and pray, and with my eyes open, by the way. But
I like to sit and pray. If I get up before it’s light,
I like to sit with a cup of coffee (too dark to read) and
Jesus. I like to sit and pray. They were sitting. All of a
sudden this sound starts to fill the place where they were.
“And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as
of fire and it sat on each of them.” Now it doesn’t
say that little flames with a forked tongue sat on each of
their heads. That’s a bad hair day. It doesn’t say
that fire was on their heads, they’d have all got burned.
It says “cloven tongues of fire dividing”, it gives
us the sense that there was one entrance and then a dividing
into tongues of light that looked like fire. They had never
seen a neon bulb, they had never seen a light bulb. They’d
never seen a flashlight. It was like fire dividing into tongues
and sitting upon each of them, is the idea. And imagine, how
they looked around at each other, 120 of ‘em looking
around, everybody had that little light sitting on their head.
Now, is it symbolic of the Shikinah glory of God--coming to
fill us as temples? We are the temple now of the Living God.
Yeah, I think so, that’s good. I like that. Don’t
know how exactly it is, but I’ll take that. I’m
the temple of the Lord and want to be filled with his glory.
And the qualifications are not too bad. It says that he’s
put his glory in these earthen vessels, that it may be his
glory and not ours, I can fit into that. Is it a cloven tongue
of fire, representing the tongue being the human instrument,
and the fire being the divine energy that would be involved?
Yeah, I like that too. I’ll take that. The tongue’s
a powerful thing, if you haven’t noticed. James tells
us that the tongue is set on fire of hell. ‘Consider
what a great forest fire a little spark kindles.’ And
all of the things in this world that are promoted, from abortion
to immorality, promoted by the tongue. Satan knows. How interesting
here, God giving them utterance, filled with the Spirit. I
need more of that. I need less of my tongue and more of his,
if you haven’t noticed. I don’t know if you feel
the same way. I don’t very often regret something I didn’t
say. I most often regret something that I did say, that I
wish I hadn’t said. And you can’t reel it back in,
once it’s gone. “There appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them…”
Now notice, the manifestation is before the Holy Ghost, the
manifestation comes first, there’s the sound, audible,
then there’s the visual, and then the Spirit. And these
things are never repeated. They’re not repeated in chapter
4 when they’re filled with the Spirit. They’re not
repeated in chapter 10 when Paul’s filled with the Spirit.
They’re not repeated in chapter 11 when Cornelius and
the Gentiles are filled with Spirit. Some things are not repeated.
This was something that was done on the day of Pentecost to
bring home to those 120 believers that were there, that this
was a Divine action, a sovereign move of God, and that they
were filled--and it’s passive on their part. They didn’t
make it happen, they didn’t grovel for it, it’s
something that God did, he ignited the fire that would become
the Church, because he tells us in the first chapter, ‘You
wait here until you’re endued with power [from] on high,
that you may be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria unto
the uttermost parts of the earth.’ And we’re gonna
read of the crowds that were gathered in Jerusalem from the
uttermost parts of the earth that were infected with the living
Messiah that was now in their hearts in an overflowing capacity.
And there were gifts involved with this. It says they spoke
in tongues when they were filled with the Spirit. Now it doesn’t
say they spoke in tongues when they were baptized with the
Spirit, which should make some of you happy, who like to put
your technology into categories. But some folks say, ‘Well
there’s only one experience. There’s that initial
experience, and when you have that initial experience, you’re
baptized, you’re filled, you’re indwelt, you get
everything you’re to get at one time. Well, the problem
with that is, in the 4th chapter the same men are threatened
not to preach Christ. They come back to the place where they’re
meeting, rejoicing they were counted worthy to suffer for
his name, they begin to pray. It says the building is shaken,
and they were all filled again, with the Holy Spirit,
same group, refills. I need him bad. Chapter 8, those
in Samaria, preached to by Philip, receiving Christ, believing,
being disciples, being baptized in water. Then Peter and John
come from Jerusalem and lay hands on them. Now they already
are indwelt with the Spirit, if they’re already believers
and disciples. But then the Spirit comes upon them, and they’re
filled, and speak in tongues--there’s manifestation,
experience. Very interesting, in chapter 11, when Peter is
recounting what happened at the house of Cornelius in chapter
10, Peter says, “As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost
fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I
the word of the Lord, how that he said, ‘John indeed
baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost, for as much as God gave them the like gift as he did
unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I
that I could withstand God.” Peter says there, the experience
of the house of Cornelius was the baptism of the Spirit. But
it says in the chapter, they were filled. Peter says, what
happened to us in the book of Acts was baptism of the Spirit
that Jesus spoke of, but it says here they were filled. It
says in chapter 4 that they were filled again. Are they baptized
again? And I like the fact that all of you have this quizzical
look on your face, because I don’t know either. And if
we could nail it all down into its neat little categories
that we could justify, and put all in positions, then we would
be killing the very thing that the book of Acts seeks to instill
in us, and that is that Jesus Christ is risen, he’s alive,
he is not subject to our categories. He is willing to lead
us in a fresh and in a new way and to fill us every day with
the Holy Spirit. And you can call it whatever you want to
call it. And if you got all of it you need the first day you
were saved, I ain’t met anyone like you before, because
I got saved in 1972, and I need more of God’s Holy Spirit
today. And I would be depressed if I thought there wasn’t
any more. And the Bible is clear that we’re growing in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
can only happen by his Holy Spirit. [You can read the Bible
all you want, day in, day out, without the Holy Spirit, and
this growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord will
never occur. It takes daily prayer and Bible study, coupled
to God’s indwelling Holy Spirit to cause spiritual growth.]
That we are growing in our service. No one has the capacity
to serve in the church, except through the empowering of the
Holy Spirit. No matter how much natural ability you have,
no matter how much talent you have in the natural, no matter
how many diplomas and certificates and seed-sewing certificates
you have on the walls of your office, you have no capacity
to serve in God’s kingdom, except by the empowering of
his Holy Spirit, and his calling and his equipping. Now if
you have talents and gifts, no doubt, if he calls you to serve,
through the gifts of help and mercy or one thing or another,
you may bring those things to bear under the direction of
the Holy Spirit and his equipping. But we are desperately,
all of us, in need of a continued filling of the Holy Spirit.
On Pentecost, something happens in their lives. Men that already
believed, men that already saw Christ, that were already taught
by him before his ascension, now there’s a new dynamic
in their lives. A dynamic of power, a dynamic of change, a
dynamic of being infectious, not just being a container, but
being a conduit. Not just holding, but now bursting forth
rivers of living water as Jesus had said. But there are those
who are gonna say, ‘Well you’d better look out.
You open yourself up, you might get demonic tongues. Don’t
be too open. You don’t know what you’re gonna get’,
like Jesus’ April Fools prankster. You know, he said
in answer to that, “What father, if his son comes, asking
him bread, will give him a stone, to break his little teeth
on.” “Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
serpent to poison him? Or what father having a little child
who comes asking for an egg would give him a scorpion that
would sting him on his face?” And all of you that say
‘Who would do that? That’s not right.’ And
he says, “If you, then, being evil, sinners, human, know
that that’s not right, if you know how to give good gifts
to your children, and you’re sinners, how much more will
your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.”
There is an experience of being indwelt and sealed with the
Spirit the second that we’re saved. There is an experience
of being filled, and we may go to the Father and ask for that
experience. There’s no asking for the filling of the
Spirit the second we’re saved, we’re asking for
Christ to forgive our sins and to be our savior. Paul in Ephesians
5 says, “Do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess,
but be ye being filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is something
that we are continually to be doing. And here we see it for
the first time in the book of Acts. We don’t need to
look for fire on our heads, we don’t need to look for
the sound of a mighty rushing wind, but we do need to look
for a greater measure of God’s Spirit in our lives, all
the time as we grow in Christ, a sovereign move in our own
lives.
“They were all filled with the Holy Ghost”, verse
4, “and began to speak with other tongues”, glosia,
“as the Spirit”, the tenses here are “kept
giving them utterance.” So the Spirit continues to give
them the utterance, they are speaking in different languages,
dialektos, we’re gonna read of that. And, by the way,
the same experience is described, dialektos & glosia,
both of them describe one experience here. They’re not
speaking with their understanding. They’re not speaking
with their intellect [as we shall come to see]. They’re
speaking something they don’t understand. The Spirit
is giving them utterance, they’re opening their mouths
and speaking. Now look, we’ve all been around places
where, you know, they have the excesses, you know, speaking
in tongues class. And somebody grabs your mouth and goes,
“OK, you’ve got it now--babble, babble, babble”--and
then we’re supposed to go home and go, babble, babble,
babble--I’m speaking in tongues!” You’re stupid.
You’re shaking your jaw. You don’t want some man
to come up and grab your chin. How many of us thought, “Oh
Lord, I want the gift of the Spirit, to speak in tongues,
but I don’t want to be phony, so I’ll just sit here,
relax all my jaw muscles, and loosen myself up, Lord, I’ll
be putty in your hands.” And we’re just waiting
for him to grab our chin so we can start babbling. Paul says,
“I will pray in the Spirit and I will pray with my understanding.”
He was involved. We’ve all seen people go on with tongues,
you know--babble, babble, babble--they go on for seven miles.
And the interpretation comes, “My children, I love you.”
And you think “Wait a minute. This person must have been
speaking in increments of those letters, you know. What is
this?” Or we hear somebody goes, “Shine the old
commode.” And it’s three and a half paragraphs that
come out in interpretation. You’ve been there and you’ve
seen that [if you’ve visited a Pentecostal church]. Or,
you know, you’re in some place where every week the same
woman is gonna go--“Wa, Wa, Wa, Wa, Babble, Babble--and
you know, “Set your clock, it’s quarter after eleven”,
because she goes off at the same time every week in the same
place. But that doesn’t negate the gift. The gift is
for today, and because there have been so many abuses, half
the church is turned off, and the Holy Spirit that should
bring unity is become the very point of division. ‘Oh
when that which is perfect is come, tongues are gonna cease,
let’s build an altar there.’ I encourage you to
read D.A. Carson’s “Showing of the Spirit.”
Does a great job, there. To say, that Paul was writing to
the Corinthians about the completion of the canon of the Scripture
and saying ‘Now when that which is perfect is come, that
which is imperfect will pass away.” It is ridiculous
to say that the Corinthians understood what the completion
of the canon meant, it’s ridiculous. Or to say that tongues
in some way was equivalent with Scripture until it was completed
is ridiculous. That somehow, before the canon was completed,
tongues filled in the space. No, no, no, no, we’re told
clearly that when these folks gathered together they hear
them speaking the wondrous works of God. Paul tells us in
1 Corinthians, chapter 14, that he that speaketh in an unknown
tongue doth give thanks right well. He that speaketh in an
unknown tongue speaketh to God and not to man.” So it
had nothing to do with speaking to the church and the Scripture
would not replace it. If you’re speaking in tongues you’re
speaking to God, not to man. You edify yourself, not the church.
And how many times have we been in a place where someone will
speak in tongues, and then here comes the interpretation,
“My little children, if you will do this and you will
do that…” Wait a minute…That is not an interpretation
of the tongues. Because Paul said “He who speaks in an
unknown tongue speaketh unto God, not unto man.” You
hold that. Maybe it’s a prophecy, maybe it’s a word
of knowledge, but we’re gonna wait for the interpretation
of that tongue, and if it doesn’t come, no one else here
tonight will speak in tongues, because there’s no interpreter
present. You see, because Paul said, “Let all things
be done decently and in order.” Some churches have embraced
the first half, “Let all things be done.” Some churches
have embraced the second half, “Decency and order.”
I think God wants both. “Let all things be done decently
and in order.” Now we believe in that here. I pray in
tongues. I pray in tongues at home. I pray in tongues will
I’m driving, while I’m alone. We gather here to
study the Scripture. If you get up in the middle of a Bible
study and start to speak in tongues, we will tell you to be
quiet and sit down. If you don’t listen, we’ll carry
you out. Because I believe if someone is up here teaching
the Word, and exercising a God-given gift to feed, to exhort,
to teach, why would the Holy Spirit interrupt himself? He’s
not schizophrenic. He doesn’t have a multiple personality
disorder. And we’re here to study the Word of God. If
we opened up this sanctuary to Pentecostal behavior, every
screwball for a hundred miles would be here, who would love
an audience this big. And I grew up in the Pentecostal side
of the church, and a lot of the things we did there was learned
behavior, it was not biblical spirit-filled behavior. It was
imitation of what we had learned from the generation before
us, who had learned from Azuza Street, who had learned from
some God-given revivals. The Catholic charismatic renewal
was a movement of God. Millions were born-again through that
movement. The shame of it was, there was no growth, because
it’s difficult in that environment, without exposition
verse by verse, of the Scripture, so there was no growth into
spiritual maturity. But to say that move was of the devil
is ridiculous, because Jesus said that a house divided against
itself can’t stand. [Some would say, ‘Well, that
is why Satan created a false church, to attempt to divide
the body of Christ.’ Time will only tell, whether that
view is correct or not.] And millions were saved and came
to love Christ through that movement.
But the other side of the abuse is to say, “Well, if
you don’t speak in tongues, you’re not saved.”
That’s stupid. Or to say, “If you don’t speak
in tongues, you haven’t received the fulness of the Spirit.”
It’s not biblical. Paul says in 5th grade English “Do
all speak in tongues? Are all prophets? Do all have the gift
of miracles, are all apostles?”--rhetorical question.
“I, as Paul, would rather see you have the gift of prophesy.”
Now to say that’s passed away is ridiculous. It says
in Revelation 19 that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy.” And the testimony of Jesus certainly has
not passed away. I would rather have you in this church have
the gift of government, or helps, or mercy, or faith, or miracles,
because he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself.
But Paul says that he who prophesies, speaks not foretelling
the future, but forth-telling the truth of God with authority,
edifies the Church. I challenge you, because I need, and everyone
around you needs God to give life to whatever gifts he’s
given you, whatever they might be. And they’re all different.
Again, if I start coughing in the middle of a service, and
my throat is dry and I’m struggling, and some little
kid comes walking up here with a tray with a pitcher of water
and a glass on it, and just as he’s coming up the steps
he falls, crashes on the ground, cuts his finger, starts crying.
Someone with the gift of mercy’s going to come right
up and go “Oh, are you alright? Let me see that finger.”
Somebody with a prophetic gift is gonna say “I told you
not to do that.” Somebody with a teaching gift is gonna
say “Now the next time you do this, you have to watch
this, and be very careful, you only have to bring a glass,
he’s not gonna drink a whole pitcher.” Somebody
with the gift of helps is gonna come and start picking up
the glass and putting it in a dustpan and mopping up the water.
Somebody with the gift of exhortation is gonna say to me,
“Next time drink before you start, and then it just won’t
happen to this kid.” I mean, we will all relate to something
in a different way, God’s wired us differently and desires
to bring to fruition in us those things that will not happen
without the power of the Holy Spirit. It will not happen with
one filling without greater fillings. And as we look at America
today, we have not been all that we need to be. And when I
look at you guys, I live with a haunting sense that I have
not been all that I need to be. But the good news is, God
freely gives, that he loves, that all we need to do is ask
for a greater filling of the Spirit. That it is his good pleasure
to give us the kingdom, to change us. That if we confess our
sin that has been in the way of a greater measure of his Spirit,
a greater holiness, he’s faithful and just to forgive
us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and pick us
up and dust us off and start us off again. And that his mercies
are new every morning, and that he wants above all for men
to know that we are his disciples by the love that we have
one for another--and that is not a natural love but a supernatural
love.
The Spirit continued to give them utterance. It says “There
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every
nation under heaven”--Mediterranean world--“Now
when this was noised abroad”--and there’s a question,
was it the sound of the mighty rushing wind, or was it, and
it seems to be the noise of so many different languages speaking
of the wondrous works of God at one time--“now when this
was noised abroad the multitude came together, and they were
confounded”--here’s why--“because that every
man heard them speak in his own language”--his own dialect,
it means the language he had known from a child. And it’s
confounding them because here are they, by and large Galileans,
common men, we’re gonna read later, they took note that
they were ignorant and unlearned men. But they had been with
Jesus, and they’re not hearing these things in Hebrew
and Aramaic alone, they’re hearing them in all of the
languages from the world that they had come from. “And
they were all amazed. And they marvelled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?”--‘these
guys are hicks, look at the way they’re dressed. “And
how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?”
Kind of the opposite of God confounding them at Babylon, to
where no one understood what anyone was saying, now by the
Holy Spirit speaking in all these different languages, and
everybody understanding them. Listen, “Parthians and
Medes”, you know, Medo-Persian Empire, into the area
of Chechnya where Dave Lecomp goes, Elamites, that is from
Iran, Elam is Iran. Dwellers of Mesopotamia, that’s Chaldee,
Iraq, that whole area, and in Judea, Capadocia and Pontus
and Asia--these are the points in Turkey and Asia Minor today.
And Phrygia and Pamphilia, all the way down to Egypt, and
in the parts of Libya, North Africa, Cyrene, North Africa,
strangers from Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes from Cyprus,
Arabians from Saudi Arabia, we do hear them speak our dialects
the wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed and were
in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others
mocking, said, ‘These men are filled with new wine.’”
Now take note, here they are from all over the known world,
and what they’re hearing is they’re hearing not
sermons, they’re not hearing a message, as it were to
them. What they’re hearing is everyone speaking the wondrous
works of God. He that speaketh an unknown tongue speaketh
to God. They must hear this wonderful beautiful praise to
the Living God and to his Son Jesus Christ, in every language
they knew. And they look up and see a group of 120 of Galileans.
We’re not told if the light is still on their heads,
I doubt it. Now obviously the sound of the mighty rushing
wind is not there, they wouldn’t be able to hear them.
What they’re hearing now is the Spirit continuing to
give them utterance, as they’re speaking in languages
that they’ve not known. I have known missionaries in
continents through Asia and Africa, in countries in Asia and
Africa, that tell me of converts being filled with the Spirit
and praising God in English, and not knowing what they were
saying. Good friend of ours, Laura Lee, Kathy and I knew her
years ago, they made a movie about her, “Walking Through
The Fire”, healed of cancer, she opened up for Billy
Graham on his crusades. One day [she] began speaking in tongues.
And an Eastern Orthodox priest came and said “Where did
she learn this?” and here, she was reciting some series
of prayers that they trace all the way back to Antioch, that
the Eastern Orthodox priests only teach one to another as
they become priests. And she had no idea of what she was saying,
and just praising God with these prayers. John Courson talks
of a meeting where they were praying together, a small group
and one or two began to speak in tongues. There was no interpretation,
so he said “That’s it, let’s hold that here.”
And afterwards the janitor of the building, who was from Iran,
came with tears in his eyes, and said “Who taught them
that?” “They were talking about Jesus Christ and
how wonderful God’s love is and praising him in my tongue
that I learned.” And here, hearing the praises of God.
You know, “Though we speak in the tongue of men or angels…”
Paul says. And remember, “have not love, I am nothing,
though I prophesy and understand all mysteries, have all knowledge--if
I have not love I am nothing. Give my body to be burned--should
be a little plaque I should have on my wall “I am nothing”,
just to remind me every day to seek him for a greater measure
of his love. Here were these men, touching all of these lives--and
these then would be those who would go back to the known world.
Peter when he writes his first epistle talks to those that
are “scattered abroad”, the Diaspora, those who
have been sewn throughout the Mediterranean world like seed.
Here they are on the day of Pentecost. It will tell us at
the end of the chapter, 3,000 accept Christ, and as they go
back to their native lands they take the Living Christ with
them. The purpose of this whole circumstance is not for people
to gather round and be amazed and hear people jabbering in
tongues. The purpose of it, is it sets the floor, the stage
for Peter to step forward, and he began to speak as the Spirit
gave him utterance, but in Aramaic, their own language, or
in Hebrew. No doubt the Spirit quickening his mind, because
there’s no evidence he’s holding a Scroll as he
gives his sermon, and yet quoting Scripture after Scripture
after Scripture after Scripture after Scripture. And 3,000
turned to Christ. “What’s going on with these men?
What is this?” they say [verse 12]. They were in doubt,
saying one to another, saying, ‘What meaneth this?’
Others, mocking, said, ‘these guys are drunk.’ And
there will be those when you endeavor to do anything Spirit-led,
who will mock. That comes with the territory. Man, step out
in the Spirit, watch the sparks fly. But it’s good. God
allows it. Little bit of pressure, proves what we are, doesn’t
it? Miles McFerson said, “You never really know what
flavor a teabag is till you put it in hot water.” I find
out that when I get under pressure, I find out quickly that
I need more of the Holy Spirit, because too much of my spirit’s
there. I feel like one of those little play-dough plastic
dolls where you put the stuff in and squeeze it, and all that
hair comes out. When it’s under pressure and all that
orange hair comes out all over and a beard and everything.
That’s what I feel like when I get under pressure. My
flesh comes out, Joe Focht comes out, and he’s gotta
quick get the scissors and trim all that off, you know. But
God allows it to happen so I can trim it off. I just have
to explain that to the person I might offend. Peter, filled
with the Holy Spirit, will stand up now, “Peter standing
up,” notice, with the eleven, including Matthias, “lifted
up his voice and said unto them, ‘Ye men of Judea and
all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and
hearken to my words, these men are not drunken, as ye suppose,
seeing it is but the third hour [9am] of the day. But this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel…” And
he begins to give a biblical basis for what is taking place.
And whatever you do in the name of the Lord, you need to have
a biblical basis for what you’re doing. Don’t tell
anybody, “Well, the Spirit’s not bound to the Scripture.”
He will never contradict the book that he wrote. Heaven and
earth will pass away, the Scripture will not pass away. Don’t
let anybody call you “Oh you’re a Bible worshipper!”
“You’re a Bible worshipper! That’s all you
are! That’s why the Spirit’s not moving there.”
“Come to our fellowship. Oil’s dripping from the
ceiling, people are rolling in the aisles, screaming, laughing
hyenas, dogs barking, you Bible worshippers…” Hey,
I’ll worship my Bible, and the God that it puts in front
of me, because that won’t change. And for those folks,
they’ll need something new in two weeks. But you can
only laugh so long. “What are you gonna do this week?”
“Go to church and laugh, what we do every week. Did it
three years ago, 52 weeks a year. It’s 156 weeks we’ve
been laughing.” You’ve gotta come up with something
new, now you’ve gotta crow like a rooster. There’s
a new one that they do now. They just go like this [ear to
ear grin, I think]. It’s called “Joy unspeakable.”
Now that’s what you have as you’re laughing [at
them]. You know, look, the Holy Spirit gets a lot of bad press,
because he has human advertisement. Be supernaturally natural,
don’t be supernaturally weird. Have a biblical basis
for what you believe and practice. If Jesus taught it in the
gospels, if it’s practiced in the book of Acts, it’s
expanded in the epistles--we have church doctrine and practice.
What the world needs is love. God so loved this world that
he gave his Son. The world that drives you crazy, and the
world that you want to leave behind, the world that you’re
frustrated with, the world that you’d like to see burned
someday, is the world that God loved, and gave his Son that
whoever would believe, in that world, would not perish, but
have everlasting life. Aren’t you glad that was effective
in our lives? But if you’re anything like me, now that
I’m in, ‘Get us out of here, Lord.’ I think
there are many more to come in. But once we’re in, in
the church, one body, it says that every joint, every ligament
supplies in the human body. That the eye can’t say to
the ear ‘I don’t need you,’ or, ‘to the
hand, I don’t need you.’ Can’t just be an eyeball
rolling down the aisle. You know, an eyeball is a beautiful
thing, in somebody’s head. We’ve got some little
kids around the church sometimes, and their eyes are so blue,
beautiful. But if I walked out of the office door and one
of them was laying by the car line, I wouldn’t say “That
is beautiful, look how blue that eye is. I love that eye,
look at that.” There’s a setting, every joint, every
ligament supplies in the body, we need your gifts. In the
body we need you to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Because
if you’re in the body, and you’re living in sin,
and you’re mocking Christ and you’re playing a game,
you infect everyone else with that. If every joint and every
ligament supplies, you never live to yourself in the body,
in the body of Christ you effect others or infect others.
I need you. The Church needs you. The Lord needs you, filled
with the Spirit. The worlds needs a Spirit filled Church.”
End
[Keep
in mind, at the time that God started the Church via his Holy
Spirit on this Pentecost, the believers at this time were
all Sabbath-keeping, Holy Day observing Torah-observant Jews.
This will help you understand the historical studies in the
next section. And even as they grew in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord as Christians, at this point in time--over the
next thirty years, the believers were more like Messianic
Jews than the Baptist or Methodist or Church of the Nazarene
Christian you may know as a neighbor. The next section of
short historical research articles will make that plain, what
this early church was like, and how it developed, and split
into the various branches of Christianity we know of today.]
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