Which Have Received the Holy Ghost As We
The baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues is not an option; it’s a command of the Master to those who believe. Let him who wants to be ignorant be ignorant, but the church is fighting the power that will set it free from its blindness and lack of power in the 21rst Century.
By Chris McDonald
TEXT: Acts 10:44 - While
Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the
word.
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking with other tongues has become one of the most attacked
doctrines in the Bible other than the rapture. Since the outpouring of the Holy
Ghost in Los Angeles, California, Azusa Street in the early 1900s, the mighty
Pentecostal experience of speaking with other tongues has come under attack, not
so much from the world, but from evangelical circles within the church which
have refused or rejected the experience. Most people who speak in tongues today
are labeled fanatics, unlearned and ignorant, while others are even accused of
being of Satan. Interestingly enough, this was said of Peter and John when they
stood before the religious hierarchy of their day who were questioning the power
in which they had caused a lame man from birth to walk.
Acts4:13-20
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that
they had been with Jesus.
What a sad indictment against the church of today.
We brag about our “education” and “knowledge of the scriptures,” but we’re never
accused of “being with Jesus” anymore. We’ve become more sophisticated in our
ministry efforts yet very little is being done to deliver a world steeped in
idolatry, sin and demonic bondage. The bondages we are fighting today will not
go away with a three-point sermon, a cute prayer and an offertory hymn. We are
engaged in a spiritual battle beyond comprehension. It’s a battle that will only
be won on a spiritual plain. The power we are fighting is the power that will
set men free! The power the church is fighting will deliver the alcoholic from
alcohol. It will deliver the drug addict from drugs. It will deliver the one
bound by pornography from pornography and perversion. It will cause the thief to
stop stealing. It will cause the liar to stop lying. It will cause the religious
to know Jesus more intimately and in real truth and grace. It will put life in
our dead Sunday school classes on Sunday and church programs.
While we are trying to cultivate the minds of our people, the world slips off into hell bound by the powers of darkness. It’s time the church of the Lord Jesus stop trying to cultivate the minds of our people to the point our education keeps us from BEING WITH JESUS. Holy boldness from a fire-breathed revival is needed to confront and love a sinful society that mocks and laughs at God and lampoons everything that is holy and just. God's not looking for angry preachers. He's looking for someone whose heart is so ablaze with His love and power that not an ounce of judgment falls from their lips but the demonic powers of darkness flee in their presence.
The greatest threat to the power of God that will change society is not society. It’s backslidden, mossy-back, pharisaic, religion. It's religion and churchism that stands in the way of God and what He wants to do in this last hour. Most of the church is like this council in Acts 4. They couldn’t argue over the miracle that had taken place - the man lame from birth stood healed in front of them. Instead of praising God, they had to “confer among themselves” about it. Peter and John says, “whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more unto God, you be the judge.” Then they say something that is very key to that I hope to minister to you in this article – “WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD.” The church has a hard time arguing away that millions of people have received this glorious experience of speaking in tongues as those gathered did on the day of Pentecost in the Bible. (Acts 2:4) Luke also mentions this experience throughout the book of Acts. Paul also gives great attention to it in his epistle to the Corinthians.
Speaking in Tongues is Scriptural, Of God, And For Today
So what the church does is proceed to claim speaking
in other tongues is not scriptural or a valid experience today, and in some
extreme cases come close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit by attributing the
experience to Satan. I was at a church not too long ago in Central Tennessee
whose doctrinal pamphlets stated “we cannot believe this (the baptism in the
Holy Spirit) is real just because so many people have experienced it. We don’t
believe in experience, we believe in the Bible.” Well, if we don’t believe in
experience, then we don’t believe in salvation. Salvation is an experience. If
we don’t believe in experience, then we don’t believe in people rededicating
their lives to the Lord. Rededication is an experience. If we don’t believe in
experience, then we don’t believe in healing (many don’t). What would many
evangelicals told the lame man that got healed in Acts 3 if he were here today?
“You’re experience is not valid because we believe that went away 2,000 years
ago with the apostles.” Do you think he would really care what you believed? HE
WAS HEALED!
Sad to say, a person who drinks, smokes and cusses can
usually be a member in good standing in most churches in America. If that same
person receives the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in
tongues and STOPS drinking, cussing and smoking, they are thrown out in
disgrace. I am here to tell you without blinking – the baptism of the Holy
Spirit is a real experience and speaking in tongues is not of the Devil – it’s
for today and IT’S FOR YOU! I want us to take a look at this tremendous story of
Cornelius and what happened to him and his household. I believe there are
tremendous lessons truths we can learn from his life and the events that took
place about 40 years after the day of Pentecost. It gives us a blueprint for
the plan of God for every single human being on the planet.
Hunger and Thirst For God
Acts 10:1-5 - There was a certain man in Caesarea
called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
That
is the type heart the Holy Spirit is most interested in – one hungry for more of
Jesus. I remember calling my dear Aunt up with questions about this experience
in December 1986. I had met a young lady who belonged to a Pentecostal church
and in pursuing her (yes, I was young) I found myself sitting every Sunday night
in an atmosphere of people who were doing things I’d never experienced before in
my life. Some of the things I saw I had been exposed to in a degree during times
I visited my mother’s family. They were Church of God/Assembly of God people and
spoke in tongues. Even as a young child even though I never understood it, I was
fascinated with the experiences of those who spoke in tongues. When I called my
aunt, I told her I wanted to come see her and ask her some questions.
I
remember that weekend I had brought my mother along with me on the trip. It was
the first week of February 1987. It was very cold in Atlanta that weekend and
that evening when we arrived it was raining quite heavily. As I sat in my aunt’s
kitchen I shot question after question at her about the experience of speaking
with other tongues. I told her my fears, my opinions, my concerns, my “doctrinal
stance,” and my curiosity. But above all, I told her the Lord had dealt with me
that it was real and I needed to receive the experience. Around 11 p.m. my aunt
and I began to pray. She began to pray at first in English then all of sudden I
heard her begin to pray in another language. It was the same beautiful language
I remembered her praying in as a child laying upstairs in my bed during the
years she kept me and my brother Todd. I remember her downstairs many times
calling each child she kept by name to God pleading with God for protection and
anointing on our lives. Many times we would hear her begin praying and weeping
and moaning in English then all of a sudden hear something that was not of this
world. We knew our Aunt Florence had touched heaven and heaven had touched her.
We didn’t understand it as kids, we just knew that God was in that house. I
remember just laying there listening wondering what she was saying but feeling
chill bumps go up and down my back.
I
had this same feeling this night in the kitchen in February 1987. I was older
(22) but had been “churched” enough to know that Southern Baptists didn’t
believe speaking in other tongues was of God. I didn’t have the same innocent
heart I did when she had kept me years earlier. It’s sad that children tend to
accept this experience quicker than adults. The reason is children’s hearts are
open to God. Adults tend to be hardened by religious tradition, pride and
arrogance. We have set ourselves in agreement with our traditions and even if
someone came back from the grave itself and told us otherwise, we would not
believe them. How tragic that much of what God wants to do in our lives is not
stopped by Satan, but it is stopped by our own ignorance and arrogant religious
attitudes.
As
she laid her hands on me that night I began to weep and pray with her and before
I knew what had happened the power of God hit me and I was on the floor with my
hands raised in the air. As my aunt knelt down on the floor with me she just
continually interceded for me in tongues. She wept and wept and wept. She began
to prophesy over me speaking words of life to me that only the Lord Jesus would
know. Even as close as I was to my aunt, she was saying things that even she
would not have known in the flesh. She told me that the enemy had planned a
hurtful end to my life. My parents had went through a divorce in 1983 and
without even knowing it, I was harboring unforgiveness in my heart toward my
mother. The Lord Jesus, speaking through my aunt, told me that night that I had
to forgive my mother. All I remember from that point on was speaking the words,
“Lord, forgive me.” When I did, I felt a rush of power go through my soul and as
John writes in his gospel, the words of my mouth became “rivers of living water”
from within my “belly.” The words I began to speak were no longer English but
another language. I spoke in tongues nearly all night long. I remember it was at
least 4 a.m. before we even got off the floor. My aunt just laid beside me and
wept and prayed in tongues with me. I have never felt so clean in my innermost
being as I did that night. I was doing more than just speaking gibberish. The
Lord Jesus had baptized me with the Holy Spirit. If terminology is an issue with
you, then He filled me an enduement of power from on high. The tongues were just
the evidence that this had happened. I remember waking my dear mother up that
morning from her sleep, weeping profusely, kneeling at her bedside, asking her
to forgive me for harboring resentment towards her. As we drove home the
following day, I couldn’t stop crying. Every song I heard was more powerful.
Every message I heard became more clear. Every thing that was of God became more
powerful.
My
life has never been the same since that night. I remember going home to my dad’s
house and facing him. I had told my pastor (Rev. Price) who had been praying for
me to receive this gift. He and sister Ruby were in their 80s but rejoiced as if
they were in their 30s. It was at that moment in my life, February 1987, that I
had to choose whether to pursue what the Lord had done in my life and cultivate
this gift or go back into an atmosphere that would kill everything that happened
that weekend before. I chose to move on with God.
As I retell this story, I think of Cornelius and that moment in his house that day when something in him caused him to seek after God. Hunger and thirst for God is something you cannot teach. It must start in the heart of man, birthed by the Holy Ghost. It must start in our innermost being. God is going to hold America so accountable for our lack of hunger and desire for him. In a country where we’ve been given so much and God is reverenced so little. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorra than for us in the Day of Judgment. Think about this. Cornelius was not even saved, yet he was seeing visions, doing alms before God and was so sensitive to God that he asked the Lord what was he supposed to do when he saw the vision. That’s hunger for God. He was so dedicated to serving God without even knowing the real truth about God. How sad it is that many who know the truth about God have very little desire to serve God. We are going to be held SO accountable for this attitude in this country. But it is only this type of hunger that God rewards. He is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY seek him. The casual seeker of God will not find much. It’s when we seek Him with ALL our heart and all our soul that He is so willingly and excited to REVEAL HIMSELF TO US.
Heb 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jer 29:13-14 - And ye shall seek me, and find me, when
ye shall search for me with all your heart.
He Shall
Tell Thee What You Ought To Do
Acts 10:6 - He
lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell
thee what thou oughtest to do.
When God saw Cornelius’ hunger, he told
him to go seek after Simon a tanner where the apostle Peter would be waiting.
God told him that Peter would tell him what he ought to do. The job of the 21rst
Century Church is to tell men what they ought to do. Instead of leading them
into a fuller relationship with the Lord Jesus and not hindering the moving of
the Holy Spirit, the church is guilty of being one of the greatest stumbling
blocks to world evangelism than any institution on the face of the earth. As
this story plays out, we will see a very hesitant Peter wanting to go witness to
Cornelius and his household. While there is a very important underlying reason
why Peter didn’t want to go in relation to the Gentile-Jewish connection of the
early church, I won’t to speak a few minutes about the church’s role to the
people.
The
effort of the early church in the book of Acts was simple. Get the people saved
and get them filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to say that again. Get the
people saved and get them filled with the Holy Spirit. When you do that, all
other things take care of themselves. Preach Jesus to them. When you get the
Holy Spirit operating in their lives, healing takes care of itself. Prosperity
takes care of itself. Spiritual warfare takes care of itself. Truth takes care
of itself. The problem today is most church leadership doesn’t want the Holy
Spirit to be in control of people’s lives – but church leadership wants to be in
control. Folks, you can’t have it both ways.
Either the Holy Spirit will control you or something or someone else will
control you. The Holy Spirit does not share ownership with people or churches.
That’s why most man-made organizations, even though they may have their place in
God's scheme of things, usually degenerate into control mechanisms that do more
to hinder true ministry than facilitate it. Had Peter listened to his brethren
about Cornelius, the Gentiles may well not have received the Holy Spirit. Why
does the church fight the Holy Spirit? Why are we so quick to label things
that are of God of Satan and label things that are of Satan God? It is because
when we reject the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Truth we wind up in
delusion? Churches may have thousands attending their services but without the
moving of the Holy Spirit very little will be done for God. Souls will not be
saved, people will not be healed, people will not be delivered. All the
preaching in the world cannot bring about what one touch of the Holy Ghost can
do in a person’s life.
Acts 10:9-17 - On the morrow, as they went on their
journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray
about the sixth hour:
God sends Peter a vision to get his attention about Cornelius. The vision
consists of unclean creeping things – things thought unceremonial by Jews. The
Lord tells him to eat these things he sees in the vision. When Peter objects,
the Lord tells him – what I have cleansed, call not thou common. God’s message
to Peter is His message to the church today. We are not the judge as to who is
worthy or unworthy to receive the precious gift of the Holy Spirit. This is
directed at Pentecostals. We are not qualified to tell God who can and cannot
receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other
tongues. The only prerequisite to receive the Holy Spirit is SALVATION and a
hungry heart for God. When God saves you, He cleanses you. The blood of Jesus is
sufficient to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus doesn’t
need anything added to it nor taken away from it to make us fit vessels for the
Holy Spirit. No, you don’t have to be speak with other tongues to be saved, but
you have to be saved or cleansed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
God was telling Peter, your tradition and law has blinded you to My purpose. The same is true of the church today. Our tradition and legalistic approach to God has blinded us to His higher purposes on this earth. He is making one new man out of Gentile and Jew and the bond or power of that Man is in the Holy Spirit. The Gentile church would not be here today empowered as it is had not Peter went to Cornelius and preached the gospel to him. How much of God’s plan and purposes has been missed in our churches and in our lives because of our tradition?
Acts 10:22-23 - And they said, Cornelius the
centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all
the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee
into his house, and to hear words of thee.
Peter’s
Message To Cornelius – God Has Anointed Jesus
Acts 10:34-38 - Then Peter opened his mouth, and said,
Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Peter’s
message to Cornelius was simple. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost and He went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the
devil, for God was with him. Interestingly enough the religious of Israel called
the power by which Jesus did his miracles of Satan. Jesus was a man, anointed by
the Holy Spirit. He did not do his miracles as God. He did them as the Second
Adam and as an example to the church of the type ministry the church should be
doing today. This is very important.
There are some evangelical camps that deny the baptism of the Holy Spirit on this one merit. They teach that Jesus himself never spoke in tongues and did not do the things He did as a man. They say Jesus was anointed all the time even at his birth and growing up. There may be an element of truth in what they teach, but the question then must asked why did Jesus wait until he was 30 years old to do public ministry? The Bible is clearly silent on the Master’s life before He was 30. The evangelicals who are so adamantly opposed to the Holy Spirit based on “doctrine” seem to overlook this one tiny fact. If the Bible is silent on his life before 30 would it be fair to say that the things that took place in Jesus’ early life before his ministry were not as important for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us as those events were AFTER he was baptized by John in the river Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove? Jesus’ life before He was 30 is a great example of how someone can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but not have the Holy Spirit UPON them. The fact of the virgin birth and humanity of Jesus being recorded in scripture is tied directly into this one fact. The Holy Ghost was IN HIM and UPON HIM. The Spirit did not come UPON Him however until after He was baptized in the river Jordan.
Matt 1:20 - But while he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou
son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:35 - And the angel answered and said unto her,
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God.
The Relationship to the Holy Spirit in the Life of Christ an the Old
Covenant
The four Gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John are the world’s basic
authoritative sources on the life of Christ. They relate details of his birth
and some of the events of His early life, but the bulk of their account center
on the last three years – THE YEARS OF HIS MINISTRY. Greatest attention is
focused on the last WEEK of His life. It is well to remember that while studying
the gospels, the disciples were under the Old Covenant. They received the
introduction to the New Covenant, but this was at the very beginning of this
period. The New Covenant really begins to be seen operating in the epistles and
the other writings that follow the gospels in the New Testament.
God made two covenants with Israel called the “Old Covenant” and the "New
Covenant." The NEW Covenant relates to redemption through Christ. Instead of
being under the law, we now live in the day of Grace. Jesus Christ ushered in
the New Covenant with his blood that he shed on Calvary. Next He sent the Holy
Ghost to fill our hearts and live and to baptize us in the Holy Spirit. This
baptism takes place twice – at conversion as the Holy Spirit baptizes us in to
the Body of Christ – and a second time when those who believe are baptized by
Christ in the Holy Spirit. When this happens, the Holy Spirit has now fully
come, bringing the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit. This is a whole new
dimension in Christian living. Even though we see the writers of the first four
books of the NEW Testament as living in the days of the New Testament, we must
realize they were reacting based upon their wisdom of the Old Covenant. They
would later receive greater wisdom under the New Covenant after the Lord Jesus
died and arose again the third day and ascended into heaven.
Both
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, her cousin, (the mother of John the
Baptist), experienced the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in marvelous
ways.
Luke 1:35-41 - And the angel answered and said unto
her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God.
The
Holy Ghost set the initial stages of the divine incarnation forth. Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary. God’s highest priority
in bringing mankind’s redemption to this planet were birthed by the Holy Ghost
in a stable. So it is today. Those willing to humble themselves and see the
Lord Jesus as a lowly, suffering servant in a stable are those most likely to
receive the enduement of power from on high. Many people question the virgin
birth and even many church leaders deny this fact. But if we have a real concept
of the power of the Holy Spirit, it is no problem to accept the virgin birth of
Jesus. As we accept all scripture by faith, we can certainly accept His virgin
birth in the same way. But in addition to this, if one chooses to approach it
from the point of logic, an understanding of the power and potential of the Holy
Spirit rapidly eliminates any questions. The Holy Spirit, not man, was
responsible for Mary’s conception.
When Jesus was born into human form, He had to grow in wisdom and knowledge as other children do. He did, of course, develop tremendously because He never yielded to sin or darkness. His mind and spirit were totally open to God the Father. Consequently, He learned very rapidly, and at the age of twelve years, He was able to discuss the Law with the high priests and doctors of the Law. He was anointed by the Spirit even as a young man, but he was not endued with power from on high for ministry until He was 30.
The
Moment of Truth – At The Baptism of Jesus The Holy Ghost Descends
The Holy Spirit was involved in the life of Jesus from
before His birth. At the time of His baptism by John the Baptist, the Spirit of
God descended in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven spoke and said,
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Spirit came “as” or
“like a dove.” He came gently. This was a witness of the Trinity being present
at this very moment in time – God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended, and God the Father spoke.
The Holy Spirit was present to ANOINT Jesus for ministry and to demonstrate His
deity. Jesus didn’t operate on this earth as deity. If he had, then His death
would have meant nothing. When Adam fell, it meant another “Adam” had to come
and redeem man from his sin. Under the economy of God only blood sacrifice would
pay or atone for Israel’s sin under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant,
nothing changed. The difference, however, was that for man’s sins to be removed,
the blood was to be of the like nature of the offending party. It had to be
human blood, not the blood of lambs, bullocks, bulls, OR GODS.
Heb 10:4-10 - For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins.
This was confirmed or witnessed
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT:
Heb 10:14-18 - For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified.
It was through this process of identifying with the humanity of Adam, that the
Second Adam delivered us from sin, sickness, fear, bondage, disease, and eternal
damnation.
Heb 2:14-18 - Forasmuch then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil;
Jesus lived
for 30 years with sinless character because of the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. But His ministry of power, which did not start until He was 30, was done
by the ANOINTING and in infilling of the Holy Spirit. His life is
an example of how you can have Christ-like character but not have Christ-like
power and anointing. Discipleship is based upon the developing of character
through the fruit of the Spirit. Deliverance and setting people free is based
upon power and the gifts of the Spirit. The church needs BOTH
Some camps, such as the Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. major only in character without power. On the same token, other camps, such as most Charismatic and Pentecostal circles want all the power without any emphasis being placed on character. You need both to have a New Testament church. Speaking in tongues does not make you perfect. There are many that are filled with the Spirit of God and speak in tongues but yet have tremendous difficulties in their lives. There are no experiences out there that make you perfect. Speaking in tongues is a tremendous blessing and is a very important part of your walk as a believer. But the experience in itself does not guarantee you victory. Jesus didn’t walk in victory because He was anointed with power. He walked in victory because He had a daily relationship with the Father THROUGH the Holy Spirit from the day of His birth to the day he ascended to heaven. But it was after the anointing of the Holy Spirit that He began to heal, cast out devils and demonstrate the Kingdom of God in a manner of power unseen by Israel since the days of Elijah and Elisha the prophets.
First, Jesus was BORN OF THE SPIRIT; then He was
Baptized IN THE SPIRIT; and finally He went forth to work out His life and
ministry in the POWER OF THE SPIRIT. We too need to be born of the spirit,
baptized in the SPIRIT, and then go forth to live HIS life and reproduce HIS
WORKS.
We Are
Witnesses Of These Things
Acts 10:39-43 -
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews,
and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Peter said that the
apostles were witnesses of the things Jesus did both in the land of the Jews and
in Jerusalem. He testified that God had raised Jesus up and had showed him
openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses CHOSEN before God, even to
Peter, who did eat and drink with him after Jesus rose from the dead. He said
Jesus commanded the apostles to preach unto the people. However, before Jesus
commanded them to preach, He also commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem for an
enduement of power from on high.
The Promise of the Father
As Jesus was approaching
death, after His fruitful ministry, Jesus encouraged His disciples to see and
understand some of the truths relative to the Holy Spirit and His work. In John
16 Jesus told them it was expedient for Him to leave, because if He did not, the
Comforter would not come. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that if
He departed, He would send the Holy Spirit to His followers (which we are as
believers). The Spirit of God would guide them (and us) into all truths, for He
is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus then told the disciples to wait until they were
endued with power and strength. As John the Baptist had prophesied, “I indeed
have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost”
(Mark 1:18).
Jesus paid the price at Calvary for our redemption, and rose from the dead. He spoke at great lengths on the Holy Spirit. He commanded the disciples to tarry, to wait, before beginning their ministries, until they had received the promise of the Father. This is a totally new dimension in spiritual life, experienced first by the disciples and today by believers. It was promised by Jesus in Luke and in the first chapter of Acts.
Acts 1:8 - But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.
Luke 24:48-49 -
And ye are witnesses of these things.
Peter repeated Jesus’
words in his writings when he said, “we are witnesses of these things.” Jesus
told the disciples the same thing. They would witness the very plan of God
through the Master’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension and exaltation. The
outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be the sign that Jesus had made it to the
right hand of God and had received the promise of the Holy Ghost from the God
the Father. This promise is paramount in the plan of God for the church.
Prophets did not see this time we are living in. This is a special time for
humanity when God is calling out a people to be filled with His Spirit and set
captives free in bringing many into the Kingdom of God. This same power is
available to believers, without measure, to work in and through Christians as it
did in the life of Christ. IN fact, Jesus went on to say that His followers
would do the things He did, and even greater things.
John 14:12 -
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father.
Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that what the people were HEARING was
what Jesus shed forth when He ascended back to Glory to sit at the right hand of
God. By the Pentecostal outpouring, Peter was saying, “God’s redemptive plan for
man has been completed.” Greater works would now be accomplished because the
Holy Ghost would be much more far-reaching than even the localized ministry of
Jesus while He was here on earth. That’s why Jesus spoke more about the Holy
Ghost the days prior to His death than He did the entire three years He was with
the disciples.
Acts 2:31-33 - He
seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Peter makes it so clear that a kindergartner will understand it. Jesus is
exalted at the right hand of God. When He was exalted, He received of the Father
the PROMISE OF THE HOLY GHOST. When He received the promise of the Father, He
shed forth the gift upon the disciples and others gathered on the day of
Pentecost which, Peter said, the people outside the temple, SAW AND HEARD. What
did they hear? They heard people speaking with other tongues.
Acts 2:1-16 - And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place.
The outpouring of the
Holy Spirit as related to us by Luke in this account as the first great
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It occurred 50 days after Jesus ascended into
heaven nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus had instructed them to be witnesses of His
resurrection, wait or tarry in Jerusalem and by doing so, they would be endued
with power as they experienced the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were
“in one accord,” as they waited expectantly for the promise the Lord had given
them. A total of 120 people, including the disciples (but without Judas, who was
now dead) and MARY, the mother of Jesus, waited together, “in one place.” The
lessons learned from this passage are very important to point out.
One, they were willing
to WAIT upon the Lord. All too often people have a tendency to become impatient
and refuse to wait for the Lord’s timetable of events. Often, failure to be
still before God results in missing some of His greatest blessings. There are,
to be sure, pressing demands and great needs everywhere. But one can more
adequately respond to those challenges and needs AFTER waiting on God for His
direction and power. Two, they were all IN ONE ACCORD, IN ONE SPIRIT, as they
sought the Lord. There is great strength in unity. Strength lies not basically
in numbers, but in unity of spirit.
The Day of Pentecost
Why
did the Holy Spirit outpouring take place on the Day of Pentecost? Why was it
simultaneous with the old Hebrew Festival of Harvest? Why not just any day? We
know from scripture that the Feast of Passover, which typified the death of the
Lord Jesus, had taken place 50 days earlier. The reason we know this is that the
DAY OF PENTECOST is by definition the "50th” day after Passover.
Passover commemorated the killing of the Paschal Lamb, with the placing of the
blood on the doorposts of Egypt. This caused the death angel to pass over the
children of Israel during the 10th plague. Blood was applied to the
doorpost and life was spared. Primarily, a Passover celebration renews the
thought of lives saved by the sacrifice of the Lamb.
It was only
a symbolic of Jesus, who offered Himself for us, as OUR PASCHAL LAMB on the
commemorating of the Passover. The killing of the Paschal Lamb was the type –
the prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus’ later role as Paschal Lamb for the world.
The Jews today still celebrate the Passover as a historic occasion, not
realizing its prophetic significance in regard to Jesus Christ.
Like the
Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost had special significance as well. It
was the Feast of the Firstfruits as described in Exodus 23:16. It was the
“thanksgiving” of Israel’s economy and religious festivals. It was a time set
aside by God for His children to think about ‘Harvest.”
Acts 2:16-21 - But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Acts 2:41 - Then
they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 4:2-4 - Being
grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead.
The
significance of God’s choice of the Day of Pentecost as the time of this
initial Holy Spirit outpouring is obvious. The celebration of Pentecost took
place 50 days after Passover.
Lev 23:15-16 - And
ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye
brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
Exod 23:16-17 -
And the feast of harvest, the Firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in
the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when
thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.
This
scripture in Leviticus refers to “a new meat offering” unto the Lord. Just as
the heavenly fires fell on the sacrifice presented on the altar of Elijah in 1
Kings 18, so the cloven tongues of flame came down on each person on the Day of
Pentecost. This manifestation of fire from heaven fell upon those who YIELDED.
These were submitted believers, offering themselves up as a living sacrifice,
bound in love and obedience.
Which Have
Received the Holy Ghost As We
Acts 10:44-46 -
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word.
Now, I’m not a
college graduate. But I can read pretty good to have a high school education
from Georgia. It clearly says, that while Peter spoke these words, the HOLY
GHOST FELL ON ALL THEM THAT HEARD THE WORD. This is the scene at Cornelius’
house some 40 years after Pentecost and that initial outpouring.
When the
Hebrews saw this (they of the circumcision) they were astonished that the
Gentiles had received the same gift that those gathered on the day of Pentecost
had received 40 years earlier. The gift of the Holy Spirit first came to JEWS,
then to GENTILES. That’s how the covenants of God have worked from the
beginning. The gospel was given to the JEW FIRST, then to the GREEK. This is
another sermon for another time, but we must return to our Jewish roots of
Christianity and not disrespect our heritage. Without the Jewish people, the
Gentiles would not even have the Holy Spirit.
How did they
know the gift of the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Gentiles? It clearly says
in verse 46 of this passage, They heard them SPEAK WITH TONGUES AND
MAGNIFY GOD. Peter then stands up and says, “Can we forbid these that
have been saved AND filled with the Holy Ghost to be baptized in water, WHICH
HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST AS WE. In the next chapter, when Peter returned
to Jerusalem and gave an account on what had happened at Cornelius’ house, he
used the phrase, “THIS LIKE GIFT.”
Acts 11:14-17 -
Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
The
“us” Peter is referring to is those who were gathered in the temple room on the
day of Pentecost some 40 years earlier and had received the Holy Spirit the same
way that Peter witnessed in the house of Cornelius. This is not complicated. But
what the church has done to fit its “dead” theology is take out this part of the
Bible and interpret this in a million other ways than simple reading and faith.
What Was I, That I
Could Withstand God?
Peter saw the
uselessness in withstanding this outpouring on the Gentiles. What was happening
was beyond his control. In spite of this story and Biblical account, many still
try to withstand what God is doing in these last days before Jesus comes.
We can sit behind our
modern pulpits and flippantly say, “this isn’t for today,” or “this is of the
devil,” or “this has no place in our church.” We do it to our own destruction.
This was the New Testament pattern of ministry. We can call it old fashioned, we
can call it out of date and we can call it vanished from history. BUT IT WORKED.
The early church didn’t have the gadgets we have today and the technology, but
it had the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit and it set the world ablaze
with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s not the ABNORMAL to see people saved and
filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s abnormal Christianity to be lukewarm and
complacent, unbelieving, cowardly, unforgiving and ignorant of God’s ways. Paul
said it in 1 Corinthians – “Let him who wants to be ignorant, be ignorant.”
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, “I believe the Bible from cover to cover,” and take out the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts has more relevance for the church today than in any time of the church’s history. We are the harvest generation and with as much as we have been given, we are going to be held the most accountable than any generation before us or after us. How many preachers spurn this message? How many preachers make fun and lampoon the Pentecostal message and way? How many preachers call what’s of God, Satanic and what’s really Satanic, of God? How many preachers would rather send their congregations to hell just so they can control their flocks before they would open their churches up to the true moving and operation of the Holy Spirit? How many preachers have blasphemed the Holy Spirit behind pulpits?
Preacher, you may not understand everything there is to know about the Holy Ghost. But you better keep your mouth off of what you don’t understand. Ignorance is one thing, outright denial of something and blaspheming what you know is right is another. Telling your congregations the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are of the devil is DANGEROUS. Some of you reading this are so hardened by religion and demonic tradition that even if Jesus sent someone back from the dead to tell you differently, it wouldn’t matter. You’ve settled it in your heart to believe the way you do and you’re leading your flocks down the same road. It will be you who will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account for the condition of your sheep.
When Jesus shows you the
condition of your sheep, will He show you a flock that is filled with the
Spirit, on fire for God, witnessing for the Kingdom and believing in the WHOLE
COUNSEL OF GOD? Or will he find a flock confused, bound by tradition, not
knowing what they believe, thinking they are saved when they are not – ALL
BECAUSE YOU REFUSED TO ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO ANOINT AND FILL YOUR PEOPLE?
A Final Thought
No matter what man
teaches or says, you as a believer NEED to be filled with the Holy Ghost with
the evidence of speaking with other tongues. Our next journal entry will look in
detail at the blessings of this gift and the expose’ of Paul to the Corinthians
on spiritual gifts, prophecy and tongues. You who are hungry for God will pursue
what you have read. If you don'’ want to pursue this as a believer, that is
entirely up to you. God loves you just the same. The Lord wants to give you the
“like gift” He gave Cornelius and his house that day in Italy. They received the
Holy Ghost just as Peter, John, Mark, Bartholomew, Thomas and Mary, the mother
of Jesus did on the day of Pentecost. They “which have received the Holy Ghost
as we” were never the same again. Neither will your life be the same again
either. Pursue spiritual gifts this year and seek the Lord to fill you with the
Holy Ghost. He has never turned away a seeking heart. He longs to satisfy your
thirst for him!
Lord, we thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to dye on the cross to make us fit vessels to receive and be filled with your precious Holy Ghost. We thank you that the prudent and wise are caught in their own deceit and pride, but You have revealed Yourself unto babes. You have filled untold millions with this precious gift that is so vital to our walk with You and your Son, the Lord Jesus.. We trust you Jesus that You have greater power to lead us into ALL TRUTH than the enemy does to deceive us with that which is false. Fill every reader with the power of the Holy Ghost today. Let the anointing of the Holy Ghost fall as it did on the day of Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius. Let us see a harvest of souls unlike we have ever seen this upcoming year in 2001-2002.
Other Journals on the Holy Spirit:
The Feast of Pentecost The Sound of Pentecost Stammering Lips and Unknown Tongues