Tag: Acts 2:38

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Bible Preaching

Religious, But Lost

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 3/19/2023

Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10

(4)  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

(5)  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

(6)  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

(7)  But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

(8)  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

(9)  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

(10)  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Ancillary: Jeremiah 29:11

(11)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Moses

He is walking one day along a path when he turns to inspect something he has noticed for some time, but never investigated…

A bush that burns but is not consumed…

There, in that holy place, he meets the I AM and receives a calling that changed his life and resulted in the formation of a nation.

Here, in the The Exodus, we meet God as Savior.[1]

400 years in Egypt have turned a small tribe of 70 Hebrews into a mighty tribe of 2-7 million.

They have become, through no fault of their own, a threat to Egypt and so the Pharaoh of that day, forgetting the salvation brought by the hand of Joseph, enslaves these children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Children of promise enslaved.

You know the story, Moses comes to Pharaoh and delivers the Word from the I AM, “Let My People Go.”

Refusals and plagues ensue until eventually the Egyptian ruler let’s God’s people go.

When they leave, they make a journey, over the Red Sea, on dry ground, and their enemies are never seen again – Water Baptism.

On Mount Sinai God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and these Hebrew descendants of Jacob become a nation and take on his new name – Israel.

The Law – The Torah – 613 Commandments containing “248 Positive Commandments (do’s) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not’s).” [2]

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17):

  1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
  2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…
  3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain…
  4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
  5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
  6. Thou shalt not kill.
  7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  8. Thou shalt not steal.
  9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
  10. Thou shalt not covet…

Then they travel the wilderness for forty years

Why? An evil report…

After those long years, God sends Moses to Mount Nebo where he views the Land Promise and dies.

Moses introduced Israel to God as Savior and as the God of their Exodus who brought them out of bondage and made them into a nation.

God has done that for you tonight, He has put into place a way for you to exit sin, addiction, bondage, wickedness and given you a new name and put you into a holy nation:

(9) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (10) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Israel rejoiced in this identity, but in time they lost sight of something important – Relationship.

They had the covenant, but they lost the relationship.

Jeremiah

Over the course of 800 years, from Moses and The Exodus to Jeremiah’s day, these Israelites had turned away from and back to Jehovah – their Savior – untold times.

They would fall away and God would allow an enemy to rise up to chastise them and they would repent.

They would backslide and same process would take place again…

It became a cycle that denigrated the relationship God wanted with them to mere ritual and religion.

Would you want a relationship with someone who treated you like that?

They were Religious, But Lost.

These covenant people would sin, eventually feel guilty, offer the required sacrifice, go on their way forgiven — until they sinned again.

They had covenant with God, but no companionship with Him.

Into this atmosphere of sin, repent, sin, repent, sin, repent, we are introduced to Jeremiah. God knew and had a plan for him before he was ever conceived by his parents:

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”[3]

That passage alone is a primer on God’s view on the sanctity of life…

Jeremiah then tries to get out of his calling, much like Moses before him, and he tells God, “I cannot speak: for I am a child.”[4]

And the Lord replied, Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.[5]

You see, Jeremiah had a job to do

While Moses introduced the people to God as Savior, Jeremiah’s job was to introduce Him as God the Judge.[6]

So, The Exile of Judah becomes the main message of this young prophet as he begins his prophetic ministry at the age of 20.

He sorrows, laments, grieves, lives in depression at times as he deals with the loss that he witnesses over the course of 40-50 years.

Why? Because somewhere along the way these covenant people lost sight of their relationship with God and simply did not follow Him

WHEN THEY DID FOLLOW HIM it was with mere formalism, religiosity and ritual.

They knew what to do, but not how to do.

“He that knoweth to do good…”

Jerusalem falls, the Temple is destroyed, all the best and brightest young men and women are gathered by the Babylonian king and sent into exile.

And adding insult to injury, every time Jeremiah would open his mouth to speak the Word of God he was horribly mistreated. He prefigures Christ as a Suffering Servant with both his lamentations and his mistreatment.[7]

He was mistreated, imprisoned, beaten, lied on and abused – FOR THE WORD OF GOD – by kings, prophets, friends and even family.

This “son of Hilkiah” could have been a priest, but God ordained Him to be a Prophet.[8]

As such, he was mistreated, to the point where he said, “O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20:7-9).

In this environment of destruction and disappointment, heartache and hurt, fear and frustration, Jeremiah writes a prophecy of Hope and healing from the Lord (Jeremiah 29:4-14):

(4)  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;  <<Marduk v. Jehovah = no match. Jehovah did this>>

(5)  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;

(6)  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

(7)  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

(8)  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

(9)  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

(10)  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

(11)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

(12)  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

(13)  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

(14)  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Deliverance and return is on the way. Even for the Religious, But Lost

You who love and want a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus still desires to dwell in the midst of His people.

He still wants relationship with you.

The Danger of Religion is that you lose relationship with Jesus and become religious, but lost:

  • Repentance is not about confession to change, but you just want to relieve guilt.
  • Your clean robe of righteousness (bag of sins is full) becomes dirty with sin and you pray, “I’m sorry, Lord. Please forgive me.”
  • The routine of repentance has nothing to do with change, but in just “feeling” better.
  • You feel better now, since you confessed, you’ll be ok until you forget what the guilt felt like and then you sin again. Why not? Your robe of righteousness is clean now anyways (your bag of sins is empty now).
  • How can you maintain a relationship with someone who treat you like that?
  • God is not into religion, but He loves relationship![9]

The People of Judah has lost that connection of relationship with God. Their behavior towards one another and their worship of God was addressed by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:9-11):

(9)  Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; (10) And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? (11)  Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

It appears that Jeremiah is listing the Ten Commandments in reverse order to show that God is more interested in righteous behavior (right relationship) than in covenantal position.[10]

How you treat your neighbor is more important and a more clear indicator of your relationship with God than if you are born again and speak in tongues all the time.

If you speak in tongues all day long and don’t know how to treat your neighbor right then you are Religious, But Lost.

“He is a God of completion, not competition.” –Harold Hoffman

Come to Jesus – Get to Know Him – treat each other right

It’s all about relationship

[1] Runck, Jared S. and David P. Johnson. (2017). Handbook on the Prophets. Weldon Spring, MO: Pentecostal Publishing House.

[2] Hecht, Mendy. The 613 Commandments (Mitzvot). Accessed: 3/20/2023. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/756399/jewish/The-613-Commandments-Mitzvot.htm

[3] Jer. 1:5

[4] Jer. 1:6

[5] Jer. 1:7, NLT

[6] Runck, Jared S. and David P. Johnson. (2017). Handbook on the Prophets. Weldon Spring, MO: Pentecostal Publishing House.

[7] Purpose Institute. (2019). #6104 – Major Prophets – Lesson 2: Jeremiah and Lamentations.

[8] Jeremiah 1:1

[9] Partially derived from Harold Hoffman’s teaching on 1/16/2022. Heart Attack (Lesson 3). https://www.youtube.com/live/GrCM32v1haA.

[10] Runck, Jared S. and David P. Johnson. (2017). Handbook on the Prophets. Weldon Spring, MO: Pentecostal Publishing House.

Picture Credit: Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. (1606-1669). Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem. Accessed: 3/30/2023. http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/complete_catalogue/storia/jeremiah.htm.

Categories
Bible Preaching

The Forgotten Message of Pentecost

Text: Acts 2:38

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

2 Corinthians 7:10

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

I am interested in the spirit of renewal and expectancy that has entered into the Body of Christ, and I’m thankful for the people who are rising up to say, “I see the Hand of God at work among us and want to be part of this end-time revival.”

To be renewed simply means to retrace our steps to the beginning of our walk with God making new those precious commitments we either let slip from us or that we forgot.

Paul wrote to us to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph 4:23). 

Tonight, I am fighting for your minds in order to re-establish a principle there, which if grasped will lead you to a fruitful life in Christ Jesus.

My subject:

“The Forgotten Commitment”

-OR-

“The Forgotten Message of Pentecost”

The first word that Jesus preached was not about the gifts of the Spirit, or how to receive your miracle, or seven steps to a prosperous life.

The first word of the Gospel preached by our Lord Jesus Christ is found in Mark 1:15 where He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

This is the first commitment our Lord requires of us – REPENT.

Repent = “to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider,”[1] and “to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”[2]

When we initially came to repent we wept, or at least we should have had some sort of sorrow.  We sorrowed for the pain we had caused ourselves, others, and Jesus because of our sinful nature.

We were through with living lives of recklessness, and selfishness, and we abhorred the ways that we had treated others, and were appalled by the way our lifestyle had effected those around us.

We repented, we knelt, and we grieved.

Snot, sweat, and tears mixed at the altar as we searched our hearts for every sin and wrong deed we’d ever committed.

Then we made promises, and new commitments. We said, “Lord, I’ll never do that again.”

I look at this altar here in this church house.

I’ve come to ask you, “How many knees have bent at these altars to repent? How many tears have been shed in sincere grief and guilt for sin here on this floor? How many people have stood up and felt the overwhelming sense of joy that a clean conscience gives the repentant child of God?

John the Baptist preached loudly a message of repentance.  He said, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

The Apostle Paul gave his testimony to Agrippa and said, “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:  But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19-20).

Repentance is accompanied by a certain conduct that people all around you can observe.  That is the fruit, that change of action and behavior is the “works meet for repentance” Paul was speaking about.

When you repented you changed. Your friends noticed it, your spouse noticed, your kids, parents, siblings, co-workers, employees, employers, and acquaintances all noticed the new you.

You didn’t talk like you use to talk, or go where you use to go, or do what you use to do.

You were modest in speech and in dress.

And sin, the very presence of it, sickened you to your stomach.

So, I look at these altars and thank God for the many conversions and repentant hearts that have knelt here over the years that this church has been in this city.  They’ve knelt by the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands.

What happened to them, where did they go? Why aren’t they here anymore?

Some have gone to their eternal reward and have become for us a great cloud of witnesses – Heroes of the Faith.

Others have walked away, fallen, died, or turned back to their former lives of sin.

It takes time for a person to walk away from God. Sometimes they become cold and indifferent to His Presence.  So much so that they are even unaware that they’re drifting away from Jesus and turning back to the world of sin and carnality.

How many times did those same knees bend at the same place to repent of the same sin at these very altars?

Repentance is not a one-time thing.  You cannot expect to live your entire life without living a lifestyle of repentance.

When you repented you made commitments.  Every time you are tempted that commitment is tested. Your response to that testing determines how much your commitment to God really means to you.

Some here have repented & sinned, repented & sinned, repented & sinned for so long over the same things that you don’t even think you can be delivered.

You’ve gotten yourself into a cycle of behavior that is difficult to break.

BUT—you can overcome this trap that you’ve fallen into.

You’ve got remember:

  • Repentance is not saying, “I’m sorry.” That’s an apology.
  • Repentance is not feeling bad that you got caught. That’s guilt.
  • Repentance is not feeling sorry for yourself. That’s egotistical; and self-absorbed.
  • Repentance is a grief that comes from God, which helps you to confess your sins, forsake your sins, and then commit to never sinning again. It’s a lifestyle.

Repentance becomes “The Forgotten Commitment” when we fail to keep our word.

Repentance becomes “The Forgotten Message of Pentecost” when we rush people through it just to pad our evangelistic numbers of souls filled with the Holy Ghost. 

It is time we stop leading people through some sort of Spiritless prayer where no conviction resides and allow God Almighty to once again convict the heart and lead people to repentance.

I long to see bent knees and bodies draped across altars racked with the heaving great sighs of tears, grief, and repentance.

You, sitting there thinking, “This message isn’t for me, you’re preaching to the choir.”

There’s an old Indian Proverb that says, “Whatever you are overflowing with will spill out when you’re bumped.”

What bumps produce incorrect responses from you?

Listen to Romans 2:1-11 tonight:

(1)  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.  (2)  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.  (3)  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?  (4)  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?  (5)  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;  (6)  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:  (7)  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:  (8)  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,  (9)  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;  (10)  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:  (11)  For there is no respect of persons with God.

Jesus is calling us tonight to renew our commitments of repentance we made at our conversion.

Remember what you told Him as you repented.  You cried out for mercy and He granted it. You made promises and vows that you need to keep…that you must keep.

Some of you have been living a repented life for 20, 30, 40, & 50 years.  I’m reminded of a prayer I read about a couple weeks ago: “Lord, let me not today ruin in anything what you have taken all these years to do in my heart and provide for my life”[3]

The late Apostolic preacher and Bible teacher, Bishop Morris E. Golder once said, “The badge of discipleship is a cross.”

This is a daily thing—this life of repentance.  Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31).

So, how can we make it? There are so many temptations and influences bombarding us from without and within.  How can I keep my commitment of repentance when I’m attacked externally and internally?

Grace is the answer.  Grace has always been the answer for the Body of Christ.

Repentance is a daily commitment one works at to maintain. Grace is the teacher helping us to maintain that commitment:

“(11)  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,  (12)  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;  (13)  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;  (14)  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

ESV, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death”:

“(8)  For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.  (9)  Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.  (10)  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.  (11)  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2 Corinthians 7:8-11).

[1] Strong’s. G3340.

[2] Thayer’s. G3340.

[3] Billy Graham.

Categories
Bible Teaching

The Turning Point

Wellington depot before the avalanche: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Washington#/media/File:Wellington_before_the_Avalanche.jpg

“The Turning Point”

Stephen. Kuntzman

(7/16/19)

Text: 2 Timothy 2:15-21

(15)  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(16)  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

(17)  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

(18)  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

(19)  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

(20)  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

(21)  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Ancillary: 1 Timothy 1:18-20, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme [defame, rail on, revile, speak evil].”

It is known as “The Wellington Avalanche,” and it occurred on March 1, 1910, in Wellington, WA.

It “was the worst avalanche in the history of the United States, marked by the total death count, which numbered to 96.[2]

For nine days at the end of February 1910, Wellington was assailed by a terrible blizzard. Up to a foot (30 cm) of snow fell every hour, and, on the worst day, eleven feet (340 cm) of snow fell. Two trains, a passenger train and a mail train, both bound from Spokane to Seattle, were trapped in the depot.”[1]

“Late on February 28, the snow stopped and was replaced by rain and a warm wind. Just after 1 a.m. on March 1, as a result of a lightning strike, a slab of snow broke loose from the side of Windy Mountain during a violent thunderstorm. A ten-foot high mass of snow, half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, fell toward the town. A forest fire had recently ravaged the slopes above the town, leaving very little to impede the avalanche.”[2]

“The avalanche missed the Bailets Hotel (which also housed the town’s general store and post office), but hit the railroad depot. Most of the passengers and crew were asleep aboard their trains. The impact threw the trains 150 feet (45 m) downhill and into the Tye River valley. Ninety six people were killed, including 35 passengers, 58 Great Northern employees on the trains, and three railroad employees in the depot.”[3]

 One witness, Charles Andrews, a Great Northern engineer, said it looked like:

“White Death moving down the mountainside above the trains.  Relentlessly it advanced, exploding, roaring, rumbling, grinding, snapping – a crescendo of sound that might have been the crashing of ten thousand freight trains.

It descended to the ledge where the side tracks lay, picked up cars and equipment as though they were so many snow-draped toys, and swallowing them up, disappeared like a white, broad monster into the ravine below.”[4]

 

Train wreckage from Wellington WA avalanche: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Washington#/media/File:Train_wreckage_from_Wellington_WA_avalanche_cph.3b13980.jpg

I remember reading the writer and commentator George Will years ago, and in his essay he quoted these words from the Polish poet, Stanislaw J. Lec, “Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.”

There is power in accumulation.

Things don’t just happen overnight, but there is a buildup of either positive or negative amounts that produce a point of no return.

Paul was warning his son in the gospel of the dangers of “the little foxes, that spoil the vines.”[5]

Just as in the days of Jude, there are “…certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”[6]

These false teachers come into the church from time to time and little by little they feed on the tender grapes who have not fully grown to maturity, and destroy them.

It is time to do as the Apostle directed Timothy, “(1) This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  (2)  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  (3)  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  (4)  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  (5)  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”[7]

“FROM SUCH TURN AWAY”

Isaiah was clear about the issues of his time and fallen human nature is still the same today (Isaiah 28:9-13):

(9)  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

(10)  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

(11)  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

(12)  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

(13)  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

They scoffed at the prophet and the Word of God.

They mocked the words spoken by prophets who had been “moved on by the Holy Ghost” to write and speak what they divinely uttered. 

Doing so, these mockers and blasphemers continued on into a total backslidden state, were broken by the breaking of that Word, and were bound and placed in captivity.

Too many are bound today, by these false teachers, scoffers, mockers, and spoilers.

It is the devil’s plan to do so and he’ll use false teachers, as he did in Paul’s day, to deny truth and overthrow the faith of some.

2 Timothy 2:15-17

(15)  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(16)  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

(17)  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

They were profane and vain words because they were not based on the Word of God. Their words, their teachings, were blasphemous, and every one that heard them unwittingly were eaten up spiritually like a cancer, like gangrene setting in.

It is almost impossible to expunge false doctrine because it accumulates like snowflakes on a mountain until one day – WHITE DEATH pushes everyone in its patch into the cold abyss.

“FROM SUCH TURN AWAY”

2 Timothy 2:19-21

(19)  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

(20)  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

(21)  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

 v. 21 – “purge himself from these” = the corrupting influence of false teachers and blasphemers

 It didn’t happen overnight, but it was years (and sometimes centuries).

 “FROM SUCH TURN AWAY”

 The foundation of God standeth sure:

Ephesians 2:19-22, “(19)  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (20)  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (21)  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (22)  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
The Word of God is sure:

·        Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.  (Proverbs 30:5)

·        And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.  (Luke 4:4)

·        “…The seed of the word of God.” (Luke 8:11) – [It’s incorruptible and full of life]

·        So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  (Romans 10:17)

·        Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

·        1 Peter 1:22-25, “(22)  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (23)  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (24)  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (25)  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

In conclusion, Wellington, WA, changed its name soon after that horrible avalanche to Tye, WA.

Changed their name and redirected their future.

Someone needs to redirect their future and turn away from false teachers and blasphemers: “…Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19b)

This Is Your Turning Point

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Washington

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Wellington-Disaster-America-s-Worst-Avalanche

[5] Song of Solomon 2:15

[6] Jude 1:4

[7] 2 Timothy 3:1-5 

Categories
Bible Preaching

The Agenda for the Ages

Apostolic Life Cathedral | The Agenda for the Ages | 3/16/2021

John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

There are competing agendas at work today, which have been at war before your birth, and your response to these plans determine not only your eternal destiny, but also your present and future.

Thieves come in to steal, seize, invade, and rob you away from Jesus Christ. How? By appealing to your heart of flesh, your desires, your lusts (longing for what is forbidden).

Your desire for power, position, material wealth, food, illicit relationships, are all part of a grand scheme, an agenda, formulated by the satan to deceive you and steal you away from God.

This devilish plan was put into action long before you were born:

There are some who have called this generation “The LAST, LOST, LUST Generation,” but I don’t believe that. I see this generation as:

·       The First Generation because God always saves the best for last and He planned for you to be alive in this time.

·       The Found Generation because you won’t stop searching until you have become exactly what Jesus designed the Church to be.

·       The Favored Generation because you to want and desire what is real and true and will pursue it without with all you have in you.

1 Corinthians 4:14-15, “(14)  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. (15)  For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”

Listen to your pastor, read your Bible, pray every day, and carve out some time every day to praise Jesus.

1 Corinthians 14:10, “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.”

This is speaking specifically about the gift of tongues, and the fact that there are many languages in the world with each conveying definite meaning of thought, but unless verbally expressed it remains silent.

1 John 4:1-6

(1)  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Be careful of those who would pull you away from Jesus. False teachers, false christs, false men and women who influence you without you even knowing the seed of sin they sow into you.

You have no business watching or listening to anyone who displays actions in direct violation to the Word of God.

So, Disney has some good shows, but many are full of dialogue and scenes that disrespect the mother and father. Youtube and Instagram are full of “influencers” (hear that??) who in some way shape or form are working a plan to get you to buy what they are selling, or to desire (lust after) that which cannot satisfy.

And music, there are some good songs out there today, but many are full of words that either celebrate the accumulation of things, encourage violence, openly mock Jesus and His name, or they objectify the opposite and secretly plant in your mind the idea that premarital sex is ok with anyone of any sexual orientation.

2 Peter 2:1-2

(1)  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

(2)  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Anyone who tells you that repentance, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, or receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues is not necessary is a false prophet secretly working an agenda placing seeds of doubt and destruction.

If the enemy can get you to doubt the very foundation of salvation he can invade territory that is not his and steal you away from Jesus.

(2)  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

(3)  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

(4)  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

(5)  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

(6)  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

We have an image in our mind of how things ought to be; the devil has a scheme of how he wants things to be (steal, kill, destroy); but, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, has an agenda for your life that will last throughout all age and time and eternity.

Jesus has planned for you “life and that more abundantly” – the fullness of all that life has to offer.

He has added – superadded – blessings available for you, that the thief wants to snatch from you.

It would have been enough to have been born again – that is life; but He also gives us much more: Love, Joy, Peace, Grace, Adoption, Salvation, Eternal Life…

We need to lay our image of how we think things ought to be and tell Jesus, “I want the abundant life you have for me.”

Someone recently said to me, “I never want to control God, until I do.”

Most of your fear and anxiety (those butterflies or the stomachache you sometimes get) result from trying to forcefully control and shape your life into the way you think it should be, but if you’d allow Jesus to work His Agenda in your life you could have all the abundance this life has for you.

With Jesus, even when my day is rough, I have abundant life.

With Jesus, even if I’m picked on at school, I have abundant life.

With Jesus, even when my future seems uncertain – abundant life.

With Jesus, family troubles won’t stop His abundant life.

The Agenda for the Ages is Jesus’ plan for you that He outlined from the very foundation of the world to give you a more abundant life.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

–John the Baptist

Do you feel as if you’re the last one on God’s list tonight? He chose you of all the people who have ever lived to be alive at this crucial moment in time and is entrusting you with His message of Abundant Life – The Gospel

Do you feel lost tonight? Seek and call out to Jesus tonight and there’s no doubt you’ll find Him because He’s never far from you.

Do you have trouble with lust tonight? Give it to Jesus. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Categories
Bible Preaching

A Gospel Message of Hope – G. T. Haywood

A Gospel Message of Hope[1]
Bishop G. T. Haywood[2]
(April, 1922)

We wish to call your attention to the third chapter of Romans, beginning at verse 1, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” That is, the first opportunity to know God. The law of the Ten Commandments was given to them. God had committed unto their trust the oracles of God, and gave them that they might bring the light of God to the world. And although they failed their God, yet His purpose went forward. Even though some did not believe, “shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” Man’s unbelief does not change God’s word, nor stop Him from working out His purpose.

The word of God is true whether the people believe it or not. God will bring Salvation near. It makes no difference what you say, or what I may say, because, “God hath said.” Our God can work while we are sleeping. And when we are folded away like a garment in our graves, God will still be working. If one man, or one people, fails God, He will take up another and move on. God brought Israel out and made them a great people through a man who was only a shepherd of the plains of Midian and not a warrior, but could speak words of wisdom by the spirit of God. Words, which, even to this day, have astonished the world. God sent His Word from heaven unto this people, and walked in the midst of them with mighty signs and wonders showing His mighty arm. And yet they failed God through their unbelief.

The Lord had no people He could trust. So He declared He would “take a people who are not a people and make them a people of God.” He did this to prove that He does not have to depend on any nation or individual. God Himself never failed, and could not fail. Even the prophets He ordained became weak at points along the line and were filled with fear, or took honor to themselves. “The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment” (Isa. 28:7). 

What if man does not believe the Gospel as it is laid, down in the Book? The Gospel is true regardless of his unbelief. I believe in the Blood of JESUS CHRIST, and that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But the question is: how shall I get the remission? One may say, “I will just believe,” but to “believe” means more than to just say, “I believe.” Matt. 26:28 says, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

If any people start out with the power of God in their midst and become full of pride and lose their spirituality, God will put them aside and take up another. And if the latter fails, He will set them aside and take up still another. I am satisfied that God does not depend upon any of us to carry His work through, but we are compelled to depend upon Him for without Him we can do nothing.

“For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Jesus was the greatest preacher the world has ever known, and turned the preaching of the Gospel over to Peter as if to say, “You are next, Peter. You shall begin where I leave off.” Then that preacher in Acts 2:38 said, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That is the way the Holy Spirit gave it out on the day of Pentecost. In those days the people were always baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins that they might receive the Holy Spirit, which was God’s witness to their faith.  

What is the Holy Ghost? He is a witness to your having received remission of sins. That is what the Apostle said: “There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (1 Jn. 5:8).  He did not say one was any greater than the other. All three of them are required to make one witness. Many people look at water alone, but the proper thing to do is to see the name in which it is administered. Take away the blood, and you have nothing but faith. Take away the water and you make Jesus a liar. The Bible, in the first epistle of John, tells us plainly, “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5:6). I do take notice of this much, there was so much authority in the command of JESUS to baptize, that nearly all the churches (with a few exceptions) try in some way to administer it, if it only be the dipping of the finger in the water. But if it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing rightly. However, a man’s failure to believe and obey does not change the Word of God. You can scarcely join a church in the city without some mode of baptism. There are about as many ways as there are human minds, and all for the lack of following the mind of the Spirit.

The reason some people do not live holy is because they have not been taught it and have been brought up wrongly. But you start a man or woman believing the Word of God and you can bring them out on the Word. Our experiences are so varied that it does not pay to attempt to tell others about it, for they will try to get our experience instead of what is written in the Book. I do not want anybody to be able to rise and say the Word of God is not true. There has always been somebody filled with the Spirit, ever since the day of Pentecost. God has never left Himself without witness. No doubt some did not know just what they had. Luther had it. Wesley, Finney and Fox had it; and they had a hard, severe trial in their days.

We want God to be justified. We have not a thing to boast of this day. There is false holiness and true holiness. The true, is the Holy Ghost in you; and the false, is human efforts without God; self-righteousness. If we acknowledge our own failures God will give us His power to overcome day by day. God does not get behind a man with a whip and drive him to heaven, but He fixes it up so you will follow Him because you love Him.

Who is it that never did sin? Paul shows the whole human family had sinned, and if all sinned, all were condemned. But God had mercy. We could not help but sin. We were born that way. But God said, “You must be born again.” And no newborn child walks perfectly at once. First they crawl, then they totter and fall, but they do not keep falling. By this I mean, when a man or woman is filled with the Holy Ghost and starts out to walk with Jesus Christ, they may stumble and fall at first, but don’t get discouraged. If the devil tries to trip you up God will help you. He is able to keep you from falling, says Jude. I am talking about those who have it in their hearts to live for Christ. Do not let any failure daunt your courage. You know God is able to carry you through. Many have found it to be so.

If God brings judgment upon a sinner for his wrongdoing, some will charge Him with injustice. But how can God then judge the world? God said He would give us a light for our path, and put His angels around us, and give us a pattern in Jesus, and place His Spirit within us. Brother, I would be ashamed to tell God I could not live right with all that help! Then folks will try to tell you, “You can’t make it, Brother!” So we are going to commend the righteousness of God, by acknowledging: “O Lord, we are all failures?”  

It is the grace of God that is able to sustain and uphold any man or woman who desires to be kept by the Power of God. There are people who desire to boast of themselves and never have had a change of heart. And some even go so far as to say, “I am all right. I am good enough. I don’t need that Holy Ghost.” I don’t care if you did not steal, drink, or commit adultery: it is in your heart anyhow! Everybody needs the power of God. Good works never did save anybody. It takes the “power of God unto salvation” (Ro. 1:16). I am not telling a moral man to get worse in order to get saved. No! I am telling him there is no condition so bad but that God has grace to save us from it. 

You cannot make men righteous by legislation for “ye must be born again.” God says to the church, “preach the word,” and makes a fertile spot in the terrible desert of sin, that men may see the water of life along the side of the road. No law can make you live right. God Almighty tried it Himself with the children of Israel, and the Word says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Ro. 8:3). Did you know that when a man becomes saved he will keep the spirit of the law? There is no law against attending to your own business, paying all your debts, and no law against praying.  Do right, and bless God, and pray without ceasing. No law is against doing that which is just and good (Gal. 5:22-23). 

Many homes have been torn asunder. Sorrow and mourning drapes the human heart because of sin. I dislike hearing some people talk because of their disgraceful utterances. But let God get into their hearts and then note the change. Everybody without Christ is guilty. Had God Almighty demanded justice, every living person would have been dead, and brought before the judgment bar to give an account of their misspent lives. The only thing that is going to save a man is the power of God. I am talking about genuine salvation, too! You can go any place and hear everything else but the Gospel of salvation. But men shall be saved. That is our whole service: to save men. The church is ordained for that purpose. 

God sums up the whole human family and declares that it is full of “wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores” (Is. 1:6). To tell a man he should not steal, or covet, or commit adultery is not enough. Tell him how to get saved so he will not do those things. The power of God can save anybody that will believe. The god of carnality has certainly got some folks fast, but, 0, I am so glad I am saved! Saved by the power of God! It is wonderful to be God’s free man, delivered from the power of the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh. It does not make any difference whether a man is old or young, rich or poor, black or white, or brown, just so he believes. If you have never been to school to learn a letter, you can believe. I am satisfied that you do not have to have eyes to believe. You do not have to be able to speak to believe. You may have both hands cut off, but still you can believe. If you cannot hear, somebody will write, or make signs and you can believe. You do not have to weigh so many hundred pounds or write letters, or understand the Bible to get saved. All God said was to believe. Why? Jesus paid it all! The people that are saved today are people that believed the Gospel. And you do not believe God if you do not obey Him! I will prove it to you, too. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  I will show you my faith (without saying a word) by my works! It is not merely saying, “I believe” it is proving your belief. If you actually believe then you know what Jesus was talking about when He said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and prove it by your actions (Mk. 16:16). Jesus declared, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). If you do not obey, then you do not believe. 

God has fixed the matter so you need make no mistake about it, either. Too many jump over the fifth verse of the third chapter of John’s Gospel: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus stated emphatically that He “testified of that which He had seen; and spake that which He did know” (John 3:11), and this is what He spoke: “I know that if a man be not born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” If you have never been baptized in the name of JESUS CHRIST, you have never been immersed properly. This is the only name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved. If you repent deeply enough in your heart, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, I will guarantee that you shall receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost as you come up out of the water.[3] If people do not believe God’s Word they never get His best. Even if you do not understand, you must believe, before you can see the Glory of God.[4]


[1] SOURCE: http://www.greateremmanuelchurch.com/drsmith/haywood.htm. Accessed: 5/3/2012. (Link no longer works).

[2] Elder G. T. Haywood at the Apostolic Faith Assembly, Indianapolis, Ind., delivered this sermon during a Sunday morning service in April, 1922.

[3] At the end of this sermon seven persons accepted the word, came forward immediately for baptism. Four of them received the Holy Ghost while coming out of the water, and another soon after changing clothes.

[4] Edited by Stephen E. Kuntzman. 5/3/2012.

Categories
Consider this...

Siloam, Bethesda, Baptism and the Endtime

There is a possibility that the Pool of Siloam, and possibly the Bethesda Pool, were locations where 3,000 converts were baptized in Acts 2 following Peter’s answer to this question on that day of Pentecost:

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭KJV‬‬).

Are the stones crying out? Are they revealing truth in a manner unthought of before in these days of the endtime?

“For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it” (‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬).

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” (‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬).

If true, then the recent decision to finally excavate the Pool of Siloam may have far greater eschatological importance than what we may currently understand – https://m.jpost.com/archaeology/article-725901

Northern perimeter of the Pool of Siloam.
(photo credit: KOBI HARATI/CITY OF DAVID)

“And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke‬ ‭19‬:‭40‬ ‭KJV‬‬).

Consider also this article regarding the Pool of Bethesda – https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/jerusalem/the-bethesda-pool-site-of-one-of-jesus-miracles/

The Bethesda Pool, where Jesus heals the paralytic man in the Gospel of John, is a complex site. It appears to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath. As the spot of one of Jesus’ miracles, the Bethesda Pool was built over in subsequent periods with chapels and churches that are still visible today.

What if God, in these last days, is pulling out all the stops and allowing all disciplines of study to reveal the truth of His greatness and the necessity of obedience to the Gospel just prior to His return for the Church?

“Truth shall spring out of the earth; And righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalm‬ ‭85‬:‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬).

If “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse,” (Romans 1:20) then what excuse is even possible when the visible is right before our eyes?

We are beneficiaries of God’s rebuilding project: “And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:15-18).

“…from the beginning…”

Jesus Christ has broken down walls of division between Jews and Gentiles to make of them one people, the Church, and reconciled us to Him making us recipients of His promises and members of the household of God with a foundation built upon the apostles, the prophets and the Chief Corner Stone – Jesus Christ, the Rock on whom the church is built (Matthew 16:18).

Ephesians 2:11-22, “(11) Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;  (12)  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  (13)  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  (14)  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;  (15)  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;  (16)  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:  (17)  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.  (18)  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  (19)  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;  (20)  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;  (21)  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  (22)  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

SOURCE:
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-768cda173a5d349231610b674fc344d8-lq

The Pool of Siloam is thought to be less than a mile from the Temple, The Bethesda Pool is a little less than 2 miles from the Temple, and many think that the upper room mentioned in Acts 2 was in the outer court of said Temple. If true, can you see the 3,000 walking to those pools? They are rejoicing, dancing and speaking in unknown tongues “the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:1-11).

It is exciting to think that the excavation of these two places is happening in our day, and also that the Lord may be using these ruins to call people to Himself saying, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20).

Source:

The painting of the blind man washes his eyes in the pool at Siloam is by Harold Copping

The picture of the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/jerusalem/the-bethesda-pool-site-of-one-of-jesus-miracles/

Categories
church history

Pre-1900 Examples of Apostolic Doctrine in North America

The following is derived from a symposium paper co-authored by Stewart A. Bertram and myself in the Spring of 2005 and presented to Parkersburg Bible College (Parkersburg, WV) during their annual colloquium.

The oldest permanent English settlement in America was established on April 26, 1607, in Jamestown, Virginia. This plaque was posted on the wall of the lobby of the first church built there – Acts 2:38.

History undeniably records various elements of distinctly Orthodox Apostolic doctrine in North America as early as 1677, which was only 70 years after the first permanent settlement was established in Jamestown.[1]  What we will attempt to show is a chronological outline of these various apostolic doctrines and practices as they appear in the index of North American history.  While many will view this as a restoration of Apostolic Pentecostal experience we maintain that it actually proves the continued existence and growth of the orthodox teaching of the book of Acts.  We further assert that there have always been pockets of true believers in every century following and obeying the true message of the New Birth.  Some examples record partial alignment with the Apostles’ doctrine, the following is a list of some of those instances:

  • Society of Friends (Quakers) – “…our tongues loosed and our mouths opened, and we spake with new tongues as the Lord gave utterance, and as His Spirit led us.”[2]
  • John Wesley (1703-1791) – “What so impressed and encouraged John Wesley and his followers, what so shocked, startled, and bewildered his contemporaries, is no mystery to the modern psychologist, to whom it is known as glossolalia…”[3]
  • Charles G. Finney (1783-1875) – “I received a mighty baptism in the Holy Ghost…No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart.  I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.”[4]
  • John Miller – a Presbyterian minister wrote Is God a Trinity in 1876 and “believed that the doctrine of the trinity was not biblical and that it greatly hindered the Church….He emphatically declared the full deity of Jesus Christ.”[5]
  • D. L. Moody (1837-1899) – According to R. A. Torrey, Moody’s friend and associate, he once witnessed Moody walk to the pulpit to preach but instead of addressing the crowd in English he began to speak in another language.  This occurred one more time before he was able to gain control and preach to the audience, but “only after much prayer and praise.”[6]
  • Lowell, Ohio (1835) – a group of Camisards and/or French Huguenots establish an Orthodox Apostolic Acts 2:38 believing Church, but article IX of the church constitution changes the baptismal formula from Jesus’ name to the trinitarian formula in 1847.  In 1980 Dr. Nelson preaches the Apostolic message to the congregation and they convert back to the orthodox message of Acts 2:38.[7]
  • Dan Huntington (1850) – baptized people in Boston, Massachusetts in Jesus’ name.[8]
  • Canada (1854) – “There was an organization of Acts 2:38 clergymen in Canada.”[9]
  • America (1865) – More than 160,000 Americans spoke in tongues.[10] [11]
  • Alvin E. Velie (1884-1904) – all pre-1900:[12]

1)      Wrote the book Safety First Acts 2:38.

2)      Baptized over 1,500 people in Jesus’ name in Wisconsin.

3)       Preached in various locations along the Mississippi River.

4)      Preached a considerable amount of the time in the Salvation Army.

  • Charles Fox Parham – “the first leader in the twentieth century Pentecostal movement, began to administer water baptism in Jesus’ name, although he apparently did not link this practice with an explicit denial of trinitarianism.”[13]  Parham also “formulated the basic Pentecostal doctrine of ‘initial evidence’ after a student in his Bethel Bible School, Agnes Ozman, experienced glossolalia in January, 1901.”[14] 

[1] Weisser, Thomas. After the Way Called Heresy. 1981.

[2] Bresson, Bernard L. Studies in Ecstasy. New York: Vintage Press. 1966. p. 48-52.

[3] Bowen, Marjorie. Wrestling Jacob: a study of the life of John Wesley. London: Watts & Co. 1948.

[4] Finney, Charles G. Memoirs of Charles G. Finney, being an Autobiography. New York.
1876.

[5] Bernard, David K. The Oneness of God. Hazelwood: Pentecostal Publishing House. 1993. 31 May 2005.

[6] Darbee, Lennard. Tongues: the Dyanmite of God.

[7] Nelson, Joseph. Church History. Parkersburg Bible College. Lecture given and Church Constitution shown to class on 18 November 2002.

[8] Synan, V. Aspects of Pentecostal-Charismatic Origins, NJ: Logos. 1975.

[9] Arnold, Marvin M.  Apostolic History Outline. Arno Publications, Inc. 1985.

[10]Ibid.

[11] Blunt, John H. Dictionary Of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, And Schools Of Religious Thought. Ann Arbor: Gryphon Books. 1971.

[12] Nelson, Joseph. Church History. Parkersburg Bible College. Lecture on 18 November 2002.

[13] Bernard, David K. The Oneness of God. Hazelwood: Pentecostal Publishing House. 1993. 31 May 2005.

[14] Synan, V. Pentecostalism. 16 April 2005. http://mb-soft.com/believe/txc/pentecos.htm.

[Originally posted on 17 August 2011 on https://thepillarandgroundoftruth.blogspot.com/2011/08/pre-1900-examples-of-apostolic-doctrine.html]

Categories
Bible Teaching

The Ultimate Expression of Redemption

Exodus 6:1-9

1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

John 1:1-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

The national sin of slavery existed within the boundaries of the present USA for over 200 years. 

It has been nearly 157 years since the slaves were set free in our nation in 1865.

It is nearly impossible for men and women who were born in this modern era in these United States to know what it really means to be a slave.

To Be A Slave

To be a slave…

  • There must be a slave master
  • An individual is forced, against their will, to serve another/others.
  • Force will be used, fear, and punishment
  • Deception will be incorporated to gain slaves
  • A price will be agreed upon to possess a slave
  • Lies told to cloud the reality of the horror of slavery
  • A slave master will use the way of the whip (to drive the enslaved), the threat of the auction block (to place more fear of loss), and murder (life isn’t precious only the commodity)
  • The slave’s mind is brainwashed to destroy his ability to think for himself… 
  • The loss of the sense of self
  • Slaves in the USA had no family names of their own, but they were known by their master’s name.[1]

To Be A Slave

They called it a “slave coffle.”  This was a line of slaves chained together and then marched by the slave trader to some town where these enslaved humans would be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Treated as merchandise – – as a thing, a unit of economic power – – men and women suffered at the hands of other humans because their skin color, their helplessness and their place of birth.

The children of Israel were enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt.  The Egyptians kept these children of promise in bondage, and their cry, groans, & sorrows were heard by the Lord.

God sees your state. 

He’s aware of what it is that enslaves you.

He knows where you are right now.

He has heard your cries, seen your tears and is touched by your condition

Job said, “…He knoweth the way that I take…” (Job 23:10).

Hebrews 4:14-16

(14)  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

(15)  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

(16)  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

He knows what it’s like to be tempted by the false allure of sin.

Many in this room have face a harsh taskmaster…

They have felt the whip of the driver…

But…those same people are here today as witnesses to the freedom that Jesus gives. 

People who were once enslaved by:

JealousyEnvyHatred
DrugsAlcoholGambling
PornographyIllicit RelationshipsCigarettes
GossipingBack-bitingStrife
Digging up the pastTale-bearingLying
Playing the busybodyArrogancePride
LustSelf-righteousnessLooking down on others
Spiritual superiorityBad attitudesAnger
BitternessSicknessDisease

There are saints here right now who know what Jesus meant when He said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Are you free? 

Do you really want to be freed from sin?

What do you want to be free from?  Hell?

Lust? Pride? Arrogance? Ditch Digging?

These chains of unrighteousness are indicators that you still need to be set free from sin’s enslavement.

Signs that while you may be free in some areas, you are still in need of deliverance in others.

Gal. 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Do you groan out to God for freedom from the slavery of sin and satan? 

Do you want the bonds of sin to be broken from your life?

Do you cry out in your bed of oppression at night?

Does the oppression and overwhelming habit of sinful activities, habits, and behavior leave your mind with no peace?

The psalmist wrote (Ps. 6:6-7), “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.”

The beautiful hope we have tonight is that Jesus has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin.

He has bought us, freed us, and declared us His people, not His slaves, but His adopted children.

And because we are His children we have access to the benefits of redemption.

When the Lord brought the Hebrews out of Egyptian slaver He declared Four Expressions of Redemption (Ex. 6:6-7):

  1. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
    • Jehovah brought the Israelites out of Egypt and took the burden of slavery from off their shoulders.
    •  Jesus will bring you out of the world of sin and lift the burden of guilt that sin has set on your shoulders.
    • You no longer need to suffer when Jesus frees you from sin.
  2. I will rid you out of their bondage
    • The LORD delivered the Israelites from the chains of slavery.
    • Jesus will deliver you from those addictions and behaviors that seem to hang on you like chains.
    • Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
  3. I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments
    • God showed Himself strong for the Israelites, revealed Himself to them by His redeeming name (Jehovah/LORD), and brought judgment on Pharaoh in Egypt and at the Red Sea.
    • Jesus wants to show you His love and compassion by freeing you from the penalty of sin, by revealing His true nature to you, and by bringing judgment on those things that have enslaved you for so long.
    • Isaiah 53:1-5, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
  4. I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
    • The children of Israel are known as God’s people – – the children of promise.
    • Because of Jesus, we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

When Jesus redeemed you, He paid the purchase price for your release.  Your freedom was purchased by another and it includes:

  • Healing (Physical, Spiritual, & Emotional)
  • Victory over sin
  • Salvation
  • Eternal Life
  • Deliverance

Jesus frees completely and wholly, not partially or half-way.

Jesus wants you to be free in your spirit, soul and body: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

There’s no use trying to sidestep the issue. You’re either free, or you’re not – holy, or not – right, or not.

If you need, want, desire, long for freedom, Jesus is here to free you.

If you’re free then you need to remind yourself of who you are:

  • You are the head and not the tail (Deut. 28:13)
  • You are above only, and not beneath (Deut. 28:13)
  • You are more than a conqueror (Ro. 8:37)
  • You are a peculiar treasure (Ex. 19:5)
  • You are a citizen of a holy nation (Ex. 19:6)

Lionel B. Fletcher wrote, “The thoughts that are welcomed in our minds…are a reflection of our true selves as we appear in the sight of God.”[2]

Sometimes, the slave trader, that old enemy the devil, comes to kidnap a free born citizen of the kingdom of God.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Once you find freedom, don’t forget where God has brought you from.

Jesus met with some Jews one day and found that they’d forgotten their origin and who it was that delivered them from slavery. 

Jesus ignored their obvious mistake and went to the heart of the matter – – their slavery to sin.

John 8:30-36,“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Jesus properly identified satan when he said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). 

The devil is a slave master who wants to take from you all your strength, vitality, purpose, and destiny; but Jesus is The Ultimate Expression of Redemption for you today:

  • He alone is the spoken Word made flesh. 
  • He alone is the Savior and Redeemer
  • Isaiah 49:26, “All flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.”
  • Isaiah 43:11, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.”
  • The word “LORD,” refers to Jehovah.  This is the redeeming name of God in the Old Testament. 
  • When the angel told Mary that the child in her was to be called Immanuel he was signaling that He who was to be born was “God with us.”  This simply means that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ of the New Testament.
  • He alone is the “express image” of God (Heb. 11:1-3).
  • “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
  • 1 Tim 3:16, “…God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
  • “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)

Listen to me.

You are not a slave. 

You are a child of God. 

Your current condition is slavery. 

You were created and destined to have dominion over all the earth.

In the book To Be A Slave, Julius Lester shares this true story:

Eliza was a pretty girl.  Her master was her father and her mother was a slave.  When the girls in the big house had suitors come to visit them, they’d ask, “Who is that pretty gal?”  So they decided to get rid of her right away.  The day they sold her, at the auction block, they stripped her to be bid off and looked at.  The man that bought Eliza was from New York.  The slaves in the community had enough money together to buy her freedom, but they wouldn’t let that happen.  There was a big Swedish man there who bid for Eliza that day as well.  He always bid for the pretty slave girls and bought them for his own use.  He asked the man from New York, “What you gonna do with her when you get her?”  The man from New York said, “None of your business, but you ain’t got money enough to buy her.”  After the man from New York paid for her, he turned, looked at Eliza and said, “Eliza, you are free from now on.”[3]

Jesus is in the freeing business (John 8:36):

  • “So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.” (NLT)
  • “So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!” (The Complete Jewish Bible)
  • “So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will really be free.” (New International Reader’s Version)

Jesus came to Nazareth one day and opened the scroll of Isaiah and read:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18-21).

The Ultimate Expression of Redemption is Jesus for He came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).

[1] Lester, Julius. (1968). To Be A Slave. Dell Publishing Co. Inc.: New York, NY.

[2] Fletcher, Lionel B. (1933). The Pathway to the Stars. Hunt, Barnard & Co., Ltd: London, England. p.25.

[3] Lester, Julius. (1968). To Be A Slave. Dell Publishing Co. Inc.: New York, NY.

Categories
Bible Teaching

The Promise

Text: John 14:15-26, “(15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.  (16)  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;  (17)  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  (18)  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.  (19)  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.  (20)  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.  (21)  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  (22)  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?  (23)  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  (24)  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.  (25)  These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.  (26)  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

            God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven and will accomplish its goal.  God generally offers two types of promise in the Bible:

  1. Unconditional – The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not depend on any future action on their part because they were unconditional and would come to pass regardless of anything that these men did or didn’t do:
    • Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”
    • Isaiah 28:11-12, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
  2. Conditional – The Bible contains “if…then” statements.  These are requirements that you must meet to receive the promise.  They represent future acts that must be obeyed to receive the full promise:
    • 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
    • Acts 2:37-39, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Often the question is asked, “Why Tongues?”[1]

  1. God is not accountable to us for what He chooses to so.  He is Sovereign, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior…
  2. Tongues is an initial external sign that must be followed by the fruit of the Spirit.
    1. Gal. 5:22-23, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…”
    1. John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
  3. It is the consistent pattern of evidence established by God as essential in the New Birth:
    1. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
  4. The tongue is the most unruly member of the body and when you receive the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues you are allowing God to control the most expressive part of your personality.  Man’s expression of emotion, intelligence, and communication is articulated through the tongue.

It’s just for the Apostles and Early Church:

            Irenaeus (died 202) ~ “In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God.”[2]

            Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) ~ “sang in unknown words with such facility and winsomeness that her utterances were known as ‘concerts in the Spirit’.”[3]

            The Waldenses (c. 1217) ~ these followers of Peter Waldo believed in visions and prophecies.[4] Both healing and speaking in tongues were manifested among these heavily persecuted Christians.[5]

            Early Quakers ~ “We received often the pouring down of the Spirit upon us, and our hearts were made glad and our tongues loosed and our mouths opened, and we spake with new tongues as the Lord gave utterance, and as His Spirit led us.”[6]

            John Wesley ~ People in Wesley’s meetings would be filled with the Holy Ghost while he preached.[7]

                    Thomas Walsh (one of Wesley’s foremost preachers) made this entry in his diary; “This morning the Lord gave me a language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner.”[8]

                    In England (1830) there was a revival under Edward Irving where gifts of the Spirit were manifested. One member of the congregations writes: “The moment I am visited with the Spirit, and carried out to God in a tongue which I know not… I am more conscious than ever of the presence of God. He and He alone is in my soul. I am filled with some form of the mind of God, be it joy or grief, desire, love, pity, compassion, or indignation; and I am made to utter it in words which are full of power over my spirit, but not being accessible to my understanding, my devotion is not interrupted by association of suggestions from the visible or intellectual world: I feel myself, as it were, shut in with God in His pavilion, and hidden close from the invasions of the world, the devil, and the flesh.”[9]

                    Charles G. Finney ~  “I received a mighty baptism in the Holy Ghost…No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.”[10]

                    D. L. Moody ~ “One the following Sunday night, when I got to the rooms of the Y.M.C.A. I found the meetings on fire. The young men were speaking in tongues and prophesying. What on earth did it all mean? Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon.”[11] At a meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. R.A. Torrey told of a service in London where Moody took the pulpit to preach and instead broke into another language. He tried again, with similar results. The third time, after prayer and praise, he was able to preach his message.[12]

                    Charles H. Spurgeon ~ a British preacher told how Spurgeon once asked his audience to forgive him that when he got especially happy in the Lord, “I break forth into a kind of gibberish which I do not myself understand.”[13]

How Do I Receive this Phenomenon of the Holy Ghost?[14]

  1. Prepare your heart by obeying Acts 2:38 (Repent).
  2. Understand that God wants you to receive His gift as much as you want it…just ask Him for the Holy Ghost: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
  3. You must be hungry to receive His Spirit.
    1. Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
    1. James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
  4. Expect to receive: “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).
  5. Believe to receive: John 7:38-39, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
  6. Relax!!

Promise of Christ’s Return:

            1 Corinthians 15:51-56, “51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

[1] “Speaking In Tongues.” Various Authors. Retrieved 5-15-2005 from http://altupc.com/articles/tongues1.htm.

[2] Against Heresies, V,6,1, Ibid., vol 1, p. 531

[3] George H. Williams and Edith Waldvogel, “A History of Speaking in Tongues and Related Gifts,” in The Charismatic Movement, ed. by Michael P. Hamilton, p. 70

[4] R. Kissack, “Waldenses,” The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. by J.D. Douglas, revised edition, p. 1026

[5] Gordon F. Atter, The Third Force, p. 13

[6] Bresson, Studies in Ecstacy, pp. 48-52

[7] http://www.holyspiritinfo.net/ch_hist.htm

[8] Entry of March 8, 1750, quoted by Frodsham, With Signs following, p. 232

[9] A.L. Drummond, Edward Irving and His Circle, pp. 161-162

[10] Charles G. Finney, Autobiography, p. 20

[11] Boyd, Robert, The Lives and Labours of Moody and Sankey, p. 47

[12] Lennard Darbee, Tongues: The Dynamite of God, p. 24.

[13] Ibid. p.24

[14] Principles of Doctrine: Lesson 11. “Holy Spirit Baptism.” Parkersburg Bible College.

The Promise | 15 May 2005

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Shifting Sands: Stability in Changing Times

Apostolic Life Cathedral, 8/24/2021, 7:00 PM