1 Timothy 3:15, "...that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
Text: Hebrews 12:28-29, “(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.”
Ancillary: 2 Timothy 1:6-7, “(6) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (7) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
The Civil War hit home in the Cabell County town of Guyandotte on November 11, 1861. Union troops burned the town in retaliation over a raid pulled off the day before by Confederate cavalry.
Joe Geiger, who has written a book about the Civil War in Cabell County, says Guyandotte’s fate was the result of suspected collaboration with the Confederate raiders and the town’s secessionist reputation.
Geiger said, It’s not really clear exactly how many buildings were burnt. But practically the entire business section was burned and a number of houses as well.
It’s interesting to note Confederate sympathizers’ houses were not the only ones targeted. Many houses belonging to people of Union sympathies were burned as well.
In the fall of 1861, Guyandotte served as a hostile host to a Union recruit camp. The recruits weren’t able to put up much of a fight against the raiders. They were taken prisoner and forced to march to New Bern, Virginia.
According to Geiger, some of the animosity came about because of the march of the prisoners. It began at a full run. They were tied two-by-two with rope and were herded out of town. Apparently, quite a few of the Guyandotte secessionist women were dressed up with their aprons and were yelling at the prisoners and such. The march was very torturous…
The Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper called Guyandotte the “ornaryest place on the Ohio River” and said it ought to have been burned earlier.
That event is called
“The Burning of Guyandotte.”
I’m praying that another fresh fire will begin to burn in Guyandotte tonight and its flames will burn through the Tre-State.
One hundred years ago, In 1924, a Pioneer of the Pentecostal Movement, Lill Horton had a dream. She was in a Church full of stoves, but she was shivering with cold. So, she sought for an interpretation and this was what she received:
“There’s plenty of people (stoves) who need to have the fire of God kindled in them, but they do not have the Holy Ghost to kindle the fire. You need to go where the Holy Ghost fire is burning.”[2]
You are in a Church tonight where God’s fire and shekinah falls and fills the stoves of all who will willingly reach out to Him in faith, call out in repentance and praise Him with their whole heart.
Others in this room tonight have received the Holy Spirit of God, but you’ve allowed the flame to become a barely glowing ember.
You need to hear, heed, listen and obey Paul’s words to Timothy:
“(6) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (7) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
It is absolutely necessary that you stir the embers and bring forth a fresh fire tonight.
For 100 years there has been a fire in Guyandotte.
It started in Guyandotte and that same Holy Ghost fire is here tonight.
This campus in located at 350 Staunton Street in the Guyndotte section of Huntington…
But this fire I’m preaching isn’t confined to any street of section.
“Our God Is A Consuming Fire”
The fire of the Holy Ghost crosses rivers and bridges
Social divisions, economic disparities, prejudicial thinking, generational gaps
The Holy Ghost fire I am talking about is a cord of flame uniting every Spirit-filled believer together in their faith and experience:
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 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” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).
Our God is a consuming fire!
Look at our text: Hebrews 12:28-29, “(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.”
This kingdom that began on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 (And when the day of Pentecost was fully come), placed in those 120 Holy Ghost divine power:
“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” (Acts 1:8).
This kingdom cannot be moved.
It is built and established on a Rock – The Lord Jesus Christ – and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it.
A consuming fire?
God in Christ is a consuming fire. Our Lord Jesus is “full of grace and mercy, yet He will appear in great wrath to His enemies, who will not let Him reign over them.”[3]
There is a payday someday.
So, we worship Him with reverence – a humility recognizing our unworthiness, and Godly fear – a desire from our most tender area of faith and affection not to offend God.[4]
Why? Although we see Him in this present church age as a God of mild majesty, He still possesses the tremendous power He displayed at mount Sinai, and one day, maybe tonight, He will break forth as a consuming fire against all those who violate His law and despise his gospel.[5]
I used the fire pit last night while cleaning out my garage,
The fire was hot, bright and even singed hair on the back of my hand.
The smoke got all over my clothes, my skin, hair, and even nostrils were full of the smoke…the lasting residue of the fire.
Paul told us what lasting effect the Gift, the fire, of the Holy Ghost has on us:
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
No Fear – no timidity, no cowardice, but boldness
Power – a holy courage, dunamis, miraculous power, strength,
“Power to encounter foes and dangers; power to bear up under trials; power to triumph in persecutions.”[6]
Love – God & Man
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).
Sound Mind – To think clearly. Discretion. The Mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:1-11, (1) If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, (2) Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(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.
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.”
Matthew 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
At no time on earth since Acts 2 has there been a moment when there wasn’t a Spirit-filled believer.
God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven and will accomplish its goal. There are generally, two types of promises God makes with man in the Bible:
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:
Genesis 12:1-3 [sevenfold blessing], “(1) Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: (2) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: (3) And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 15:13-18, “(13) And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; (14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. (15) And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. (16) But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (17) And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. (18) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Galatians 3:15-18, “(15) Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (17) And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (18) For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
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.”
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.”
God is not accountable to us for what He chooses to so. He is Sovereign, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior…He is GOD.
Tongues is an initial external sign that must be followed by the continuing evidence of Fruit of the Spirit.
Gal. 5:22-23, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…”
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.”
It is the consistent pattern of evidence established by God as essential in the New Birth:
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.”
Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Acts 10:46, “For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.”
Acts 19:6, “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”
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.
T. F. Tenney asked, “Why not tongues?”
Virtually the entire third chapter of James is devoted to admonishing the church to beware of that little member that boasts of great things. James goes on to refer to the tongue as a fire, and says that it is capable of defiling the whole body. Did you ever hear of fighting fire with fire? This is exactly what happens when the fire of God’s Spirit enters a man and gains control of his tongue.[3]
James refers to the tongue as the most unruly and hard-to-tame member of the body. Is there any wonder that God has chosen this sign to indicate complete submission to Him. The overpowering blaze of the Holy Spirit neutralizes the burning embers of the carnal tongue. At last the most unruly member of the body is conquered, and the Holy Spirit declares through it in a language known only to God, that Christ has been enthroned in the heart of the believer.[4]
Supernatural? Of course! But when we rob Christianity of its supernatural impetus, we have destroyed its vitality and passion.[5]
Some say, “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.”[6]
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179: “sang in unknown words with such facility and winsomeness that her utterances were known as ‘concerts in the Spirit’.”[7]
The Waldenses (c. 1217): these followers of Peter Waldo believed in visions and prophecies.[8] Both healing and speaking in tongues were manifested among these heavily persecuted Christians.[9]
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.”[10]
John Wesley: People in Wesley’s meetings would be filled with the Holy Ghost while he preached.[11]
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.”[12]
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.”[13]
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.”[14]
D. L. Moody: “On 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.”[15] 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.[16]
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.”[17]
How Do I Receive this Phenomenon of the Holy Ghost?[18]
Prepare your heart by obeying Acts 2:38 (Repent).
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)
You must be hunger to receive His Spirit.
Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
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.”
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).
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.)”
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.”
* Instruction in receiving Holy Ghost is NOT teaching someone to speak in tongues. It is the strategic practice of removing common roadblocks that keep people from receiving the Holy Ghost and speaking with tongues. *
You must believe God wants to filled EVERYONE with the Holy Ghost and that God will work through you and confirm your words. Stop worrying about looking foolish. Surrender your fears about ego for the cause of the Gospel.
You must conquer your personal fear…trust that God will come through – Take a risk
Talk clearly and avoid distractions.
Do not speak in Christianese.
Do not talk too fast.
They must understand what the Holy Ghost is and how to yield to it.
Don’t spit on them.
Make sure you have pleasant breath.
Be certain that they can hear you.
Ask them if they would “like to receive the Holy Ghost.”
Explain repentance in simple terms – do not expect the exact result you had.
I usually try to connect them with what they are saying WHILE they are saying it. (Come on, _____You’ve got to mean it when you say it…etc)
Stop them and ask if they “meant what they said.” – according to scripture they are “forgiven.”
Luke 11:9-10, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Explain what happens next…and BUILD THEIR FAITH.
“Are you ready to receive the Holy Ghost?”
The Holy Ghost is a gift (Don’t beg, plead or even ask…just receive).All you have to do is lift your hands (as a sign of surrender) and begin to say out loud, “thank you Jesus for the Holy Ghost…”
There will come a point VERY QUICKLY…that sounds will come to your mind that you will not understand. When that happens you MUST speak out those sounds (sometimes I ask, “will you do that”).
If the individual is not following your instruction, the chances are very low that they will receive the Holy Ghost. Tell them, “I’m going to lay my hands on your head just like they did in the Bible and when I do the same thing that happened then is going to happen to you. You will receive the Holy Ghost….BUT remember YOU must speak out those things that come to your mind. YOU have to speak the sounds out but the Holy Ghost will tell you what to say.” Ask them “When you hear those sounds will you speak it out?” (have them answer verbally…not nodding their head.)
Have them begin “before” you lay hands on them, then lay hands on them.
Sidenote: (The practice of “laying on of hands”) – Forehead wrist to elbow. No weird massaging. I rarely lay hands on them until the last possible moment.
Once they receive the Holy Ghost confirm it…almost EVERYONE has doubts.
Ask them 1st: “Did you hear yourself speak in tongues?”
Then: “So did God just fill you with the Holy Ghost?”
Don’t allow someone to develop a habit of “seeking” for the Holy Ghost. Stop them after 2 or 3 minutes and build their faith.
Make sure they’ve really repented.
Encourage them.
Close the deal with Baptism – Don’t ask…tell them they need to
(politely command).
(The disciples weren’t shy about commanding baptism).
*** Be Sure to write down their contact information *** (This is how we begin the crucial process of discipleship).
Let’s close our eyes and invite Jesus to talk with us right now
<<Pray a simple prayer asking Jesus to speak and touch the hearts of everyone there>>
Jesus is here with us. The Bible says everyone has a bit of faith inside, and we can use that faith to talk to Jesus. Showing Jesus that we have faith makes Him happy.
We need Jesus. Life without Him is not good. We need Jesus to help us. We want Him to fill our hearts with His Spirit. We have faith, but His Spirit gives us the power to overcome.
When we are filled with the Holy Ghost, Jesus lives in our hearts. He gives us direction. He helps us do what is right. We are all special to God. When we worship Him with all our hearts, He can do special things in our lives.
Prayer 2—Repentance Prayer
For Jesus to live inside us, He has to clean out our hearts. Our faith helps us repent. It is time to tell Jesus we are sorry for the bad things we have thought and said and done. We are all going to ask Jesus to help us change and not do those things anymore.
<<After leading in a simple prayer of repentance,
invite children to the altar>>
Now our hearts are clean for Jesus to live in them, and it is time to ask Him to come into our hearts. If you are ready to use your faith and pray that right now, come to the altar
Prayer 3—At the Altar
Let me tell you three simple steps for praying:
Close Your Eyes: First, close your eyes and think about Jesus and how much He loves you. Right now, all that matters is talking with Jesus. We are not going to look around at anyone else. This time is just for Jesus, when you can show Him you have faith and believe He wants to hear you. Just think about Him and begin to talk to Him like you would talk to your best friend. Use simple words that tell Him how much you love Him and how you want Him to be your best friend. Pray out loud; Jesus likes to hear your voice.
Lift Your Hands: Now we lift our hands and reach to Jesus. We want Him to fill our hearts, so we put our faith to work by raising our hands to Him and showing Him we are open to Him. Keep talking to Jesus and telling Him what you want. If you want the Holy Ghost, ask Him for it. It’s like asking your mom or dad for a gift. Jesus wants to give you His gift.
Talk to Jesus: Talk to Jesus in your outside voice. As you talk to Him, you may feel something very special start to happen. You may begin to feel like you are saying words you cannot understand. That is good, because those words are Jesus talking through you with your voice. Just let those words pour out of your mouth as you let Jesus come live in your heart.
Conclude every session with a time of thanks and praise to God. Also affirm children that they have done a good job of praying. Your prayers are very beautiful to God. He loves it when you reach out to Him. Your faith makes Him happy.
Encourage those who wanted to receive the Holy Ghost but did not that God loves them and is working in their lives. We will continue to pray, and God will continue to touch each of our lives as we continue to seek Him.
[1] This is an updated version of a sermon I originally preached on May 15, 2005, in Rockport, IN, to the congregation of Landmark Apostolic Bible Church, which was then pastored by the late and beloved James Denham.
[7] 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
[8] R. Kissack, “Waldenses,” The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. by J.D. Douglas, revised edition, p. 1026
In the third chapter of Revelations, it is said: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know they works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Verses 14 to 16. We are living in this day now, when men need to be anointed with eye-salve. It is the last period of the Church. From Adam to Christ 4,000 years rolled away into eternity; then from Christ’s time to the pouring out of His Spirit in seven-fold measure, that is, the fulness of the Spirit poured out to go through the entire Gospel age, and on through the same, almost 2,000 years have flown by, and we are found in the end of the age.
The Career of the Church
Garfield Thomas Haywood
The first period of the Church following the day of Pentecost was the Ephesian days; then followed the Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea periods in turn. There are seven of them. The seven branched candlestick which is shown in the first chapter of Revelation, refers to the seven-fold dispensation of the one church on earth throughout the gospel age.
Jesus, moreover, spake seven parables in the 13th chapter of Matthew, which are, in order, the parable of the sower, the wheat and tares; the grain of mustard seed; the leaven; the treasure hid in a field; the pearl of great price, and lastly, that of the net cast into the sea.
The same Jesus that spoke on the Isle of Patmos to seven churches is the same one who spake the seven parables in the days of His flesh, when in human form. When He spake the seven messages to the Church, He was in glorified form. And so when He spake the parables, he referred to the career of the Church on earth; and when He spoke of the seven candlesticks, He referred to the Seven periods of the Church in its spiritual relationship.
Truly the Word of God is like the bread with which Jesus fed the multitude: the more your break it the more there is to it. You can never exhaust the word of God. It is not possible to get to the place where you can truly say, “l am familiar with the whole Word,” for the true Word is God himself.
And so we find the parable of the sower compares with the Ephesian age; and the parable of the wheat and the tares corresponds to the Smyrnian age; the parable of the mustard seed to the Pergamite time; the parable of the leavened meal to the Thyatiran dispensation; the hid treasure compares to the Sardian period; the costly pearl to the Philadelphian age; and lastly the dragnet parable to the Laodicean, or lukewarm age, in which we are living. People neither call themselves saints nor sinners. You ask them if they are saints and they will say, “Why, no; that is foolishness.” They don’t feel a bit condemned about dancing, stealing and telling lies, playing cards, poker, chewing and smoking. But any man upon whom God has really put His seal, feels sorry at the least thing done contrary to God’s word. Let us take Ephesians 1:16, 17; and read, “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” That is, to know God, comes by revelation. It is not what you can study, neither what I can explain to you, but is what God can impress upon your heart by His Spirit.
“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”-Eph. 1:18. Now I cannot tell to save my life just what He has got in us. He has not made a bad bargain when He bought us! I used to think the rag man was the most foolish man, but I found later he could make more money out of those things than I could with my hard labor. Say, we were such a ragged pack of old bones; but God bought us with His own precious blood! There is something rich in glory about this purchasing our unworthy selves by the Lord. God could not be fooled. He knew His business. God says, “Why they are going to praise Me!” (And I am beginning it now!)
God desires that our eyes be anointed in these last days but it takes God to anoint our eyes. He is going to show us something, even beautiful things to come. I wish to give you the likeness of the parable of the Sower with the Church of Ephesus; and each of the other parables with each of the other Churches in turn. The word “Ephesus” refers to the “moon” and has the sense of the “beginning of the season.” So it was in the beginning of the season of the Gospel, that the Sower went forth to sow the word of God. The parable of the wheat and tares corresponds with the Church of Smyrna. There was a mixture of tares and wheat. So we find in Smyrna, “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”-Rev. 2:9. The wheat and the tares in the field are hypocrites mingling with the saints in the Church through tradition. Then we have the mustard seed, which when grown, became the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, insomuch that the birds of the air came and lodged in the branches thereof. And to correspond with this, in the church of Pergamos Satan gained a seat; for God said: “I know where Satan’s seat is.”–Rev. 2:13.
Then we have a woman mentioned in both the parables of the leaven and the corresponding church in Thyatira. This woman taught them to commit fornication, which God calls the worshipping of more than one God.–Ex. 34:15, 16. Did not He accuse Israel of harlotry because she went after Baal? And that church of Thyatira taught them to worship three gods by hiding the doctrine in three persons in the Godhead, and leavened the whole religious world.
Next there is the hidden treasure parable. You read the parable and the letter to the Church of Sardis, and you have an exact picture of the life of the people of the Reformation. They did not have the “life” for they only had a name as being alive, but were dead.–Rev. 3:1. But Luther did have faith, though he gave them no life. That hid treasure was “faith.” He sold out all his future prospects with Catholicism so he could get this treasure. The world is the field.
The Philadelphian age of the church is the great age of holiness which began to be preached all over the world. A pearl is a gem which you might term as “brought about by the death of another.” For an oyster has to die to bring forth a pearl. It is a type of oneness and unity. Christ had to die to bring forth the Church, that true “Pearl.” Holiness truth is a wonderful pearl!
And God said, “Don’t cast your pearl before swine.” The parable of the Pearl and the Philadelphian period of the church are one and the same.
And the Church of the Laodiceans is the last church period; and the dragnet parable is the last parable, showing we are living in the lukewarm age of the church, in the end of the age, when God is dragging the gospel dragnet throughout the world. I believe that net is water baptism in Jesus’ name which has come forth “in the end of the Gospel Age.” The pen-photo of the nominal Church today is graphically portrayed in the letter to the Church of Laodicea. And it is at this same time that the net is being cast into the water in Jesus’ name. When one man came to me with the argument that some were going beck on the baptism in Jesus’ name, I went to the Lord and the Lord said, “Look at the parable.” I read it again and it says, He “cast the bad away.”-Matt. 13:48. Thank God that them who come unto Him with a good and honest heart He will in no wise case out.
One of the things we really need to know, is something on the dispensations. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled. Repent and believe the Gospel.” And I say to you, the time is fulfilled. Repent and believe ye the Gospel! The coming of the Lord is at hand. Let thy kingdom come!
[2]BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Bishop Garfield Thomas Haywood was born July 15, 1880, in Greencastle, Indiana. His parents were Ben and Penn Ann Haywood. In 1883 he and his family moved to Indianapolis where he would reside the remainder of his life. Bishop Haywood never finished high school, but was nonetheless a great scholar, artist, composer of songs, and author, which became evident in his later life. On February 11, 1902, he married Ida Howard of Owensboro, Kentucky. To this union was born one daughter, Fannie Haywood (Ellis). Bishop Haywood received the Holy Ghost in February of 1908. He assumed the pastorate of a disorganized group of 13 people in 1909, and built it into one of the most outstanding churches of the generation. Christ Temple of Indianapolis, Indiana, still stands as a monument to the feats done under the leadership of this warrior of the Gospel. Bishop Haywood, from about 1910-1914, was a viable force in the Assemblies of God. He came under conviction of the “Jesus Name” baptism in 1915 and from that time established himself as a proponent of the deity of Christ. He rose through the ranks of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, serving as general presbyter, and finally as its first Presiding Bishop. He held that office for six years until his untimely death. Bishop Haywood left this earthly abode at 10:40 AM Sunday morning, April 12, 1931, at the age of 51.
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]
[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.
This seventh installment on the topic of Pamphlets from Oneness Pentecostal Writers covers this gem.
Title: Water Baptism
Author: n/a
Publisher: n/a
Year: n.d.
Description: about water baptism in Jesus’ name and how it was historically changed by the Roman Catholic Church 300 years after Christ ascended to Heaven to accomodate the heresy of the trinity.
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).
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.”
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).
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]
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.
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:
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.”
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.”
God is not accountable to us for what He chooses to so. He is Sovereign, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior…
Tongues is an initial external sign that must be followed by the fruit of the Spirit.
Gal. 5:22-23, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…”
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.”
It is the consistent pattern of evidence established by God as essential in the New Birth:
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.”
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]
Prepare your heart by obeying Acts 2:38 (Repent).
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)
You must be hungry to receive His Spirit.
Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
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.”
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).
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.)”
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.”
[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
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