The church needs to discover once again that we have an unchanging God and an unchanging kingdom. We need once again to discover the power of Pentecost. We need to become a Pentecostal church — and I am not talking about a denomination — I am talking about an Acts 2 church. We need to be filled with the Spirit. We need to be operating in the gifts of the Spirit. We need to see people’s lives turned around. We need to see people healed physically, emotionally, relationally, socially and spiritually. We need to experience the unity of the Spirit as the early church did. We need to be living in genuine love for each other, and when we fail at that then we need to seek reconciliation. We need to have the fire fall and the people of God to rise up.
I have been rereading the book of Acts recently myself. I am seeing again that signs and wonders were not the exceptions, they were the norm of the early church. Healings and supernatural happenings were expected and occurred regularly. Now some explain this by saying we are living in a different dispensation and that the age of miracles is over. That was for a specific time and place to authenticate the message of the apostles, but we no longer need that today. Realllly!! Does God really divide history up into neat little segments where he acts one way with one generation and a totally different way with another? If so, then God is not, “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). If he does respond differently at different times, then he is one kind of God at one point in history and an entirely different God at another.
Pentecostal power comes when you realize: The Christian life is not just about salvation, but transformation. There are many churches which are very different from the one in which I grew up. They faithfully preach about salvation and the necessity of new birth. In fact, that is what you hear almost every Sunday. The scripture changes, but the message is basically the same: “You need to be born again.” And that is good as far as it goes. It is a necessary first step. But if our faith only consists of a single event where we repented of our sin and came to Christ, then it is an incomplete faith. What if a baby was born and we all celebrated the new life, but the baby never took in nourishment, was never nurtured, never grew, never developed. As wonderful as its birth was, it would not survive. Pediatricians call it “failure to thrive.”
When I was a kid we used to sing an old hymn, “Pentecostal Power”.
“Lord send the old time power, that Pentecostal Power,
thy floodgates of blessing, on us throw open wide.
Lord send the old time power, that Pentecostal Power,
that sinners be converted and thy name glorified”
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Without the work of the Holy Spirit we would not know that there IS a judgment for those who do not measure up and in his work we come to an understanding of holy fear of that impending judgment
Holy Spirit is the one who causes one to feel guilty for their sin and fear the just judgment of God that awaits because our own righteousness is destitute of worth
The Holy Spirit will certainly convict you of waywardness but he will also confirm IN you that you have been forgiven of the guilt of your sin, that you have the Righteousness of Christ Justifying you and that you are FREE from Condemnation because “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1
WHY THE TONGUES?
Our spirit language enables us to have spirit-to-Spirit communication with God. Humans are spirit beings clothed with flesh-and-bone bodies. While man's sin deadened the spirit, Jesus brings the spirit back to life by imparting His everlasting life into us. The Holy Spirit gives us a spirit language so we can communicate directly with God (John 4:24; 1 Cor. 15:45; Gen. 2:7; Rom. 5:12; John 3:3-5, 16).
The Scriptures exhort us to be filled with the Spirit and to pray in the new tongues of our spirit language. Our spirit language enables us to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, be led of the Spirit, have the fruit of the Spirit, manifest the gifts of the Spirit and go from glory to glory until we are transformed into His same image (Gal. 5:22-25; Rom. 8:14; 1 Cor. 12:7-11; 14:15; Eph. 5:18; Acts 19:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).
The manifestation that came with the gift of the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues. It wasn't the wind, fire, noise or feeling of God's presence that was evidence of the gift being received but a spirit language—believers began speaking languages of the Spirit they didn't understand. It was God's plan for the gift to function as a spirit language for His children (Acts 2:4, 11; 1 Cor. 14:2).
Praying in tongues activates the fruit of the Spirit. It's vital and beneficial to have each of the spiritual attributes become active and mature in us. Praying in tongues helps us fulfill God's predestined purpose for us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 13:1-13; Rom. 8:29).
