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"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 2:39
Everything we know about the Holy Spirit coming upon us is about position and power! There is a level of power available to the church that unless we understand this aspect of his (the Holy Spirit's) ministry, we will never rise to the place where we learn to operate in it. And this has been the issue for centuries now. Much of the church world has relegated the supernatural power of God to the apostolic age. They have been quick to acknowledge the miracle working power of God during the early church, but they have denied that it is available for us today.
I can't find anywhere in the New Testament, where it tells us that when the last apostle died the power of God lifted off the church, and now the only power we have to work with is God's sovereign power, which he exercises at his only will in saving a person's soul. How that idea ever got started is a mystery to me, but that is exactly how some churches teach. There is documentation after documentations proving that miracles continued after the apostles passed away. The early church fathers spoke often of the power of healing and the gift of tongues. The work of the Holy Spirit, in all of his power, was not meant to be contained within the first century church! Peter said, "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 2:39). He was speaking about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. That same experience is still available for us today!
David Womack has an excellent book entitled, "The Wellsprings of the Pentecostal Movement." He goes into detail on the first three or four centuries of the church, and how God showed himself with mighty signs and wonders through his people. It is a sad indictment against the church world to think that she has somehow accepted the teachings of those who have failed to realize that God has not changed, and that his power is still the same power it has ever been. Friend, I'm telling you that the Holy Spirit is here today just like he was in the early church, and he will remain here, in all his power, until the church is taken out of the way.
In the gospel of John, chapter seven, on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, saying: "If any man thirst let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. "Here, the gospel writer goes on to say, "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" (John 7:37-39). I wonder if believing on Jesus is any different today than it was at the beginning! I wonder if after Jesus was glorified and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church, that God gave them something different than what is available for us today. Is our experience today supposed to be different than their experience? Is it a different new birth? Is it a different Holy Spirit? Are we expected to settle for less than they had, and if so, why? Why should the early church have something we cannot have? It doesn't make any sense, does it?
No, my brothers and sisters, it is religious thinking that has held us back from experiencing the fullness of the blessing of the gospel. Jesus said in Mark sixteen, "And these signs shall follow them that believe..." (Mark. 16:17). Notice it didn't say they would only follow the apostles. Nor, did it say they would only follow the early church, or the first century church. It said they would follow believers. If you are a believer, then you should expect these signs to follow you. "...In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18). Everything that Jesus accomplished for his Church is still available today and has been throughout the entire Church age. We are living in the dispensation of grace, and God's grace has never changed. Hebrews chapter thirteen even says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb 13:8). If he is the same, and you can receive him into your life today as your Lord and Savior, then surely the Holy Spirit is the same, and he is still available to those who will believe. All that he is and ever was is God's promise to you. Accept it, and receive it, and your life will never be the same again. |
