First of all, I was born and raised in a Pentecostal atmosphere. I can vividly remember the saints of God shouting, singing and dancing in the Spirit. W-a-a-a-y. way before the Brownsville outpouring, I can remember services where uncontrolled laughter, or uncontrolled crying would sweep through the congregation. My Grandmother was usually where the laughter would start and I was always right there beside her.
I remember times when a Holy Hush would interrupt our loud praises. Someone would give a message in tongues, an interpretation would come, or someone would prophecy. I remember in one particular service, a Holy Hush fell over the congregation for thirty minutes. We had no children's church and no nursery.But no child moved, no child cried and no one talked. The only noise that was heard was the shuffling of feet as someone moved in their seat to get comfortable. There was an awesome presence of God that enveloped that whole congregation.
When it came time for prayer, no matter who was asked to lead, everyone prayed and cried out to God. As we poured out our hearts, indeed it did sound like thunder, but we knew we were making a connection with a Higher Power.
The bad part about it, a lot of Pentecostals began to use the outward actions to portray their 'holiness' or their devotion to God. In other words, the more and louder they shouted, spoke in tongues and prayed the holier they were. At home and on the job they might have been pure demons, but in a church service they were considered 'saints'.
Is there anything wrong with shouting, speaking in tongues and praying out loud? Absolutely not. A genuine Pentecostal will enjoy doing all of that and more as they pour out their hearts to God. But, Pentecostals don't do those things in their services any more. The Holy Spirit is not allowed dominion in their services anymore. There's always a time limit, or somebody's feeling limit or an embarrassment limit.
And I know the reason why. We've gotten things backwards. People consider themselves the ideal Pentecostal when they shout, speak in tongues and pray loud. That's how most people, Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals define the Pentecostal 'way' of worship. Shouting, speaking in tongues and praying loud has been considered the 'fire' of Pentecost. But, it's not.
These physical evidences are not the 'fire' and were never meant to be the 'fire'. They were meant ONLY to be the by-products of the real 'fire'. When people are stirred by the real 'fire' they will never have to 'stir up' these signs of the 'fire'. The real 'fire' will stir them.
Now let's define Pentecostal. Jesus said in Luke 24:49 for His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. He said nothing about tongues, shouts or loud praying although those things happened. But, Pentecost was the end of a long training session that lasted three long years for these disciples. There were some important changes in their lives that had to be made before the Father would endue them with power. You see, Pentecostals have been looking at the tongues and not prepared themselves for His power. And before you fire off a rebuttal, you'd better cool your jets and read the rest of this.
Everyone thinks that the four gospels display Jesus' power. I'm here to tell you they don't. The power is ONLY a by-product. What Jesus displayed was the relentless and never ending love of His Father. The people that the twelve disciples were told to stay away from were the very ones that Jesus went out of His way to talk to.
Agape love was the cornerstone that Jesus' ministry was built on. The Apostle Paul declared that 'faith worketh by love' (Gal 5:6). Jesus told His disciples on several occasions that they were to love each other as He loved them. I've said before that Jesus washed Peter's feet even though He knew that Peter would lie and cuss the next day.
What is wrong with Pentecostals? They started at the wrong end of the promise. They started with the gifts. They and all Christians should start where Pentecost started before they can get to where Pentecost ended. Pentecost started when God said that He would love mankind so much the He would provide His own Son as a sacrifice so He could overlook all of their sins and fellowship with his man. God loved man in spite of everything man did. That's the beginning of Pentecost. That's the beginning of His power.
Now, I'm going to lay into you. If you are a pastor, or you feel called to be a pastor or you just call yourself a Pentecostal and you don't walk in agape love.....you need to quit. You need to find an altar somewhere and repent of your sin. If there are people you just don't want to associate with.....just because.... turn in your resignation until you get right with God.
The disciples did not receive the power of God until after the night Jesus was arrested and they all fled, including Peter. (Yes, I know John stood by Him.) Everyone of them had to be challenged to their very souls before God would give them the power.
Jesus loved the unloveable and then said, "Love like I do." Then He healed and fed them. People offended Him but He loved them enough to call out from the cross, "Father, forgive them."
If you've held a grudge against someone whether they deserved it or not, give it up and love them. Whether your husband or wife loves you or not, love them without being bitter. Whether your children or your parents are what you think they should be, love them anyway and honor them like Jesus would.
When you do begin to love like Jesus did, strange things will begin to happen to you. The 120 were not expecting to speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost. They were just loving like Jesus said to and tarrying just like He said to. The gift of the Holy Spirit came with a lifetime full of extra benefits that were not necessarily described in the the Old Testament. It was a brand new and exciting way of life for those who chose to love.
Agape Love is where Pentecost starts. You can search the entire Bible until you're blue in the face, but God NEVER said that Pentecostal outpourings and miracles would pass away. When you make a daily habit of walking in Agape Love, Pentecostal outpourings and miracles will become the normal for you.
Now do it.
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