5 more wins.

I just thought for anyone who does not cheer for the greatest hockey team ever. That the Oilers are only 5 wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup.

100 Years of PENTECOST
I think this is the last part of the series for now.
It has been 100 years since the modern outbreak of Pentecost. Instead of changing our world and ushering in a time of great revival we have seen the opposite. The 20th century was the bloodiest in the history of the world. We have seen the moral decay march unopposed in Western culture in the face of Pentecostal revival. Abortion became legal, shacking up became acceptable, and same-sex marriage embraced. Religions of the world are gaining significant influence in what was a Christian culture for the western world. Fundamental Christians are seen more as power hungry manipulators than true followers of Jesus. In fact the current Prime Minister probably lost votes because of his connection to evangelical Christians. Somehow the great revivals of the early 20th century have become impotent. The charismatic church has lost its voice in society. We are not connecting to in a culture that desperately needs Christ. The amazing thing is that for all the problems in the Pentecostal Assemblies we are still growing, the number of people who worship in Pentecostal churches in Canada has gone up. However; we are much more capable than marginal growth. To rest on our accomplishments or to see meager growth as a sign that we don’t need to reexamine all we do, is short sighted and wishful thinking.
We need to teach that the Holy Spirit gives us power to live, but that we have a part to play in this. That what happens at the altar needs to be lived out in the world. That we see God’s presence and power more in living out the fruit of the Spirit than we do in the signs and wonders. There is not separation of the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit and the fruit, but that the two are joined like Siamese twins. If we want to preserve Pentecostalism in the new millennium it needs to be more about our mission and less about our distinctive.

SHAKEN NOT STIRRED - part number 3
We have somehow come to the conclusion that by making or seeking signs and wonders that we will force God’s presence to be with us. We have bought into the mind set that God only shows up in the revival meetings where the signs and wonders are evident. The rest of the time we are in the desert just playing church. I remember going to tent meetings in my home town when I was 16. Our church was all exited about these revival meetings. When the preacher asked for those who wanted more of the Holy Spirit I went up to receive. People were falling over in the Spirit, when the preacher got to me he started pushing really hard on my head. Pushing me back he told me to stand up straight close my eyes and put my arms up. And then with his other hand he hit the hand on my head and knocked me down. The guy catching me said “praise God” while I said “ouch”. I had experienced being “slain” or knocked over by the power of the Spirit before. This was nothing like that, as soon as I hit the ground, I was angry, how could someone try to manipulate the experience of God’s presence? I left the tent meeting that night disappointed that someone would try to create an experience and then tell me that it was God’s presence at work. I am not against signs and wonders. I have prayed and seen a girl healed of cancer, I prayed for a baby that was supposed to die, who is now four years old. This has nothing to do with my ability to create signs and wonders but the fact that I got a front row seat to see God intervene.
We need to teach the presence of God at all times. We need to teach the Elijah experience from

1 Kings 19
11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the
presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the
mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the
earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the
fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

We name our youth ministries Fire ______, or ________ wind, or we talk about the power of God that is like an earthquake and shakes us. I think a number of our youth ministries should be called the James Bond Martini. “Shaken not stirred” Our kids are shaken by the power of God but not stirred to action and living it out. To me the idea that God is in the gentle whisper is much more comforting than being in the fire, wind or earthquake. It means that God is with me all the time, not just in church or “Revival Meetings”. That God doesn’t just live at YC and Camp. But that he is with me at all times.
We need to teach that tongues are a gift of the Holy Spirit not the Holy Spirit. We need to teach that signs and wonders, tongues and miracles are not the purpose of the Holy Spirit but a result of his presence. That this presence is about living in the Spirit.

Life by the Spirit – Galatians 5
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and
you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature
desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the
sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what
you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness,
orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we
live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become
conceited, provoking and envying each other.

That the Holy Spirit empowers us to live as witnesses who possess;
A transforming love to a world that hates. A love that is defined in 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a]
of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a
clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body
to the flames,[b]
but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It
does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where
there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be
stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and
we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned
like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see
but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know
in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now
these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Joy speaks of hope and happiness in the midst of misery.
The peace of God, it calms our minds but also allows us to live in peaceful relationships.
Patience is the ability to put up with people even when tired. To be “slow to anger” Joel 2:13
Kindness is mirroring the kindness that God shows to man.
Goodness the primary function of goodness is found in generosity.
Faithfulness is dependable it is a measure of our character.
“Gentleness describes the person who is so much in control of himself that he is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time” (Aristotle)
Self-Control is the quality that gives victory over fleshly desires.
This is what discipleship is. We have for too long neglected true Spiritual formations. We have allowed people to believe that the Holy Spirit magically makes us super Christians.

This is the second part of my series on what it means to be Penetcostal. You might want to read the previous post first.

What I believe Pentecostalism needs to be in the 21st century.

We need to get back to teaching what the purpose of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1, Jesus last recorded conversation with disciples talks about the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this
command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,
which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with[a]
water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this
time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7He said to them: "It is
not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth."

The gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was to give us power so that we could live as witnesses for the Gospel.
I found this in my Bible School commentary on Acts, French L. Arrington says this, “The baptism with the Spirit of v.5 was another way of describing the supernatural endowment of power for service.”
What does a life of service look like? How about the visiting what the early church looked like.

The Fellowship of the Believers
42They devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs
were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything
in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had
need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They
broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved.

Sure there were signs and wonders done by the apostles. But that wasn’t the main focus. Teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. People held everything in common. People were selling their possessions to bless and support each other. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. The signs and wonders were just a small part of the growth of the church. Kind of like how on TV commercials that Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes are a part of this complete breakfast, with toast, orange juice, fruit, milk and eggs. And yet we seek just the signs and wonders. Because they are sexy. I have yet to see revival meetings that centre around sell all you have invite strangers into your home. This early church made it their mission to look after the poor and downtrodden. Jesus ministered to the beaten, broken and rejected as well as doing the miracles. Jesus reached out to Zaccheus, the demon possessed man, the woman at the well, the one caught in adultery and the thief on the cross. When the disciples demonstrated a life of service they were following what Jesus had taught them.
Instead we, like the people in Jesus time embrace the miracle but reject the message, of a life of serving and hardship. A life of perseverance and sacrifice for the purpose of preaching the Gospel. I fear that the Western charismatic movement obsession with signs and wonders is closer to Simon the Sorcerer’s desire for power than for true ministry.

What does it mean to be Pentecostal?

After being back in the Pentecostal Assemblies for 8 months now, I seem to get this question all the time? It seems that everybody affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies is asking this question from national and regional leaders, to pastors, to the people in the congregations.

I started writing on this topic for my blog and instead of a tight blog, I ended up with 5 pages. So instead of posting all 5 pages I am going to post this in a series. So this is part one. Who knows with any comments and feedback I get the series may grow.

We as a fellowship are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival which became the catalyst for the modern Pentecostal movement. If you follow Pentecostal history you will see that the signs and wonders that accompanied this revival were not embraced by the established church. People were forced to choose between their experience and their church. Like many people who experience God in a new and fresh way they couldn’t go back to the same old churches. This gave rise to the Pentecostal denominations including the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

The people in these churches embraced their salvation and the subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit and took the gospel to the world. These churches grew attracting non-Christians as well as Christians. Soon the Pentecostals went from a group of rejects to a major player on the western world church scene. There was a passion for reaching the lost both locally and around the world. Passion and purpose defined these churches not program and practice.

So what happened, Leonard Sweet said it best, “Where God sets up a church the devil sets up a chapel.”

Corruption began to appear. Swaggart, Roberts, Bakker three prominent Pentecostal leaders. Guys peddling books on end times, spiritual warfare and prosperity that at best use Scriptures out of context to proof-text their argument and at their worst are as fictional as Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code.

Complacency the success of early Pentecostals in reaching the lost gave us big self sustaining churches, we didn’t need more people. Instead of seeing a lost and dying world needing a savior we saw a world going to hell and didn’t even blink.

Confusion began to creep into the lives of our people. Leaders were torn by this complacency in our churches and the solution was we needed to go back to our roots. We needed more Azusa experiences. Teaching focused around getting the fire. If you speak in tongues God can use you. This was the mantra of the day. I thank God that the first time I went up to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit that it happened instantly. I don’t know if I could have dealt with the feelings of failure by not getting it right away. I would have said God hates me and can not use me. Don’t get me wrong my “Pentecostal experience” was a benchmark of my journey of faith. I pray that everyone would experience the reality of God with the intensity that I did. The confusion came in because no one taught me how to live with the Spirit. My Pentecostal theology as a teenager was best summed up as. God fills you with his Spirit so that you can live for him, which meant not sinning. When you find that you are sinning more you needed to get refilled. This would take place at a Spiritual gas station, the altar at camp, youth convention or retreat, or if you were lucky the altar at a Sunday night service. Tongues and getting refilled became all you needed for Christianity. Tongues became the magic pill that made the bad go away.
The manual for living as Pentecostal teenager read like this.
What do I do when I am afraid to speak up for my faith? Pray in tongues.
What do I do when I tempted to have sex? Pray in tongues.
What do I do when I am nervous about taking a test? Pray in tongues.
What do I do when I mad at my parents? Pray in tongues.
How do I know my faith is real? Pray in tongues.
What happens if I have gas in an elevator and I’m afraid it will come out loud? Pray in tongues.
What happens when my biology teacher starts teaching on evolution? Pray in tongues; also pray that God will strike this person dead in front of class so that everyone will believe creation. And loudly disrupt the class by saying anyone who believes in evolution will go straight to hell.

No wonder we are facing a crisis in Pentecostal circles. We have made tongues more than it should be and have neglected what living in the Spirit really means.