Archive for May 27, 2007

Why I am a “Pentecostal”

May 27, 2007 by PastorMark.

Play now#278, Why I am a “Pentecostal”, Sunday 05-27-2007

Text: Acts 2:1-4
Theme: Acts 2:1-4 is the fulfillment of these promises.

 

 

Introduction:

 

  1. Today is the Day of Pentecost.
    1. Fifty days after the Sabbath of the Passover week. (The Sunday, or first day of the week)
    2. Also called the “Feast of Weeks” (Deuteronomy 16:10) and Feast of Harvest, day of first fruits.
  2. Jesus and John the Baptist predicted a coming “baptism”
    1. Mark 1:8 “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
    2. Acts 1:4-5 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
  3. Acts 2:1-4 is the fulfillment of these promises.
    1. Most believers in Christ would agree with the fact of the Day of Pentecost and that the first century church of the Bible was a Pentecostal church.
    2. What is debatable is:
    3. Is this experience a one time event?
    4. Is this for a short time only?
    5. Are tongues simply a gift for some or is tongues one evidence of this experience?
  4. What about Pentecostals today?
    1. Most Pentecostals are Pentecostal because they believe in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:4)
    2. They do not believe in cessessionism (the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was no longer needed after the Apostles died or after the Word of God was complete.)
    3. Pentecostalism experienced a revival in the early 1900’s: 1906 Azuza Street meetings in LA.

 

Pentecostalism is never merely doctrinal, but involves yourself.
This is my own personal journey

 

  1. My Pentecostal church helped me find God.
    1. After I had strayed, the youth helped me.
    2. The sincerity of my mother and the people influenced me.
  2. My own “Pentecost” came a few months after my salvation.
    1. I believed this was from God.
    2. I was hungry for God and what He promised.
    3. I knew that my baptism in the Holy Spirit was not “made-up”.

 

 

Why have I stayed a Pentecostal? Is it just because of my upbringing?
Some reasons why I love being Pentecostal:

 

  1. I see the Pentecostal experience as Biblical.
    1. (if I were on an island with only the Bible, I would still believe this)
    2. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit were important to them
    3. We must be careful to “test everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:20)
  2. I have experience Pentecostal people as real.
    1. They have emphasized a love for the Word, Christ.
    2. They have emphasized the importance of the Spirit in fulfilling the mission of Jesus.
    3. They have emphasized the “go” in Gospel.
    4. Missions has always existed in the DNA of Pentecostalism.
    5. At the second General Council of the Assemblies of God the leaders committed themselves to, “the greatest evangelism movement the world have ever known”
    6. Some statistics on Pentecostals:
    7. 25% of Christians in the world today are Pentecostal.
    8. Pentecostals are growing at about 19 million a year. There are about 500 million total in the world right now (over 20 million in the US)
  3. I am challenged by Pentecostalism.
    1. I am challenged to live filled with the Holy Spirit.
    2. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not for salvation, but for empowerment and fullness.
    3. I need to have both the fruit and the gifts.
    4. I am challenged by Pentecostalism to stay close to God.
    5. My prayer language is a priceless gift.
    6. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit helps “convict” me when I drift into “status quo.”

 

What about you?

Are you open to experience what the 120 experienced on the Day of Pentecost?
This can happen anywhere, anytime.
Are you willing to be refilled?

 

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