Expect Breakthrough at Pentecost

At the first Passover, the Hebrews were not in a temple or at large events. They were in family homes. They were sheltering from a deadly plague.

A few weeks ago the Jews celebrated Passover and the Christians celebrated Easter at home. The old story repeated itself. We have found refuge from the epidemic at home.

Jesus was slaughtered as the Lamb of God. When was that? Exactly at the same time when the lambs were slaughtered for the Passover.

It was at the time of Passover that Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross.

After this terrible time, the disciples withdrew from public ministry. When Jesus came back after His death, He spent 40 days, almost 6 weeks, in private fellowship with His chosen disciples.

Then Jesus returned to His Father in heaven. We call this the Ascension.

Not long after He said this, He was lifted up to heaven before their eyes and disappeared in a cloud.

While they were looking at him, two men dressed in white suddenly stood with them.

They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven.

"One day he will come again just as you saw him go away." Acts 1:9-11. Jesus will surely come back from heaven. The time is getting closer every day.

The disciples prayed in the temple for a while, but then they withdrew again and waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were already saved, believing and faithful, but they were waiting for a great turning point from God.

We can read in Acts chapter 2 how the Holy Spirit came upon them, how they were filled and transformed by God's Spirit.

They delivered prophetic messages in languages they had never learned.

The Jews from different countries understood the messages in languages they knew, and 3000 Jews came to faith.

In 2020 we experienced something for the first time in 3220 years. Jews and Christians celebrated in private homes and found refuge from a terrible epidemic.

50 days after the first Passover, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

50 days after the death of Jesus on the cross, God did not give the law, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for all believers.

Today 2200 years later we have a new day of Pentecost.
Millions expect a new dramatic turning point in this time of crisis.

God will give many believers a dramatic breakthrough today.

Many will receive supernatural wisdom and revelation.

Many will be freed from fear, confusion and uncertainty.

After the resurrection 500 disciples saw Jesus, but only 120 were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

Let’s expect God's intervention today. Why not follow the example of the 120 in the Upper Room?

Fault-Finding is not Good News

Just about everything in our experience is a mixture of good and evil. Even in the natural world, which is God's own creation, we see animals being cruel. Chickens and ducks are often bullies.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.
Rom 8:20-22

The bible tells us to respect and honour rulers and leaders, but we must also discern corruption and cruelty in authority, and we must not submit unconditionally.

For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. 2. Cor 11:20

Nevertheless, all human leadership and management is imperfect, so to honour those in authority, we must be able to discern virtue in the midst of imperfection and human frailty.

Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. Ps 146:3

We cannot put unconditional faith in human leadership of any kind, even chosen and anointed preachers.

When King David sinned by ordering a census, Joab, the military commander, protested but then obeyed, but he only partly obeyed. He was not punished by David or condemned by God.
(1 Chron 21)

Nevertheless, in spite of his sin in this case, his adultery and murder and his failure as a family man, God called David a man after His own heart. David’s enemies had reasons to oppose him but God forgave David’s sins and promoted him.

Discernment means we must perceive errors and sins but even more importantly, we must look for the gold in the dirt, the goodness in a flawed human character.
There are two aspects of godly discernment, fault-finding and good finding. If fault-finding is our primary focus, we are in serious error.

You can be deceived by not perceiving error but you can also be deceived by focusing on error and not perceiving the gold in the dirt.

There are Christians who put certain preachers or political leaders on a pedestal and uncritically defend and praise everything their favourite leaders say or do. This is dangerous.

There are also Christians who see only evil in the government of their country.

Some Christians also devote a great deal of time and energy to analysing the errors in preachers. 

They say a lot about supposed spiritual poison on the internet, but they provide very little spiritual nourishment themselves. They say a lot about supposedly bad teaching, but they don’t say much about good ministry.

If we look at the New Testament, we see how Jesus and the Apostles had very harsh words to say about flawed religious leaders, but the heart of the message was the Good News, not the bad news.

If our primary focus is not on Good News, we are deceived, and we lead others astray. In our zeal for truth, we can become obsessed with errors. That is bad news.

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb 5:14

Judgement. A Dangerous Business

Discernment. Tread Carefully.

Some Christians are quick to judge. This is a dangerous business.

Many Christians are afraid of being taken in by falsehood, but in their zeal, they themselves may judge falsely.

Zealous but mistaken judgement may be just as dangerous as the influence of misguided ministry.

Paul was in his day a radical Charismatic. His critics were zealous for a more conservative interpretation of the Word of God. What did Paul write about them?

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— Gal 3:1-5

There is no such thing as new truth, because Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life.”

God’s truth is eternal and unchanging, but He has sent His Spirit to lead us into all truth.

The conservative bible believers in Paul’s day included Pharisees who rejected Jesus. However, there were also conservative bible believers who accepted Jesus but who rejected Paul’s revelation that we are not to live under the Law of Moses.

Paul’s radical teaching was attacked as heresy by sincere Bible believers who said it was new truth and therefore false truth, that is, falsehood.

When we see ministry today which goes outside of our mainstream evangelical understanding of the Bible, there are some who go to one extreme by abandoning their fundamental biblical foundation. 

A good example is the people who like getting drunk in the spirit and have become universalists. They say God is so sweet and lovely, that he could not possibly condemn anyone to eternal punishment.

There are others who react in the opposite way. If they see strange or unfamiliar behaviour or teaching, they immediately assume it is demonic.

Gullible acceptance of every dramatic experience is dangerous. It is dangerous to assume every dramatic manifestation is from God. However, it is also dangerous to assume it is from the enemy.

Judgement based on assumptions is not genuine discernment at all, even if you back up your assumptions with bible quotes.

Consider these Bible stories.

Hosea the prophet said God told him to marry a prostitute. This was surely a violation of biblical principles. God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments are called to separate themselves from intimate fellowship with sinners. If a preacher today did this, would he not be condemned by a chorus of zealous bible believers?

This is an extreme example which shows how dangerous it is to rush to judgement based on preconceived assumptions, even when supported by detailed bible knowledge.

If zealous heresy hunters today studied the life of King Solomon, would they accept his writings as divinely inspired? I am quite sure many would not. What about the sensuous Song of Songs? Was this inspired by the Holy Spirit or by Solomon’s well known extreme desire for women?

Of course, we accept it as Scripture because it is in the bible, but how many of us would have agreed to include it in the bible if we were assessing which texts should be accepted as the Word of God?

What about Samson?

Surely his supernatural feats were manifestations of witchcraft! He was a man of evil character, a man who freely indulged himself with prostitutes and dishonest idol worshipping women.

Didn’t Jesus say: “By their fruits you shall know them.” What fruits of righteousness can we see in the life of Samson?

But the bible tells us that his supernatural strength came from God and that throughout his life, Samson performed supernatural feats by the power of God.

How does that fit in with the mindset of some modern heresy hunters?

Speak to your Problem

Jesus said that believers should ask God to help but in another text he said that believers are authorised to speak directly to a problem with divine authority.

"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Mk 11:23 NIV

He was telling us, that we are authorised as believers to speak not only to God but to speak a decree, to speak to a mountain.

What does Jesus mean by a mountain? We can command whatever is opposing God’s people and God’s will to be removed. 

How can we know what is opposed to the will of God? Through Scripture, through listening prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus also told us we can move the hand of God by asking Him to act.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. Jn 15:7

How are we to know what to do and how to pray?

 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.  Rom 8:26-27 NIV

When Christians apply the teaching to speak to a mountain, they often use the words, DECLARE and DECREE.
The meanings can be different but they overlap.

Both can be an announcement with legal force and effect.

A jury declares an accused person guilty or not guilty. This is not a statement of opinion or fact but a legal transaction in the form of words.

When a doctor declares a person to be dead, he or she is legally dead.

A ruler can issue a decree, which then has legal force. An official or ambassador can be authorised to issue a decree on behalf of the ruler.

When Paul wrote parts of the NT, he was authorised to write legally binding declarations or decrees on behalf of God.

There are some conservative Christians who are zealous for the Word of God, but they accuse Charismatics of neglecting Bible truth because we emphasise the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

As a Charismatic Christian, I would ask my fellow believers:

If Jesus in one text tells us to ask God to help and in another text, He tells us to speak directly to our problem, how are we to know which bible text to apply unless we are continually supernaturally guided by the Holy Spirit?