1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
John Darby’s commentary asks, “Had the Galatians received the Spirit through works done on the principle of law, or through a testimony received by faith? Having begun by the power of the Spirit, would they carry the thing on to perfection by the wretched flesh?
They had suffered for the gospel, for the pure gospel, unadulterated with Judaism and the law: was it then all in vain?
We know how the church began on the Day of Pentecost.
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
We know that they were interested in things other than the Holy Spirit, but Jesus brought the attention back to the Spirit.
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
We know that they followed through with these instructions of Jesus.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, just as Jesus said they would.
This event was in the midst of a feast of the Jews, the Feast of Pentecost. Jesus knew that it would draw attention to the establishment of the New Testament church.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
From that spectacular beginning, the paradigm shifted:
From Law to Grace
From Flesh to Spirit
From the Nation of Israel to the Entire World
From God above us to God within us.
From the blood of lambs to the Blood of The Lamb
From rituals to real
From prophecy projected to prophecy fulfilled
I still don’t think we understand the full significance of this shift. Ezekiel sheds some light on it for us.
Eze. 4:6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the LORD of hosts.
Again, in Eze. 36:26 he said, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
This is the way the church operated after the Day of Pentecost.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led BY THE SPIRIT of God, they are the sons of God.
1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and BY THE SPIRIT of our God.
And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, BY THE SPIRIT which he hath given us.
It was only a matter of time until the rise of the Age of the Spirit would reach a state where it could no longer be ignored by the world. We are there now.
Paul Steven Ghiringhelli News - Featured News
A Los Angeles-based university was awarded a $6.9 million grant this week to establish a Pentecostal and charismatic research center in the birthplace city of American Pentecostalism.
Feb. 24, 2009 - This week the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles received a $6.9 million grant to study Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity — one of the world’s fastest growing religious movements.
Awarded by the John Templeton Foundation, a natural and social sciences philanthropy, the grant is the largest amount ever given towards Pentecostal-charismatic research and will be used to establish the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative (PCRI) at USC.
“The growth of global Pentecostalism is one of the most remarkable religious transformations of the last century,” said Kimon Sargeant, vice president of human sciences at the John Templeton Foundation.
“The goal of this project is to further a better understanding of its significance in the social sciences in areas ranging from social capital to economic development and more.”
With as many as 600 million Christians worldwide claiming to be Spirit-filled, observers say Pentecostalism’s profound effect on cultures has forced the academic community to take note.
“We are excited that with the continued growth of the charismatic-Pentecostal movement around the world, scholars and universities are continuing to try to understand this phenomenon,” said the Rev. Billy Wilson, executive director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal and chairman of the Commission on Holy Spirit Empowerment in the 21st Century, which is examining the future of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement in partnership with Oral Roberts University.
“Our prayer is that this research will not only help people understand the charismatic-Pentecostal movement, but will also help more believers around the world be engaged in the Spirit-filled life,” Wilson said.
USC officials said the initiative would foster social science research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, while continuing to study Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in Los Angeles.
“Our goal is to inspire research partnerships around the globe and fund projects that will shape the discussion for years to come,” said Donald Miller, executive director of USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture and author of Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.
“We are interested in understanding why Pentecostalism is growing so rapidly, what impact it is having on society and how it is different in various cultural settings.”
With the largest charismatic populations in the “global South,” including nations such as Brazil, Guatemala, Kenya and the Philippines, scholars say the movement is making Christian converts ubiquitous, which in turn affects not just cultures but governments too.
The Pentecostal-charismatic movement “has far-reaching implications for international politics and interactions among religious groups,” said Brie Loskota, program officer at PCRI. “Studying Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity is critical to understanding the ways in which religion shapes our world.”
John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, agrees that the research initiative will allow for a more in-depth study of global Spirit-filled movements. “It will expand the boundaries of knowledge about these key religious developments that are central to the spread of Christianity in the 21st century,” Green said. —-Paul Steven Ghiringhelli
I agree with you as far as American or Western Pentecostalism, however I think if one looks at Pentecostalism in other countries one will see that it is the Pentecostals who are making a huge impact especially in missions. Other more traditional denominations are scared to use the gifts and/or cast out demons but this is the very thing that people are looking for in those countries to believe there truly is a God who answers by fire. They do not have the doctors we have or other things… they run to God and He answers their prayers with power. There are so many testimonies of supernatural water, deliverance, salvation, dreams in Muslim countries… the good about Pentecostals is that we are fine with these things happening.
I believe it is time for the true Pentecostals to rise up.
We have too long looked at ourselves as stepchildren, outsiders, pretenders to the traditional Christian church.
If God is truly moving in the world today, it is through his Spirit, not through denominational, “orthodox” Christianity.
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
There are those among us who want to return to the old style of Spirit-less church.
Intellectually-driven
Hermeneutically accepted
Socially approved
Culturally relevant
But this article and this funded-study shows that the relevance of the church has nothing to do with being “green.” It has nothing to do with being accepted with the “ivy-league” mentality.
If these people wanted to study traditional Christianity, they have more than enough evidences of that to keep them busy for the next decade. They don’t want to study that because nothing is happening in traditional Christianity.
Indeed, traditional Christianity, evangelicalism, is collapsing. It is going nowhere. People are leaving the mainline denominations by the droves. Methodists dropped by 0.8% in 2008. The UCC was down a full 6% last year. Only about 10% of the 1 billion Catholics in the world attend church regularly.
August was a month of harvesting in Guyana, South America! In this beautiful, Caribbean cultured country in the north-east corner of South America, we had a Holy Ghost explosion unlike any seen here in many years! In the months preceding our National Crusade the churches of the United Pentecostal Church of Guyana prayed, fasted, gave and did months of outreach in order to have an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The harvesting was a total corporate effort. Funds for this crusade in the capital city of Georgetown had been sacrificially given at the General Conference of the UPCI in Columbus, Ohio.
The Apostolic Youth Corp from the Youth Division of the UPCI led by our Youth President Shay Mann and a group of 22 other like-minded young adults came and helped canvas almost every area where we have UPC churches in the Georgetown area. While they were here over 8,000 flyers were passed out advertising the crusade. Each of churches got on board and helped with the outreach and mobilization of buses to bring people out to the Holy Ghost Explosion. Evangelist Felix Crowder from Indianapolis, Indiana came in as the special crusade speaker. And then, it happened! On August 6, 7 and 8 the Holy Ghost fell. On the first night we had an attendance of around 700 with 25 receiving the Holy Ghost. On the second night there were around 600 in attendance with 41 receiving the Holy Ghost. Then on the last night with an attendance of around 1,100 we had 46 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! We also had around 20 that were water baptized in Jesus’ Name! We had 8 more receive the Holy Ghost the Sunday morning following the crusade in the headquarters church bringing all to a total of 120 receiving the Holy Ghost! Thank the Lord Jesus for our own personal Pentecost! We are so very thankful for those who gave to sponsor our crusade. We thank everyone who prayed and fasted with us. We thank every AYCer and the Manns for coming and helping with outreach. We thank Evangelist Crowder for coming and blessing us again with his ministry. And we thank Jesus for pouring out the rivers of the Holy Ghost on Guyana, the “Land of Many Waters”!
The Tallinn church has really been struggling due to a lack of leadership in place, but Andres one of the men in the church just started teaching some Bible studies and has a couple ready for baptism, and is coordinating this effort with Vadim. Through this another home group will be started in Tallinn.
We had a leadership seminar in Riga in January and four people came from the Tallinn church, and three Trinitarian ministers came from three other churches. The three young men have received the revelation of the Oneness of God, and baptism in Jesus’ Name. One of these young men has been seeking after the baptism of the Holy Ghost for a long time. He said that many people prayed for him to receive the Holy Ghost and nothing happened. I felt that this was a great opportunity for the truth to be confirmed to these young men and I stepped out in faith, and in a few minutes that young man was speaking in tongues as God filled him with His Spirit. These men are talking about getting baptized this March in our next seminar.
So, what do we believe?
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
I believe in a Gospel that works.
I believe in a church filled with the Spirit of God.
I believe in a prayer-life that is bursting with Holy Ghost power.
The greatest need for Pentecostals is for our practices to catch up with our beliefs!
I can preach only so much about forgiveness. It is time for us to ACT forgiven!
I can preach only so much about worship. It is time for us to reap the benefits of worship and praise!
I believe it is time for us to bind together and pray for revival!
Young people, Men, Women. Form groups and pray