May 20, 2010

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

Are you Pentecostal?

The well known author and preacher Fred Craddock tells a rather funny story about a lecture he was giving: A few years ago, when he was on the west coast speaking at a seminary, just before the first lecture, one of the students stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal." The room grew silent. Craddock said he looked around for the Dean of the seminary! He was no where to be found. The student continued with his quiz right in front of everybody. Craddock was taken aback, and so he said, "Do you mean do I belong to the Pentecostal Church?" He said, "No, I mean are you Pentecostal?" Craddock said, "Are you asking me if I am charismatic?" the student said, "I am asking you if you are Pentecostal." Craddock said, "Do you want to know if I speak in tongues?" He said, "I want to know if you are Pentecostal." Craddock said, "I don't know what your question is." The student said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal." He left.

What are we talking about? Is the church supposed to use the word Pentecost only as a noun or can it be used as an adjective? And so I ask you: Are you Pentecostal?

In spite of the fact that the church doesn't know what the adjective means, the church insists that the word remain in our vocabulary as an adjective. The church is unwilling for the word simply to be a noun, to represent a date, a place, an event in the history of the church, refuses for it to be simply a memory, an item, something back there somewhere. The church insists that the word is an adjective; it describes the church. The word, then, is "Pentecostal."

If the church is alive in the world it is Pentecostal. It has the marks of the Holy Spirit: new life; new power; new boldness to witness; new power to heal the sick and new growth.

The challenge for many churches is to become Pentecostal not as a denomination but as a powerful force in the world; to have the Holy Spirit’s breath and fire in its very life.

The challenge for us as Christians is to become Pentecostal: to have the Spirit of God coming alive in us; in our witnessing and loving so that there is new life, new growth, new boldness to speak and new power to live.

This Sunday many churches will celebrate Pentecost; the birth of the church when the Holy Spirit came down upon group of frightened people and turned them into the most powerful agents of God’s Kingdom.

This week we celebrate Pentecost. But are we Pentecostal? Do we live, speak and act by the Spirit or is it more by our flesh.

Let me encourage you to read through the Acts of the Apostles (Acts of the Holy Spirit) in the next month and be inspired to become a Pentecostal Christian: one who is guided and moves in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This last month has been very busy, preparing seminar material and presenting it to people at Coolangatta and Bayside UCA (Wynnum, a seaside suburb of Brisbane).

The Coolangatta seminar was a day seminar on “How to heal the sick”. We had four people attend. While the numbers were disappointing, it was a start to indicate that we are in town. For the four who attended, it was special as they learnt how to work with the Holy Spirit (become Pentecostal). For a couple of people, they also received healing for their lives and a place to get more healing.

The last two weeks I spoke at Bayside. Firstly at their evening service; then at a Wednesday night meeting for leaders and then last weekend with two seminars. Bayside is 75 minutes north of Coolangatta.

The seminar at Bayside, last Saturday and Sunday, had approx 20 people who came to learn about praying and healing. We conducted “How to hear from God”; “Prayer Power Tools” and a shortened version of “How to Heal the sick”.

We had people from Bayside and Tingalpa Uniting Church. For some it was a refresher course and for the rest it was new learning. Hal from our team at Toowoomba came to help.

During Saturday’s seminar, Hal and Liz prayed for a lady and a couple. We also prayed for the church on Sunday afternoon with the people present. We had some people who struggled with the teaching and I was anxious about praying for the church as these people were key leaders and I did not want to overstep the mark and make it hard for the minister. (who wanted the church to be prayed for)

We had a time of confession for previous sins which was illuminating as God revealed His agenda of what had happened in the church from the beginning of its life. We prayed and God cleaned the church. On Saturday night, Liz and I had to do a bit more praying for the church if we wanted God to bring healing.

Then Sunday exploded. A lady from the minister’s previous church wanted help. She rang early Sunday morning. They come from a Tongan Uniting church from the other side of Brisbane. The minister asked Liz and I to help.

At 11.40am three car loads of people arrived, two wanting prayer and the rest supporting them. On top of that we had a young lad who lost his Mum and Dad and is being cared for by the minister wanting prayer. One man had cancer and the other two had addictions that needed to be broken arising out of the pain of their childhood. The Holy Spirit came and He did an awesome job and we will know the benefits of the prayer in the coming weeks.

That finished at 1.25pm and I had 5 minutes to eat lunch and start the afternoon seminar!

The seminar was difficult as we had two people struggling with the teaching and their understanding of healing, grace etc. They asked questions and it was hard to keep things on track.

We had a demonstration where Hal volunteered to be prayed for as he had a physical condition that wanted healing. It was learning and healing moment. Not only did Hal received healing for his condition, but one of the people who prayed for Hal had his elbow healed by God without him asking!

But this only caused more questions by the same people.

I finished the day with a healing service. Again God was good. 6 people came forward and received healing for chronic bone conditions; hernia; throat and back. The extent of the healing will only be known down the track but all left feeling better and feeling that God had come and their need.

I have been rather expansive about the weekend as I had asked for prayer from you before hand as I sensed that the time at Bayside was not going to be easy. And it wasn’t!

But God was good and your prayers enabled us to have a relatively smooth weekend without anything “blowing up in our faces”. We are grateful to God and to your praying.

We have had a busy month of praying for our clients. We look like having 25 sessions to help people through the dysfunctional life. We are getting some challenging cases. This has been very tiring but rewarding as well.

On the church front, life is busy. The church hall roof is being repainted and the church roof being replaced because it is asbestos. I have been helping our property person to get the applications ready and supporting him. At the same time, we are exploring God’s direction for the church. This is not easy with a congregation that is elderly and lacks the energy to try something new.

We need to become a Pentecostal church! I will be preaching on the Holy Spirit over the next few months as there has been little teaching on this subject. More foundations need to be laid.

On the family front, Liz’s Mum has sold her house and is moving out on June 22. Things are now moving fast though she does not have a room yet at the aged care facility. We are going for a week’s holiday on either side of June long weekend. All the children have decided to be there for some of the long weekend. We will spend our holiday clearing out the house (some of its done), sorting out all the mementos and working out what Liz’s mum can take with her.

This will be an emotional time for all of us as those from interstate and country have stayed with Oma and Opa while in Adelaide for Christmas, holidays and special events. It will be the end of an era. There are many happy memories and it will be good to have one final celebration.

I trust that God is blessing your life and ministry. I pray that all of you may know the length and breadth and depth of Christ’s love. I pray that all of you may know deep with in you that God loves you dearly and has your life and future in the palm of his hand.

Prayer Points

• Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
• Thank God that you have the Holy Spirit in you and upon you
• Ask for an increase of the Holy Spirit’s power in your ministry.
• Thank God that we have the room at Middle Ridge for 2010. Praise God for the numerical growth at Middle Ridge UCA as new families come to worship
• Thank God for the flow of clients for a slow increase of clients
• Thank God for what he did at Bayside Uniting Church..
• Pray for the right timing to train people on the Gold Coast for our ministry. Pray for the right openings and the courage to take the leap of faith and advertise our work.
• Pray for our prayer teams: Hal and Debbie, Barbara, Robyn, Jenny, Lyn, Liz and myself.
• Pray for our management team: John, Liz, Jamie, Robyn, Rod, Jen and Craig.  Pray that we receive God’s leading for our ministry.
• Pray for the Toowoomba site of Walking Free. Pray for the foundations to be continued to be built.

Thank God for the financial provision of this ministry. We are grateful to the many that are obedient and give to our ministry weekly, monthly and one off. We have been blessed.