The Baptism And Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

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< > Chapter Two How to receive and retain a Pentecostal fullness from our Lord Jesus The distinguishing features of Christ's Church at Jerusalem The church at Jerusalem manifested the essential characteristics and distinguishing features that God desires in His Church. They had a vital encounter with their risen Saviour. They knew His precious blood had cleansed them from sin, and had opened the way into the presence of God the Father. 1Pet.1v19-22. Heb.10v25. Rev.12v10,11. Jesus was intensely real and precious to them; many infallible proofs confirmed their experience. Acts.1v3. 1Jn.1v1-7. The substitutionary atoning death of Christ was personally accepted and applied to the soul, this sharply divides the false prophet from the child of God. Cults manifesting demon power always reject Christ's atonement, and Christ as the only Saviour. 1Jn.4v1-6. They believed God's promise of blessing for them. They earnestly sought for the promise of the Father and the accompanying blessing; they did not try to find an excuse for not seeking the baptism and gifts of the Spirit, by twisting the Scriptures. Those who refuse to accept that spiritual gifts and spiritual ministries still function today, very often do so, because they desire to make Christianity an intellectual exercise of God's dealings in the past, they do not want a living experience of God in the present. It is certainly not honest or consistent to believe in a Christianity that has none of the New Testament love, life and power; as the body is dead without the spirit, so is an intellectual Christianity that is devoid of the manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit that occurred in the New Testament. James.2v26. All the promises of God are still “Yea” and “Amen” in Christ. 2Cor.1v17-20. We can experience God's love, gifts and power today, Christianity is not a doctrinal exercise, it is a vital experience of the living God. Those who refuse to seek God's power and gifts for fear of receiving some false spirit, have already been defeated by Satan, and have shown a lack of faith in God's ability to care for His children. Lk.11v9-13. Satan kept Israel out of Canaan by fear and unbelief, they could not trust God to look after them, or believe for His miraculous interventions. Indeed, the Scriptures reveal that it has always been those who have failed to seek God for His promised blessings and spiritual gifts, who have been influenced by evil spirits. See Hebrews 3 and 4. Mt.23v34-39. Jn.8v38-44. They earnestly sought God in prayer. The early Church realised that only earnest prayer could bring victory, blessing, and spiritual safety. It is God's presence, love, gifts and guidance that cause us to triumph. Exod.33v11-23. N.B. v14. The New Testament is full of promises of spiritual blessing and power, and the early Church earnestly sought God for them. Acts.1v14,24. 3v1. 4v31. 6v4,6. 8v15. 9v11,40. 10v4,9,30,31. 11v5. 12v5,12. 13v3. 14v23. 16v13,16,25. 20v36. 21v5. 22v17. 28v8. etc. (There are so many Scriptures upon this that I have just confined myself to the book of Acts.) Earnest and prolonged seeking of God is a searching test of our spirituality and love of God, and it really shows whether we own the Lordship of Christ or not. Those who have clean hands and pure hearts love to seek God, “This is the generation of them that seek Him.” Ps.24v3-6. True Christians, like David, love to wait upon and seek God, their hearts pant for Him. Ps.40v1. 62v1,5. 42v1-3. The last thing that backsliders, heretics and apostates want to do, is to feel the presence of God; but Christians who are walking in the light long for it. The early Church loved to seek God in prayer and spent hours and days doing it. There is all the difference in the world between a short prayer aimed at the hearers instead of God, and the prolonged and earnest seeking of God that took place in the early Church. Christ-rejecting false cults may say short prayers, but the prolonged seeking of God is a thing that they will not do, for the evil spirits that influence them will not allow them to do this. John informs us in 1John.4v1-5., that Christ-rejecting cults are under the influence of evil spirits; seeking God and a full recognition of Christ's deity, eternity, and redeeming blood, is diametrically opposite to seeking or pursuing evil spirits. Deut.18v9-19. Lev.19v31. 20v6. Is.8v19,20. Prolonged, earnest seeking of God is the acid test of one's source of inspiration. Heb.11v6. The majority of the disciples in the upper room were Galileans, and it was a real sacrifice for them to obey Christ's command to tarry for the promise of the Father in the upper room at Jerusalem. Lk.24v49. Acts.2v7. 1v13,14. For a variety of reasons, at least 380 out of the 500 brethren of 1Cor.15v6. were missing, more if we count the women in the upper room. Without a doubt, many had perfectly legitimate and good reasons for not being present, such as working to provide for their families, and looking after dependants, and so on. Whatever the reasons were for not being in the upper room, they missed God’s initial and most remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His Church. They missed one of God’s great epochal purposes for the Church through their absence, and we miss Divine blessing if we fail to obey the command of Jesus to tarry and pray for the promise of the Father. Lk.11v9-13. They manifested God's character and love in their lives. We should follow the example the church at Jerusalem, when it was moving in its initial power and sweet first love, immediately after the outpouring on the day of Pentecost. What tender concern and love they manifested to each other! Their unity, which sprang from a common love for each other, is one of the outstanding features of the early Church. The apostles, elders and church members promptly and wisely dealt with practical matters that caused division and friction. There was a healthy fear of God and sin through God's prompt dealings with satanic infiltration and intrigue. Acts.5v1-11. 6v1-7. 15v1-35. 2v42-47. 4v31,32. In sharp contrast to this was the church at Corinth, which Paul had to rebuke for disunity and lack of love. 1Cor.15v34. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Mt.7v15-23. This does not mean the size of a church organisation, for Christianity does not consist of statistics or empty talk, but rather of consecration to God, practical holiness and a real love of people. It is true that even godly men, like David or Peter, may badly fail God under strong temptation, but undesirable and unnecessary as this is, it is totally different from the sinful wallowing in the mire spoken of in the Scriptures. 2Pet.2v1-22. Judev3-25. Rev.2v13-16. and 3v20-24. Hypocrites may have a pleasant veneer, and may pretend and play-act, but Christian love is inimitable. Christians will not only die for their brethren, but also for their enemies. 1Jn.5v1,2. 2v1-22. Mt.5v43-48. Christian love and purity cannot be truly imitated or counterfeited by Satan's children. Jn.13v34,35. They believed Christ's teaching and doctrine. The apostle John said in 1Jn.4v1-5., that those who are inspired of God accept the Lord Jesus as the Messiah of the Old Testament, whereas those who are inspired of Satan reject this. Many Scriptures state that Christ is the eternal Creator God of the Old Testament. Jn.1v1-3. Eph.3v9. Col.1v16,17. Heb.1v2,8,10. A person's source of inspiration is revealed by their attitude to Christ; they reject His deity, atonement and Scriptural teaching if Satan moves them, but accept the truth about Jesus if they are inspired of God. As soon as a person is taken over by an evil spirit, their doctrine is corrupted and bears no resemblance to New Testament truth, and in particular the truth about Christ. The personal appropriation of Christ's sacrifice for sin is always the cleavage point between Christian and Satanic doctrine. Rev.12v10-12. False cults manifesting demon power reject the Christian doctrine about sin, God's judgement upon sin, and state that personal redemption by Christ's blood is unnecessary. False cults manifesting demon power also either reject completely the idea of a personal God, or so pervert the idea of God that He is unrecognisable as the Christian's God. False prophets may pray to God and Christ, but when they deny Christ and distort His doctrine, they in reality preach “another Christ, and another Gospel.” 2Cor.11v3,4. 1Jn.2v22,23. 4v1-5,15. 5v1. A curse rests on those who distort Christ's Gospel. Gal.1v6-9. The converts at Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the doctrine that the apostles had received from Christ, and so should we. Acts.2v42. Jude.v3,4. They had an evangelistic fervour. The early Christians had to tell others about their Saviour, they even made ruthless persecution an opportunity for spreading the Gospel. Acts.8v1-8. 11v19,20. Phil.1v7,12-14. The apostles preached Christ before Pentecost, and this was their passion afterwards. Acts.2v14-41. 8v35. 9v19-22. We cannot expect great blessing and gifts, if our zeal and outlook are confined to spiritual selfishness. We experience Christ's heavenly riches in the greatest degree when we minister them to others; “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” Lk.6v38. This applies to the giving of spiritual things as well as the giving of material things. Churches that are not evangelistic will die spiritually, for it is only as we obey the command of Jesus, to go into all the world to preach the Gospel, that we shall really prove the full meaning of the words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Mk.16v15. Mt.28v18-20. Even when persecuted for the Gospel the apostles preached Jesus consistently and urgently as often as opportunity arose. Acts.5v41,42. They answered Satan's lying wonders with God's miracles. God inspired and empowered the evangelism of the early Church; they did not rely on human oratory or ability. It was easy for the early Church to witness and win souls, they had such proofs of a risen Christ in the signs, wonders and miracles that Jesus was doing through His Church. It is only difficult for Christians to witness effectively, when these New Testament ministries, gifts and power are missing. If we refuse to recognise the need of these mighty ministries and their accompanying spiritual gifts, we are as spiritually crippled as a man without arms and legs. Paul emphatically tells us in 1Cor.12v21., that we cannot do without any of these ministries and gifts. They are all essential today, if Christ's body is to function as He intends. Indeed, the Church cannot minister in power without them. How illogical, inconsistent, and unscriptural it is to say that the Almighty God no longer does any miracles, and that only Satan does miracles today. God is a God that only does wonders, and the sons and daughters of God are expected and commanded to manifest His power and love. Exod.3v20. 15v11. Job.9v10. Ps.77v11,14. 136v4. Is.8v18. Acts.2v38,39. with Lk.24v49. Acts.4v22,43. Rom.4v2,3. Heb.2v4. God has promised great miracles throughout this age; it is folly to say, as some do, that God no longer does miracles and that any miracles that take place are the work of the Devil. God has promised that this age will close with the greatest show of spiritual power the world has ever seen, God's two witnesses, and probably many others have mighty spiritual gifts given to them to answer Satan's lying wonders through Antichrist and other children of the Devil. Rev.11v1-12. 2Thes.2v7-12. Acts.2v16-21. Dan.11v32,33. None of the Old Testament or New Testament men of God vindicated God by mere talk; they had spiritual gifts and spiritual ministries. When God sent His men to answer Satan's servants, He has always given them spiritual gifts; He never sent them in their own power. The early Church was victorious because it answered the lying wonders of men like Simon the sorcerer, and Elymas the sorcerer, with the miracles of God. Acts.8v8-24. 13v6-13. Evil occult forces operating through idolatry, sorcery, witchcraft, Spiritualism, etc., were one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of Christianity. The early Church did not defeat these powers of evil by mere intellectual argument, they out-miracled them with the power of God; see the tremendous revival at Ephesus in Acts.19v10-20.. The message of the crucified Christ was foolishness to both Jews and Greeks, but because it was confirmed by God's miracles, many were compelled to believe. 1Cor.1v23. 2v1-10. Can we hope to succeed without the equipment, which the early Church, and God, felt, was essential for the effective preaching of the Gospel? We face the same challenge of evil occult powers; we need the same equipment from God to defeat them. They acted as a body under Christ's leadership. Paul taught that all the members of Christ's body, from apostles to young converts, are intended by God to act together under the guidance of Christ the Head, as a body. 1Cor.12v11-31. Rom.12v3-5. Eph.4v7-11. Every child of God has the right to minister something from Christ, when Christ moves them. 1Cor.14v26,31. This is, of course, speaking of a Christian fellowship; pioneer evangelism should be left to the mature spiritual ministries of the Church. Paul said the Christians at Corinth had the right idea of ministering as a body; the trouble was that they all wanted to do everything and to do too much. The object of the New Testament leaders, was to produce ministries in each local church. Those who fail to do this are not fulfilling a New Testament ministry. Eph.4v8-14. In Eph.4v14., Paul speaks of immature believers who do not possess any ministry from Christ, and he says that they are at the mercy of false teachers. Heb.5v13,14. The Holy Spirit is the overall superintendent of the whole Church of Christ, His aim is to produce ministry in the Church. The continuous prayer life of the early Church at Jerusalem, shows they realised the need of being subordinate to the lordship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There was a sense of eagerness in the early disciples, to see God work in His Church; if we insist on keeping to our programmes and routines, we will find that we have missed the things that the early Church experienced. Are we as willing to let the Holy Spirit forbid some of our activities and plans, or stop us preaching as Paul was in Acts.16v6-10.? Until we are, we shall only be students of the book of Acts; we shall know little or nothing of “the Acts of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit comes to lead us on to maturity, but unless we acknowledge His leadership and guidance we will not attain it, we may become old Christians, but we will never become mature Christians. Eph.4v12. 2Cor.3v18. Lk.6v40. Heb.5v11-14. They were prepared to suffer for their Saviour. The early Christians had to count the cost of their faith, they, like their Lord, were despised and rejected by worldly men. They were looked upon as followers of a crucified heretic, their faith meant persecution. Acts.5v40-42. 8v1-4. 1Thes.1v5,6. There were periods of rest from persecution, e.g. Acts.9v31., but Paul warned Christians that if they lived godly lives, they could expect persecution. 2Tim.2v9. 3v11,12. We are not to invite persecution; indeed, Paul told us to influence the lives and actions of political leaders, by our prayers and godly living. 1Tim.2v1-3. Christ told us to run away from those who persecute us, and try to kill us; there is no place for a false bravado in the Church of Christ. Mt.10v23. The early Christians triumphed over militant opposition because they esteemed the reproach for Christ's sake, as greater riches than all the treasures of the world. Heb.11v26. The Christians treasure is in heaven, not on earth, our eternal home is with our heavenly Father, and what a wonderful Father and home we have! Mt.7v19-34. 1Pet.1v3-9. We are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, we seek a better company and country, and we have a heavenly hope; for God is preparing for us a city. Heb.11v13-16. 1Pet.2v11. When we seek God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, with the same attitudes of heart and mind as the early Christians at Jerusalem, we shall have the same powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power. Nothing will be able to stand before us; multitudes will be saved, healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We shall be the blessing that God intended all His children to be. < >
The Disastrous Effects Of The Doctrine Of Original Sin \| By His Stripes We Are Healed \| The Book Of Revelation \| The Second Coming Of Christ \| The Baptism And Gifts Of The Holy Spirit \| The Comforter Is Come

Chapter Two

How to receive and retain a Pentecostal fullness from our Lord Jesus

The distinguishing features of Christ's Church at Jerusalem

The church at Jerusalem manifested the essential characteristics and distinguishing features that God desires in His Church.

They had a vital encounter with their risen Saviour.
They knew His precious blood had cleansed them from sin, and had opened the way into the presence of God the Father. 1Pet.1v19-22. Heb.10v25. Rev.12v10,11. Jesus was intensely real and precious to them; many infallible proofs confirmed their experience. Acts.1v3. 1Jn.1v1-7. The substitutionary atoning death of Christ was personally accepted and applied to the soul, this sharply divides the false prophet from the child of God. Cults manifesting demon power always reject Christ's atonement, and Christ as the only Saviour. 1Jn.4v1-6.

They believed God's promise of blessing for them.
They earnestly sought for the promise of the Father and the accompanying blessing; they did not try to find an excuse for not seeking the baptism and gifts of the Spirit, by twisting the Scriptures. Those who refuse to accept that spiritual gifts and spiritual ministries still function today, very often do so, because they desire to make Christianity an intellectual exercise of God's dealings in the past, they do not want a living experience of God in the present. It is certainly not honest or consistent to believe in a Christianity that has none of the New Testament love, life and power; as the body is dead without the spirit, so is an intellectual Christianity that is devoid of the manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit that occurred in the New Testament. James.2v26. All the promises of God are still “Yea” and “Amen” in Christ. 2Cor.1v17-20. We can experience God's love, gifts and power today, Christianity is not a doctrinal exercise, it is a vital experience of the living God. Those who refuse to seek God's power and gifts for fear of receiving some false spirit, have already been defeated by Satan, and have shown a lack of faith in God's ability to care for His children. Lk.11v9-13. Satan kept Israel out of Canaan by fear and unbelief, they could not trust God to look after them, or believe for His miraculous interventions. Indeed, the Scriptures reveal that it has always been those who have failed to seek God for His promised blessings and spiritual gifts, who have been influenced by evil spirits. See Hebrews 3 and 4. Mt.23v34-39. Jn.8v38-44.

They earnestly sought God in prayer.
The early Church realised that only earnest prayer could bring victory, blessing, and spiritual safety. It is God's presence, love, gifts and guidance that cause us to triumph. Exod.33v11-23. N.B. v14. The New Testament is full of promises of spiritual blessing and power, and the early Church earnestly sought God for them. Acts.1v14,24. 3v1. 4v31. 6v4,6. 8v15. 9v11,40. 10v4,9,30,31. 11v5. 12v5,12. 13v3. 14v23. 16v13,16,25. 20v36. 21v5. 22v17. 28v8. etc. (There are so many Scriptures upon this that I have just confined myself to the book of Acts.) Earnest and prolonged seeking of God is a searching test of our spirituality and love of God, and it really shows whether we own the Lordship of Christ or not. Those who have clean hands and pure hearts love to seek God, “This is the generation of them that seek Him.” Ps.24v3-6. True Christians, like David, love to wait upon and seek God, their hearts pant for Him. Ps.40v1. 62v1,5. 42v1-3.

The last thing that backsliders, heretics and apostates want to do, is to feel the presence of God; but Christians who are walking in the light long for it. The early Church loved to seek God in prayer and spent hours and days doing it. There is all the difference in the world between a short prayer aimed at the hearers instead of God, and the prolonged and earnest seeking of God that took place in the early Church. Christ-rejecting false cults may say short prayers, but the prolonged seeking of God is a thing that they will not do, for the evil spirits that influence them will not allow them to do this. John informs us in 1John.4v1-5., that Christ-rejecting cults are under the influence of evil spirits; seeking God and a full recognition of Christ's deity, eternity, and redeeming blood, is diametrically opposite to seeking or pursuing evil spirits. Deut.18v9-19. Lev.19v31. 20v6. Is.8v19,20. Prolonged, earnest seeking of God is the acid test of one's source of inspiration. Heb.11v6.

The majority of the disciples in the upper room were Galileans, and it was a real sacrifice for them to obey Christ's command to tarry for the promise of the Father in the upper room at Jerusalem. Lk.24v49. Acts.2v7. 1v13,14. For a variety of reasons, at least 380 out of the 500 brethren of 1Cor.15v6. were missing, more if we count the women in the upper room. Without a doubt, many had perfectly legitimate and good reasons for not being present, such as working to provide for their families, and looking after dependants, and so on. Whatever the reasons were for not being in the upper room, they missed God’s initial and most remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His Church. They missed one of God’s great epochal purposes for the Church through their absence, and we miss Divine blessing if we fail to obey the command of Jesus to tarry and pray for the promise of the Father. Lk.11v9-13.

They manifested God's character and love in their lives.
We should follow the example the church at Jerusalem, when it was moving in its initial power and sweet first love, immediately after the outpouring on the day of Pentecost. What tender concern and love they manifested to each other! Their unity, which sprang from a common love for each other, is one of the outstanding features of the early Church. The apostles, elders and church members promptly and wisely dealt with practical matters that caused division and friction. There was a healthy fear of God and sin through God's prompt dealings with satanic infiltration and intrigue. Acts.5v1-11. 6v1-7. 15v1-35. 2v42-47. 4v31,32. In sharp contrast to this was the church at Corinth, which Paul had to rebuke for disunity and lack of love. 1Cor.15v34.

Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Mt.7v15-23. This does not mean the size of a church organisation, for Christianity does not consist of statistics or empty talk, but rather of consecration to God, practical holiness and a real love of people. It is true that even godly men, like David or Peter, may badly fail God under strong temptation, but undesirable and unnecessary as this is, it is totally different from the sinful wallowing in the mire spoken of in the Scriptures. 2Pet.2v1-22. Judev3-25. Rev.2v13-16. and 3v20-24. Hypocrites may have a pleasant veneer, and may pretend and play-act, but Christian love is inimitable. Christians will not only die for their brethren, but also for their enemies. 1Jn.5v1,2. 2v1-22. Mt.5v43-48. Christian love and purity cannot be truly imitated or counterfeited by Satan's children. Jn.13v34,35.

They believed Christ's teaching and doctrine.
The apostle John said in 1Jn.4v1-5., that those who are inspired of God accept the Lord Jesus as the Messiah of the Old Testament, whereas those who are inspired of Satan reject this. Many Scriptures state that Christ is the eternal Creator God of the Old Testament. Jn.1v1-3. Eph.3v9. Col.1v16,17. Heb.1v2,8,10. A person's source of inspiration is revealed by their attitude to Christ; they reject His deity, atonement and Scriptural teaching if Satan moves them, but accept the truth about Jesus if they are inspired of God. As soon as a person is taken over by an evil spirit, their doctrine is corrupted and bears no resemblance to New Testament truth, and in particular the truth about Christ. The personal appropriation of Christ's sacrifice for sin is always the cleavage point between Christian and Satanic doctrine. Rev.12v10-12. False cults manifesting demon power reject the Christian doctrine about sin, God's judgement upon sin, and state that personal redemption by Christ's blood is unnecessary. False cults manifesting demon power also either reject completely the idea of a personal God, or so pervert the idea of God that He is unrecognisable as the Christian's God. False prophets may pray to God and Christ, but when they deny Christ and distort His doctrine, they in reality preach “another Christ, and another Gospel.” 2Cor.11v3,4. 1Jn.2v22,23. 4v1-5,15. 5v1. A curse rests on those who distort Christ's Gospel. Gal.1v6-9. The converts at Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the doctrine that the apostles had received from Christ, and so should we. Acts.2v42. Jude.v3,4.

They had an evangelistic fervour.
The early Christians had to tell others about their Saviour, they even made ruthless persecution an opportunity for spreading the Gospel. Acts.8v1-8. 11v19,20. Phil.1v7,12-14. The apostles preached Christ before Pentecost, and this was their passion afterwards. Acts.2v14-41. 8v35. 9v19-22. We cannot expect great blessing and gifts, if our zeal and outlook are confined to spiritual selfishness. We experience Christ's heavenly riches in the greatest degree when we minister them to others; “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” Lk.6v38. This applies to the giving of spiritual things as well as the giving of material things. Churches that are not evangelistic will die spiritually, for it is only as we obey the command of Jesus, to go into all the world to preach the Gospel, that we shall really prove the full meaning of the words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Mk.16v15. Mt.28v18-20. Even when persecuted for the Gospel the apostles preached Jesus consistently and urgently as often as opportunity arose. Acts.5v41,42.

They answered Satan's lying wonders with God's miracles.
God inspired and empowered the evangelism of the early Church; they did not rely on human oratory or ability. It was easy for the early Church to witness and win souls, they had such proofs of a risen Christ in the signs, wonders and miracles that Jesus was doing through His Church. It is only difficult for Christians to witness effectively, when these New Testament ministries, gifts and power are missing. If we refuse to recognise the need of these mighty ministries and their accompanying spiritual gifts, we are as spiritually crippled as a man without arms and legs. Paul emphatically tells us in 1Cor.12v21., that we cannot do without any of these ministries and gifts. They are all essential today, if Christ's body is to function as He intends. Indeed, the Church cannot minister in power without them.

How illogical, inconsistent, and unscriptural it is to say that the Almighty God no longer does any miracles, and that only Satan does miracles today. God is a God that only does wonders, and the sons and daughters of God are expected and commanded to manifest His power and love. Exod.3v20. 15v11. Job.9v10. Ps.77v11,14. 136v4. Is.8v18. Acts.2v38,39. with Lk.24v49. Acts.4v22,43. Rom.4v2,3. Heb.2v4. God has promised great miracles throughout this age; it is folly to say, as some do, that God no longer does miracles and that any miracles that take place are the work of the Devil. God has promised that this age will close with the greatest show of spiritual power the world has ever seen, God's two witnesses, and probably many others have mighty spiritual gifts given to them to answer Satan's lying wonders through Antichrist and other children of the Devil. Rev.11v1-12. 2Thes.2v7-12. Acts.2v16-21. Dan.11v32,33.

None of the Old Testament or New Testament men of God vindicated God by mere talk; they had spiritual gifts and spiritual ministries. When God sent His men to answer Satan's servants, He has always given them spiritual gifts; He never sent them in their own power. The early Church was victorious because it answered the lying wonders of men like Simon the sorcerer, and Elymas the sorcerer, with the miracles of God. Acts.8v8-24. 13v6-13. Evil occult forces operating through idolatry, sorcery, witchcraft, Spiritualism, etc., were one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of Christianity. The early Church did not defeat these powers of evil by mere intellectual argument, they out-miracled them with the power of God; see the tremendous revival at Ephesus in Acts.19v10-20.. The message of the crucified Christ was foolishness to both Jews and Greeks, but because it was confirmed by God's miracles, many were compelled to believe. 1Cor.1v23. 2v1-10. Can we hope to succeed without the equipment, which the early Church, and God, felt, was essential for the effective preaching of the Gospel? We face the same challenge of evil occult powers; we need the same equipment from God to defeat them.

They acted as a body under Christ's leadership.
Paul taught that all the members of Christ's body, from apostles to young converts, are intended by God to act together under the guidance of Christ the Head, as a body. 1Cor.12v11-31. Rom.12v3-5. Eph.4v7-11. Every child of God has the right to minister something from Christ, when Christ moves them. 1Cor.14v26,31. This is, of course, speaking of a Christian fellowship; pioneer evangelism should be left to the mature spiritual ministries of the Church. Paul said the Christians at Corinth had the right idea of ministering as a body; the trouble was that they all wanted to do everything and to do too much. The object of the New Testament leaders, was to produce ministries in each local church. Those who fail to do this are not fulfilling a New Testament ministry. Eph.4v8-14. In Eph.4v14., Paul speaks of immature believers who do not possess any ministry from Christ, and he says that they are at the mercy of false teachers. Heb.5v13,14. The Holy Spirit is the overall superintendent of the whole Church of Christ, His aim is to produce ministry in the Church.

The continuous prayer life of the early Church at Jerusalem, shows they realised the need of being subordinate to the lordship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There was a sense of eagerness in the early disciples, to see God work in His Church; if we insist on keeping to our programmes and routines, we will find that we have missed the things that the early Church experienced. Are we as willing to let the Holy Spirit forbid some of our activities and plans, or stop us preaching as Paul was in Acts.16v6-10.? Until we are, we shall only be students of the book of Acts; we shall know little or nothing of “the Acts of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit comes to lead us on to maturity, but unless we acknowledge His leadership and guidance we will not attain it, we may become old Christians, but we will never become mature Christians. Eph.4v12. 2Cor.3v18. Lk.6v40. Heb.5v11-14.

They were prepared to suffer for their Saviour.
The early Christians had to count the cost of their faith, they, like their Lord, were despised and rejected by worldly men. They were looked upon as followers of a crucified heretic, their faith meant persecution. Acts.5v40-42. 8v1-4. 1Thes.1v5,6. There were periods of rest from persecution, e.g. Acts.9v31., but Paul warned Christians that if they lived godly lives, they could expect persecution. 2Tim.2v9. 3v11,12. We are not to invite persecution; indeed, Paul told us to influence the lives and actions of political leaders, by our prayers and godly living. 1Tim.2v1-3. Christ told us to run away from those who persecute us, and try to kill us; there is no place for a false bravado in the Church of Christ. Mt.10v23. The early Christians triumphed over militant opposition because they esteemed the reproach for Christ's sake, as greater riches than all the treasures of the world. Heb.11v26. The Christians treasure is in heaven, not on earth, our eternal home is with our heavenly Father, and what a wonderful Father and home we have! Mt.7v19-34. 1Pet.1v3-9. We are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, we seek a better company and country, and we have a heavenly hope; for God is preparing for us a city. Heb.11v13-16. 1Pet.2v11.

When we seek God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, with the same attitudes of heart and mind as the early Christians at Jerusalem, we shall have the same powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power. Nothing will be able to stand before us; multitudes will be saved, healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We shall be the blessing that God intended all His children to be.

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