Power From On High Continued
Pentecost originated in the Old Testament as a festival to celebrate the harvest of wheat. That helps us understand why God chose to pour out the Holy Spirit on that day: It is an endowment of power to bring in a harvest of souls.
There is much confusion about the events of that day as recorded in the 2nd chapter of Acts. Acts 2:1, 4 says, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come…they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” So many Christians ignore this verse and do not rightfully divide this chapter of scripture because they get nervous about the “tongues business.”
On the subject of tongues I believe that there is a ditch on both sides of the road. The first ditch that people fall into is by believing that tongues aren’t for today and it was only a first century doctrine. This includes believing that tongues “ceased” and trying to use 1 Corinthians 13:8 to verify that claim. That is foolish. The ditch on the other side of the road is to believe that a person must speak in tongues to be saved. This ditch also includes the excesses that are found in many Pentecostal churches when a church service on a Sunday morning is filled with the entire congregation speaking in tongues. 1 Corinthians 14:23 says, “If therefore the WHOLE CHURCH comes together into one place and all speak with tongues and there come in those that are UNLEARNED or UNBELIEVERS, will they not say you are mad?” When a church gets into excess and becomes bent on building their services around tongues they will miss an opportunity to reach the lost and teach the unlearned. But look what 1 Corinthians 14:39 says, “Wherefore, covet to prophesy and DO NOT FORBID SPEAKING IN TONGUES.” Obviously the Bible is telling us that there are boundaries when understanding tongues.
So what is “tongues” and what does it have to do with the Holy Spirit? We know that it must be connected to the filling of the Holy Spirit because of Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” When it says, “…as THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE” that means that they couldn’t have gotten this experience from anywhere else. So you could say that tongues is an utterance from the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:44-46 says, “While Peter yet spoke these words the Holy Spirit fell on them which heard the Word. And the Jewish believers were astonished…because that on Gentiles also was poured out the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them SPEAK WITH TONGUES and magnify God.” How did the Jews know that these people got filled? They heard them speak with tongues. So what was tongues, by definition, to these people? It was the initial evidence of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, it shouldn’t be the only evidence!
Pastor Tim
Family Church Jamestown is a non-denominational church located in Chautauqua County in Jamestown between Lakewood and Busti, NY. The senior pastor of Family Church is Pastor Tim Stahlman a native to the Jamestown, NY area.
