STILL THE SAME GOD 

All over the world the Spirit is moving,

All over the world, as the prophet said it would be

All over the world, there's a mighty revelation

Of the glory of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

This is a Christian chorus that was popularly sung in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches back in the seventies onwards, declaring the truth that the Holy Spirit was indeed moving mightily in many nations around the world, seeing the restoration of the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that characterized the early church - in churches across many different denominations, including the Catholic Church.

After Jesus' triumphant resurrection from the grave three days after His crucifixion, for forty days He appeared to hundreds of people, proving that He had indeed risen from the dead. 

Before ascending back to heaven, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for "the Promise of the Father," the baptism with the Holy Spirit," as foretold by John the Baptist, that would be a significant part of the ministry of Jesus. In fact, in two of the accounts in Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist said Jesus would baptise His followers with the Holy Spirit and Fire.

The church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus' resurrection, when the 120 in the Upper Room in Jerusalem were all baptised in the Holy Spirit, as Luke describes in Acts 2:1-4

And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. KJV

The chapter continues to convey that there were Jews present there from "every nation under heaven," and the miracle was that they all heard them (the 120 Galileans) proclaiming the wonderful works of God in their own languages.

Peter addressed the crowd, explaining that this was the fulfillment of a prophecy by the prophet Joel, probabably around 800 BC.

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 

Your young men shall see visions,

Your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days;

And they shall prophesy.

I will show wonders in heaven above

And signs in the earth beneath;

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood, 

Before the great and awesome day of the LORD.

And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the LORD

Shall be saved.  Acts 2:17-21 NKJV

In verses 38-39, Peter said to them: "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Peter categorically, and unambiguously stated that the promise of the Baptism in or with the Holy Spirit to empower believers in Jesus for effective service in the kingdom of God was for ALL TIME until Jesus returned.

In chapter 3, Peter again gives a call to repentance, stating: "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." verses 19-21

We see in the Book Of Acts that the early church was noted for outstanding miracles - signs and wonders that followed the preaching of the Word of God. As with the earthly ministry of Jesus for three and a half years, the blind received their sight, the lame were made to walk again, dead were raised back to life, and all manner of other healings and miracles took place through the hands and the faith of the apostles.

BUT, the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit was not intended to be the sole domain of the apostles. In the Great Commission declared by Jesus in Mark 16, He said: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Mark 16: 15-20 NKJV

Jesus said the signs of his power and authority would follow those who believe - NOT JUST THE APOSTLES.

It is true when looking at church history that the church went through a period of a thousand years or more, when the five-fold ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher were all but absent - and the church was led by a priestcraft that had little resemblance to the ministries designed by Jesus to lead and equip the people of God for Christian service.

Then beginning with Martin Luther in the 1500's, the ministry office of pastor began to be restored to the church. Some two hundred years later with the Wesleys, the evangelist ministry was restored to the church. With the Charismatic Renewal bringing revelation of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the present day operation of the Gifts of the Spirit to many mainline denominations, the ministry of Teacher was prominent in the 60's and 70's.

Earlier, at the turn of the century, in 1906, the worldwide Pentecostal church movements were born out of the Asuza Street Revival, led by William J. Seymour, the black son of slaves - who oversaw a revival drawing thousands from around the world to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. Outstanding healings and miracles were also hallmarks of this revival.

The twentieth century was also remembered for hugely significant mass evangelists such as Billy Graham, and Reinhard Bonnke, and a number of powerful healing ministries such as Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, Jack Coe and A.A. Allen, and others to this present day who have proven outstanding testimony to their "signs following" giftings from the Holy Spirit, as they boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Over the past roughly thirty years, the Lord has raised up many men and women who function in the ministry gifting of prophet, and increasingly the office of the apostle is being restored to the church - to help fully equip believers in Jesus to be effective in ministry in each one's sphere of influence.

For the church of Jesus Christ to effectively proclaim the gospel, the Holy Spirit indwelling believers equips them with both the Fruit of the Spirit, as well as the Gifts of the Spirit. Paul the apostle admonishes Christians in 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. The preceding chapter is what is known as the Love chapter, highlighting that everything we do and say as ambassadors for Christ must be motivated by God's love for people. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists nine "gifts" or manifestations of the Holy Spirit that were in operation in the early church. Their use by and large waned through the Dark Ages, and have seen a wonderful resurgence of demonstration since the Asuza Street Revival, and onto the Charismatic Renewal, and to the present day.

Romans 12 also lists seven gifts from the Holy Spirit to all believers - what have been called Motivational Gifts. Every Christian will be motivated by at least one of these gifts, but they may also operate to a lesser extent in others of these. In other words, most will display one of these giftings in their lives as the dominant Holy-Spirit led motivation in their service in the church, the Body of Christ.

As Paul states in Romans 12:3-8 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, se we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Although there is and has been clear evidence of the mighty demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit confirming the Word of God with signs and wonders over the past 120 odd years, and as stated above, there has been a restoration of the five-fold ascension-gift ministries of Jesus stated in Ephesians 4:11-13 of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher - sadly, there are prominent Christian leaders in what is known as the Cessationists, who firmly believe the Bible teaches that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the passing of the original apostles - and that the ministry gifts of apostle and prophet are not for today either.

A new movie called "Cessationist," was released in America in September this year, asking the question: "Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit for today?" - tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles etc. The conclusion portrayed in the film affirmed by a number of high profile cessationist Reformed Christian leaders is: NO! 

In a trailer for this movie, Stephen J. Lawson, a prominent pastor says boldly:

"No one has the gift of healing today"

"No one has the gift of prophecy today."

"No one is hearing a word from God."

I HAVE TO ASK: REALLY!

Stephen Lawson holds a Master's degree in theology from Dallas Theological Cemetary - oops, I meant Seminary. He also holds a doctorate degree in theology from Reformed Theological Cemetary - oops, I did it again, I mean Seminary, in Jackson, Mississippi.

He has written about thirty books and ministered extensively in the USA and a number of countries outside America.

YET, he says that, basically, the Holy Spirit's "hands are tied today," from using Bible believing Spirit-filled Christians from demonstrating the power of God, motivated by God's love to impact the world for Jesus.

I well remember, while a student at Bible College in New Zealand back in the seventies, the Director of the college saying that the Assemblies in God in America at one point had a conference to discover what had gone wrong with their movement, because the power of God had gone out of their churches. They soon realised that it was because they had put so much emphasis on theological education at the expense of relying on the Holy Spirit, that they were "dying by degrees," so to speak.

As the church age is drawing to a close, as we anticipate the soon return of Jesus for His blood-washed church, more than ever, we are being called to see the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 60: 

Arise, shine;

Four your light has come!

And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

For behold the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the LORD will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

This was a promise to all believers, not just the original apostles, that they would move in the same anointing and power of the Holy Spirit that He had to rely on during His earthly ministry.

DO NOT GIVE HEED TO THE FALSE TEACHING OF CESSATIONIST CALVINIST REFORMED TEACHERS! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is still working miracles, healing sick bodies, prophesying hope to a world filled with a sense of hopelessness. Speaking in tongues of men and of angels is still very much a valid provision of the Holy Spirit for all believers baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

All over the world, the Spirit is indeed moving. Revival fires are breaking out in some of the most unexpected places. Repentance from sin, and a new awareness of the fear of God is gripping the church, and God's great love for humanity is being demonstrated in ways that attest to the demonstration of God's healing, miracle-working, saving, restoring, prophesying power and authority - through people, giving glory and honour to Jesus!