“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6:17-18
I am reminded that people need to see in me what it means to be a child of God. As His child, am I walking in His full authority?
Very often, it is what we ARE that prepares hearts to HEAR our speaking - people need to hear the Gospel and they hear it best from those who have won a hearing.
The theological key to my Pentecostal identity is belief in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with its initial physical evidence of speaking in tongues. I believe this Pentecostal experience empowers believers for Christian witness, service, and victorious Christian living. It also provides believers with spiritual gifts for effective ministry. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is extended as a gift to all believers as promised in Acts 2:38-39 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Being a witness for Christ involves my whole life, not just by my words. As His child and salt and light before others, I live for God to impart a positive influence to the people around me and win others for Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree that The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the initial evidence but is it the only evidence? Is it exclusive only to the Pentecostals? Other denominations also speak in tongues - Methodists, Anglicans, even Catholics. Does that make them Pentecostals?
ReplyDeleteHi Yet Meng,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. From your view, Baptism of the Holy Spirit gives us the full 'authority' to live out the fullness and realization of our identity of true Christianship - effective as witness to the Gospel.
Can I ask a question; does that means when a person not received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or speaking in tongues (glossolalia) is less or incomplete Christian?
You are a Pentecostal. How did you become one?
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for visiting my blog and leaving your footprints...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking in tongues is not exclusive to Pentecostals… and as you rightly say Lionel, other denominational Christians also speak in tongues. Glossolalia is a distinctive difference for Pentecostals. Every denomination has charismatic Christians who speak in tongues. Various revivals testifies to baptism in the Holy Spirit as being a distinct and separate experience. Other denominations like Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics, etc usually call themselves Charismatics while others use the term renewal like the Renewal Lutheran Church (RLC) for example.
The absence of glossolalia does not make one a lesser Christian but it is a glorious gift to be desired to deepen our prayer life and relationship with the Lord.
How did I become a Pentecostal? By His matchless grace and mercy! In a nutshell, I accepted Christ and worshiped as an Anglican because the school where I came from was an Anglican Mission School. I backslid somewhere in between when I couldn’t attend church regularly. But God called me back into his fold some years later through a friend to his church that was a Charismatic independent church. Having been brought up in an Anglican structured environment, I questioned the exuberant worship style of this church. I searched the scriptures for answers and discovered that the Bible says to sing, shout, leap for joy, clap your hands, and dance before the Lord. I was spirit baptized and divinely healed while at this charismatic church. When the church had a split, I followed the Spirit’s call to follow the splinter group, to form a new church which later came under the AOG covering. I am now a Pentecostal through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Praise be to God!
Hi Yet Meng,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying to us all. In my blogging with others, I came across a question asking - can a Pentecostal be both holding on to other practices like being a Baptist (or even a Charismatic) at the same time? In other words, if a person declared himself a true Pentecostal, will it not contradict his belief and practices?