A Pentecostal Meeting

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "an old-time Pentecostal meeting?" Just HOW old are "Pentecostal meetings" anyway? That depends on what you understand by the term "Pentecostal." Most people today associate the word "Pentecostal" with the various religions who identify themselves by that name. In other words, the modern day Charismatic-Pentecostal and the "miracles, signs, wonders and tongues" movement.

The Pentecostal meetings of today are around a hundred years old. Before the early 1900's there were NO Pentecostal meetings. The modern day Pentecostal movement got it's start in the early 1900's...and before that there WERE NO so-called "faith healing, tongue talking" Pentecostals. A woman named Agnes Ozman went up into a PRAYER TOWER at the Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas one night in 1900. She tarried all night and came back down and claimed that she had "the baptism OF the Holy Ghost....with the EVIDENCE of speaking in tongues."

Charles Parham, the preacher at the Bethel Bible College in Topeka Kansas began to teach from that day that "speaking in tongues" was the EVIDENCE of the baptism OF the Holy Ghost. One of his students was W.J. Seymour, the man who started the Azuza Street meetings in Los Angeles. And a few years later the CIRCUS on Azuza Street started and spread like wildfire around the United States. Lately you never know what new act is going to show up on television. So the modern day "Old Time Pentecostal Meetings" are less than a hundred years old, BUT the one in the bible, in Acts Chapter Two, was ABOUT 1500 years old at the time it took place.

In the book of Acts, fifty days after the Lord was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead most of religion celebrates the beginning of the church. That has resulted in the mess and the mass confusion you see in most of denominational religion today. Rather than being a beginning of anything, the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two was really more like the 1500th ANNIVERSARY of a Jewish Feast.

Have you noticed that the CONTEXT of the first seven chapters of the book of Acts is about the RESTORING of the Kingdom to Israel. From Acts chapter one and verse one...to Acts chapter eight verse one....Jerusalem is referred to TWELVE TIMES. And TWELVE TIMES Israel is referred to. Men of Israel, children of Israel, the rulers and elders of Israel, all the people of Israel.

The Day of Pentecost is one of the seven great feasts of the Lord given exclusively to the nation of Israel and to nobody else on the planet. Those seven feasts were Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. They are ALL laid out in Leviticus chapter 23. Here is what it says about the Feast of Pentecost:

Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

Leviticus 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

Leviticus 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

Leviticus 23:21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Now what you see in those verses happened every single Day of Pentecost...including the one in Acts Chapter Two. Every single detail was exact and was carried out...and followed TO THE LETTER....by the Priests of the tribe of Levi. Everything was done EXACTLY as it was written in the Law of Moses including this Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. So the Day of Pentecost is NOT something new. At the time of Acts chapter two it had been observed as a part of the Law of Moses for nearly 1500 years.

The Holy Ghost was sent down from Heaven by the Lord Jesus Christ. On the Day of Pentecost HE baptized 12 Jewish men WITH the Holy Ghost. Nowhere in the bible does the bible say that the Jewish feast day called Pentecost was the beginning of the church, the body of Christ. What do animal sacrifices and Jews celebrating a Jewish feast which had been going on for 1500 years have to do with the "birth" of the church, the body of Christ? The Law of Moses had to be in effect and it had to be in operation. We just saw that the very feast itself is a PART OF the Law of Moses. Nowhere in the bible is there any other reason for having such a feast, so obviously all those there were under the Law. If the Law was abolished AT the cross then this feast would also be abolished because it is very much a part of the Law.

As a matter of fact, the Feast was observed by the Church at Jerusalem all they way through the book of Acts. Notice here in these verses:

1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians at the time of Acts 19. But notice in Acts 20.

Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

There Paul is headed for Jerusalem in an attempt to be there by the day of Pentecost. He made it and when he went in to James and the other elders (Peter and John both call themselves elders in 1 Peter 5:1 and and in both 2 and 3 John, verse one.) notice what they said to him:

Acts 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

The feast day called Pentecost, according to the Law of Moses was still being kept near the end of the book of Acts. As a matter of fact, the very cause of Paul being arrested in Acts 21 was because the Jews caught him in the temple. He was there because of that Jewish feast day.

1 Corinthians 9:20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

At the time of Acts chapter 19, when Paul wrote those words...he believed that there was SOMEBODY who was UNDER THE LAW. Now it is true that the Law was taken out of the way BY the cross. But it was not taken out of the way AT THE CROSS nor AT THE TIME of the Cross. That's a point you don't need to miss. It is only in Paul's epistles that we find that believers are not under the law and that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Even in Galatians Paul wrote that the LAW was their schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. The Galatians didn't come to Christ at the cross. They came to Christ when Paul went to Galatia, in Acts chapter 16 and Acts chapter 18 and preached to them...that gospel that I preach.

Now today, in Christ Jesus, you are not under the Law. You are saved by grace not by the works of the Law. And sin has no dominion over you because you are not under the Law. You are DEAD to the Law by the body of Christ. But that was not the case in the ministry of the 12 Apostles. It is only true of Paul's doctrine to the church, the body of Christ. None of the writers of the Hebrew epistles...Peter, James, John, Jude, Luke...or the writer of the book of Hebrews ever state that the Law is blotted out. The closest you get is the statement in the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

So the old Covenant...the Law of Moses...is OLD in the book of Hebrews...and READY to vanish away. But it has NOT YET vanished away at the time Hebrews was written.

Acts 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

So you see a "great company" of priests and they were obedient to the 'faith." Well they are still priests. That's a sure indication that the Law of Moses is still being practiced. Notice here:

Hebrews 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

Even in Hebrews you have priests who offer gifts according to the Law. There is not ONE verse to indicate anything other than the fact that the JEWISH church at Jerusalem, believing the Gospel of the Kingdom, were UNDER the Law all the way through the book of Acts. So there are at least three things we can say about THIS "old-time Pentecostal meeting" in the book of Acts:

1. The Day of Pentecost came and it was according to the law.

2. A great company of priests according to the law were obedient to the faith of ISRAEL'S COMING NEW COVENANT.....they had NEVER HEARD Paul's gospel.

3. Many thousands of Jews believed in the second coming of Christ and Israel's New Covenant and they were all ZEALOUS OF THE LAW.

So the Day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter Two was in NO WAY the begining of the church, the body of Christ. It was more like the 1500th ANNIVERSARY of a Jewish Feast Day. BUT.....this day was different from any other that had gone before. It was different in this respect. Please note the word BAPTIZE in the following verses:

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Mark 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

Notice there is a BAPTISM in each of those four verses. Now go back and read the verses again, and instead of baptism....notice the word HE in each of the verses. WHO is the HE who was going to BAPTIZE WITH the Holy Ghost? A person is going to do the baptizing isn't he? Who is that person? It is JESUS CHRIST isn't it? Now did you see anything at all in any of those verses that said anything at all about "the baptism OF the Holy Ghost, and fire?" The"old time Pentecostal meeting" just got RAINED OUT. The "fire" didn't come in Acts Two. It is yet future. It is flaming fire of vengeance and the lake of fire.

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

So JOHN baptized WITH water. The Lord Jesus Christ HIMSELF baptized 12 Jews WITH the Holy Ghost. There is NOTHING at all about the "baptism OF the Holy Ghost." There is NO SUCH THING in the bible as "the baptism OF the Holy Ghost." It was the baptism WITH the Holy Ghost and the baptizer was none other than the Lord Himself. John calls it the "unction."

1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

Peter clearly identifies the Holy One as Jesus Christ in Acts 2:27 and 3:14. Paul does the same in Acts 13:35. So the UNCTION was from Jesus Christ. He was the one who baptized them. Do you know anyone who knows all things? If people had that "unction" what use would there be for bible study? We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 to STUDY. Most people in religion today confuse this baptism which was a baptism done BY Jesus Christ....with the baptism done BY the Holy Spirit that Paul writes about. The reason for the confusion is that most denominations want the beginning of the church, the body of Christ to be in a place where it DID NOT exist. But they want to hold on...either to the water baptism of Acts chapter two, or the power baptism of Acts chapter two...or both...and in order to do it they have to create an earlier beginning for the body of Christ. So they confuse what JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF did in Acts chapter two with what Paul says that the Holy Spirit does today...as in:

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

So they conclude that the baptism of Acts 2: 4 is the same as the baptism of 1 Corinthians 12: 13. But is is not. The BAPTISMS are different and the BAPTIZER is different. Now Pentecostalists have even a different take on it. They believe in the baptism by the Spirit into the body...but they also believing in tarrying for a second baptism or anointing or unction or blessing.

The reason Pentecostalists "TARRY" for the Holy Ghost today is because they see that the Lord told those 12 Apostles to "TARRY in Jerusalem." So they "tarry" for the second one. But the thing is that when Pentecostalists today tarry...they are waiting for an imaginary rain that is NOT coming.

Number one...there is NO SUCH THING as the "baptism OF the Holy Ghost," and number two...when a person is saved today..the moment he trusts the Lord, believing that He died for their sins and was raised for their justification...at THAT MOMENT he is SEALED by the Spirit. At that moment he is baptized BY the Spirit...not WITH...but BY the Spirit, into the body of Christ...sealed unto the day of redemption. There is nothing to tarry for. The reason that we who go by the BIBLE know this is because of what the bible says:

Ephesians 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Ephesians 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Now if BY ONE SPIRIT we are baptized into ONE body...and that baptism takes place the very MOMENT a believer TRUSTS the Lord...believing the truth of the gospel...then there is no tarrying and there is no further anointing. There is no such thing as "second blessing" or a "second anointing or baptism." There is ONE Spirit and there is ONE baptism, according to the verses.

So the Pentecostalists says, "Well, I can't help what it says....I know what I FELT." But since when is there a verse that says "FEEL on the Lord Jesus Christ?" It says BELIEVE...not feel. There were probably thousands of Christians who woke up this morning and they didn't feel one way or the other. They might have even felt bad. What does feelings have to do with the facts? Do you have to FEEL saved or do you have to BELIEVE the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and TRUST the Lord no matter HOW you feel?

Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

So you either belong to the Lord or you don't. If you have the Spirit of Christ you are HIS. If you have not the Spirit of Christ you are NONE OF HIS. It is a one time transaction and it's a done deal...once you trust the Lord, believing the FACTS...that Christ died for your sins and he was raised for your justification.

Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

So what happened in Acts chapter two is not a pattern for Pentecostalists, or anybody else, to follow today. It was a one time event. It was a POWER baptism for Pentecostal Jews headed for certain death in the TRIBULATION. It was the power to suffer. It was the power to endure to the end.

Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

You see, the Lord taught the people of Israel about the coming tribulation. Peter taught the people of Israel in Acts chapter two about the coming tribulation and about the SECOND coming of Jesus Christ. That was the ENDURE TO THE END message:

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

But it didn't happen that way. Israel did not repent. Peter had said, "repent and be baptized EVERY ONE OF YOU." But instead of repenting, Israel FELL...and God raised up Paul to be the Apostle of the Gentiles:

Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

Romans 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

Romans 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

So instead of restoring Israel today...God is offering salvation to the whole world..on the basis of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone:

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So today there is nothing to repent of, nothing to tarry for, nothing to do in order to be saved...but something to believe. Believe ON the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Paul was the first and the pattern of salvation today, and Paul wrote:

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.