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The Church of Acts from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

What God designs and establishes is always perfect and never needs to be improved on or replaced. He always gets it right the first time.

For example, look at Noah's ark which is a pattern of the Church, both designed by God, built by carpenters, and those inside are saved. Now, the Church I am speaking of is not a building, a denomination, or an organization, but God's people from around the world in one large global body of Christ. The "ekklesia" or called out ones from all nations and all walks of life. God has one Church, one bride of Christ.

God gave Noah the plans and Noah and his sons built the ark. It accomplished everything God designed it to do, and it didn't even need a test run. The ark was designed with the correct dimensions, held the right number of animals, was stable in the water, did not get top heavy and capsize in storms, and it was able to last through the flood. God's plans were perfect for the task needed.

In (Exodus 25:10–11), God instructed Moses to build the ark of the covenant. It was basically a treasure chest made from natural wood and overlaid inside and out with pure gold (divine). Inside it were stored the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone. The ark signified God's tangible presence among His people, and they never needed a new model.

The Feast of Pentecost marked the day when the Commandments were given to Israel. In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples gathered in the upper room, baptizing them in the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in unknown tongues. Their bodies were made up of natural materials but were now covered by the divine, the Holy Spirit, inside and out. The Commandments of God were instantly written on their stony hearts (Romans 2:15). They were forever changed, and it was the beginning of the Church.

The upper room of Acts 2 was likely part of the temple courts, a massive structure with many porches, colonnades, and rooms. This was in the magnificent temple of Herod at Jerusalem, which the disciples marveled at. It took eighty years to build and was destroyed by the Romans only seven years after it was completed (Mark 13:1–2).

The disciples were in the bustling city of Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost, and the sound of the mighty rushing wind and 120 disciples speaking in different languages drew a massive crowd together.

(Acts 2:6 NKJV) And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

Though the disciples thought they were speaking in an "unknown tongue," the listeners, who were from all over, could understand some of them. The disciples were speaking in the languages of men from somewhere on Earth:

(Acts 2:7-11 NKJV) Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."

Note that the disciples were not "preaching" in tongues. They were praising God in an "unknown tongue," and the travelers heard some of them speaking in their language. For example, the Medes spoke an ancient Iranian language known as Median. At least one of the Spirit-filled Galileans was speaking in Median that day, and a traveling Mede heard them.

It was 9 a.m., the third hour of the day, when the Apostle Peter began to preach a very anointed message in the common language, probably Aramaic or Greek. Peter, who was a simple, uneducated fisherman, suddenly began to explain deep truths from the prophet Joel, things that even the high priest did not understand.

(Acts 2:16-18 NKJV) But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of 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.'

Peter would not have known those things the day before, for they were given to him at that moment by the Holy Spirit for such a time as this. As Jesus had said, the Helper taught him:

(John 14:26 NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

God has a wonderful trademark of making the simple look bright, the timid bold, and the weak look strong (2 Corinthians 12:9). Peter boldly spoke the word of God and told them about Jesus, "whom you crucified."

(Acts 2:36-39 NKJV) "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one 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 to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Three thousand people were added to the church on the first day (Acts 2:41). This had to be especially horrifying to the corporate religious establishment, which had crucified Jesus out of envy to squash their competition. Now that the Holy Spirit had come, the tiny church had grown by 2,500% in a matter of hours.

Acts Chapter 3: Peter and John were going to the temple when they passed a man who had been crippled from birth begging for alms at the gate called Beautiful. He was over forty years old. Peter looked at him and said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." The man was instantly healed and went to the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God (Acts 3:1–8).

Acts Chapter 4: The religious leaders had Peter and John arrested for preaching about Jesus, and it reads: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it" (Acts 4:13–14 NKJV).

Those following Jesus faced persecution, so they prayed for boldness: "And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:27-31 NKJV).

Acts Chapter 5: A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of land and pretended to give the full amount to the Church, but lied to Peter about the price and kept some for themselves. They both fell dead and were carried out and buried (Acts 5:1-11).

Acts Chapter 6: Stephen did great signs and wonders among the people. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with a wisdom they could not stand against, and his face became like an angel (Acts 6:15).

Acts Chapter 7: Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, saw heaven opened up, the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This was a supernatural vision.

Acts Chapter 8: Philip preached Christ and performed great miracles, casting out unclean spirits and healing the paralyzed and the lame. After praying with a eunuch from Ethiopia, Philip was supernaturally transported from one location to another. It reads, "The Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away," and then, "Philip was found at Azotus" (Acts 8:39–40).

Acts Chapter 9: Saul, who later became known as the Apostle Paul, was a Christian hunter on the road to Damascus when a brilliantly bright light shone around him. The light was so bright that it burned scales onto his eyes and left him blind. Looking at Jesus must have been like staring into an arc welder. Jesus spoke to him and told him to arise and go into the city, and he would be told what to do (Acts 9:3–9).

Jesus spoke to another disciple in Damascus named Ananias and told him to go pray for Saul. Ananias gave Saul the word of Jesus and baptized him in the Holy Spirit, and Saul became known as Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament (Acts 9:10–12).

Noteworthy: Here we have a second generation of Apostles and Disciples who are walking in the Power of the Holy Spirit. They had never seen Jesus alive, were not a part of the original 120, and they came to know Him long after His crucifixion.

Summary:

You can see the Holy Spirit at work all the way through the book of Acts, working hand in hand with the Church, bringing encouragement, guidance, making decisions, and confirming the word with signs following.

This is our example of the original church life, and nowhere in scripture does it say that this ended. The Lord always does it right the first time. When I first came to the Lord and started attending a local church, they taught that the gifts of the Spirit passed away with the last Apostle and that we no longer needed the Holy Spirit because we now have the Bible.

Nothing could be further from the truth! We need Him more today more than ever. The Bible points us to God, but it does not replace our relationship with Him, nor walking and talking and spending time with Him. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Later, I learned the truth when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I watched people instantly being healed by the laying of hands and prayer. I watched prophecies spoken over me come to pass. When our computer business dried up, I had a supernatural vision on a Tuesday morning that I was entering a boxing ring and putting on the gloves, and by that Friday, I found myself a Pastor. The week before, I was a computer tech with no plan to be in ministry.

When the idea of starting an online church came to us, we sat down and calculated that we needed $2500. We didn't have it, but we prayed about it and felt we should get started. We decided that if God wanted us to do it, He would provide for it somehow, and I pulled an old Dell server out of the closet and began formatting it on our kitchen table. Within thirty minutes, someone donated exactly $2500 without us telling anyone about our plans.

This is real. The Holy Spirit wants to work with us hand in hand, day by day, but our unbelief can stop God from working in our lives just as it did in Jesus' hometown.

We should ask ourselves why there is no power in our lives instead of making excuses to cover it up. It is the church that is dead, not God. We have fumbled the ball that He gave us, dropped the baton that was passed down, and let His fire go out.

Our spiritual experience or Church history should never be used as a blueprint for beliefs. We have the Word of God for that. If it happened in the Bible, it can happen in your life. Christianity is a supernatural religion with signs and wonders following it from the day that it was born:

- This was the way that Jesus did it.

- It is the way that He said that His followers would do it.

- It is the way that the Church originally did it.

- Anything less is a perverted gospel of man-made traditions.

The Apostle Paul said that in the later days, people would practice religion, appearing to be godly but actively denying its power. They would not only disbelieve it but actually deny it and oppose the power of God. They would have you believe that there is no power today, that God does not care or speak to you, and if He did, they might even call it the work of the devil (2 Timothy 3:1–5).

I will share something very personal here. Sylvia and I have a dear friend I won't name, who is one of the most humble people I've ever met—not a pretender, but the real thing. He never says anything negative about anybody. He is so tenderhearted that he is always broke because he is trying to help someone else in hard times. We played music together and performed at a "Camp Meeting" once, and I knew our brother was struggling to keep his house at the time.

Instead of the usual "Camp Meeting" type message, the preacher took the stage and spoke for forty minutes on giving, then took up an offering. To try and boost the giving further, he pointed back at us and told the audience, "I have to pay this praise and worship team here, so whatever you were going to give, just double it."

We didn't usually get paid at the meetings, so our brother was happy to hear about it. At the end of the meeting, while we were packing up our equipment, the preacher stuffed the offering in his pocket and sprinted for the door. We never heard from them again about paying the band. Oh, how we felt used and soiled. That preacher had used us to fleece the flock and pad his own pockets, but what hit Sylvia and me the hardest was the way he had treated our humble brother, who would smile and never mention it. It took us years to get past that.

The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a gentle dove. He is a very real, tender-hearted person who never speaks negative things about anyone. He always points us to Jesus and never speaks about Himself. He only wishes you the best possible outcome and intercedes for us to overcome. He can be grieved and feel sadness. He can be quenched, stifled, and His fire put out (Ephesians 4:30-32); (1 Thessalonians 5:19); (Romans 8:26).

He won't defend Himself, but do not mistake meekness for weakness, for the Lord will defend Him. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and when He cast out a demon, the scribes said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons, He casts out demons." That was an eternal mistake, labeling the work of the Holy Spirit as that of an evil spirit. Jesus told them to keep their mouth off the Holy Spirit:

(Mark 3:28-30 NASB) "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"— because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

The scribes said that Jesus could cast out demons because He was possessed by the ruler of the demons instead of through the Holy Spirit. They called something Holy evil, something good bad. Now, they are guilty of an eternal sin that even the blood of Christ won't wash away, for He won't allow it.

Never attribute the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit to the devil. Now, I don't believe it is as easy as simply saying that "tongues are from the devil," but that is certainly starting down that path because they are a gift from the Holy Spirit. Let God judge others.

We need to be more like Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is our Guide who will slowly transform us from the inside out until we are.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please open my eyes and heart to Your truth. Help me see through Your eyes. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

I also have a four-part teaching this subject available on the website if you would like to know more:

1 Part 1: Who is the Holy Spirit?

2 Part 2: Ignorance in the Church

3 Part 3: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

4 Part 4: The Gifts of the Spirit