We’re talking about the power of God.  We’re talking about the Pentecostal people losing their identity of being a people that are set toward the pure revelation of the Word of God and not the indoctrination of denominations.  We don’t speak in tongues because the Assemblies of God speaks in tongues.  We speak in tongues because there was a day of Pentecost that we know of in the Bible, that that fulfilled the prophet Joel, that told us that this would be the consequence on that day, and the infilling at the birth of the church of Jesus Christ.  The birth of the church and speaking in tongues were a simultaneous event; amen?  And the church began that way, and the church is supposed to end that way.  Power. 

Why are we not seeing as many miracles and people walking in the power as we used to?  We don’t emphasize it.  And I thank God for the hour that we’re living in.  I thank God for where He’s directed us as a people.  I thank God for the Pauline epistles, and how we’ve been given all that divine revelation as to how the church is to walk in harmony and in love and preferring one another and lifting up one another’s hands.  Caring for one another.  Preferring one another.  And we’ve put great emphasis on that as a local fellowship, and it’s borne great fruit.  And yet, there’s this segment, that because of all of what medical science has made available in these last decades, that has, frankly, made it easier to go the world and use their wisdom than to our wisdom that Deuteronomy speaks of, “This is our wisdom among the nations: we keep the word of God.”  Amen?  That’s harder.  It’s harder to stay up hours praying and warring in the heavenlies than to take a pill.

I personally believe that the Bible teaches, and we should expect more of these demonstrations of power to happen instantaneously; amen?  We have Bible examples of it not being instantaneous.  We also need to make sure that we make a distinction between the ministry of Jesus and that of His church, even though He said, “The things that I do shall you do, and greater things than these shall you do, because I go to the Father.”  He was speaking in quantity not quality.  And a lot of people’s doctrine might differ in their thought process here, but I want to tell you something: Jesus is Jesus.  Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus was specifically anointed and given specific power, Acts 10:38 said, to affect these things as a way of vindicating, verifying, revealing the truth of the Word of God and the heart of God as it pertains to humanity.  Our Father loves us.  Jesus did not just die on that cross for our eternal souls.  He died on that cross for our physical bodies; amen?

So, why don’t we glorify Him in walking out what He fully intended for us as we’re built up in our faith, as we encourage one another, as we study more of the Word, as we spend time trusting God and by reason of use, then, having this ability to discern where we are spiritually, what God expects of us at these particular moments.  Don’t get any more cast down or discouraged because you pray and don’t get healed than you do when you occasionally sin; amen?  We’re justified.  God isn’t grading us on our performance.  It doesn’t mean that we are less in our relationship because we don’t see these miracles manifesting as much as we like.  We don’t manifest holiness and righteousness and love and gentleness and meekness and temperance as much as we should either; amen?  But, you see, the deliverance and victory for all of those things came in the same event, came in the same package of what He did for us, dying on the cross.  Revealing Himself to us as mighty God.