LOST CONTACT LENS:

The Disciples of Yahshua were criminals wanted by the authorities under a death sentence. Nevertheless, they tarried for 2 reasons:

(1) Obedience to Yahshua, who told them to wait there until they received the promise of his Father, which was "clothing with power."

(2) Obedience to the Law of Elohim, for it was Pentecost. Devout believers like the Disciples were required to be in attendance in Jerusalem despite political authorities. Did you know that the Law of Elohim is higher than the Law of Politics? Yahshua knew that if the Disciples risked their lives keeping the Feast of Pentecost, they would receive the Set-apart Spirit!

Observance of the Feast of Pentecost is the commemoration of the giving of Elohim’s Law, which begins with the 10 Commandments of Exo 20. Moses reads the Law of Elohim to the people, who respond with these words : "All the words which Elohim has spoken we will do." And in the time of Acts, "devout men from every nation" obediently traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast, to hear the Law of Elohim read again so that they could reaffirm their obedience with the same, ancient words: "All that Elohim has spoken we will do."

Had the disciples not been obedient to the Law and the Commandment of Yahshua, there would have been no giving of the Spirit in their generation. But because they did, this Pentecost was different! It was the debut of the New Covenant promise that all obedient people could receive the Spirit of power that fueled the prophets of old (just one at a time).

The Disciples heard the sound of a strong, rushing wind. The words wind and spirit in Greek are the same: pneuma. They heard the Spirit of Elohim enter the room!

They were anointed with ‘tongues of fire’ -- ‘tongues’ simply mean ‘languages’ - fiery (prophetic) languages in order to bear witness to the world.

They were filled with the Spirit: in times past, the spirit would fall on only one; now, owing to the resurrection of Yahshua and the obedience of his disciples, the Spirit of power was given to any who would be obedient to the Commandments and the testimony of Yahshua, and open to receiving something supernatural.

When they "spoke in tongues," they spoke in foreign languages they had never learned. How many have tried to learn a foreign language? How many succeeded?

Why did the disciples need languages?

Now, is this Pentecostal experience for today?

John Wesley is the founder of the Methodist movement. One of the foundations of our theology is the Pentecostal ‘the second blessing,’ which is available to obedient, devout believers today. Wesley said that to receive the ‘second blessing’ one would need to be a Commandment-keeper and a devout synagogue-goer. Wesley would have seen it no other way.

Did you know that Methodists believe in this second work of grace beyond ‘salvation’? I bet you old-timers remember when preachers used to preach "second-blessing holiness"! And the belief in the second blessing of Pentecost is the distinguishing doctrine that sets us Methodists apart from our neighbors down the road.

(1) Wesley taught that, if you have received the second blessing, you will know it -- and others will know it for sure, because you will have a tongue of fire. This does not necessarily mean a person will speak in tongues. It does mean that a person will not be afraid to tell others about what the Father has done without fearing to name Yahshua in the conversation.

(2) Wesley also taught that you are baptized in the Spirit, you start working out your salvation in love by keeping the Commandments. This is just the beginning of a narrow pathway that leads to believer Perfection - perfection in love. Methodists don’t ‘get saved,’ they ‘strive for perfection.’

(3) Wesley also taught that the evidence of the baptism of the Set-apart Spirit would be obedience to the practices of the synagogue that had been passed down to us from the very first. He himself passed down the best practices of the Synagogue of England to the Methodists of America.

This is in the spirit of the Apostle Paul, who wrote: "I commend you because you maintain the traditions [of the faith] just as I delivered them to you" (1 Co 11:2). In another place he wrote, "What I received at first I also delivered to you..." (1 Co 15:3). You see, there is a passing down of truth that we must be sensitive to when we speak of the power in tradition. That is what preaching is all about!

Most people who claim to be baptized in the Spirit today say they can prove it because they speak in tongues. Well, that is one evidence. But it seems to me like most people who speak in tongues and claim to be ‘experts’ in spiritual matters don’t know beans about the inspired traditions delivered down from Yahshua through hundreds and hundreds of years and the blood of martyrs and saints, ‘devout men and women,’ obedient to the Commandments of Elohim and the Testimony of Yahshua, even unto death.

Some ‘spiritual’ people say that tradition is dead -- often making an accusation about it -- "your dead traditions." "We’re alive," they say, "and you are dead." Some tradition is very dead. But some synagogue traditions, through the blood of the thousands of martyrs who handed them down to us, can be very much alive and powerful. It all depends upon your attitude and your faith. I want to finish up by mentioning three powerful traditions that have been passed down from the very first until today: the Law of Elohim, the Sacraments and the Creeds.

(1) The Law of Elohim - How many times have you heard someone say, "The Law was nailed to the cross" - we are not obligated to keeping it anymore! The fact is, though the Ten Commandment were destroyed as stone tablets, they are supposed to be written on the heart of every Spirit-filled believer (2 Co 3:3). If they are etched on your heart, then they are all the more binding on you today than when were merely written in stone. Read them sometime (Exo 20). You will quickly learn whether they are written on your heart or not. But they should be.

(2) The Communion of Saints. Yahshua commanded that this tradition was to be observed often, and in an attitude of repentance and thanksgiving. The Methodist Synagogue believes that the elements of the communion, the bread and wine, really do become the body and blood of our Savior in a spiritual sense. Read it for yourself in the Discipline. If this is so, the utmost care must be taken when approaching the bread and wine , for they are the body and blood of your Heavenly Friend who gave you his flesh to eat when you are hungry and his blood to drink.

The words of the communion in your hymnbook have been passed down to us from the very first. You may partake of the same communion service that the apostles and all the saints from that time observed, even though 2 millennia have passed, by observing the communion recorded in the UM Hymnal.
Regarding communion, Yahshua said, "as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of me." The word ‘remembrance’ literally means to relive - to relive his passion. The service printed in your hymn book has been preserved to give us a pattern by which we may spiritually relive the passion of his Son in communion with all the saints in history, both living and dead, both in the present, past and future. Our Communion with the saints is a miracle more powerful than any Pentecost, if we are obedient to observe it as Yahshua and his Apostles taught.

(3) The final tradition I want to emphasize here is the Creed. The Apostles Creed has been handed down to you by the Apostles themselves. ‘Creed’ comes from the Latin word credo, which means ‘I believe.’ The Apostles Creed is made of twelve lines. Each of the 12 Apostles wrote a line. It represents what the Apostles believed. Shouldn’t we believe the same thing?

Reciting what you believe right out loud and in public sets up a very, very powerful supernatural force. You not only proclaim the story to all the living and dead, past present and future, in the communion of saints and make your position with them known, but reciting the creed is a strong form of spiritual warfare. The demons that try to ruin your life cringe and flee when they hear you testifying that you believe the same things as the Apostles, then filling yourself with the body and blood of their enemy. The Devil can’t stand it when you proclaim your faith.

Friends, these are not dead traditions. The Spirit of Pentecost brings them alive through your obedience. The power of Pentecost manifests itself not only in the supernatural and unusual experiences described in Acts chapter 2, but also in the commands, traditions and disciplines that grew out of the Pentecostal power. Among these are the fervent obedience to the Commandments, the serious reliving of the passion of Yahshua through Communion and the proclamation of the creed of the Apostles. Are you willing to make the same pledge to the Spirit that the Israelites made to their Elohim - "All that Yahweh says, we will do"? That Let us begin to experience afresh the power of Pentecost as we begin to live obediently among the saints of all ages.