OLD TIME PENTECOSTAL PREACHING!

"This is an extract from some preaching notes given to me by an old and much honored Pastor shortly before he died. His name was Tom Woods.  This man of God blessed me with his ‘words’ of encouragement.  He wrote as he spoke.  You may not be familiar with this style of preaching, but believe me, it is because of men like this that we enjoy what we have today.

ANTIOCH Acts 13.

You may like to read the first few verses of Acts 13 to get an overview of the church at Antioch

“THERE WERE PROPHETS IN THIS CHURCH”.

‘Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets’ Men aflame with divine direction. Men in touch with the central light of glory.  Men of prayer and passion and abandonment to the Lord. Men who knew mighty  anointing and knew the breath of the Spirit of God on their lives. They spoke in liberated utterances which set the Assembly ablaze with  devotion and praise, as well as godliness and holy desires.

PENTECOST HIT EVERY LEVEL OF SOCIETY.  Farmers like Barnabas, Pharisees like Saul (Paul), men who had been brought up with kings of darkness like Herod.  Manaen was of royal stock but he had been taken from the splendor of earth’s throne rooms and had submitted to the lowly Savior, discovering in Him the King of Kings.

COLOUR BARS MELTED BEFORE THE FIRES OF LOVE!

Simon called Niger was there amidst prophetic light. Luceus had been embraced although he was a Cyrenean. 

THIS CHURCH WAS MORE THAN COSMOPOLITAN. IT WAS METROPOLITAN AND ITS CITY RIGHTS WERE IN HEAVEN.

Men and women and boys and girls everywhere are called to share the freedom of the eternal city through the blood of Jesus.

This freedom was obtained with a great price – and Jesus paid it all.

THERE WERE PROPHETS. Holy Spirit fired utterances filled the place with inspiration. Revelation, power and release scattered live-giving rays over this lovely Assembly.

The ministry was working all over this church. Everyone was touched with sacred fire.  They had both the Gifts of the Spirit and the Gift men of office.  Leadership was clothed with humility. Yes – all the blood – bought company were bowed in submission under the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.

THE CHURCH IS A LIBERATED ORDERLY COMPANY.  But the order is not death and inertia and inactivity. It is an order of life. A life which is supernatural.

Its governments are in the hands of mandated men. Men who have sold out for God. Men who know the mighty urge and passion for prayer. Men of light. Men of love. Men of courage without anything that is austere and vain.  AND WE PRAY FOR SUCH A TYPE OF MEMBERSHIP IN THIS CHURCH.   Men who have buried their personal likes and dislikes in the crucible of Christ’s sufferings.  Men who shed their uniting rays everywhere and shun the slightest form of division.

IN THIS CHURCH AT ANTIOCH, LEADERS AND CONGREGATION WERE UNITED THROUGH THE INSPIRATION OF THE SPIRIT, the gifts of the Spirit and the office gifts of Christ. All were blended in grand harmony.

These men of light; and we all can be that, were men of prayer.  They sought the light of God, not the limelight of men.  There are people who seek to climb to the top, but by the time they reach the top their light has gone out.  Our need today is for men and women of light. Transparency is a real ‘must’ in the sanctuary of purity.

PROPHETIC LIGHT PENETRATES.  1 Corinthians 14:25. ‘For thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so, falling on his face he will worship God and report that God is among you of a truth’

Sweeping through the church at Antioch, under the utterances of inspired men with prophetic voice, came a pure stream of life, light and devotion, until the whole area was filled with passion and love and worship.

NOW: THERE WERE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS.  I don’t think the two are divorced. One was not a vineyard and the other a valley of dry bones!  Teaching should never be torture – unless the soul is out of touch.  The anointed heart cries all the time “Lead me in straight paths because of my enemies”.

Satan hates this grand and glorious area into which the Spirit of God would lead us.  There are menaces on the way.  Sheer emotionalism can lead us into strange and alien ways.  INSPIRATION IS NO OPPONENT OF TRUTH.   The base of all true inspiration is love out of a pure heart.

ETERNAL DESTINY SHOULD PLACE A RESTRAINING SEAL UPON OUR WALK. If we are anything at all in this dark world we are the children of light.  Paul wrote with a heart brimful of the Spirit. “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18,19.

PAUL WROTE THIS, BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED IT, AND IT CAN BECOME WONDERFULLY APPLIED.

There must be tremendous moves of the Spirit which clothe us with ecstasy and delight. To be free from sin’s guilt is the joy of all joys!  To know the Saviour’s redeeming love in our souls is rapture without bounds.  

TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT IS TO BE FILLED WITH GLORIOUS DELIGHT, and it must all be channelled into a practical dimension of love, operative and applied.  Ephesians 4:30-32 ‘And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.’  That is good teaching.  Let your heart be sensitive to anything which might grieve the Spirit.  A wrong word, a wrong attitude, a wrong activity.   We can be kept out of touch by many things today. V13 (of the Ephesian’s scripture) says ‘let all bitterness and wrath and anger and evil; speaking be put away, with all malice’ v32 .. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you’

That is teaching. Let the Gifts be in display, let glory crown our gatherings. Let inspiration burn and prophetic fires glow, but also let the TEACHERS come to keep us living good lives and to move in the splendor of our inheritance with tender hearts.

THERE WERE PROPHETS AND THERE WERE TEACHERS IN THIS CHURCH.    Notice that they ‘ministered to the Lord’ v2. The word ‘ministered’ carries with an element of surrender.   Men who minister at all, minister ‘to the Lord’.  Anyone who stands before God’s people must be humble, gentle, kind, courteous and considerate.

THE MINISTER OF ALL MINISTERS WON HIS AUTHORITY BY SUPREME SURRENDER.  These men were simple, and surrendered in heart and mind as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.  In the outreaching of their spirits, as they entered into Christ’s glorious supremacies of wisdom and power, human appetites and desires were forgotten and foregone.

There are wondrous areas yet to be investigated and explored. Paul was carried to a THIRD HEAVEN.  John was lifted to eternal splendours, antedating the TRIUMPHANT REIGN AND RULE OF CHRIST. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Affluence can be a killer. Plenty of this worlds goods can breed a spiritual poverty.  ‘Because you say “I am rich and increased in goods and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and  blind and naked……’”  Rev.3:17. So said the risen Lord to the Laodicean church. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID.   How did he speak?  Through dedicated and surrendered men.  That commission by the Spirit to Paul and Barnabas, was one of the greatest bounties to the Church. 
Because of that Commission, cities were set on fire with Pentecostal Power.   
Because of that commission idol worship and false gods in many places trembled and fell.  Through that commission, Assemblies arose in Asia and Galatia, in seaports and in villages.  Through that great commission, New Testament Theology emerges in grand light and glory.   The triumph of Pentecost lies in the simplicity of its procedure.

MAY THE LORD HELP US ALL TO BE EMBRACED AND CONQUERED BY THE SUPREMACY OF THE SPIRIT.

THERE WAS A CHURCH

THERE WERE PROPHETS

THERE WERE TEACHERS

THERE WAS A MINISTRY TO THE LORD

THERE WAS A DYNAMIC COMMISSION

THERE WAS A GREAT OUTREACH TO THE WORLD.

This is an extract from some preaching notes given to me by an old and much honored Pastor shortly before he died. His name was Tom Woods.  This man of God blessed me with his ‘words’ of encouragement.  He wrote as he spoke.  You may not be familiar with this style of preaching, but believe me, it is because of men like this that we enjoy what we have today. May the same power, love and ‘fire’ fill all our lives. Be blessed, Ed.
ANTIOCH Acts 13.
You may like to read the first few verses of Acts 13 to get an overview of the church at Antioch
“THERE WERE PROPHETS IN THIS CHURCH”.
‘Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets’ Men aflame with divine direction. Men in touch with the central light of glory.  Men of prayer and passion and abandonment to the Lord. Men who knew mighty  anointing and knew the breath of the Spirit of God on their lives. They spoke in liberated utterances which set the Assembly ablaze with  devotion and praise, as well as godliness and holy desires.
PENTECOST HIT EVERY LEVEL OF SOCIETY.  Farmers like Barnabas, Pharisees like Saul (Paul), men who had been brought up with kings of darkness like Herod.  Manaen was of royal stock but he had been taken from the splendor of earth’s throne rooms and had submitted to the lowly Savior, discovering in Him the King of Kings.
COLOUR BARS MELTED BEFORE THE FIRES OF LOVE!
Simon called Niger was there amidst prophetic light. Luceus had been embraced although he was a Cyrenean. THIS CHURCH WAS MORE THAN COSMOPOLITAN. IT WAS METROPOLITAN AND ITS CITY RIGHTS WERE IN HEAVEN.
Men and women and boys and girls everywhere are called to share the freedom of the eternal city through the blood of Jesus.
This freedom was obtained with a great price – and Jesus paid it all.
THERE WERE PROPHETS. Holy Spirit fired utterances filled the place with inspiration. Revelation, power and release scattered live-giving rays over this lovely Assembly.
The ministry was working all over this church. Everyone was touched with sacred fire.  They had both the Gifts of the Spirit and the Gift men of office.  Leadership was clothed with humility. Yes – all the blood – bought company were bowed in submission under the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.
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