Tongues of Fire: The Early Church Part 1

Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high to become His witnesses. That kind of power is exactly what is needed in the church today. Welcome to Part 1 of a short series called “Tongues of Fire: The Early Church.”

Host: Steve Gallagher has joined me in the studio. Steve is the founder of Pure Life Ministries. Steve good to see you again.

Steve: Glad to be here.

Host: Steve, we want to talk about an 8-week series that you did on the early Church. You started your first talk in this series, “The Commission of the Church” by looking at the books of Luke and Acts. Tell us a little bit about the relationship between these two books.

Steve: Well, they were both written by Luke the physician and unlike the other gospel writers, Luke wasn't an eyewitness to the events of the life of Jesus. During Jesus’s lifetime he was a Greek who was probably living in Philippi. And he also wasn't around during the early years of the Church. So, he acted primarily as a historian, which meant that he had to go and get accounts from other people. When he wrote these two books, he did it as a two-part history of the Church. So, part one was the story of Christ, which is the book of Luke. And then part 2 was how the story continued forth after Jesus died. That's how it was first passed around, as a two-part book.

Host: You mentioned in your talk that there were three purposes Luke had for writing the book of Acts. Talk about those.

Steve: Well, he gives us one of the purposes with the first thing he says right in his opening remarks in the book of Luke. He said, “So that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:4 NIV) He was referring to this man, Theophilus, who apparently was some kind of Roman official. He was giving him the story. That was number one. His second purpose was that he was providing a historical account of what happened. How Christianity began and how it grew from there. But also, the third thing was that he was attempting to justify Christianity to the Roman world. Because that was the world he lived in, in that day, and he was trying to present a credible, believable account of what Christianity is and why the people didn’t need to fear it.

Host: People love stories, and we love the development of characters in a story. I love the way that you brought out the leading character in the story of Acts. Talk about that.

Steve: The book of Acts is almost like a play, if you can imagine it that way. You've got two leading characters. First, you have Peter, who dominates the scene in the early part of the book of Acts and in the early Church. He is the main person. But of course, the book of Acts continues on from there. So, the second leading character becomes the Apostle Paul, and the focus shifts from Peter to Paul. But really the leading character in the story in Acts is the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who inspires. It's the Holy Spirit who leads. It's the Holy Spirit who is presenting Jesus Christ. He's operating through these men and He's operating in circumstances. The Holy Spirit is the leading actor in the book of Acts.
         In Chapter One, Jesus gives His final instructions to the disciples right before His ascension. There were 50 days between when He was Passover, when He was crucified and Pentecost, where that great outpouring happened, and the first 40 days consisted of Jesus presenting Himself to His people. Then His ascension happened and that was 10 days before Pentecost. And at that time He instructed the disciples to wait for 10 days.

Host: Yeah. And He not only instructed them, but He also made a promise to them.

Steve: Yes. He promised them that if they would wait on the Lord, if they would seek His face, that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, would empower them and make them witnesses throughout the world. That is the Great Commission: to go into all the world and make disciples. And this part of Christianity, which I'm afraid is often lost in the church, as weak as it is, is a major role of Christianity. We are to go forth as representatives of Jesus Christ.
         In other words, the way that you live your life should make a loud statement to people that I fully believe in Jesus Christ. I obey Him. I live my life in such a way that it reflects His character and His nature everywhere I go. And that is part of the Great Commission. And as I live my life that way, I pour myself into other people who are new to the faith and I disciple them. I help them to mature in the faith.

Host: Yeah, and that certainly is what we see being lived out in the early Church. How we long to see more of that today.

Steve: Yes, we do. Absolutely.

Host: Did the disciples play a part in bringing this outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival about or was this a sovereign act of God?

Steve: This is always one of the big questions regarding revival, because this was the mightiest revival Earth has ever seen as far as I'm concerned. Is it the Lord just sovereignly acting, or is it that people pray and do the right thing to bring it about? And if you listen to Charles Finney, that's what he would say is that it's just a simple formula. It's no different than a farmer going out and throwing seed in the ground and watering it. If you do that, you're going to have results he would say. But I'm not so sure about that.
         I understand what he's saying and there is truth to it, but to battle through on your knees to bring about something like a mighty revival requires a real touch from God. And in this particular case, Jesus told them what was going to happen. So, there was an expectancy building up. They knew what to do. They were to wait on the Lord, which is what they did for 10 days. And at the end of that 10 days, which happened to be on the day of Pentecost, The Lord came forth. Was it because of the disciple’s prayers and waiting on the Lord? Yes. Was it a sovereign act of God? Yes. It was both.

Host: Yeah. You know, in our current culture, we find it so hard to wait on the Lord for anything. But again, we're in a time where we desperately need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And what does God want us to do? He wants us to pray. He wants us to be doing the things that we're supposed to be doing, but it's going to be a sovereign act of God that He's going to pour out His Spirit in these last days. So, can you now explain to us, what did happen on the day of Pentecost?

Steve: 120 of Jesus’s followers had been waiting on the Lord for 10 days. Praying, fasting and probably spending time in the Word. They were probably spending time in silence as well. They were doing spiritual things for the most part. And on the day of Pentecost, as they're gathered about, maybe there was a little bit of anticipation because it was such a special feast day, but there was no guarantee that anything was going to happen that day.
         But the Lord knows how far He can stretch us. And if He would have gone past 10 days, I have a feeling people's hopes would have started diminishing and fading, and maybe they would have started losing that sense of anticipation. But anyway, on the day of Pentecost, all of a sudden there's this rumbling. Maybe they heard it from a distance and it got louder and louder. But suddenly, the whole place is filled with the presence of God and just like a fire gets so hot that flames dance around outside of the wood, that's the way it seemed in the spiritual realm. There were these flames of fire dancing around these people and the Lord was pouring Himself out on them, in them and through them.
         Whatever was going on, it just gripped the people of the city and before you know it, thousands of people were gathered. Imagine Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where thousands of people were pouring out into the city, and they had those demonstrations so many years ago. I think it was kind of like that, where something so exciting was happening that thousands of people were showing up and then Peter gets up and boldly begins to preach.

Host: I want to hear that sermon. Well, we have it written down, but I would like to see the instant replay of that one.

Steve: Well, just looking at the highlights that Luke gives us, it's pretty impressive for the guys first sermon. Because for your first sermon, usually you feel awkward and you're not sure what to say. You're kind of stumbling through it. But he got up in the power of God and gave a powerful message. And more than it being an inspired message where he was saying the right things, much more important was the fact that the presence of God so filled the atmosphere that his words were so convicting that they went into people's hearts and 3000 people got saved that day.

Host: We hear of revivals and moves of God today. Sometimes they truly are revivals, but sometimes they aren't. But the way we can discern more clearly is by the fruit that follows these events. What happened following this revival?

Steve: That really is a good point, because when people come to the Lord through a powerful conversion it makes a difference. Take my wife as an example. She got saved at the tail end of the Jesus Movement in the late 70s. And I don't know how to explain it, but I don't see those kind of conversions anymore. You just don't hear about people being powerfully converted and just being on fire for the Lord right from the beginning. There is something when a revival is taking place that people get so dramatically affected, and then it comes out in the way that they live their lives.
         And as you read through the rest of Acts 2, you see that the people were meeting together regularly. They were sharing their possessions with each other. You know some miracles had to happen to get people to do that. And they were spending a lot of time in prayer and in Bible study. They had all the markings of people who were on fire for the Lord. It wasn't just that they got saved and went back to basically their same old lifestyle with a few alterations. No, they got powerfully saved and went out and changed the world.

Host: Oh, that the power of God would come down like that today and we would see that kind of dramatic conversion of souls.

Steve: It's going to happen. I don't know when exactly, but it is coming.