Luke 24:49 -- I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Francis drove the box truck downtown with the sound system playing lively Christian praise music with a catchy Caribbean calypso beat. It immediately drew attention. Africans love to sing and dance.
At lunch, Neil was served beans and guacamole with hot pepper spice. Neil really likes guacamole which is relatively inexpensive in Kenya. After lunch, Francis and some others returned downtown to preach. Nixson's wife, Ann, did an excellent job speaking today at Mary's church. Neil said the women must really be enjoying the conference because they asked Francis to wait until the truck was out of earshot before he turned on his sound system again. Neil texted me that he led a young man to pray to leave his backslidden life in Kenyenya this morning.
Neil sat next to Chacha and his wife, Jackline. Chacha is a pastor from a remote village along the border with Tanzania. His wife, Jackline, suffers from deep vein thrombosis and is on a blood thinner. Exercise is recommended for that condition, so Neil sent them on a 45-minute walk after lunch. Please pray for Jackline to be healed.
Neil says his shoulder is considerably better and thanks you for your prayers. He said our friend Nino in the Republic of Georgia was on his mind this morning. She was on my mind, too, but I had seen the news that rioting was outside the House of Parliament in Tbilisi, the capital city. Neil and I had walked that street with Nino when Neil led a ministry school in that country in about 2007. You can see the news reports on YouTube.
Neil was invited to speak at the Women's Conference this afternoon, so he spoke about the Holy Spirit as the gift the Father promised. Neil and Francis have been giving Bibles to people. Neil explained that if they invite the Holy Spirit to be their teacher, the Bible will become alive to them. They will be given a spiritual understanding of the Word and wisdom to apply God's Word in their lives. When Neil invited people to come forward to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, he was surprised that even one of the visiting pastors said he wanted to be able to speak in tongues. He had known about it, but he had never understood why we needed to be filled with the Spirit as long as we were saved.
Interestingly, I had been listening to a clear teaching on YouTube by Harald Bredeson on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many of you may have heard of the Jesus Revolution movie that just came out, which is a true story of Lonnie Frisbee, who is credited with starting the Jesus People Movement, which was made up mostly of people who had come out of the Hippie Movement in the early 1970s. Some of my friends recommended the movie that has been showing in Alexandria and theaters all across America. On YouTube, I found Lonnie's best friend talking about Lonnie's faith journey, and he mentioned that Harald Bredeson had been his own spiritual father. My ears perked up at the mention of Harald's name because Harald visited our church in Morris shortly before Harald died.
Harald had been a Lutheran pastor, and so had his father. His dad had been the pastor of a Lutheran Church in Morris. Shortly before Harald died in 2006, Harald somehow heard that a charismatic church had bought the little Bethany Lutheran Church building in Morris. Harald arrived in Morris unannounced from California and asked how he could find the folks in that church. Someone told him it was the Morris Community Church Neil Thielke had started in 1982, but they were now meeting in the old high school auditorium. Neil and I were out of town on a mission trip at that time, and Spencer Tiernan was preaching. Spencer invited Harald to stay the weekend at his house and was delighted to hear Harald's story.
Harald was one of the first Lutheran pastors to be filled with the Holy Spirit while serving on the east coast and had been instrumental in starting the Lutheran Charismatic Renewal. He hired Pat Robertson as his assistant pastor. Later they began the Christian Broadcasting Network, with Pat leading CBN and Harald serving on the board. Harald was called a pastor to world leaders of nations. He relocated to California, where he also ministered to some people in show business, like Roy Roger's wife, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, Dean Jones, and Lonnie Frisbee. Harald traveled the USA and many nations teaching people how to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. His teaching was down-to-earth and practical. He said that much as Billy Graham had one central message on how to be born again spiritually as we give our life to Jesus, Harald was called to teach the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Harald said those two messages are the most significant things about Jesus that Christians need to grab hold of: 1) salvation and 2) being filled with Jesus' Spirit. But there are barriers to each of those essential components.
Harald explained the cross is the barrier to salvation. Our human minds can't comprehend why Jesus had to die on the cross. What kind of loving Father would demand that his Son, who never sinned, would have to pay for our sin with his own blood in such a brutal death? In our religious way of thinking, we want some credit for our good deeds. But we all fall short.
Luke 18:19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
Harald then explained that speaking in tongues is the barrier to being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Our intellect fights against surrendering our tongue. Our mind has always been in control of the words we speak, but Harald said it isn't our mind that is praying when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead, we begin to speak from our spirit. The flesh can't understand, but when we yield our tongue, our spirit is finally released to commune with God. We can express with our tongue our inner thoughts and emotions that are too deep for words but are understood by God because he knows our hearts. Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
So while I was listening to Harald making that easy to understand, Neil was teaching people in Kenya about the very same thing, and they were beginning to speak in tongues. The question might remain, "What is the purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?" Jesus described the Holy Spirit as our comforter, counselor, teacher, healer, and helper in John chapters 14 - 15. Just before he ascended to heaven, Jesus reminded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:4-8 -- “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
There is a tendency to rush after the excitement of the latest move of God. Crowds followed Jesus when he was performing miracles. But when Jesus told them they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood and then turned toward the cross, the crowds left him. The night Jesus was betrayed, as he and his disciples were celebrating the Passover together, Jesus offered his disciples bread representing his body broken for us, and wine representing his blood to be poured out on the cross, issuing a new covenant of forgiveness from sin.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit happens in the hearts of Jesus' followers who are hungry to become like Jesus and continue His work on earth. I helped a former missionary to Madagascar write her life story. When she and her friend heard of the Lutheran Charismatic Renewal happening among their friends in Minneapolis in the 1960s, they asked each other, "If God is pouring out his Spirit there, why can't it happen here?" They agreed in prayer asking the Lord to fill them also, and they began speaking in tongues at her friend's kitchen table there in Madagascar. Afterward, they noticed the Holy Spirit working through them, helping them become more effective in Jesus' work. Asking is the key to receiving, and obedience is the key to continuing to be filled. In Luke 11 Jesus explained:
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