A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

This is Paul speaking to a small group of believers in Ephesus. . . Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? (Acts 19:2) This is not a question of doctrine. This is not a theoretical question meant for only the apostolic fathers. This is a question Paul had for a small group of believers that Paul ran into taking the road cross country in modern day Turkey some 620 miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies. A world away the way Paul traveled. . . Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? (Acts 19:2) This is a question not for the movers and shakers of the religious epicenter of the universe. This is a question Paul asked those well away the Holy Land. Paul is evangelizing. This is about the beginnings of Christianity. . . This is not about the ministry of Jesus. This is about Jesus great commandment, to all of us, to spread the Gospel into all the world. . . If you did not receive the Holy Ghost when you believed? Then just what is your belief? They answered, "No, ...

Whenever I finish an email or an article or what ever you want to call my little messages, I wonder if I will again ever write anything. It seems so very mysterious to me and so very removed from my will. . . I have no control over it. I cannot sit down and just manufacture something to write about. I try that at times. When I seem dry and the urge to put my thoughts on paper comes, sometimes I try to force it and write without inspiration. It doesn't work. I have many false starts. I spend much time praying for God to allow me to create something beautiful. . . . I pray and I wait. . . I know that when the time is right, that when I begin I will have enough steam (if you can think of it that way) to complete what I have started. I don't know where I am going to end up when I put the first word to paper, but when the time is right I never have to agonize over not having enough to say, but my problem is more one of keeping the river of my thoughts directed in one channel and not...

Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6 ( H6664 ) righteousness 77, just 11, justice 10, righteous 8, righteously 3, right 3, righteous cause 1, unrighteousness 1, misc 2 Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Our righteousness comes from God. We have no righteousness of, nor on our own. Following is the entire 64th chapter of Isaiah. Originally I was only looking for verse 6, which I have highlighted, but take a moment or wait until you have a few moments and then read this passage. Isaiah 64:1-12 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, (2) As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! (3) When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mo...

My mother died on February 2nd around 4:30 a.m. We had the funeral service for her yesterday afternoon (Wednesday February 6th) at a local funeral parlor. What a tremendous day. All day long I was overcome with the kindness and love people showed for my family. What a holy day filled with love. Many many friends from my work, lovely brothers and sisters from church, family members whom I hadn't seen some in decades, staff members from Greencroft nursing home where my Mom had resided for nearly 8 months. . . even now. . . too much to think about. I replay the day remembering, savoring the tremendous kindness and love and ministering given toward we who needed it so dearly. I say it again. . . what a day. . . what a tremendous day. I believe that the ripples of this day will be felt for. . . in some cases for eternity. Numbers of wonderful things happened as a result of yesterday. My Mother's spiritual leader, a good friend of mine Kermit Weaver and his wife Mary were there. Kerm...

Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The thoughts of man, our greatest blessing. . . our greatest stumbling block. When Adam and Eve left the garden they were dressed in the skins of animals. They had nothing in the way of tools and implements to use in their daily life. It is not recorded that God gave them knives or hammers or wheels for their carts. Through their own inventiveness and creativity, from the thoughts of their minds they had to come up with ways to subdue the land, to process the abundance of the world around them for their daily needs. From that humble beginning each generation has built upon the foundation laid by those who have gone before them until today a single man using the tools available to him can accomplish tasks that would have taken entire villages of men without modern tools. Our productivity increases and increases beyond imagination,...

Lessons learned when you were four become much more meaningful. . . The temperature of the whole world chills a little. . . Toll House cookies are no longer merely a snack, but a monument. . . Mothers day changes from an obligation to a craving. . . Sometimes the air thins and you gasp for breath just sitting in a chair. . . Crying for Mommy returns after a fifty year absence. . . You lose something vast and precious that you didn't even know you had. . . You crave being held and hugged all the time. . . The last time you spoke to her is now at the bottom of a big ache. . . Tears are found in totally unexpected places. . . Never again. . . her magical home made vegetable soup. . . wonderful green beans, potatoes, and ham that aren't falling apart and soupy. . .meat loaf with just the perfect amount of ketchup on top. . . those just right crispy fried potatoes. . . never again. . . for ever. . . Your chance to repay an enormous debt is lost. . . You lose ...

Present This word is used some 823 times in 724 verses.  Ezekiel 48:35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there .  Ezekiel 43:1-7 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: (2) And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (3) And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. (4) And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. (5) So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. (6) And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by m...

Peace Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace . Strong's word H7965 Translated as: peace 175, well 14, peaceably 9, welfare 5, salute + 07592 4, prosperity 4, did 3, safe 3, health 2, peaceable 2, misc 15 Psalms 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace , and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. The God of peace brings to us the peace of God. . . Even today this word 'shalom' is a common greeting between the Hebrew people. As a young man growing up in the sixties, I was a youthful supporter of the peace movement of the Vietnam war where many of us adopted the peace sign and used shalom as a greeting between us. Indeed shalom can mean freedom from war, but more significantly it also has a meaning of inner peace and well being. In reading accounts of the unspeakabl...