Explosive Pentecost!

On the day of Pentecost the kingdom of God exploded onto the scene in Jerusalem and turned the city up side down. 3,000 instantly were saved. Faith exploded into full-blown church life where people dealt with one another in sincerity and integrity. They worshipped, prayed, fellowshipped, ate together, visited from house to house, and sold their possessions to meet one another’s needs! Jerusalem, nor any other city for that matter, had seen anything like it in its entire history.

It all began with an exploding fulfillment of the promise that God made in the Old Testament, that he would pour out his Spirit on everyone in the last days, when the kingdom of God was about to reach it full realization. And that is what happened… the kingdom of God burst in on the unsuspecting Jerusalem. I know of no city in America where this is happening today. I know churches in revival, or that are being blessed or renewed. But I do not know of a single city or community that has been turned upside down by the power of God.

But pastor, you say, that’s not how God does things anymore. Really? Then what about the Welsh revival of 1904 with Evan Roberts? The ponies in the mines wouldn’t respond anymore to the miners because they were so used to being cursed at. In six months 150,000 had been saved. Pubs closed because they were empty, and former drunks were feeding and clothing their families and giving their money to the church. They paid their bills too! Smith Wigglesworth in the north of England received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1907 and boldly preached God’s word, though he was a very unlikely vessel for God to use. 14 were confirmed to have been raised from the dead! The Wesleyan revival is credited with averting a bloody revolution in England like France experienced. In America revivals have broken out because a few people committed themselves to prayer, only to result in 100′s and 1000′s coming to prayer and renewal. In 1906 a black preacher began preaching Pentecost and before it was all over the entire world was influenced and forever changed by the revival that exploded out of the former horse stable on Azusa Street!

What if God were looking for a place and people through whom he could bring an explosive and powerful Pentecostal revival to some city in America? Would we really deny him an available people? Are there 120 people who would step forward in Wilmington, North Carolina?