Now That’s Apostolic
By John W. Hanson
Once upon a time several hundred people took a couple of weeks off work, gathered together with for a prayer meeting (in either a borrowed or rented room possibly in a Jewish temple), and waited upon God for a promise they had been given. The place exploded. They had a two-week revival that resulted in as many as 15,000 people receiving the baptism of Holy Spirit, speaking with other tongues they turned their world upside down. Now that’s Apostolic.
Apostolic: Of, relating to, or derived from the teaching or practice of the 12 Apostles. (The American Heritage Dictionary) I want to be Apostolic. I want to turn my world upside down. Apostolic’s are sometimes shunned by mainstream Christianity because of their unorthodox explanation of the Godhead, their unorthodox worship, their unorthodox insistence of tongue-talking and their high morals and modest dress. Breaking rank has its price, but it can be easily proven (by a casual reading of the book of Acts) that the above mentioned practices were not unorthodox to the first century church.
The Christian church was launched when notoriously impetuous, unofficial leader (who, less than two months prior to the prayer meeting, had publicly cursed and denied Christ) stood up with the others whom Jesus had appointed as leaders and began proclaiming a politically-incorrect Gospel to a crowd of people who were at a festival sponsored by the people who had killed their founder. Their audience had not been gathered using flyers or other typical advertising techniques. There were no ushers, no musicians, no chairs and no sound systems. The crowd was milling around outdoors questioning the sanity of the unorthodox tongue talkers who appeared to be drunk. There was no preplanned order of service, the preacher had no notes, and no one had any idea as to how one should pray people through to the Holy Ghost. There was no organized follow up, no constitution, no manual and no licensing board. But they were the original Apostolics.
Bear with me as I belabor the point and mention some other characteristics of the Apostles and other first-century believers which some might now consider unorthodox:
They didn’t always have a long term play
They didn’t let the lack of funds or facilities stop them
They were not intimidated by human or evil spirits
Much of their ministry was done in homes and in the market place
They often started in one direction and ended up somewhere else
They attended churches of other faiths
They rented lecture halls
They witnessed at pagan discussion groups
Healings and miracles were often done in the town square
When opposed, they rebuked hagglers, blinded detractors and witnessed to their guards
On occasion, they slipped out of town after having stirred up a hornets’ nest
Like Jesus, they did good and were hated for it
In our efforts to do good, we can inadvertently box God in that is not Apostolic. But when we move when God is moving, share our faith with others, heal the sick, expect miracles and live a life that is morally pure, then we’ve tapped into what Jesus’ disciples tapped into that’s Apostolic.
This article: Now That’s Apostolic by Josh W. Hanson was uploaded to Apostolic Information Services personally by Bro. Hanson. August 2010. It may be used for study & research purposes only.
