I am writing rapidly at this moment as I have many thoughts which are finally bubbling up out of my brain and need to get out. I hope it makes sense…

The nationwide assault that we are watching on memorials, statues, and symbols of country (even threatening to leap over to religious symbols) are becoming more frequent but also more nonsensical. There is a battle raging today over the place of history and how we should view it as a culture. Currently, whether it be driven by a Marxist agenda from revisionists, cultural anarchists driven by politics, or the attempt at empathy from numerous Christian leaders driven by the need for cultural acceptance; history has landed on hard times.

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When I was young and traveling long distance by car with my parents, long before the advent of iPhones, I was consigned to passing the time away by doing crossword puzzles or what then was called, “connect the dots”. A connect the dot sheet was simple. A page of seemingly random and haphazardly numbered dots was supplied. You would draw a straight line from a numbered dot to another dot in numerical order and once completed you would have created the full picture. There was a certain mystery to what you were drawing until the final dots were connected in the order prescribed. If you skipped numbers or tried to detour the numerical sequence the final picture would of course be marred and confused. It was crucial that you connected the dots in order to get the appropriate final picture.

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Pentecost Sunday is quickly approaching. As a committed continuationist, it should come as no surprise that Pentecost is of interest to me in the present tense. Lots could be said (and have been said) with regards to its significance and relevance both then and now. The fireworks of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the manifestations, the prayer, the preaching, and the results are all noteworthy and a high water mark for the early church. For me, Pentecost should be added to the list of significant moments in Christian history and theology like the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Pentecost was the activation and empowerment of all that Jesus provided and promised. In one sense it was a culmination of the passion narrative; in another way it was just the beginning.

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One of the keys (as I understand the Bible) to defining “church” is identifiability. You can SEE it gathering together. It is a witness of God’s people before a watching world. It is a gathering of the “saved ones” (primarily), who are “called out” (EKKLESIA) for assignment in Kingdom matters. It is “not to be forsaken” (Hebrews 10:25). In fact, if the forsaking of the assembly is taken in its context, then one could make a case it is a willful sin not to do so (Hebrews 10:26).

Church is not mystical, ethereal, or nebulous. It is tangible. It is real. It is identifiable. A community can say, “There it is”. 

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