Dr Paul Allen

Now, if the power of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit, then kingdom power was given to the church on the Day of Pentecost. It is more than power and authority. In a saying of key importance, Christ announced to His followers, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Believers inherit the kingdom “lock, stock, and barrel.” The kingdom power, which rested on Christ Jesus, was there to work signs and wonders. The same Spirit is given to those within the kingdom of God for the same kingdom purposes.  As John the Baptist revealed, “Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). The Spirit, who endowed Jesus, now endows His people with the same power. There is a difference between Christ and His followers, and it is rather noticeable! The difference is first Himself—who He is. Those who say, “The words of Christ on our lips are the same as those on Christ’s lips,” must remember this:...

    1.      THE UNIQUENESS OF THE DOCTRINE If it may be said that the distinctive doctrine of the Pentecostal movement is the baptism in the Holy Spirit it may also be said that what is most distinctive about this particular doctrine is the conviction that the initial evidence of this baptism is speaking in tongues. While Pentecostalism shares with classic Methodism, the holiness movements, and with many in conservative evangelicalism, the conviction of an additional critically important spiritual experience beyond conversion, it is in the understanding of the initial evidence of this subsequent experience that Pentecostals are unique, and it is this evidence which marks its advocates as Pentecostal. Wesley and his holiness followers, as we have seen, made experience or feeling of a particular sort the evidence of what was called the Great Salvation. But feeling is ambiguous and has led Methodism, historically, to quite different emphases. The ambiguity of feeli...