So much of the Bible is history. Valuable lesson are learned from history. And it is written that there is nothing new under the sun. So isn't one of the lesson we should learn from the Bible is that history is important to learn from.
I admittedly don't look at history as much as I should. Yet still I am amazed that history is not looked at much in church. Even most of the sermons I hear at church are not presented in a form that shows who the history in the bible is important to us today. And rarely do I hear Christian history since the Bible presented at all. It is as if it is not something pastors and preacher are not expected to know. I find it a bit sad because God is always at work, so we can learn from Him by seeing what He has done.
For example: one of my favorite bits of history is the history behind the Spirit coming.
God had always taken the approach that if His people would humble themselves and pray. When in history God's people do that the results are always amazing. Still, by studying history we see that does not usually happen.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this in the Bible is in Acts where His devote people were gathering together constantly and praying in an upper room. Of course that was the lead up to the Spirit coming like tongues of fire. Then there was a quick expansion of the early church, and many acts done to expand the Kingdom of God.
Yet that inspiration and the tongue of fire seemed to disappear. The church of course continued to grow from that spark, but the power of God did not always seem to readily on display, and the gifts of the Spirit was not as apparent. Today that is not so. At least there is a substantial record again of tongues and substantial testimonies of healings today.
And if we look at history we find that at the turn of the century in 1900 we find an upper room, called a prayer tower, again coming into existence. Charles Parham had it going in Topeka, Kansas and on 1-1-1901 the gift of tongues is recorded as coming back.
Now a hundred plus years from that moment, driven by God people humbling themselves and praying, we have that spark available through out most of Christianity. We have Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, but also we see it to some extent available and accepted to some extent as it was in the early church.
Now the church I go to, which is a fairly large independent Charismatic church, has built a new and large building which has a prayer tower. This, according to the pastor, was done in accordance with an instruction he believed he received from God. I think that is great. But how will it go, I wonder?
Will it be embraced as a history changer, or as a novelty to be looked at but forgotten?
I admittedly don't look at history as much as I should. Yet still I am amazed that history is not looked at much in church. Even most of the sermons I hear at church are not presented in a form that shows who the history in the bible is important to us today. And rarely do I hear Christian history since the Bible presented at all. It is as if it is not something pastors and preacher are not expected to know. I find it a bit sad because God is always at work, so we can learn from Him by seeing what He has done.
For example: one of my favorite bits of history is the history behind the Spirit coming.
God had always taken the approach that if His people would humble themselves and pray. When in history God's people do that the results are always amazing. Still, by studying history we see that does not usually happen.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this in the Bible is in Acts where His devote people were gathering together constantly and praying in an upper room. Of course that was the lead up to the Spirit coming like tongues of fire. Then there was a quick expansion of the early church, and many acts done to expand the Kingdom of God.
Yet that inspiration and the tongue of fire seemed to disappear. The church of course continued to grow from that spark, but the power of God did not always seem to readily on display, and the gifts of the Spirit was not as apparent. Today that is not so. At least there is a substantial record again of tongues and substantial testimonies of healings today.
And if we look at history we find that at the turn of the century in 1900 we find an upper room, called a prayer tower, again coming into existence. Charles Parham had it going in Topeka, Kansas and on 1-1-1901 the gift of tongues is recorded as coming back.
Now a hundred plus years from that moment, driven by God people humbling themselves and praying, we have that spark available through out most of Christianity. We have Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, but also we see it to some extent available and accepted to some extent as it was in the early church.
Now the church I go to, which is a fairly large independent Charismatic church, has built a new and large building which has a prayer tower. This, according to the pastor, was done in accordance with an instruction he believed he received from God. I think that is great. But how will it go, I wonder?
Will it be embraced as a history changer, or as a novelty to be looked at but forgotten?