What is pentecostal preaching?

Every week we take time during our service to get out of our seats and meet & greet the people we’re worshiping with. It’s something we’ve been doing for years, and it is one of my favorite times on Sunday.  I make it a point to try to talk to every person in the church during that time.

Recently, as I was shaking hands with one of the long-time members of the church, he said, “I have one request.”  Curious, I asked what his request was.

“Preach like you’re pentecostal.”

Just as a bit of background, we are a pentecostal church; meaning we believe that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is a separate experience from salvation and water baptism.  We believe in the gift of speaking in tongues (because I know that’s the question you’re asking yourself right now) as well as every other gift described throughout the New Testament.  We don’t bark like dogs, and we don’t laugh for an hour and a half and call it being “drunk in the spirit”.   We do believe that the promise of personal pentecost is for every single believer, and we do believe that the book of Acts shows the result of Spirit filled followers of Jesus Christ being fully submitted to the leading of the Holy Ghost.  What God was able to do through that one generation of believers is incredible.

But I digress.

The week before, I had to sit while speaking because I was sick and could not stand for more than five minutes at a time.  In my mind I made the assumption that this was what motivated the “request”. It was the first time I had done it, and the first time ANYONE had sat down to speak in our church. I’ll be honest, I was a little confused by the thought that because I was sitting, I was not preaching “like I’m pentecostal”. What does that actually mean?

Over the course of this week, I want to examine two questions:

1. What makes preaching pentecostal?
2. What makes a church pentecostal?

First, though, I’d like to hear your answers to those two questions.  Is it volume (meaning the louder you are, the more anointed you are)?  Is it speaking in tongues?  Or is it something else entirely?

~ by John on September 14, 2009.