Explore every episode of the podcast Kong Hee Podcast

God is our doorkeeper, opening doors that no one can shut. At times, He closes some doors for our protection, preparing us for greater blessings. We can look toward His grace and goodness, and trust His perfect timing to bring His promises to pass. As we keep believing, praying, and trusting in Him, just like Peter’s miraculous release from prison and Joshua’s victory over Jericho, God will works behind the scenes for us, and accomplish His purpose in our lives.

Genesis 22 is the most important story about Abraham. It was the climax of Abraham’s life and ministry—when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the altar. What was the real test for Abraham here in Genesis 22? By this time, he was already well-known for his faith. The test was not a test of faith, but of love.

Will you still love God even if there is nothing in it for you? Is loving God enough a destiny for you?

In silence and solitude, we intentionally cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, which can never be done when we are always busy and distracted by all the multitasking of life.

I'll be sharing about two men in the Old Testament, Gideon and Jacob, and through their stories, he encourages us to pursue more than visions and dreams, but an intimate communion with God. In that process, we will be changed into Christlikeness.

Drawing from the story of prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18-19), I'll be sharing about how God was training his prophet to wean from the spectacular of the wind, earthquake, and fire, into a loving intimacy that only silence and solitude can bring. Jesus is inviting you to come away with him into that place of “the sound of sheer silence”, and there, he will restore your soul.

While faith is a necessary ingredient for healing and miracles, the apostle Paul says that faith works in an atmosphere of love. If we want to experience more healings and miracles in our lives, we must intentionally immerse ourselves fully in an atmosphere of love, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit!

When you read the Gospels, you would notice that Jesus always prayed with great power and authority whenever someone desired a healing or a miracle. At the same time, the ones who desired their miracles had to act on their faith and do something they could not do before.

Faith is the necessary ingredient for healing and miracles! As you act on your faith, like many others in the gospels, may you experience these words of Jesus: “Your faith has made you well.”

In a faith-building sermon, Pastor Kong Hee shares from the Gospel of Matthew on a 24-hour time frame of Jesus’ ministry. In 24 hours, Jesus healed many—a leper, a centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, two demon-possessed men, a paralytic, the woman with the issue of blood … and many others. Jesus is a healing Jesus who has a healing presence!

God is the source of all healings. He loves to heal!

In John 17, Jesus prays that we will experience the same love that God the Father has for Him—a deeply intimate love. The more we taste of His love, the more we are freed from the spirit of bondage and the spirit of death. The more we experience His love, the more we are healed, restored, and made whole!

One major issue that many people struggle with is rejection. I'll be sharing on how rejection attacks our identity, distorts how we look at life, and hinders our ability to receive from God. The only permanent cure for rejection is the love of God the Father—it is the only power that can overcome the spirit of rejection!

Sharing from the story of Ehud in the Bible, I want to challenge every Spirit-filled believer to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Word of God because the Holy Spirit moves to the extent of our knowledge and understanding of the Word.

As we penetrate the Word deep into our lives and leave it inside, it drains out the life of the flesh. If we have the Word—our double-edged sword—unlikely heroes become world shakers and history makers!

In John 17, Jesus prays that we will experience the same love that God the Father has for Him—a deeply intimate love. The more we taste of His love, the more we are freed from the spirit of bondage and the spirit of death. The more we experience His love, the more we are healed, restored, and made whole!

Everything that we need for life and godliness is found in the Word of God. Through the promises of God's Word, we participate in the divine nature—every time we experience the fulfilment of a promise, we come one step closer in our union with God!

I want to encourage us to not neglect the Bible because it is the key to our well-being and success. It is the most precious gift that God has ever given us!

Building on three accounts in the gospels, I'll be sharing a powerful message on what faith is about— trusting and acting on God’s guidance, receiving by faith every step of the way.

Our challenge is to stay in faith, to keep on receiving the promises of God in our hearts, and acting like the miracle is already happening, even when nothing seems to be happening. The miracles we desire are already in motion. Keep receiving by faith!

In this sermon, be encouraged that as we end each year and enter a brand new year, we can fully place our trust in Jesus, who always goes before us. Whenever He asks us to step out in faith, He has already gone weeks, months, or even years ahead of us in advance, to prepare everything for us. We simply need to trust in this God who always goes before us. His timing is always perfect. His ways are higher than our ways!

The Holy Spirit gives us visions and dreams (Acts 2:17). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary was pregnant with a vision and dream inside her—Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world!

Through Mary's story, I'll be sharing five things about the journey of a dream. As you step out in faith to trust and obey God, He will bring you into an incredible journey, which will manifest Jesus to your world!

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the “crown jewel” of Pentecostal spirituality. Spirit baptism is not a baptism into tongues, power, or missions; it is a baptism into divine love, coming into union with the Triune God in their loving embrace. Love is at the centre of Spirit baptism—it is all about being filled, transformed and overflowing with divine love!

For Peter, James and John, their encounter with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration forever transformed their lives. It radically shifted how they viewed Jesus and how they viewed their lives in him.

After a glorious event and encounter, we must change. Our transformation must affect everything about our lives, until we see "no one but Jesus only" (Matthew 17:8).

Love must be our highest goal because when love is no longer our priority, and when love has been drained out of our hearts, the measure of God in our lives will start depleting. Without love, everything we do is meaningless.

The Holy Spirit conforms us to the image and likeness of Christ when we serve people. In Jesus’ context, the people are often the poor and needy, especially the little children. Jesus is saying this – we are to put aside our self-importance and busyness in total abandonment to God. By serving the poorest of the poor, we purify our faith and in the end, we are the ones who are blessed and changed on the inside!

The Holy Spirit has given us the Antioch Church model for a purpose. Generosity was the hallmark of the Antioch Church. The more generous they were, the more dynamic they became! People who give sacrificially to strengthen the local church—to care for the poor and needy, especially the little children—will become the most dynamic, powerful and blessed people around!

God the Father, through the Son, pours out the Holy Spirit on all flesh as “the breath of life”. As God “inhales”, the Holy Spirit draws us into an ever-deepening communion and intimacy with the Father. As His love overwhelms us and overflows out of us, God then “exhales”—sending us out by the power of the Spirit, to share His love with others.

God has greater things in store for us—so more than ever, we need a revelation of His love, which is the secret of the Christian life!

God's salvation plan for us is holistic—it is total salvation in our hearts, minds, souls and bodies. Every day, He is transforming us into Christlikeness. Central to our transformation process is to suffer with Jesus. To follow Jesus, we must not be afraid of self-sacrifice and hardship.

In this sermon, I'll be challenging us to not be stunted in our Christian growth. He prepares us for the kinds of sufferings believers will experience in this lifetime, and exhorts us to be unafraid, fully assured that our present pains cannot be compared to the great destiny that God has prepared for us!

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Sharing from this well-known verse, I pray that you'll be encouraged to rededicate your life to God and go from glory to glory—in faith, hope, and love—allowing God to have His way fully in and among us. Glorious days are ahead of us!

One of the most important revelations we must have is to know who we are in God and the authority we have in His name.

The Christian life is essentially the life in Christ and in the Spirit — to live within the sphere of Christ's and the Holy Spirit's control and power. The deeper we abide in Christ, and the deeper we live and walk in the Spirit, the more we are transformed into an ever-deepening union with God!

Your soul is the beautiful garden that God walks in. It is meant to be filled with His beauty, light and life. Unfortunately, sin so easily darkens the soul.

In this sermon. I'll share the good news of how we can ask the Holy Spirit, who is our Helper, for two gifts: 1) the fear of the LORD; and 2) the mirror of humility. God yearns for us to have them because when they are present in our souls, they allow us to set a spiritual distance between us and our sins. We will come to a place where we are no longer attached to our sins because we want something more fulfilling than those sins—God Himself!

In the beginning, men and women were created equal in God's image, and both were made to be co-leaders, to “rule” over God’s creation (Gen. 1:27-28). However, when sin came into the picture, everything changed. With the curse of the fall (Gen. 3:16), discrimination of all kinds seeped in.

When the Day of Pentecost came, the Holy Spirit broke every barrier that is destructive to the fulfilment of God’s kingdom on earth. He elevated the status of women, the elderly, and the poor, making us one in Christ! Not only did the Holy Spirit give us new life, but He also equalised the partnership between men and women, restoring us to God’s original plan.

As biblical Pentecostals, we believe that both men and women are equally redeemed by Jesus and equally gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve Him, both at home and in the church. We must live in mutual submission, mutual love, mutual authority, and mutual honour.

This sermon is an exhortation for mothers, taking reference from Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Like many Moms, Mary must have faced all kinds of anxiety and inaccuracies. Yet, despite all the challenges, she had perfect faith, selfless in her love and devotion to Jesus. I'll share four qualities of motherhood that Mary possessed.

She was a caring mother, as seen in her risking the odds and fleeing to Egypt just to protect Jesus. She was a supportive mother, a quality evident in the wedding at Cana and all throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry. Mary was a nurturing mother, and this was the key to Jesus’ spiritual development. Finally, Mary was a loving mother, patient and long suffering. Watching Jesus suffer and die on the cross must have been the most painful experience, but she never left His side.

Let’s shower our Attention, Affection and Appreciation on our Moms and let them know they are loved!

Bad things happen in life, but Christians must learn to walk through dark seasons and to persevere through pain. I'll share four lessons drawing from the life story of Joseph.

One, God is always with us in our dark times, nothing can separate you from His love. Two, God has a purpose for allowing dark times in our lives. Without suffering it is impossible to become more like Jesus. Three, dark times will last as long as necessary for God to accomplish His purpose to change you and make you a person of destiny. Finally, in the darkness, we must walk towards the light. Joseph continually kept his focus on God and on His promises, which kept him going through the dark times.

Be encouraged by this message that God never plays games with your life, but what the devil means for evil, God intends it for good.

In this sermon, I'll explain why it is crucial for every believer to have faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

What does it mean to have faith? Faith means focus—to keep one’s focus on God’s love, His word and His promises; to not be distracted from God, despite what one sees or feels. There are three levels of faith: little faith (Matt 8:23) is when you struggle to believe, when you are distracted by what’s going on around you and cannot focus on God. Great faith is strong and unwavering faith in the face of circumstances, such as the faith of the centurion in Matt 8:5-10 and the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:22-28). The highest level of faith is perfect faith, which is trusting obedience regardless of outcome. Perfect faith is when we can obey God whether or not we are healed or blessed, just like Jesus.

Be encouraged by this message to grow in your faith in God!

While the four stages of the Christian journey—awakening, purgation, illumination and union—lead us to the great joy of theosis, this is not easily achieved. This sermon teaches the ultimate experience for the rare Christian: having the full measure of Christlikeness will not be possible without the dark night of the senses and of the soul. The dark nights are periods of detachment caused or allowed by God to wean us away from the things of this world. During such times He may even withdraw His blessings and hide His face. God wants to bring us to the point where we need nothing and no-one but Him, the point where even if He withdraws Himself we can still continue to love and long for Him just as Jesus did.

Let this message encourage you to be unafraid of suffering and to be willing to let go of anything that stands in the way of Your love for God and His will.

In this sermon, I'm continuing my sermon on the three things that happen in silence and solitude, the first two being meditation and contemplation. The third and most precious of these is union with God. Meditation is applying one’s mind to the word of God. Contemplation is loving God without words or agenda. Union is becoming one with God in love and likeness. This is God’s desire, that we come into a loving union with Him. In fact, it is the end goal of salvation: Jesus went to the cross so that we can experience divine union—theosis—with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is only when we increasingly unite with the Godhead that we are more and perfected in love, and more like Jesus.

Let this message draw you into a time of silence and solitude, and into union with God.

In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus never rebuked Martha for being busy. Her problem was, even when Jesus was sitting in front of her, she was anxious and angry, too busy and distracted to focus on Him. This sermon captures the essence of why silence and solitude are essential to a believer’s life. We must be silent enough to listen to God, and we must have enough solitude to connect with the Holy Spirit. The secret ingredient to a balanced and happy life is God Himself: it is in His presence that there is joy and freedom.

Three things happen when we are by ourselves in God’s presence, and I'll cover two here: one is meditation, which is applying your mind to the word of God and two is contemplation, which is to come into God’s presence with no agenda, enjoying Him and experiencing His love for you.

Most of us wear our busyness like a badge of honour—the busier we are, the more we feel like an achiever. But being too busy causes anxiety and burnout; we have no time for our family and worse, we have no time for God. If we are seeking balance in our life, the answer is to slow down. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus tells believers He will give us rest, which is to slow down; He invites us to learn from Him.

Adapting from John Mark Comer’s teaching on “Slowing”, I'll be sharing five things we must learn from Jesus: to adopt slow-down spirituality, to faithfully observe the Sabbath rest, to practice silence and solitude, to make devotional prayers (not just intercession and petition) and to develop detachment, which is to be content in any situation.

If we can slow down and follow Jesus’ unhurried pace of life, we will be changed, we will find His yoke easy and His burden light.

One of the greatest challenges to our faith is when we go through suffering, yet our most urgent search for God happens when we are in pain.

This sermon will unpack the purpose of suffering, which is to transform us to be more like Jesus. Very few people in history suffered like Job: until the day he died, he never knew the reason he had to suffer, yet he loved God for who He was and not for His blessings. God’s purpose for us cannot be stopped (Job 42:1), and He has a purpose when we face hardship—He is working out something glorious in us. No matter how deep our pain is, God’s love for us goes even deeper. Jesus is with us daily in our suffering; nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

If you are going through a hard time in life, let this sermon encourage and empower you to hold on to your faith and trust in the Lord, having eternity in your heart.

The twelfth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: I believe in the life everlasting. Amen.

Eternal life or "zoe" in Greek is a promise from God to His people who believe and have faith in Him. While the apostle John says that whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life now (John 3:16; 1 John 5:11, 13), the Bible also clearly teaches that eternal life is a gift in the future. Those who believe in Jesus experience a little measure today but the fullness of it is reserved for the future, at the return of Christ.

This is the whole purpose of our Christian faith – not merely to be forgiven of our sins and becoming successful in the this lifetime. The end purpose of our salvation is to come into a loving communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sharing in the fullness of the divine life. This "zoe" is an ever-deepening intimacy with the LORD and the experiencing of ever-growing love, joy, and peace from now till all eternity. Hallelujah!

The eleventh statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: I believe in the resurrection of the body.

The Bible teaches that our hope is not fixed on the fact that we go to heaven when we die, but that God will raise us from the dead to be with Christ forever in our resurrected bodies (Rom. 8:23). It is a bodily resurrection where we will be given new spiritual bodies which are immortal, just like Jesus’ own body on Easter Sunday!

With our new resurrected bodies in the new heaven and new earth, we will be able to fully express ourselves and completely obey and fulfil God’s will and purpose for all eternity. Being swallowed up by the life of the Holy Spirit, we are at last fully baptised in the Spirit and have Him without measure (2 Cor. 5:4). Wow!

Until then, may we regularly confess this statement in the Apostle's Creed with our eyes fixed on that glorious day!

The tenth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: I believe in the forgiveness of sins. 

The word “forgiveness” in the Greek is 𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙢𝙞 which means to let go of a debt, to release it, and send the wrong or sin far, far away. Forgiveness is an expression of love. Because of His great love for us, in Christ we can find forgiveness (Col. 1:14). In fact, this is what Easter is all about. By dying on the cross, Jesus cancels out sin’s penalty. All the evils we have done, the right things we have failed to do, and the horrible attitudes we have expressed to God and to others have been erased and wiped off the record!

Likewise, we must learn to keep no record of wrongs (1 Cor. 13:5). Jesus says we forgive as many times as necessary (Matt. 18:22). Because love and forgiveness are synonymous, to be a loving person is to live in a constant atmosphere and attitude of forgiveness. Every time we recite this statement in the Apostles’ Creed, let us renew our commitment to walk in a constant atmosphere of forgiveness!

The ninth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.

The word “catholic” comes from the Greek word katholikos, which means “universal”. The Christian church is universal because it doesn’t belong to any one nation but to all nations of the world. The church is not a building of brick and mortar, or a religious organisation, it comprises us – the believers of Jesus Christ. We share in the “communion of the saints”, a sacred bond of love and fellowship by the Holy Spirit, uniting all true believers in Christ in His body.

The eighth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: I believe in the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. When Jesus took on human flesh and lived on earth, the Spirit was absolutely central in Jesus’ life. Jesus lived completely dependent on the Holy Spirit from His conception to His ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus has set the “gold standard” (of a Spirit-filled life) for us to follow and imitate!

We need the Holy Spirit so much more each day. The next time you utter “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” let it be a genuine cry from your heart for more of His person, presence, and power in your life.

The seventh statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.

Jesus will someday return to end world history, raise the dead, judge the living and the dead, and usher in a new heaven and a new earth. When that time comes, our salvation will finally be complete! In this video, learn about the two resurrections, two judgments, and the time of rewards.

Understanding the second coming of Jesus Christ will help us to live life circumspectly and wisely (Eph. 5:15-20). We should plan our lives as if we will live a full span of years, but we should be ready to leave at any time, to meet with the Lord in his actual presence (Matt. 24:44).

The sixth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: Jesus ascended into heaven, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Forty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He ascended into heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, as Man, departed physically and visibly from the earth and was immediately received into heaven, a place with no sickness, no sorrow, no pain, no depression — a place which we will one day dwell in with real spiritual bodies!

Here are seven reasons why the ascension of Jesus to heaven is so important, and what it means for us. May you long for that day when you, too, will stand before Jesus face to face. What a glorious day that will be!

The fifth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: [Jesus] descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again.

Between His death on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, Jesus’ soul was made alive by the Holy Spirit and brought to the realm of the departed dead (1 Pet. 3:18-20). In this video recording, I will share with you about what many church fathers believe concerning why Jesus descended to the dead. More importantly, because the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus form the central truth of the Christian faith, its importance can never be overemphasised – as such, we will also be looking at what the resurrection of Jesus proves and implies.

If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). But praise God, we worship a resurrected Saviour, and because He lives, we can face tomorrow!

The fourth statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea during the first century AD, was the one who presided over Jesus’ trial and gave the order for His crucifixion. Why must He die on the cross? Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Isaiah 53 says that the Saviour will have to suffer physically, psychologically, morally, and spiritually for the sins of all humankind. By being crucified, Jesus really died and was really buried. His work of salvation was completely finished on the cross once and for all. Everything that happened at Calvary authenticated all the claims of Christ. The next time you utter this statement in the Apostles’ Creed, you can do so with the utmost gratitude knowing that if everything Jesus claimed actually happened at Calvary, then you can also be certain that one day, He will return again in power and glory to receive you into His everlasting kingdom, just as He has promised!

The third statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.

Jesus was conceived by the direct action of God. There was no physical consummation between Joseph and Mary. His was a supernatural conception! In order for Jesus to be our Saviour, three conditions must be fulfilled, and the supernatural virgin birth guaranteed that Jesus fulfilled all three conditions, which I will share with you in this video. 

Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He is fully God. Because Jesus was born of Mary, He is fully human. Without the incarnation, Jesus Christ could not die for us, and the cross would become meaningless. The incarnation shows how much God loves us and has made a way for us to be redeemed through His Son. The next time we recite this statement in the Apostles' Creed, may we be immensely grateful for the great love that the Father has bestowed on us!

The second statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: "I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord." Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the second person of the Trinity. He is not a created being. On the contrary, He is the eternal, unchanging, all-powerful God. But if God did not create Jesus, why then is he called the “Son”, and specifically, the "only" Son? In this video, I will break down this second statement in the Apostles' Creed and explain it to you as succinctly as possible. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is crucial for your salvation, and I hope that the next time you profess "I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord," you will be awestruck by the Saviour and Lord whom we love and believe in!

The first statement of the Apostles’ Creed is this: "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." When we say “I believe,” it speaks of something that is deeply personal. Christianity is a personal faith between you and God. No one can believe in God on your behalf – you must personally believe in him! But who is this “God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth” that Christians believe in? I hope that after watching this short video snippet, every single time you recite this first line of the Apostles’ Creed, you will find yourself being strengthened in your faith as you reaffirm your belief in this one true God.

Someone once said that if life is a journey, and the 800,000-word Bible is the exhaustive map with everything in it, then the 115-word Apostles’ Creed is its simplified road map. In the next few posts, I will be sharing about the Apostles’ Creed. The word “creed” comes from the Latin word credo, which means “I believe”. As such, the Apostles’ Creed comprises statements that affirm what a Christian believes. I pray that by the end of this series, you will have a revelation of what each statement of the Apostles’ Creed means, and henceforth, you will recite it during every holy communion with utmost faith and conviction!

What does the Bible say about women in church leadership? Can a woman be a preacher, a Bible teacher, a pastor or an ordained minister?

There is no denying that the Bible is filled with examples of women leaders. Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Esther had spiritual authority over God’s people. In the Early Church, Priscilla taught Apollos the Word of God. Phoebe was a deacon. Junia was considered an apostle. Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis were Paul's co-workers in his apostolic ministry. Lydia, Mary, Chloe, and Nymphas were house church leaders. Euodia and Syntyche were leaders in the Philippian church.

Church history is filled with many mighty women leaders, like Thecla, Ammia, Perpetua, Felicitas, Syncletica, Marcella, Proba, Paula, Melania, Hilda, Hildegard in Germany, Argula von Grumbach, Katharina Zell, and Teresa of Avila, etc. They were great leaders, Bible teachers, preachers, theologians, writers, disciple-makers, evangelists, miracle-workers, prophetesses, and church-planters.

Today, almost all major Protestant denominations recognise and ordain women pastors and ministers, like the Anglican, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Foursquare, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, The Salvation Army, and even some among the Reformed and Baptist. Many among them have women general superintendents, bishops, and archbishops.

This is the final instalment on why we (in CHC) are Pentecostals. One distinctive of Pentecostalism is its doctrine concerning the second coming of Christ.

In spite of the advancement of the gospel, this “present evil age” will get ever darker, and lawlessness will abound (Gal 1:4; Mt 24:12). Jesus, however, will come again to end world history, raise the dead, judge the wicked, and usher in a reconstructed universe. This second coming will be preceded by a rapture and a resurrection (1 Thess 4:13-18), and Christ will defeat Satan and his Antichrist, false prophet, and evil forces (Rev 19-20). At His return, Jesus will set up His 1,000-year reign here on earth (Rev 20:1-6). This interval is called the “millennium”. It will be a time when Jesus reigns in righteousness and peace. After that, He will usher in the eternal state of the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21-22). This is the clear and plain teaching of the Bible, as well as the Early Church, in the first five centuries.

Almost all Classical Pentecostals are premillennialists! We reject the theories of idealism and preterism because they don’t interpret the Book of Revelation literally, but only allegorically and symbolically. Preterism believes that all end-time prophecies have already been fulfilled by AD 70, with the fall of Jerusalem. It teaches that the second coming of Jesus has already “taken place” (symbolically), and there is no rapture or 1,000-year reign of Christ. This goes against the clear biblical witness and we can’t accept it.

A quick recap:

(1) As Protestants, we believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

(2) As Evangelicals, we believe in the inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy of the Scripture. We reject liberal theology in all its forms.

(3) As Pentecostals, we believe in (a) the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a second blessing, with tongues as the initial, outward evidence; (b) the appropriateness of speaking in tongues corporately; (c) Arminianism, not Calvinism; and (d) premillennialism, not preterism.

Maranatha! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

There are three reasons why Jesus wants to baptise us in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, 8):

(1) Spirit baptism greatly impacts our personal relationship with God (Acts 2:4). At conversion, we have the indwelling of the Spirit. Now, we have the infilling of the Spirit. Jesus fully immerses us into the Spirit of God, until we are filled, thoroughly soaked, saturated, drenched, and overwhelmed by the Spirit.

(2) Spirit baptism greatly impacts our relationship with other believers (1 Cor 12:7-11). We are now empowered to minister and edify one another, especially in the nine supernatural charismatic gifts:
(a) Word of wisdom
(b) Word of knowledge
(c) Gift of faith
(d) Gifts of healings
(e) Workings of miracles
(f) Discerning of spirits
(g) Prophecy
(h) Speaking in tongues
(i) Interpretation of tongues

(3) Spirit baptism greatly impacts our witness of Christ to the world (Acts 1:8).