Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

When we get up in the morning, most of us, most of the time, don't think a great deal about the day, we just get on with it, but the truth is that today is a culmination of all the previous days of my life. Today I am a unique person with a unique set of genes and a unique set of circumstances and a unique history. I am even different from what I was a week ago. I am today the sum of all the experiences that I have had in life and all of the experiences have taught me things. Some I learnt because I was either at school or college or whatever other learning institution, and that was formal learning. A mass of others things I learnt just by living. I have lived many years (it doesn't matter what ‘many' means) and today I will face the day with the resources that are me, and those resources have come about through the experiences of every days of my life. Many of those experiences involve God – perhaps they all do!

So when we come to Acts chapter 2 we are about to embark on a massive change. I think most of the time when I have read Acts in the past I have never fully appreciated the difference between Acts 1 and then all the rest of the book. However, I entitled the first part going through Acts 1 as “What Next?” because it recounts a short period of great uncertainty. This second Part will cover only the first part of Acts 2 and I title it “The Launching of the Church.” This chapter covers just one day and it is a critical day, but it is a day which is in a consequence of days.

To see more clearly where we are going, it might be helpful to see ahead and note the makeup of this fairly brief second part entitled, ‘The Launching of the Church'

Hence I would like us to pause up and just ponder on this first verse which I think normally gets ignored in the face of the incredible things that follow it. It is a day, we reiterate, which is the culmination of a whole lot of days that have gone before it. It is a verse that speaks of ‘they'. This ‘they' is important. ‘They' are the disciples, presumably 120 of them (see Acts 1:15) although if they were in the upper room it may be that it was just the smaller central core of ‘the twelve' yet the ‘all' of our verse suggests perhaps the larger number. The fact is, which ever the group size, they are all there, which suggests a designated group of Jesus' followers. Again the ‘all' suggests that none of the twelve at the very least were missing.

Now you may wonder why I emphasise this. I do so because it suggests that there were certain ‘pressures' that meant they were all there. What are those ‘pressures'? Well first of all these were men (and probably the women) who had been with Jesus, travelled with Jesus, listened to Jesus, followed Jesus and obeyed his instructions and who now would be bereft of his presence. There would be, I suggest, a sense of helplessness in this group. The master with his power and authority was no longer there. He was the one who had stood up to the Pharisees and other religious groups and challenged them, but now he is no longer there. When a powerful leader is removed, there is always going to be a sense of loss and probably questions about the future. So they huddle together like sheep without a shepherd.

But why are they here in Jerusalem ? They are here because Jesus brought them back here. He hadn't allowed them to remain in the security and isolation of Galilee . His plan, even though they may not have fully taken it in yet, is that they will confront the world with his word and with his Spirit. There is to be no hiding away for them. They are for the moment almost in hiding, but then they are still powerless and they have no authority because the one who is the authority is no longer with them. Should we do this or should we do that? Life is full of uncertainties.

But there is one certainty, for Jesus had been quite clear and his command was still clear in their minds: stay in Jerusalem , wait in Jerusalem . That was all they had been left with except that unclear reference to the gift of the Father coming and then them going out into the world. So there they are, leaderless and powerless and uncertain over many things.

They no doubt looked back to where they had come from, to the three most incredible years of their lives. They would remember the incredible things that had happened, the healings they had performed when Jesus had sent them out, that amazing time when Peter had walked on water, and so much else. But they have no sense of that power or the master's daily direction now. They are alone in a hostile world. The past three years have led them to this and they must surely wonder what is to come yet, but one thing they do know – they are powerless to make it happen.

They were powerless four years ago before they met Jesus and they are powerless now that he has gone. They just have his words and those words suggest there is yet something more coming, but what it is, they don't know. God sometimes (?most times?) plays His cards close to His chest. He'll make it plain eventually but for the moment they are just together, and wondering.

I wonder how often we plunge on through life, doing what can be done with human strength but having little impact on the world. I wonder how much we realise just how utterly reliant upon Jesus we are, for anything meaningful to happen or to be achieved? Lord, please come in power and energise and direct us so that like the early church we may truly turn the world upside down.

Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

These first verses provide us with the reason for the rest of the book. Something happened on this day that meant that the world was never the same again. We are about to read of a supernatural event that pushed these weak, frail, and uncertain disciples out into the world in such a dynamic way that the world was changed. Now I maintain with this passage, as I maintain over so much Scripture, that many of us who have been Christians a long time become so familiar with it that we lose the impact of the incredible things we are reading about. There were three things that happened on this day that caused the disciples to be precipitated into the lap of the world in such a manner that the world was changed. Each of these phenomena convey a message from God to us. The first of these three things is the sound of wind.

Now note something significant here and it is something I missed for many years. It is NOT a wind! Contrary to what many of us think, this is not a great movement of air – it was simply a sound. We aren't told that the furniture flew everywhere and the disciples were blown out into the open by a tremendous gust of air. When Elijah was taken it was clearly in a whirlwind, a tremendous movement of air, and as we commented in Part 1 in Acts 1, his young disciples went looking for him because they expected his body would be dropped somewhere by the wind – but this wasn't like that. There wasn't a wind!

In fact it must have been much more eerie for there they all are, sitting in this house when suddenly there is this tremendous noise like a great wind blowing, but they feel no movement of air on their faces. This sound fills the house, there is no escaping it. It isn't a gentle whisper; it is a great rushing sound, just like there is a gale blowing – but it isn't! Now that IS scary!

So it is not a physical manifestation so it must be an indicator of a spiritual movement. The sound of wind is the sound of great energy moving. Something is happening, something is coming which, if it is not material or physical, must be something else. Jesus had challenged Nicodemus with his teaching: “ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (Jn 3:8) Perhaps that teaching says no more than you cannot tell how the Spirit comes or from where he comes, and so perhaps we are on a fruitless task trying to make some sort of explanation of what happened on this day.

But something is happening and from the outworking of it – the energizing of the disciples as we shall see later – it is a power thing. This sound seems to convey the idea that there is a mighty power that is pouring forth from heaven. We do need to hold onto the scale of it – it was a mighty power for that is what the description is, of a violent wind. This, whatever it was, is going to sweep everything before it; it is very powerful. Now we must realise that He will not sweep unbelievers before Him for He gives them free will and always gives us opportunity to make personal decisions.

However, in accounts of revivals, when God turns up in such power, there are accounts of unbelievers being so struck by the awareness of the presence of God that they are mightily convicted and literally floored. The powerful presence of God does have that effect without doubt. But here He is coming to believers, to those who have been following Jesus and who are waiting as an act of obedience to him. These are people who are waiting for God and so their hearts are open to Him. So when the energy of the powerful presence of the Spirit of God poured out and released from heaven comes into the open hearts of these believers they are suddenly energized in ways we will look at in the days ahead.

Have you ever stood near a tyre when it gets a puncture and the air pours out with a tremendous hiss? I imagine heaven being rent so the Holy Spirit who fills heaven, pours out with a tremendous rushing sound. It is the power of God being released on the earth, but He doesn't just get dissipated, He pours into open hearts. In the past I have described ‘spirit' as energy with a personality. This isn't just energy being poured out, this is the energy that is God Himself and when it comes into the hearts and lives of human beings, it brings with it the character and nature of God Himself. There is not just a feeling of energy being received; it comes with a content, the goodness and greatness of God and as a result it produces in these men an instinctive desire to praise and worship God. It releases a great sense of joy. I believe that is what the Holy Spirit does whenever He is invited in and He comes and brings new life and He comes and fills an individual. He always brings with Him a sense of the greatness, the glory and the goodness of God, and that is expressed in what we call joy.

This divine energy with personality doesn't just wash over these believers; He fills them. It is not an outward thing but an inward thing. In the past individuals had been anointed with oil as a sign of being anointed by God outwardly to equip them to serve Him, but now when the Spirit comes, He fills them and they are changed from the inside. They are all aware of some inner change taking place. Their hearts, their minds, their very beings are suddenly energized with the glorious presence of God and they are no longer the same.

Have you ever thought about what ‘God's Power' actually means? My definition is Holy Spirit directed energy to bring about God's will . It is that simple, and that is what has come this day. A new day has truly arrived! The Message? This new Church is all about people empowered to be different!

Acts 2:2,3 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

We said previously that we believed these opening verses of Acts 2 are the pivotal verses for the book. Because of what happens here, everything changes. The disciples, and the very world, will never be the same again! We also said that there were three things that occurred in this incident, three things that come from God that change these men and women. The first was the sound of the rushing wind, indicating the coming of a great power from heaven that would energise these people that would leave them transformed.

Now we come to the second of these things. Let's look carefully at the description of what happened. Luke records it as “what seemed to be”. This is similar to the “like the blowing of”. It actually wasn't but it looked like. This is common language when you come to prophetic visions and supernatural happenings where the word ‘like' crops up again and again. The human observers recognise that they are seeing something that corresponds to natural things but actually isn't natural; it is of the spirit world and there is something about it that makes you realise it is different. Now it may be that what appeared as fire here was recognised by those there as not being fire because it didn't do what fire does. When it settled on them their hair didn't suddenly get burned up. This is like the fire that Moses saw at the famous burning bush of Exodus 3, that was “flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.” (Ex 3:2). The flames in that incident accompanied an angelic presence.

Of course when Israel traveled out of Egypt in the Exodus they were accompanied by the presence of the Lord that was seen in the form of the pillar of cloud in the daytime and fire at night. At Sinai, “the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.” (Ex 24:17) When Elijah was about to be taken, “suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them.” (2 Kings 2:11) It seems that messengers from heaven arrived to separate him off before he was taken in a whirlwind and they came in fire.

Now without doubt fire from the Lord was used as a destructive weapon to deal with sin, as Isaiah prophesied, “See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the LORD.” (Isa 66:15,16) However in all the other instances that we have observed fire is simply a manifestation of the presence of the Lord, presumably signifying His holiness and His ability to burn up anything around Him that is impure.

Thus the fire that appears now would be, we suggest, merely a manifestation of the presence of the Lord. We've heard the sound of rushing wind bringing immense power, but what is it and where does it come from? The presence of the tongues of fire indicates that it is the arrival of the presence of God. Now of course the Lord is everywhere and therefore we are never out of His presence but the Biblical record shows that there are times when He brings His manifest presence, His presence made visible in some manner. It happened at the burning bush and it happens here. Put in its simplest terms these tongues of fire are a sign that God has turned up and He has come into the material world and is settling on these people.

But before we rush by, note that these tongues of fire first appear as a mass of flames (sorry, don't know how else to put it!) because we are told they “separated and came to rest on each of them.” This wasn't just the Lord turning up in this room; no, it was more personal than that. First of all, and it probably happened very quickly, the disciples are just aware of fire hovering above them in this room. That would have been an awesome enough and memorable experience if it has stopped at that, but it didn't! No, this hovering fire split up and then appeared to come to rest on each of them. There was no one missed; they would later be able to recount to friends and family, “He came down on me !” Every one of them was chosen to be touched by the presence of God. And what was more, they weren't burnt up. Even Moses had been told not to come near for that was holy ground (Ex 3:5). At Mount Sinai the people had been told not to come near for it was holy and they would be destroyed (Ex 19)

Previously, in all the accounts in Scripture, the fire of God had been linked with destructive holiness that would burn up everything that was sinful and impure. Something different happened here and it is unique and it is wonderful. The fire of the presence of God rested on each person in the room and they were not destroyed! Why? They were not destroyed because their sin and impurity was now covered by the blood of Jesus on the Cross. This is the first post-Cross encounter of God the Holy Spirit with the believers and it says that there is possible a harmony between God and man because of what Jesus has done. The incredible thing here is not, as so many comment, about the presence of God coming to purify these men; it was that it signified that the holiness of God could exist with men without destroying them. That was what Jesus had achieved on the Cross!

So why the fire? To show the holy presence of God comes down to be upon and within men and women without destroying them. When you read Paul's words about us now being the body of Christ or the temple of the Holy Spirit (e.g. 1 Cor 3:16 & 6:19), don't take that for granted. He dwells within you and you remain alive ONLY because of what Jesus did on the Cross. That is the wonder of this second manifestation on this morning. The Message: the Cross has made us acceptable to God. Hallelujah!

Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

We have observed two things amazingly happening on this world-changing morning – a sound of a mighty energy releasing wind, and tongues of fire resting on each disciple without burning them up. Now we come to the third thing, the one that seems to stir up controversy. Let's simply take note of what we are told and then reflect on it.

Luke simply records that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we have read these words so many times that they have lost all significance. We might have simply recounted the three things we've already noted, but Luke says that what was happening here was that these men (and women?) were being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit'. The wind and the fire seemed to be indicators of it happening and the ‘other tongues' seemed to be the outworking or expression of it. Now that phrase, being ‘filled with the Spirit' was not unknown. It was first used by God to describe how He had equipped two men to work creatively in making the tabernacle (see Ex 31:3) and was later repeated by Moses (Ex 35:31). This ‘filling' was to enable them to do something they were naturally unable to do.

Now the expression isn't used again like that but similar ones were. For instance, “he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.” (Num 11:25) Although the Spirit did not fill them, when he came on them momentarily, they were enabled to prophesy. Similarly, “When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his oracle:” (Num 24:2,3) i.e. as the Spirit touched him he was able to speak out in a way he previously couldn't do. When we come to the book of Judges we see this again and again, e.g. “the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.” (Jud 6:34) Boldness, courage and strength were the enabling things that the Spirit brought when he come ON each of the judges God used to deliver Israel. The famous prophecy in Joel spoke of the Spirit coming: “Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:29) but note that even there it is ‘on'.

Jesus had said, “in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." and “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” (Acts 1:5,8). The power had clearly come and Luke, possibly with the wisdom of the years of teaching from the likes of Paul, identified it as a ‘filling'. As we said in a previous study, when you baptize or immerse a cup, it is filled. These disciples were immersed in the Spirit in such a measure that they weren't just touched by the Spirit, but they were filled with Him. He has come to dwell in them for ever more.

Now comes the outworking or expression of it. We've noted what the Spirit enabled men to do in the Old Testament period, so why this expression now? Sometimes we are careless with our language and just speak of ‘tongues' but here it makes the emphasis, “other tongues”, i.e. they have the ability to speak another unlearned language. This was the specific enabling of the Spirit. In what follows, we will see that it is the ability (in this case at least) to praise and worship God in specific languages of the people round about them.

It is like a barrier has been taken down between them. It is like God is saying there is a new possibility of there being no division between men, there is a new possibility of unity between men so you can all worship together. It is like it, but not it, because this was a one-off situation for the initiating of the church (except when it happened to the Gentiles in Acts 10). Elsewhere Paul speaks of ‘tongues' as speaking to God in mysteries (1 Cor 14:2) so this episode (and possibly the Acts 10 one) appear to signify something special.

First it is a Holy Spirit supernatural enabling so they can do something they normally cannot do, and second, it signifies a taking down of barriers between men. It is a sign of the opening up of the life of the Spirit and thus salvation through Christ to the whole world. Here in Jerusalem it was primarily Jews but they had come from a variety of surrounding nations. They were representative of the world. Later in Acts 10 we will see the Gentiles specifically included by the same means, but for the moment, the greatness of God is being spoken out without language barrier by the enabling of the Spirit, thus indicating, we suggest, the intent of God. He wants barriers to fall so that no people grouping anywhere in the earth feels excluded. The Message: there are no boundaries when the Holy Spirit is at work!

To conclude this examination of the things that happened to the disciples on this day of Pentecost, as the Church is brought into being, let us summarise what happened: the power of God came (sound of wind) the post-Cross acceptance of God came (fire without destruction) and a divine empowering to enable these disciples to cross national barriers (other tongues). To create the new Church, the disciples were empowered, accepted and sent. This is what we are, a people who have been transformed by the power of God, a people accepted by work of God and a people sent by God to bless His world. But one critical thing more that we haven't really picked up on much: this empowering brought a joy and a wonder at the greatness and goodness of God and that overflowed from these disciples and was heard by the surrounding world. Does the surrounding world hear and see the greatness and good ness of God through us because we have been empowered by God's Spirit? If they don't see it, is it because we need a flesh filling? We'd better ask for it!

Acts 2:7,8,11-13 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?....we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

In the previous meditation we focused on the fact that these were God-fearing men and they were bewildered by what they heard. Let's clarify that and then consider the responses. We need to face up to this yet again, to confront the unbelief that is so often in today's church. Face the Scriptures please. First of all they recognised that the apostolic band were largely Galileans. There was a certain guttural edge to their accents that was recognisable as being that of those from the north in Galilee . Now Galilee wasn't exactly known for being a centre of cosmopolitan learning and it would be most unexpected to find people from there being multi-lingual – yet that is exactly what is being observed here.

But then there is the fact that these Galileans are praising God, declaring His wonders – and they are doing it in the language of all the people standing around there, people from all different parts of what we now call the Middle East . Each one, despite wherever they came from, hear and understood what was being said in their own particular language – and they all recognised that this was what was going on: “I can hear them in my language…. so can I …. and me… and me!”

Now they are astute enough to know that such things don't happen and so they are obviously witnessing something very special. That raised a pertinent question: what is going on, what does this mean? That is very important to note: they recognised something special was happening and they wanted to know what it was. When God turns up, His presence and His activity raise questions.

I have already commented in these studies in Acts, and particularly in the last meditation, that I have lived through the Charismatic Movement and the so-called Toronto Blessing, and both things were, I am convinced, moves of God. Yet the truth is that, looking back, both periods of activity raised many questions in the church, both within the onlookers who were not participating in what was happening AND in those who were involved in it. Involved as I was in the Toronto Blessing, I was still one with many questions. Why was this happening, what caused it and how did it fit in Church history? Was this all of God or were there human elements to it? Where was it going, what would it achieve in the long-term?

The truth is that, when God turns up in such powerful ways, we see the obvious fruit of His activity, but that activity may not be what we expected and may not fit our understanding of how God moves. That does not necessarily mean it is not God. If something happened that denied that Jesus was the Son of God, or said that it didn't matter what you did it would be covered by God's grace, we would know that such things are contrary to the Scripture, but so often the activity of God conforms to Scripture and we just don't understand it, or it is something that is not covered by Scripture.

When Moses found a burning bush that wasn't burning, that didn't fit in with anything he knew previously. When God came on the day of Pentecost it didn't fit in with the understanding of those who watched it happening. Note that those who were involved in it didn't seem bothered by it; they were too busy praising God. In the two moves that I referred to above, the same thing was often true. Onlookers were concerned and worried by it, but those involved in it were often too busy praising and worshipping God to worry too much about it. So human confusion doesn't mean that what is happening is not of God. It's just that we haven't clued in to what is going on yet!

But then, as always, human negativity creeps out: “Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.” There will always be unbelievers and unbelievers don't tend to keep quiet, so they will mock and deride the works of God and more especially those who are involved in the move of God. In the early part of the twenty first century there were those crusading atheists who decided to speak out from their minority position and deride the Church. They actually made out that they were deriding God but in fact they spent most of their time finding fringe believers, saying or doing strange things, and derided them. Virtually none of them showed they had any real knowledge of the Bible and so stumbled about making foolish noises about it and about God. Concern for the truth did not abound. Never was the position of the average Christian examined. Never was their goodness or the wonder of their transformation when they came to Christ examined. Never was there an examination of the many Christians who had worked in history to bring schools into being, hospitals into being, or Unions into being. The great Christian social changers were ignored. No, whenever there is a move of God, there will be mindless detractors. The apostle Peter is about to give an answer to them. Hold onto you seats!

But we have to face an unpleasant fact and that is that so often across the Church, detractors are Christians. How often have you come across those who seem to be self-appointed guardians of orthodoxy and whose writing are full of criticism. Yes, the activities of men, even Spirit-filled and Spirit-led men, will sometimes be less than perfect. That's what human beings are like, including Christians. Just because they are less than perfect in 1% of their ministry, don't write them off. This is not to excuse adultery or anything like that, but it does say, be careful what you say about other believers because you may be criticizing the body of Christ and particularly God-anointed leaders in it, especially when they are moving with works of power. Be careful!

Acts 2:13-16 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

To explain the strange things that were happening – at least some of them – someone in the crowd shouts out in a derogatory manner that these disciples are drunk. Now what is interesting is that the assessments of the crowd in the street do not take into account anything of the other phenomena that have played a part in what was going on. There appears no reference to the sound of a rushing wind, as loud as it was, and no reference to the tongues of fire that settled on the heads of the apostles. It would appear that these things were not known of by the crowd.

It would seem that these things had been confined to when the apostles were together in the house. Whether people outside heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind, we are not told and the crowd make no reference to it. Similarly the tongues of fire must have only appeared on them while they were in the house, and as soon as they are filled and start praising God and spilling out into the street, they disappear. The focus is entirely on the speaking in other languages. This is the feature of what happened that gets the attention of the people outside. This alone is the cause for the reaction of the crowd that provokes Peter to stand up and give an answer (and we'll look at his ‘sermon' later).

Now before we move on, there is something that needs looking at a little more deeply. It is the accusation that these men are drunk. If this had been a group of Pharisees who (uncharacteristically) had decided to worship in the open air, I am sure that they would never have been accused of being drunk, however unusual it was. No, there is more in this than meets the eye. At the very least we must affirm that these apostles were utterly whole hearted in their declaring the wonders of God. There was nothing half-hearted about this. When the Spirit comes, He is not half-hearted, and the manifestation of His presence in a person is never half-hearted.

Whenever I have witnessed a person being filled with the Spirit, whatever other manifestations there may be, joy is always a major ingredient of what takes place, and it is not a restrained joy; it is an expressive joy. Drunk people tend to be noisy and unrestrained. When the Spirit comes, His activity often causes noise, an unrestrained expression of joy. Is this the main reason why certain parts of the church reject these things, because a) they like to remain in control and b) they do not like outward exhibitions of emotion? Is it actually that, and not because there is some indication in Scripture that this isn't something that carries on regardless of when it happens in history?

When King David eventually successfully brought the Ark into Jerusalem he brought it in with abandoned worship and we read, “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might.” (2 Sam 6:14) What was tragic was the reaction of one of his wives: “Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.” (2 Sam 6:16) and when he comes in she vents this: “When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" (2 Sam 6:20) and then we read, “And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death,” (2 Sam 6:23) which suggests either that her feelings and words caused such a rift between them they never had sexual relations again, or that the Lord stopped her ever conceiving, all because it did not seem seemly to her!

When the Spirit comes, He so often comes with power and joy that the recipients no longer bother about what others might think. If, for whatever reason, we are excluded from the experience, we then find ourselves in the terrible position of having to watch our tongues, lest we condemn the work of God. How many times in history has that happened I wonder?