ABOUT BETHEL CHURCH Bethel Church in Redding, CA, is a congregation rooted in the love of God and dedicated to worldwide transformation through revival. It’s our goal for God’s love to be manifest in signs, wonders, and miracles. The atmosphere at Bethel is charged with faith and exuberant joy, which manifests in all we do. We believe we’re on the edge of the greatest revival of all time. It’s our vision to see history become His-story as the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God. We welcome you to join us in this adventure!

my favorite verse for this is where

there’s no oxen the manger is clean but

much increase comes through the strength

of the ox so when you have something

happen like this there’s going to be

messes because he’s working with people

he’s working with imperfect people that

are going to respond

[Music]

so let’s look at one particular

manifestation that was personally very

offensive when i

when i began to hear it and um was being

drunk in the spirit and we call it holy

laughter kind of either one of those

sorts of things and so

what do you mean by that

you know when we when we talk about it

what’s your your experience of this

manifestation of being drunk in the

spirit and

well

after the outpouring of the holy spirit

in acts 2

peter’s response was

these

this 120 they’re not drunk like you

think they are so in other words there

must have been some sort of

a response they had to god touching them

that gave the appearance of being drunk

yeah um so let’s set the stage so they

they’re hit with the tongues of fire

and then there’s the sound of a wind i’m

not sure there’s a wind actually

mentioned the sound of the wind

and then they come out they stumble out

into the streets

and they are declaring the praises of

god

in languages that are known by the

people by the jews who had gathered to

jerusalem exactly and they could hear

them declaring the praises of god but in

the midst of that i think it’s verse 13

chapter 2 he said they are drunk

so the god hits them with power it’s the

promised uh he said i’ll give you my

holy spirit and you’ll receive witnesses

you’ll be power to be witnesses yep and

then the power comes and it results in

this these unusual manifestations like

it’s interesting how the lord doesn’t

mind gathering a crowd he’s like you

know what i’m doing and i have a big

tornado noise

with no tornado they’ll get them out of

their houses you know and then they see

these guys speaking praises to god in

the language but to your point they must

have been behaving

if i see a

person

speaking with a different accent or a

different dialect and they’re actually

declaring i can hear them declaring

god’s praises i do not say they’re drunk

dude i’m saying exactly i don’t see

somebody from a different ethnicity yeah

you know speaking a language i figure

like well they’ve learned that language

or you know and wow i love that they’re

praising the lord this is a beautiful

articulate praise i do not say they’re

not dirty drugs or whatever and neither

will it gather a crowd of thousands no

again exactly yeah you know we have

people

a city there’s lots of drunk people in

the streets

a thousand people don’t gap around them

that’s a good point yeah yeah that was

your point but go ahead

it just says uh it says when the sound

occurred the multitude came together it

says they were confused they were amazed

they marveled in verse 7. and verse 12

says they were amazed and perplexed

and then verse 13 says they were mocking

so those who think when god shows up

everybody just adapts quickly it’s just

not everybody jumps on board no it’s

just not true

it’s it’s just messy it’s it’s my

favorite verse for this is where there’s

no oxen the manger is clean but much

increase comes through the strength of

the ox so when you have something happen

like this there’s going to be messes

because he’s working with people yeah

he’s working with imperfect people that

are going to respond and sometimes

uh you know be careless sometimes

exaggerate sometimes try to control

um all of those things happen yeah but

it doesn’t

it doesn’t seem to be as offensive to

him as it is to us

i think my favorite part of that verse

is where peter’s defense he just he

declares they’re not drunk and he

doesn’t say these are holy men we’re

followers of jesus he goes it’s too

early in the day for them to be this

drunk

so again it’s like i’m not denying the

what you’re seeing like i’m not trying

to explain away the behaviors you’re

seeing that’s excellent and that you’re

hearing i’m just trying to tell you hey

think about guys it’s too early to

actually be physically drunk right

that’s his defense and then he unpacks

how this is a fulfillment of the of joel

uh chapter two so it’s just beautiful uh

interesting though but but he can’t deny

the manifestations that’s right again

this is implicit it’s not explicit in

scripture that they were behaving drunk

and again so i mean the the what what

are those people observing just thinking

through that well you know some negative

things you know that we could think

about some people are drunk do violence

we i don’t think that’s happening some

are some are getting sick i don’t think

that’s happening but they are uh being

oh they’re uninhibited by yeah uh

convention they you know they are

overwhelmed uh with the lord with the

the glory of the lord so i don’t care

who’s looking uh like somebody who’s

intoxicated would be maybe you find

yourself sitting somewhere that you’d

like why am i sitting in the gutter you

know because like you know in this place

it’s like you’re sitting places doing

things you wouldn’t normally do

with this experience of the lord’s

presence so as a young man i had spent

my whole christianity never being drunk

and it was offensive to me to hear time

to get drunk in the lord yeah so i had a

total

stumbling block to the even the image

reeve like how could that imagery be

used by the lord yeah

yeah and and it’s it’s painful for those

who have come out of alcohol oh yeah

yeah and i’ve had couples

yeah uh real real offensive and i and i

understand that and i i don’t want to

teach drunkenness as a as a point of

theology it’s just you know it’s it’s

sometimes what happens well

if you’ve got if pharaoh’s

you know magicians can make counterfeit

snakes of moses

drunk with alcohol is a counterfeit of

spiritual joy

there it is yeah it is a counterfeit of

spiritual joy so some folks like looking

for spiritual joy is not

it’s not a problem it’s how you how you

experience it and what you access to to

obtain it

um a phrase i think randy clark uses

comes to mind tears

are to repentance what joy is to

salvation

can you unpack a little

to repentance what laughter is to

salvation okay yeah yeah now as as

we accept the tears as you mentioned a

while back but it’s it’s just all a part

of it the drunkenness of acts 2 or

whatever it was they had it was

something that helped to gather a crowd

of people

and uh and there was the preaching but

underneath it all is they were in these

languages declaring the greatness of god

in acts 2 verse 11 they were declaring

his wonders

and

so

so underneath all that you have that

whole thing of like it

it’s one of the weird things that

watching somebody have a spiritual

experience

is

weird yeah

like i remember being a young man

watching like worship on tv

you know at uh just whatever because

sunday morning tv used to have like a

ton of people worshiping and like and

they could be passionately you know

their faces were passionate their arms

were raised but as a believer i’m like

oh that just looks awkward that’s not

good tv i’m like thinking that in my

head so there’s lots of experiences in

the lord that when you stand as an

observer

they’re they’re not lovely to look at

no that’s

most of the things in revival are not

lovely to look at

i mean to be honest

they don’t make for good tv they’re not

good there’s not marketability there’s

not broad appeal it’s only good tv if

you were there if you’re there

yeah yeah you’re like i remember that

day when the lord met us so powerfully

and affection rises in your heart yeah

so watching it no no i don’t i don’t

enjoy it like

i i i’ve likened i i bought all my kids

these little geodes you know 25 years

ago because it reminded me of revival

the outside is just this ugly thing and

appearance you crack it open there’s

these beautiful

uh colors and crystals and all the stuff

yeah that uh that that to me is is a

great move of god it’s on the outside it

is offensive it just is but when you’re

in the middle of it it’s hard to put

into language what god just did for you

absolutely but you would do anything for

him you would do anything you’d take a

bullet any day it’s like this is why i

was a lot why i’m alive i was born for

this yeah and uh it’s you only get that

on the inside you don’t get it on the

outside totally we have this uh with our

students that not you know not every day

is a holy spirit encounter day and you

know full of joy and laughter but enough

are and you will get you know there’s

videos online of our students just in

piles you know um

of just enjoying the presence of the

lord and each other you know and um

it like i said it’s not a great look on

tv you know lots of videos are on the on

the internet but i know that the

encounter those students are having are

precious yeah and our lifelong

like foundational stones in the lord and

um and the lord’s doing a beautiful work

there so i just again i have to just not

be offended at that

and um you know we’ve talked about the

students like hey when you go someplace

you know you probably don’t fall into a

pile on the floor if that if that

environment isn’t ready for it if that

church doesn’t love that or like that

like hey you know we talk about that the

spirit of the prophet is subject to the

prophet like

general oftentimes

the holy spirit isn’t radically

overwhelming so you can’t do anything

about it

oftentimes you can

no that’s that’s true kind of like kind

of get it get it together using air

quotes there and then do the thing that

the lord’s been asking you to do um

just couple stories about that we had i

had one

service sometime in in this when i i was

the only for on a friday night i was the

only pastor that showed up at night just

for some reason i was the only one so i

kind of like i opened the meeting i did

the offering i closed the worship and i

did the whole deal and i had to preach

that night too so and the lord hit me

with joy

like during the worship and so i’m like

lord i got no back up here i got to do

this like this is

this is not and then i’m not i’m not the

big joy guy like i mean so this is

unusual so i was like loving it and

appreciative

and yet also going papa not now

this is not a good it’s not a good time

so it was a weird moment where i kind of

got up and

and was experiencing this sort of

intoxicated my thoughts were cloudy i

would have rather been quiet and just

been

resting in his presence you know just

kind of

uh it you know just

not preaching you know in that moment

and uh just just enjoying this moment of

joy but for some reason i thought the

well the word had to be preached that

night and so i just like held on onto

the sides of the pulpit

and i got through it you know and it and

at the end i’m like lord you know i kind

of got through that and he’s like and i

just felt like from the father that’s

sort of like yeah i’m not sure why you

did that

again those are that’s his words through

my inner inner voice but at some point

i’m like he was like like i was just

determined like you gotta get through

the

yeah the sermon and he was showing up to

do something different and i just

thought i gotta i gotta do this so you

can like i found in that moment you can

resist and eventually kind of just shake

it off

um because that’s what i have the spirit

of the prophet subject the prophet like

he at that point if you that first i’m

quoting in corinthians they were all

prophesying on top of each other in an

ecstatic moment as soon as the utterance

the anointing is on me i gotta speak it

out and he’s like no no it doesn’t work

that way it’s not gonna go away

wait your turn one at a time we’ll

discern the word so uh in that in that

moment but i was

it’s possible for the lord to come and

for you to kind of like you know not

overly respond to it so sometimes we’ll

talk to the students like if you’re

going and ministering in a church that

doesn’t have these experiences

please you know

exactly you know be gracious and kind to

the environment and reflect their core

values

they they love the presence of the lord

they just experience it in a little

different way and so be in cooperation

with that

yeah it’s huge it’s huge and plus the

goal is not to draw attention yeah to

ourselves

it’s uh it’s

it happens at times because of what he

does in us but it’s it’s never the goal

and it’s not necessarily a measure of

spirituality

and so uh it’s not haves and haves not

it’s not we have this and you don’t it’s

anytime we get into that area it it’s

very very dangerous because then the

spiritual pride enters in it defiles

whatever god was doing that’s well said

yeah so i’m over being offended by

drunkenness uh and uh but i i’ve changed

like i i intoxicated with his presence

uninhibited in his presence like i mean

uh yeah you kind of substitute those a

little bit and that kind of helps me

find kind of my grounding in that yeah

yeah

so in all these areas i think probably

what i’ve

we’ve all been on this learning journey

of it you know nobody has to look like

us or think like us you know and and um

you know this that we have the pristine

you know gospel and you don’t or the

like the full gospel and you don’t or

all these sorts of things but i do think

it’s important for the church of jesus

christ to be listening um it’s actually

crucial that we listen not like

legalists but like lovers like

i i love you

and i i i know that you love the lord

like i’m disagreeing with you i’m

uncomfortable

with what i’m seeing

i’m concerned

right right but i love you and you’re

going to experience not just like my

love i can just like i put up with you

until you start behaving like me

but i actually

really genuinely are seeking your

highest and best good

and i think as we’re as partly

my journey through this whole thing was

just recognizing the real love that was

in people who were experiencing

manifestations of the leaders that were

they were full of love and they were not

mandating this was the new thing

everybody must be doing they’re like

i’m hungry

i’m walking in love and so i part of

this has been

a graciousness learning with gender

listening with generosity to the

experiences of our brothers and sisters

like you know uh in the faith you know i

instead of listening uh like a legalist

uh

um and being appreciative of the the

variety of expressions and experiences

that people have with the lord has been

part of our journey at least it has been

for me breaking me out of that kind of

arrogance um self uh group-centric sort

of thinking and realizing all that the

lord can accomplish

yeah yeah just celebrating

celebrating other people and god’s

unique touch on them too because he

he’ll touch me differently than he

touches you and if i don’t have a value

for

how he works in and through you and upon

you

then i’m going to measure and i’ll

either become greater than you or i’ll

become less than you and i can never

measure up but it’s always it’s always

wrong yeah it’s always unhealthy and uh

and so being able to celebrate the

uniqueness of god’s touch on another

person yeah i think is important and you

talk about honors i’m going to celebrate

who you are without being offended by

who you’re not in some ways and so the

whole church could kind of like

kind of step towards that yes i’m gonna

celebrate who you are what you’re doing

without being offended yeah with who

you’re not and uh trust that those folks

are on a journey just like we are

of becoming like christ exactly yeah

you