Excerpts from “How Pentecost Came to Los Angelos” – by Frank Bartleman

“In the beginning of the “Pentecostal” work I became very much exercised in the Spirit that Jesus should not be slighted, “lost in the temple,” by the exaltation of the Holy Ghost, and of the “gifts” of the Spirit. There seemed great danger of losing sight of the fact that Jesus was “all, and in all.” I endeavored to keep Him as the central theme and figure before the people. Jesus should be the center of our preaching. All comes through and in Him. The Holy Ghost is given to “show the things of Christ.” The work of Calvary, the atonement, must be the center for our consideration. The Holy Ghost never draws our attention from Christ to Himself, but rather reveals Christ in a fuller way. We are in the same danger today. There is nothing deeper nor higher than to know Christ. Everything is given of God to that end. The “one Spirit” is given to that end. Christ is our salvation, and our all. That we might know “the lengths and breadths, and heights and depths of the love of Christ, having a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Christ).” – Eph. 1:17. It was “to know Him (Christ),” for which Paul strove. I was led to suddenly present Jesus one night to the congregation at Eighth and Maple. They had been forgetting Him in their exaltation of the Holy Ghost and the “gifts.” Now I introduced Christ for their consideration. They were taken completely by surprise and convicted in a moment. God made me do it. Then they saw their mistake and danger. I was preaching Christ one night at this time, setting Him before them in His proper place, when the Spirit so witnessed of His pleasure that I was overpowered by His presence, falling helpless to the floor under a mighty revelation of Jesus to my soul. I fell like John on the Isle of Patmos, at His feet.

Related posts and pages:
“Wind Dies in a Box”
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
The Word of Christ Dwelling in and Among Us Richly

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“How Pentecost Came to Los Angelos” – online