Called to the obedience of faith, to be true to Jesus and to be holy people.
Ken Archer, in his recent book, The Gospel Revisited (Pickwick Publications, Eugene, Oregon, 2011), advocates the ‘fivefold Gospel’ of early Pentecostalism, which itself was a development of the ‘foursquare Gospel’ message of late nineteenth century Holiness teaching. The fivefold message is simple and well centred. It speaks of Jesus Christ as Saviour, Healer, Sanctifier, Spirit Baptiser and Coming King. Archer’s analogy of a wheel with Jesus as the hub and these five themes as the spokes is very effective and beautifully simple.
What strikes me most, however, is the acknowledgement of Jesus as ‘Sanctifier’. It is still emphasised among Wesleyan-holiness Pentecostals today. I can go with this. Holiness is what we need today: holiness carved out and filling our flesh with God’s Holy Spirit and making a holy difference. We can do with a lot more holiness among people who claim that they love Jesus.
Let us each start looking for this to fill us afresh: in the power of the HOLY Spirit.
