The Fire of Pentecost
In his article Come Holy Spirit! The Whole Church Needs a New Pentecost, Deacon Keith Fournier, a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the 1990s, writes:
"On Pentecost the early followers of Jesus gathered as the Lord had instructed them. Why? To expect the fulfillment of the promise he had made to send the Holy Spirit. We refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the missionary church for a good reason. Their encounter with the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room changed them.
They were filled with the same Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. The Apostle Paul would later explain the experience. He was not at that first Pentecost. But he certainly experienced the same encounter, and came to know of its powerful, transformative effects! (Romans 8:11)"
Last Sunday, Western Christians celebrated Pentecost, and this Sunday, 27 May, Eastern Orthodox Christians will celebrate this Feast. But it is not merely a time to feast and party, Pentecost is a signal to get busy doing what Christ commanded: "All authority [exousia] has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you to do. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mat. 28:18-20). Some translations say "power" instead of "authority," and "observe" instead of "obey," but in Acts 1:4-8 we read -
"Being assembled together with them, he [Jesus] charged them, 'Don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from Me. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, 'Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It isn't for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within His own authority. But you will receive power [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"
Notice what Jesus foretold: they would receive the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. Then notice how the disciples totally missed the point, asking if now He was going to set up His kingdom on earth. Jesus replied: "It's none of your business to know" (exact translation from Russian!). Third, notice the difference between "power" in the Great Commission above and "power" here in Acts 1: the first is apostolic authority or the right to evangelize, baptize and make disciples, but without the second power, "dunamis" (from which we get the word dynamite), they didn't have the strength or ability to carry out their authority.
So many preachers today may be good Bible teachers, but they lack apostolic authority and/or "dunamis" power. They may teach good theology and think that by doing so they are making disciples, people who learn all the doctrines of the Christian Church. That's all well and good as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Jesus commanded the Apostles to make more disciples by teaching them to obey or fulfill or carry out "everything that I commanded you to do." What did He command His Apostles to do? Spread the Gospel! Heal the sick! Cleanse the lepers! Care for the poor!
Why isn't this happening today? It's because we have allowed the state to co-opt our Christian responsibilities to society. Instead, we are content to teach Bible stories and talk about loving God and neighbor and how God will comfort you when you're feeling down: nice warm-fuzzy "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD). We are safe if we keep our beliefs to ourselves within the four walls of our churches, which makes us into harmless, toothless, paper tigers, irrelevant to the rest of the world.
Look what happened in Acts ch. 2:1-8 -
"Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Behold, aren't all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?"
God poured out the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and they preached the Gospel in the native languages of all the Jews in the Dispersion who had come to Jerusalem for this feast following Passover. The "gift of tongues" is clearly the God-given ability to speak the Good News in human languages. I've experienced this several times, being able to speak and write songs and poetry in various foreign languages.
Later, when Peter and John healed a lame man in the Temple, they were called before the council: "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole'" (Acts 4:8-12. Here they didn't mince words; instead, they exercised their apostolic authority to preach and heal the sick.
Then Peter said - "'He is "the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner." There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!' Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it" (verses 11-14). The proof of the pudding, the formerly lame man, was standing right there!
Then the council of the Jewish leaders threatened them, telling them not to preach about Jesus and the resurrection, but Peter and John replied - "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, for we can't help telling the things which we saw and heard" (verses 19-20). They prayed - "'Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.' When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (verses 29-31).
This is the very sort of Pentecostal power that we need today: the power to heal the sick and to speak the word of God with boldness!
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