Pentecostal Power, part 1

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday – the birthday of “The Church” with a capital “C” – the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on the roughly 120 people; the disciples and other followers of Jesus, who had been gathered together following Jesus’ last instructions. They were waiting, praying, seeking, wondering what would happen; how they would know when the Holy Spirit came, as Jesus promised He would. This week we are going to be looking at Pentecostal Power.
 

Let me begin by telling you about a vacuum salesman, down in rural Tennessee. He had a vacuum cleaner and all of the tools and attachments and he went out on a cold sales call. He arrived at a small house, on a dirt road, and he asked the lady on the front porch if they could go inside so he could show her the newest model vacuum-cleaner. Once inside the house, he said, “Mam, I’ve got the most exciting vacuum cleaner you have ever seen. It will clean your house from top to bottom; you only have to pay $25 down, followed by 12, easy, monthly payments.” The lady said, “Mister, that sounds right good.” 

 
With that, he pulled out a bag of dirt and dumped it on her floor; then he said, “You see that big pile of dirt, right there on the floor, with all those fur balls and bugs and things? Well mam, my vacuum cleaner will just pick up all those things; just like that and if it don’t, I’ll eat it.” She said, “Well, you might jess as well get yer knife and fork, honey, ‘cause we ain’t got no ‘lectricity outs here!”
 

Acts 1:8, 2:1-5 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 2:1-5 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” NIV. 

Power is the one thing nations, politicians, and business-people all covet. But the power that we really need is not an earthly power. God has promised believers, those who walk in relationship with Jesus, spiritual power.
 

Vance Havner once, rightly said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it, nor conformity to it, but by combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.” The truth is, friends, that the early church had none of the things we tend to think are so essential for success today: no buildings; no significant amount of money; no social status or social media, and yet, the Church won multitudes to Christ. Furthermore. they and saw many churches established throughout the Roman world. Why? Because the church had the power of the Holy Spirit energizing its ministry. They were a people ignited by the Spirit of God.’ 

All the time, I am becoming more convinced that the church today needs to discover, once again, that we have an unchanging God. We need to discover, again, the Power of Pentecost.
 

The same Holy Spirit power experienced throughout the Book of Acts, is available to us today, to make us more effective witnesses for Christ. The better we understand the working of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the better we will relate to Him and experience His power.
 

What is Pentecost? In short: It is the fulfillment of God’s promise to His disciples, that they would receive power in order to accomplish His purpose. That of being witnesses for Him around the world. 



Continued tomorrow