Skip to main content

 

The Purpose of Pentecost

On the night of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, He breathed on those gathered followers of His, and said "Receive the Holy Spirit..." At that moment they were regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit united them all to the death and to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were put INTO Christ Jesus at that moment and given authority, His authority, to forgive sin. The indwelling Presence and Power of His life gave them a new spiritual DNA. They became "new creations". That was for them; the promise of their lives being transformed by the New Life that had begun to work in them. That was God's work in them, for them.

Pentecost was God empowering His New Creations to live out the new life they had already received for the sake of the world that had yet to hear and see the Gospel manifest in power as it had been manifested through Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry. THAT mission is to be carried out through His Body, still here on earth...His church...His people. Jesus said that the things He had been doing, His followers would continue to do, because He was going to the Father and the Holy Spirit would be poured out to empower His people to continue to live out His ministry and mission. There is NO timeframe limiting that mission and ministry, save His Second Coming when all the gifts and anointings for mission and ministry will no longer be needed.

He told the 120 followers, after His resurrection and during the days He was with them before His Ascencion (Acts 1:4-5), "Once when He was eating with them, He commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”. And a couple of verses later (Acts 1:8), "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The baptism with/in the Holy Spirit was Jesus Christ empowering His people to BE witnesses for Him. His life and ministry continued through His people was to result in lives being transformed by the Holy Spirit as the first followers' lives had been transformed. Salvation is for you. Being anointed by the Holy Spirit in power is for the sake of others.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  PRAYER Jesus Christ NEVER taught on what we call "unanswered prayer." James wrote that a divided loyalty between trusting the Lord God for life and at the same time relying on the world's systems to get what you want will result in you not getting anything from God you may have prayed about. God will never reinforce the unbelief that flows from divided loyalty. THAT is not unanswered prayer. That is God saying, "No." to your request. God saying, "No." to your requests is not unanswered prayer. It is His grace. His "No" is just what I would want if I knew what He knows. The Lord also answers with, "Not now; not yet." because we are not yet prepared to receive what we think we need. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. If I am praying for something God wants to do in me and the Holy Spirit is working in me preparing me to receive what God has in store, His "Not yet." is NOT unanswered prayer. As we see...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HIS POWER...HIS PROMISE Helping people walk in the Spirit the devotional below is seminal! The devotion below is today from Oswald Chambers. I makes me think of some I have known that have assumed that the Lord doesn’t want them empowered by the Holy Spirit or that He won’t manifest Himself in them because they have reasoned otherwise. Given ministry opportunities to have the Holy Spirit confirm the Word of God with demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power, they rely on how they feel, their experience thus far and not on the reality that the will of God in mission and ministry is either done in the Holy Spirit’s Power or not at all. Our capacity to do what Jesus does has nothing to do with our imagined capacity, but upon the indwelling power of God through is. Now to Him who is able to do far above and beyond what we could ever imagine or think, by His power at work in us now, to Him be glory…   Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus told the parable of the bags of gold as a warning ...
Post a Comment
Read more
 TRUE LOVE AND JUSTICE WOULD NEVER REMAIN SILENT The holiness of God knew that the trajectory of all humanity was hell-ward. His justice and mercy sent Jesus Christ as the only answer to change our infernal direction. What I am deeply concerned about is that all sin, any sin not turned from but embraced, will ultimately end in such darkness, separated from all goodness and hope and only becoming more profoundly horrifying. For me to simply stand by and be silent as people walk toward utter death would be the most unloving thing, the most unjust and vicious thing I could ever do. If a doctor knows I have a devastating disease that could be cured but tells me that "All is well. You're just fine, hale and hearty." without telling me the actuality of my dire straits, then that physician is neither kind or loving but either evil or cowardly.
1 comment
Read more