Skip to main content

 PENTECOST

Today is the Feast of Pentecost celebrated in liturgical congregation of Christ’s Body. It has been said that this day commemorates the “birthday of the church.”

Jesus states in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” And He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At that instant, on the evening of that Sunday we call Easter, those believers gathered there were born again by the Holy Spirit. They became new creations. I want to assert that on that evening the church was born.

As Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Power of the Holy Spirit, these gathered disciples were born of the Spirit. Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, the Eternal Son of God made man, was anointed with the Holy Spirit, baptized with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry and to complete the mission God the Father had sent Him to fulfill. Jesus did what He did and said what He said as a man in perfect fellowship with the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was given human birth by the Holy Spirit and was anointed for ministry by the Holy Spirit.

Easter night, the church was given new and eternal life. We read in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4-8 that Jesus stated that the disciples would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. They had the Spirit within and, as it was with Jesus at the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit would come upon them clothing them with Power from on High so they would be empowered, as Jesus was, to continue to do His ministry in His authority and Power as the Holy Spirit continued to teach them everything Jesus intended them to know.

On Pentecost, that year, the followers of Jesus Christ, numbering 120 men and women, were empowered to live out the Life they had been given. The purpose of God is lived out in the Power of God, or it not lived out at all. The will of God is accomplished by the Power of God or is not done at all. Jesus made it very clear that apart from Him, we could do nothing. He has not left us as disenfranchised orphans. He has empowered us by that same Power that raised Him from the dead. Power for faith, obedience, authority, perseverance, hope, long suffering and the confirmation that the Gospel we preach is indeed the very Word of God by demonstration of the Holy Spirit and Power, signs and wonders that point to Jesus Christ, risen and reigning Lord of all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 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
  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
 HE IS RISEN! IT IS FINISHED! After the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea by God opening the way for them to be saved, the whole of Pharoah's army, his horsemen and chariots pursued God's people into the opened way. Once they were all in, the waters flowed back into their place with suddenness and fury. Not one of the enemies survived. All perished in those waters. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, all that sin contained, the full measure of the rebellion of mankind for all time, all the wickedness that was ever in human hearts were absorbed into the Lamb of God as He died our death, received our just judgement from God for all time, taking all that sin and death contained. In Him, sin and death died once and for all. They were overwhelmed, covered and drowned in the sea of His precious blood, poured out for the sin of the whole world. Not one enemy remained alive, all were stripped of their power to hold us in slavery to sin any longer. All their weapons were confis...
Post a Comment
Read more