»

»

»

»

The pastor shares regarding Acts 2:1: 

The Pentecost we need is … the Pentecost we already have!

[   You may have heard the true story about a couple very much in love with each other:  He had to go on a long voyage, but promised to write her a letter every day. Indeed, every day the mailman brought his daily love letter to her.  But imagine his shock when he returned and found that she had fallen in love with the mailman who had brought her those daily love letters.

[      That is also the story of many Christians today.  At first, Jesus is at the center of their lives.  How happy they are to have received him!  How deeply they know his love and care for them!  But then they discover the wonderful Person of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the One God.  Indeed, as Jesus promised, “I will send him to you. He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:7, 13).  He is the faithful “mailman”, bringing Jesus’ daily love “letters” to us.  Yet, how often Christians tend to make the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit the new center of their lives!  They are less concerned about knowing Christ, and more interested in experiencing the Holy Spirit. 

[       Experience is not “bad”, but to focus on experiencing spiritual power is to forget that Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit “will bring glory to me” (John 16:14).  He will bring glory to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, not glory to the power of the Holy Spirit. 

[      Yet today we hear talk about seeking and receiving experiences of Holy Spirit power which will solve our problems. We hear some testimonies of supernatural manifestations of heaven here and now, available to all who open themselves to receive them.  We hear exciting proclamations calling for a new “baptism of fire” from heaven – “a new Pentecost”.  We hear that believers are second-class Christians if they do not have the “fullness” and the right manifestations.

[     Yet, the Bible clearly says that those who know Jesus in personal relationship already have all of the Holy Spirit dwelling in their innermost being (Rom. 8:9).  We are not invited to offer our bodies for an injection of spiritual power for our own sake.  Rather, we are encouraged to offer our whole being to God (Romans 12:1) for three purposes:

[      First, so that we might know Christ’s purpose for our lives -- as the Holy Spirit applies the Cross of Christ to selfishness in us (Rom. 8:13-14, 8:28-30), especially as we repeatedly affirm and depend on the truth of Galatians 2:20 for ourselves. 

[      Second, so that we might know Christ’s power in daily living -- as the Holy Spirit develops more and more “the fruit of the Spirit” in relationship with others (Gal. 5:22), especially as we share God’s love with people the Lord brings into our lives (1 Cor. 13). 

[      Third, so that we might know Christ’s presence by faith – as the Holy Spirit brings us into an ever deeper personal relationship with Christ (Eph. 3:17, 5:17-21), especially as we prayerfully seek to know Christ (Phil. 3:10) in four principal ways: In daily quiet times of prayer and Bible meditation; by serving one another in the fellowship of church life; in praise and worship together with the whole church family; and in reaching out to friends with the good news of God’s love.  He is present!

[    Now, that does not call for a cold, intellectual or legalistic Christianity.  The Christian life is marked by truth known both by the mind and by the heart, both by understanding and by experience.  You can see it, for instance, as you read and mediate on verses 3-8 in the first chapter of Peter’s second epistle (2 Peter 1:3-8).  There we can see the following:

[     The transforming power of the indwelling Christ brings us the reality of experience (1:3-4).  The spiritual growth he gives brings us the reality of experience (1:5-7). The fruitfulness he grants in daily life brings us the reality of experience (1:8). “For if you do these things, you will never fall” (1:10; also see Phil. 4:13).  Just do it!