Pentecost Sunday is a special day of celebration for all Christians. It marks the birthday of the Christian church when the Holy Spirit suddenly brought new life to the body of disciples who had been waiting expectantly for this moment. No one in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, gathered for one of the major Jewish feasts, could ignore the arrival of the infant church. For there were supernatural manifestations of wind and fire and people speaking in tongues that were impossible to ignore. People came running to see what was happening. By the end of the day the church had grown from a small group to over 3000 committed believers.
The Holy Spirit who came in great power on the first disciples 2000 years ago is also at work in our world today. Just as everything changed when the fire of God came on the first Pentecost, we too can experience a spiritual revolution in our lives, families and in the church. For the Holy Spirit is not just for a special few but for every Christian who has turned from their sins to follow Jesus. You don’t have to miss out on the birthday celebrations. You also can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit - you can ‘Receive Your Pentecost.’
1. Receive the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:16; Joel 2:28; Acts 1:7-8; Acts 2:38-39)
2. Receive the presence of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4; Acts 4:31; John 15:26)
3. Receive the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:2; Acts 4:31; Acts 4:33)
Apply
Do you believe the promise of the Holy Spirit is a promise for you? The God of the Bible is a God who makes promises and always keeps His word. On the Day of Pentecost, we see fulfilment of promises that God made through the Old Testament prophet Joel. In his bold Pentecost message, the apostle Peter said in Acts 2:16: ‘this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel’. Hundreds of years before in Joel 2:28, the prophet had predicted a great move of God. Now Peter states that this prophecy has come to pass. The age of the Holy Spirit had arrived. Everyone, women and men, young and old, people of all backgrounds and nationalities, could receive the Holy Spirit. God’s promise through Joel’s prophecy had been fulfilled and so too had the promise of Jesus just a few weeks before (Acts 1:7-8). And on the Day of Pentecost God had kept His word as He always does. Now this promise of the Holy Spirit is still open for every generation. This promise is for each one of us (Acts 2:38:39). So, you need to be sure to receive your promise.
Have you personally received the presence of the Holy Spirit? Acts 2:4 says: ‘All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit’ and in Acts 4:31 we read, ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.’ What this means is that they were full of God. Receiving the Holy Spirit is not primarily about having a supernatural experience but about knowing Jesus in a more real way. It is a big mistake to talk about the Holy Spirit as an ‘it.’ The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and he comes to ‘testify’ about Jesus. In other words, He makes Jesus real to us. For example, through the Holy Spirit we can know the healing presence of Jesus as so many experienced when He was actually here on earth (John 15:26 NKJV). When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit they were comforted because they knew they had Jesus within them. They no longer felt empty and alone. They felt the fire and warmth of His presence. And we too can have the same experience. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we don’t just know about God in a cold and maybe academic way; we feel God. We know He is close to us. We feel Him within us. We become softened by His love and sensitised by His Spirit. Sometimes we find ourselves crying, or wanting to laugh or sing, dance or even rap! We know for sure we don’t have to struggle in our own strength any longer. For we can be full of the Spirit every day. Many great Christian leaders have written how their relationship with the Holy Spirit is their great priority (e.g. Dr David Yonggi Cho, Claudio Freidzon). You can know more of the Holy Spirit’s presence, not just in church services but in your family and everyday life. Receive the presence of the Holy Spirit as well as the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Have you received and do you live every day in the power of the Holy Spirit? The amplified Bible says in Acts 1:8: 'But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you'. The coming of the Holy Spirit was a powerful event ‘like the blowing of a violent wind that filled the whole house’ (Acts 2:2). Suddenly everybody was aware of an awesome power they had never known before. As we follow the story of the Holy Spirit at work in the book of Acts, we read that even the building that they were meeting in was shaken (Acts 4:31). The disciples themselves were filled with a new power and authority (Acts 4:33). The power they received was not only for them to know a surge of power, like you might feel if you connect with electricity. Certainly, we can know experiences like that when people may physically shake. But it is more than that. It is a power to demonstrate the authority of God’s kingdom. When we say a government has come into power, we mean they now have the authority to rule. So too the Holy Spirit gives us the authority to show God’s rule. The greatest power in all the world is not political power or military power or financial power, it is the power of God. When the Holy Spirit came on John Wesley and 60 others on 1st January 1739, they ‘fell to the ground overwhelmed by the power of God'. When we really experience the power of God, the Holy Spirit can work through us in ways that will impact the whole world. Today, when it seems that so much of our culture and world is anti-God or far from God, we should know that everything can change through the power of the Holy Spirit. And it all begins when we each receive our Pentecost.
