Pentecostal Power

Sermon Summary:

This powerful message invites us into the heart of Pentecost, reminding us that we live in a unique moment in salvation history. We stand on the other side of an incredible gift: the baptism of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus and fulfilled in Acts 2. The sermon walks us through Acts 1, where Jesus makes an astonishing promise to 120 ordinary believers that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Think about it: a small group of mostly uneducated people, many who had never traveled far from home, were commissioned to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Humanly impossible. But with Pentecostal power, everything changed. The Holy Spirit descended, language barriers were miraculously overcome, and 3,000 people were saved in a single day. This wasn’t just a historical event; it’s our reality too. The same Spirit works in us through three transformative ways: informing us with divine truth as we engage Scripture, performing through us as we live out our faith in challenging moments, and transforming us from the inside out to reflect Christ’s character. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t just a nice concept; it’s the actual character of Jesus being formed in us. We’re called to be a church marked not by worldly influence but by Pentecostal power that points people to Jesus and gives Him all the glory.

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Sermon Points:

SALVATION HISTORY: Creation, Fall, Judgment, Call of Abram, Covenantal People of God, Revelation of God, Redemption, Missional Call, Revelation of God, Messianic Prophecy, Eschatological Hope, Messianic Fulfillment, Kingdom of God, Inaugurated Eschatology, Pentecost, Gifts of the Spirit, Missional Call, Consummation!

JESUS CHRIST: At the heart of the Christian faith is the Person and Work of Jesus Christ!

PROMISE: Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would be given to His followers. The Holy Spirit was to “baptize” the followers of Jesus!

POWER: The presence of the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God’s divine and miraculous power! The Holy Spirit empowers the people of God to fulfill our mission in God’s world.

PENTECOST: The first Feast of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus marked the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus and the realization of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

PENTECOSTAL POWER

• Informative
• Performative
• Transformative

We are Pentecostal People!

Key Takeaways:

• Everything in Christian faith centers on Jesus Christ—His person, work, death, resurrection, and teaching
• Salvation history places us between Pentecost and Christ’s return, living in the missional call awaiting consummation
• Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would baptize believers, completely immersing them in God’s presence and power
• The Holy Spirit empowers believers to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
• Pentecost reversed the Tower of Babel, making the gospel accessible to all people in all languages
• The Holy Spirit works in three ways: informatively (teaching truth), performatively (enabling righteous living), and transformatively (conforming us to Christ’s image)
• Daily engagement with Scripture allows the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide believers
• The fruit of the Spirit reflects the character of Christ displayed in believers’ lives
• The church needs Pentecostal power more than worldly influence to point people to Jesus
• All believers—men and women, young and old—are included in the Spirit’s empowerment and mission

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Scripture References:

Sermon Transcript:

Well, again, thank you, Christy, for leading us today. Well, you know, if you have been with us at all in this last season, that we are engaged in this multi year journey learning more about flourishing. And as Katie just said, it’s important for us to remember that we are flourishing together. And that’s our theme. Last year we talked about, we spent the whole year learning what it means to be rooted in Christ.

This year our focus is transformed on the Jesus Way. Next year we’ll be focused on influencing our world for Christ, all under the heading of flourishing together. You know that today will Mark the end of this particular liturgical season and summer starts for us next Sunday with camp. And our theme for the summer is going to be Making a Difference. And we’re going to study the Fruit of the Spirit during our summer of nine Sundays.

And we will analyze each one of the Fruit of the Spirit. We’re going to look at a Biblical character in the scripture that exemplifies, exhibits that particular fruit of the Spirit. We’re going to look at the life of Jesus and see how Jesus demonstrates each one of the Fruit of the Spirit. And then we’re going to look at how that can be applied to our lives. And so I’m looking forward to this summer series with you.

But with that said, today is the last Sunday of Eastertide and our theme has been shaped by the Spirit, where we have been learning more about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. And you know that as we have looked at the life that God’s called us to, we’ve asked the question, what does everyone need? And we have settled in our answer to that. We believe everyone needs to know God, everyone needs to experience God, and everyone needs to serve God. To know God means to be saved, and to experience God means to be shepherded into the family of God, to be shepherded past your past.

It means to be shaped by the work of the Spirit of God in your life. And to serve God means to be sent into the ministry that he’s called us all to. And so this part of the year we’re focusing on that, shaping, if you will, how God works to shape us and change us. So with that said, let’s look at Acts 1 today. And the title of my message is Pentecostal Power.

And we began this series on Eastertide a little bit differently than some because I actually preached from Acts 2, the story of Pentecost, on the first Sunday, just to introduce this to us. And today I want us to look at Acts 1. So if you have Your copy of the New Testament. Let’s look at that. And we’ll look at the verse, the first 11 verses.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave them, gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you’ve heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

And then they gathered around him and asked him, lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, 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. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking in the sky? The same Jesus who’s been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you’ve seen him go into heaven. What a powerful opening to Luke’s account of the history of the early Church. Now, y’ all may remember the first beginning of this series. We ask the question, what is going on?

Because you read the news, you ingest the news, however you get it, social media or whatever news channel, whatever your flavor is. And as I shared with y’, all, there are some people who live in echo chambers and only hear one version of the news. And so I just want to make sure, I want to remind you of this. I want to put this slide up again that we started this series with. So let me put it up here for you about salvation history.

Because as Christians, when we’re asked, what is going on? Let me remind y’, all, this is what’s going on, okay? We’re Biblically centered, we’re theologically reflective, and we are focused on God’s agenda. So let me just remind us all, when we’re asked as Christians, what in the world is going on this right here. God created everything that is human beings fell.

God judged our sin. God chose to answer that with the call of Abram. And ultimately, God is going to bring people into a covenantal relationship with him. He reveals himself to them. He institutes this great plan of redemption.

He calls the people of Israel to represent him to the world. He continues to reveal him. He prophesies that one day the Messiah is going to come. And then ultimately the eschatological hope about the day of the Lord is communicated through these prophets. And then there’s the Messianic fulfillment with Jesus.

He establishes the kingdom of God inaugurated. Eschatology becomes a reality. The now and the not yet. And then we come to Pentecost and the Spirit of God is given. And the gifts of the Spirit are now distributed.

And this is where we live. We live in the missional call awaiting consummation. That’s what’s going on. Okay, so for us, this is reality for us. And so today we’re going to pause and recognize Pentecost.

This is Pentecost Sunday for the church. Now, as we do that, let’s make sure that we establish some things as core truths. And so let me just remind us. Jesus Christ at the heart of the Christian faith is the person and the work of Jesus Christ. I know that you know that, but y’ all know that one of my spiritual gifts is stating the obvious.

So let’s just start with stating the obvious. Jesus is at the center of everything. That’s exactly what Luke says. Luke has written a gospel that we know of as Luke. It’s in our Bibles.

And we don’t really know if you still have your Bibles open. Look with me at verse one. We don’t know who Theophilus is. That just means a man who loves God could actually been a person’s name. His name appears in Luke’s gospel as well.

Could have been the benefactor, perhaps, or it just could have been a generic word from Luke. But I want you to notice what Luke says. When I wrote the first book I wrote about Jesus, what Jesus began to do and what he taught. And then he says, if you’ll look at this text, verse 3. After his passion, after his suffering, after his death, he then appeared alive as the resurrected Lord.

And he continued to teach the disciples through the Holy Spirit, which is what he was doing in his ministry prior to his death, about the kingdom of God. So just to make sure that we know as Christians, everything centers on Jesus.

That’s what goes right there. So I’ll do it again, and then you do your part as Christians. Everything centers on Jesus. That’s exactly right. Thank y’.

All. Good job, y’, all. Good job. Because he is the Son of man. He’s the Son of God.

He’s the Messiah. He’s the fulfillment of all those prophecies that we find in our Old Testament. Now, with that said, the fact that we know everything centers on Jesus, that means we’re listening to his teaching and we’re going to follow him all of our days, and we’re going to follow the Jesus way on this earth that ultimately leads to glory forever. Now, with that said, Jesus in his teaching, shares a very powerful promise. The promise is repeated here, Acts 1.

I find it quite interesting the way it’s worded. It’s interesting the kinds of details that Luke includes. I love that about Luke. He’s just a good church historian, right, Stephen? I mean, church historians pay attention to the right stuff.

So look at verse four while he was eating. I just love that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and he’s eating with his disciples. Who here understands that? It’s just, okay, we got a future to eat, Is that what you’re saying? I’m good with that.

But the point is, the physical body of Jesus is present. He’s the resurrected Lord, and he’s now sharing a meal with the disciples. And here’s his promise. The Holy Spirit will be given to his followers. And he says, the Holy Spirit is going to baptize the followers of Jesus.

Now, Jesus isn’t the first one to prophesy about the gift of the Spirit. Joel. For example, in Joel chapter two, Joel shares this prophecy from God where God says, in Joel 2, verse 28 and following, one day I’m going to pour out my spirit. In those last days, he says, I’m going to give my spirit. And he says, I will give my spirit to my sons and my daughters, and they will prophesy, he says.

Then Jesus himself prophesies that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is going to take place here in this text. If you go back to John’s Gospel, we’ve been reading through John this entire year. In John 14, verse 26, Jesus tells the disciples, I’m going to leave, but the Holy Spirit will come. John 15, verse 26, the Holy Spirit will come. He says.

Now that shouldn’t surprise us because in Matthew 3, the Holy Spirit came on Jesus when Jesus was baptized. We have that record in the. In the Synoptic Gospels how Jesus was baptized. He was anointed for his ministry, Jesus actually went back home to his home synagogue, Nazareth, where he was reared, where everybody knew him. And you think about it, he had been in that synagogue his whole life, growing up as a kid.

So that means there were nursery workers who knew him, there were people who had walked with him, watched him grow up. I wonder what that was like.

Can you imagine, can you imagine Mary dropping Jesus off to your little children’s Sunday school class and saying, you know, this is the Son of God. I’m just saying, do good. Okay? I don’t know how it went, but here’s what I do know. Jesus shows back up and reads a prophecy, a messianic prophecy from Isaiah that says, the Lord has anointed me with his Spirit.

Jesus sits down and says, that’s been fulfilled today in your hearing. And everybody was upset. They can’t imagine what is that? Why would you be claiming to be the Messiah? And that was Jesus bold claim.

And the way that he made that claim was he talked about the Spirit of the Lord anointing him. And now he was going to preach the gospel to the poor and he was going to fulfill all these messianic prophecies. So now Jesus says, the Holy Spirit descended on me. Now the Holy Spirit is going to descend on you. And I love the word he uses.

You’re going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That means completely immersed. You’re going to be overcome by the Holy Spirit. You’re going to be clothed with the Holy Spirit. You’re going to be overtaken, covered, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

And what we believe is that happens to every single Christian at salvation. I believe the Bible teaches that we’ve all been baptized by that one Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit is going to baptize you. Jesus says, now when that happens, I want you to notice what else he says. With that experience comes power.

That’s what Jesus says in verse eight. Look at verse eight. You’ll receive power. Because the presence of the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of God’s divine and miraculous power, the Holy Spirit empowers the people of God to fulfill his. To fulfill our mission, rather in God’s world.

What is our mission? Our mission, he says, will be to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Well, think about that. What a challenge after the ascension of Jesus. If you’ll keep reading.

In Acts 1, the apostles, the eleven disciples, Judas is already gone. He’s betrayed Jesus. He has hung himself. Well, now the 11 disciples remain. And then the rest of the followers of Jesus, Luke tells us there were about 120 of them, men and women, gathered there in Jerusalem.

And now Jesus has ascended to the Father. Remember last week we talked a little bit about the Ascension. May 14th was Ascension Day. It’s a day that we don’t Mark very much on our calendar. And one of the reasons we don’t is because it’s hard to consumerize it, you know what I mean?

Or commercialize it. We can commercialize Christmas, we can commercialize Easter eggs and kind of somehow or another make the meaning opaque. What do you do with the ascension of Jesus? That’s really hard to. Ellen.

There’s hard to somehow commercialize. It’s the day we celebrate the fact that Jesus was received into heaven as the Lord of Glory. He’s going to return one day as the Lord of Glory. That’s what this text says. But now these disciples and 120 people, men and women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, Jerusalem, and they’re wondering, how are we going to do what Jesus told us to do?

Can you imagine? You, you, you, 120, you’re going to be my witnesses, and you’re going to go to the ends of the earth. Most of them have never been anywhere. For some of them, this is the furthest they’ve ever been from home in Jerusalem. How in the world will they get the gospel to the whole world?

Almost every one of them probably spoke one or two languages. How are they going to take this gospel to the whole world? How’s it going to happen? Well, here’s what Jesus said. When the Spirit comes, he’ll give you power.

And just to get a taste of it, you get page two of Acts. Pentecost. It’s powerful, wasn’t it? And so when Pentecost comes, everything is going to change. These people are going to be equipped, they’re going to be enabled to fulfill their mission.

They’re going to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Jesus is our example. He’s our model. He’s taught us. He’s expressed God’s will.

He’s embodied truth. He’s lived a sinless life. He’s reflected the glory of God. He’s born the image of God. He’s made the ultimate sacrifice.

He’s been resurrected from the dead. He’s been ascended to the Father. The stage is now set for Pentecost. So the first feast of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mark the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus and the realization of the gift of the holy spirit.

These 120, including Mary, all of a sudden, the Spirit of God descends in Acts, chapter two. I love that story. And as Katie alluded to earlier, the Holy Spirit fell on all of them. And the Bible says all of them, all 120of them, men and women, began to proclaim the gospel in languages which they weren’t trained because there were people in Jerusalem from all over the world speaking all different kinds of languages. And the people start listening, and they say, how in the world is it that we’re able to hear this message in our native tongue?

Who are these Jews that are able to do this? Who are these people that somehow or another miraculously are proclaiming the gospel, both men and women, so that we can actually hear it? In other words, the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 has just been reversed. In Acts, chapter 2, God is sending a message. This gospel is for everybody.

And it’s going to take all of us to share it. And so the people are confused, and they look at these disciples and say, who are these people? What in the world? This 120 people, what are they doing? And somebody says, I think they’re just drunk.

What an interesting comment. And I love Peter’s answer. We’re not drunk. It’s too early in the day. I’m just going to let that go.

Letting that go. I’m a Baptist. I’m just letting that go. But here’s what he says. You know what’s happened?

I’ll tell you what’s happened. Joel 2’s just happened. Where the Bible says, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit and your sons and daughters will prophesy. It’s for everybody, your young men and your old men. It’s for the young and the old.

It’s for men and women. Because you know what? It’s going to take all of us to reach this world. Everybody needs to hear. And it requires something of every single one of us.

And we’re all included, and we all have responsibilities, even if it makes some people nervous. I didn’t write the Bible. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men, your old men. In other words, this message is for everybody. And guess what happened in verse 41?

The people repented. And 3,000 of them were saved and baptized on the spot, and the church was birthed. Hallelujah. And can you imagine how encouraging that was? Can you imagine, had you been there, we could all look at each other and say, well, how in the world are we going to get the gospel of the whole world?

We don’t know how to speak all these languages. And all of a sudden that happens and we go, whoa. The power of the Holy Spirit has just overwhelmed us. And now we’ve been able to proclaim the gospel in ways we could have never imagined. Well, folks, that is Pentecostal power and we live on this side of it.

So let’s talk about that. What is Pentecostal power? I can remember as a kid we sang about in our home church that Pentecostal power. Even though we knew full well in our little church we were scared to death of the Pentecostals, but we still sang about it full throated. I still hear my daddy at the top of his lungs singing about it, that Pentecostal power.

Well, here are three things I’d say that the power of Pentecost makes a reality or how it works in our lives, how the Holy Spirit works. I’d say first of all, it has this informative quality. When the Spirit of God is given to us. One of the things that’s about to happen to us is that we’re going to receive spiritual information and instruction because we need it. Jesus says in John 14, verse 26, when the Spirit comes, he will teach you all things.

He’ll remind you of everything I’ve said. In John 15, verse 26, he says he will testify about me. In John 16, verse 13, Jesus says he’ll guide you into all truth. Paul puts it like this. In First Corinthians 2, verses 10 and 11, Paul says, the Spirit of God searches the deep things of God, and the Spirit of God reveals these things to us.

And so one of the things that happens to me and you in our journey, when we become believers and we are baptized by the Spirit of God, an entire journey, a lifetime journey now of instruction and information begins to take place. And the good news is, you and I not only live on this side of Pentecost, in this side of the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost, we also live on this side of so much church history where the people of God over time have been able to collect the inspired writings of the New Testament. So we actually have the apostolic witness in our hands, and so we can receive the instruction of that God has for us. Because the same Holy Spirit who has inspired the Word of God to be written is there to help us interpret it. So the Spirit of God is at work in you right now, providing information and instruction so that you can learn more about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.

Because you and I, when we show up in the family of God. We show up as infants. We show up as babies. That’s the image that Jesus himself used. Now, we’ve got to be instructed.

It’s not just going to happen to you. This is where you and I participate with the spirit of God. He’s not just going to impart all this knowledge to me. And you. You and I have got to engage him.

We’ve got to give him the opportunity. We’ve got to put himself, put ourselves in his path. That’s why reading the scripture is so important. You know, one of the things that I’m so grateful for right now are our daily Bible readings. If you hadn’t signed up for them, man, I would encourage you to do it.

They’re just so good. Kurt Grice is just doing an incredible job of pointing us to the scripture and guiding us through prayer and reflection and devotion for us to have a deep understanding of what God is saying. There’s nothing. There’s just no replacement for the daily ingestion of Scripture. I just highly encourage you to do it.

Sometimes I get it. Sometimes we’ll read the Bible and we’ll think, what in the world does that mean? I understand that, but you won’t ever be asking that question if you don’t read it. So I just want to encourage you. Stay connected to the word of God.

The Spirit of God wants to instruct you. There’s also a performative quality, if you will, in what it means to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Because, you see, becoming a Christian means you’re now going to start living a certain kind of life. It doesn’t mean that you’re just going to know some things. You are going to know and learn some things, of course, but there’s more to it than just knowing and learning.

As Christians, we’ve got to start engaging in behavior. We have to start living a certain way. And the reason we live that way is because we’re followers of Jesus. But what I’ve learned is, y’, all, it doesn’t come naturally to us. It just doesn’t.

We don’t just naturally engage the world as Christians. We’ve got to be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18. Paul says, Be filled with the Spirit. Romans 8.

I love Romans 8. If you want to just read a text that just has so much insight about what it means to live according to the Spirit of God, to be performative in your life, read Romans 8. Live in accordance with the Spirit of God. Romans 8, verse 5, Romans 8, verse 14. You’re to be led by the spirit of God.

Romans 8, verse 26. He helps us in our weakness. And so as you’re living your life, what you’re going to discover is life is going to be really hard sometimes. And you need the spirit of God to help you in those moments. You know?

One of my favorite sports, y’ all know, is baseball. I love baseball. And baseball just has so much to teach us about life, in my opinion. But I was reading the other day and I’d never read this story about a guy that used to pitch for the Rangers, R.A. dickey. Do y’ all remember him?

He’s a first round draft pick. The Rangers drafted him and offered him a contract of $850,000. Okay. And this was several years ago. Okay.

But Doug Mervin was looking at a photo, R.A. dickey, and he didn’t like the way R.A. dickey’s arm was hanging in the photo. And he said, we need to do an evaluation. So they did an x Ray and R.A. dickey is missing certain ligaments in his elbow. And Doug Mervyn called him and said, we’ve just got the results back. We’re bringing back our contract because we’re not sure, not only we’re not sure whether you can pitch in the major leagues or not, we’re not sure you’re going to be able to continue opening a doorknob.

So they took his $850,000 offer. He was the first round pick for the Rangers and offered him 75,000. Now Doug Mervyn, I mean, R.A. dickey tells the story. He’s a very committed Christian, if you know anything about his story. And he got that news and he said he felt the spirit of God in him.

Say it’s going to be okay. He said, my whole life is in front of me. And now the next thing you know, everything has changed. And he had a very interesting career. He finally got to the major leagues with the Rangers.

But he was just kind of a mediocre pitcher, if I can say that respectfully. But guess what he did. He discovered a pitch because of the injury to it, or it wasn’t really injury, it’s just the way he was born. He discovered he could throw a really good knuckleball. Unfortunately, he did that for other teams besides us.

Actually won the cy Young in 2012 pitching for the Mets, not for us. But when he tells the story about it, he talks about how the spirit of God guided him in that low point in his life. Well, that’s what the spirit of God does There’s a performative quality to Christianity. We have to live a certain way. And in those moments where we’re challenged, that’s where the Spirit of God ministers to us, strengthens us, guides us.

But it’s not just informative and performative, it’s transformative. Because here’s what God’s really after. He wants to completely change you. He wants to transform you and conform you to the image of Jesus. Well, how’s he going to do that?

Well, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23, Paul contrasts the fruit of the Holy Spirit with the fruit of unrighteousness. And when Paul talks about the fruit of unrighteousness, the work of unrighteousness there is. Paul’s list of unrighteous behavior is a lot longer than the fruit of the Spirit. Some theologians say that our vocabulary for sin is much larger than our vocabulary for righteousness.

We’re just capable of so much sin, but it can be overcome. And so the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in your life is producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life, which is actually the character of Christ. So what’s God doing right now in your life as he informs you of truth and he guides you to perform in a certain way? He’s changing you from the inside out so that you can reflect the power of the Holy Spirit in your everyday life, so that together as God’s people, God’s fruit, the character of Jesus is on display in us and through us. And we do that individually and we do it together, because that’s how it works.

And so the fruit of God’s Spirit at work in you is a reflection of the glory of God on display in your life. And the only way it’s possible is through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that collectively as a church, it’s transformative to the culture. And so one of my prayers is that we as a church will experience that Pentecostal power. It’s on display in the early church.

If you remember, In Acts chapter 12, Herod decided to put Simon Peter in jail. Do you remember that story? And the church was not influential enough to keep its most famous church member out of jail. However, the church began to pray, and the church was powerful enough to have him released from jail. Miraculously, you remember, the angel came to see him.

All of a sudden, the church chains removed from his hand. And I love the way the story is told. In Acts chapter 12, the church was praying for Peter’s Release Peter standing outside, knocking on the door. Y’ all remember that story? A little girl, a young girl in the Bible, her name was Rhoda.

If y’ all see her in heaven, you need to high five her. Rhoda runs to the door and says, oh, my gosh, it’s Peter. And she turns around and runs back to the people and says, hey, y’, all, Peter’s outside. And they’re like, no, he’s not. He’s in Justice.

I’m telling he’s knocking on the door, but she didn’t even let him in. I think that’s the funniest thing. And next thing you know, here comes Simon Peter. So I would rather be a part of a church that doesn’t have enough influence to do some of the things we would like to do, but has enough power to overcome the works of the devil. How about you?

If I’m going to be in an influential church, then I want the influence to emerge from the power of Pentecost, not because of our own abilities. And right now, we’re so infatuated sometimes as Christians, with being influential in this world, we’ve been robbed of our Pentecostal power. The world does not need necessarily a worldly, influential church. The world needs a powerful church that has the power of Pentecost at work through it and in it. That’s what the world needs.

Because that kind of power points people to Jesus. Because Jesus is the one who gets the glory from that. Let’s be that church, lest you and I be those kind of people. Because you know what? We are Pentecostal people.

We are because we live on this side of this precious gift from the Spirit of God. Praise his name. Let’s pray together.

Well, Lord, we love you and we thank you for your love for us. And we’re grateful for the gift of your spirit. Father, we want to be Pentecostal people. We want to live in that reality, that Pentecostal power, because we know that’s what gives you glory. And so we ask you, Lord, to guide us on that journey.

Help us to open up our hearts to your spirit and be on this Pentecost Sunday. Commit ourselves to experiencing, receiving the beauty of that power that’s available to us through your precious gift to us. May your spirit be alive in us and have his way in our church. May it be so. We pray in Jesus name.