THE POWER OF PENTECOST
Last week we looked at THE PURPOSE OF PENTECOST and we found that it is much more than exciting music and a motivational message. Pentecost will certainly:
• Bring to us more of God’s power to live our daily lives,
• Take us to a higher place of worship,
• Cause us to examine ourselves,
• Change the way we think, talk and act,
• Give to us a desire to live and walk in the Spirit.
Whenever we experience Pentecost, there should be a significant spiritual impact on us, and this will cause us to tell others about what Jesus is doing in our lives.
Many Christians are not experiencing Pentecost for a number of reasons, but perhaps the greatest reason is because they are unaware of how rich and powerful it would make their lives.
There is a true story told of a man by the name of Yates that lived many years ago. It was during the depression that he was a very poor sheep farmer living in Texas. He was very close to being bankrupt, and he could not properly feed or clothe his family. Being a sheep farmer was all he knew. He was uneducated and had very little hope left in life. All that was keeping him and his family alive was government subsidies and welfare.
One day he heard about an oil company that was working nearby drilling wildcat wells for oil (with very little success). They came to Mr. Yates and told him that he might have an oil reserve beneath the surface of his land. Mr. Yates was doubtful but gave permission for them to drill a shallow wildcat well. At a mere 1,000 feet depth they struck the first of many oil wells.
The area was far richer with oil than anything they had ever seen and was soon called “Yates Pool”.
Some 30 years, later the technology of oil drilling increased and the size of Mr. Yates pool of oil increased another 50%. There was no end to Mr. Yates wealth.
And what is interesting for many years Mr. Yates lived in poverty on the brink of starvation and he didn’t even know it. Little did he know but that he was actually the wealthiest man in the world.
This is often the case of the spiritual condition of many Christians living today. Because of what Jesus has done and because of what he has promised, every Christian is entitled to all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and God’s energizing POWER OF PENTECOST.
Not only are they missing out on the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit, and are on the brink of being bankrupt and starvation, but they are allowing many other of their friends and relatives to live in ignorance of what God can do for them.
People really do want to know more about the Lord. The problem is that many of your friends and family members want to live a more meaningful life but don’t know how. I have even met those who don’t attend church simply because they don’t understand what Christianity is. And that, my friend, is why they are watching what you do and say everyday.
Question: Have you ever noticed how many people there are who will admit that they do not know that much about God?
There are a lot of people who are watching you, and that is why you need THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Many people are watching you to see if there is a reason for them to want to become a Christian.
Illustration:
The guest speaker at the Prayer Breakfast in Paducah last week told us that many years ago (before he became a Christian) he and his wife had met a Christian couple that impressed them. After meeting this other couple, the speaker said that his wife was impressed with their new friends and made a very simple comment,
“Honey I don’t know what they have, but I want it!”
And that is when their search for Christ began. And that is how the Holy Spirit should be working in us and causing us to be an impact in the lives of the people we know.
Consider this as a possibility: you hold the responsibility of possessing the POWER OF PENTECOST. The Holy Spirit may miraculously send people (who are searching for God) your way. We must be ready to share with them what the Lord has done for us. We can find a situation just like this in Acts chapter 10.
Text: Acts 10:19 – 22
In our text we find a man named Cornelius was at least familiar with what it meant to be a Jew, and may known of God, but wanted to know more.
So he sent his servants to find Simon Peter.
What a great honor it would be for someone to call upon us to come to their home and speak to them about Jesus and the Holy Spirit!
What I find interesting in this story is that while God is speaking to Cornelius about Peter, God is also speaking directly to Peter about the changes He wanted (for Peter’s life). You see even when God desires to use you to help someone else, He is also going to make serious changes in your life. God will do these things by the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, God may be working on your next door neighbor, while He continues to work on you (at the same time). Oftentimes, we don’t do things for God because we feel so inadequate and incapable.
The point is this: Don’t wait until you think you’re smart enough or spiritual enough to do what God wants.
Actually, the Holy Spirit can work on your life while He is working in the life of someone else. It may be that what the Holy Spirit has for you to do will require a change in your life also.
And so - Are you ready for what the Holy Spirit has for you? The Holy Spirit may be prompting you with who He wants you to speak to, what He wants you to say, or where He wants you to go. Are you ready?
Sometimes we are not ready or even willing. We often limit what God is doing because we are so timid and reserved with the Holy Spirit.
But we must never doubt what the Holy Spirit is doing.
The Holy Spirit is more powerful and far-reaching than what we often can imagine. Our tendency is to possibly think that we are responsible for what God is doing. We could not be further from the Truth!
The more you posses THE POWER OF PENTECOST the more you realize how little you can accomplish on your own.
The story (in our text) tells us that the Holy Spirit went before Peter preparing each step along the way. The Holy Spirit prepared Cornelius’ heart while He was preparing Peter’s heart. He also made it possible for the relatives of Cornelius to gather at his home to wait on Peter’s arrival. The Holy Spirit just worked everything out…
The Holy Spirit is powerful in all places, at all times.
Almost immediately after Peter arrived, he began to preach to the household of Cornelius.
With power, Peter declared Jesus as “Lord of all”.
In verse 38 Peter said,
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Likewise Peter said that he was witness to all these things. And that is the reason for Peter to have been endued with THE POWER OF PENTECOST.
Text: Acts 10:39 - 42
THE POWER OF PENTECOST enables us to preach Jesus Christ, Him crucified and raised from the dead! This is the task the Holy Spirit is calling to the saints of God.
This is the declaration that the Holy Spirit is speaking to the lost and the rebellious, the back-sliden and the cold hearted, the rejected and the lonely, the ones disillusioned and those who are disheartened.
THE POWER OF PENTECOST has everything to do with –
• Saving the world from the judgment of sin.
• Calling sinners out from the darkness and into God’s marvelous light.
• Revealing the Truth of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary.
• Proclaiming the Good News of His conquering death and the grave by His resurrection power.
The result of THE POWER OF PENTECOST can only be measured with –
• The winning of lost souls,
• The setting free of those held captive to the bondage of sin,
• The empowerment and sending out of the laborers into the field for the last great harvest.
Jesus said in Acts 1:8,
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You will know a body of believers who have experienced THE POWER OF PENTECOST.
They are the ones who -
• Earnestly pray for the lost
• Sincerely preach to the lost
• Pray with the lost
• Disciple the lost
I want that for Lighthouse Assembly of God church. That is – that we are a church that is filled with THE POWER OF PENTECOST!
This is what most of us desire greatly, but it is more importantly what God desires. We should look closely to see the result of declaring Jesus to the lost.
Text: Acts 10:44 – 46(a)
Peter was in the middle of his sermon to Cornelius and his family when all of sudden something supernatural happened. THE POWER OF PENTECOST happened all over again! It is only natural that whenever you preach Jesus, and Him crucified, and raised from the dead, you will also see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
