The Way of Pentecost
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place...And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 1:1,4)
God has an appointed time for every purpose under heaven. He makes all things beautiful in its time. We have already seen that Jesus fulfilled certain feasts of Israel at the appointed times in His ministry. His death took place during Passover and fulfilled it. His Resurrection fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits. Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Spirit. Jesus FULFILLED everything He needed to do, so that we can be FULLY FILLED to do what He wants us to do.
When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and yielding His will to the Father, He asked some of His close disciples to watch and pray for just one hour but they fell asleep. But after the Resurrection, when Jesus breathed into His disciples the Holy Spirit, they were able to pray for ten straight days. The difference was the work of the Spirit. Thus Resurrection Sunday was the giving of the Spirit for impartation of the LIFE of Christ. Pentecost Sunday was the outpouring of the Spirit for the impartation of His POWER. The first precedes the latter...But the latter proceeds the first.
The Lord desires to amplify what He has already given to us and accomplished by giving us the full power to be His witnesses to do all that He desires to do in and through our lives. Jesus likened the Spirit to the wind blowing where it wishes when speaking of the regenerating work of the Spirit. But at Pentecost, we read that it was a rushing, mighty wind. What takes place is an increase in what the Lord first accomplished.
"The issue is not whether you have the Holy Spirit but whether the Holy Spirit has you."
What God does on this fiftieth day of Pentecost from the time of Passover and the beginning of the firstfruits at the Resurrection is to open up the heavens to pour out His Spirit over His Church. Just like the heavens opened on the day of Jesus' baptism and the Spirit came upon Him to begin Christ's ministry. The way of Pentecost shows us that this was the inaugural moment for the Church to begin their ministry. For the past 2000 years, the Church has been working and expanding throughout the world but the reality of this Pentecost power is often overlooked and underrealized in experience.
The Lord desires that all of His faithful servants be filled and overflowing with the Spirit. He wants you to know that His power is always available for you to walk in. Just ask, seek, and knock.
So what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
Being Filled with the Spirit is an experience of Christ’s abundant LIFE and resurrection POWER overflowing in and out of us so that we might be His WITNESSES. As Paul teaches the believers in Ephesian 5:18, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but BE FILLED with the Spirit." This means in the original Greek language that we are commanded to continually receive what the Lord has to give to us that we might BE BEING FILLED with the Spirit over and over again. God supernaturally enables us to BE more than who we are and to DO more than we could do on our own. We learn from this way of Pentecost that the NEW outpouring of the Spirit has four characteristics that we can learn from:
The Spirit moves suddenly or spontaneously.
The Spirit works in ways associated with hearing.
The Spirit comes from God and not man.
The Spirit carries the resurrection power of God.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 says, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake."
"ACTS IN ACTION" CHALLENGE POINT:
See if anything is getting in the way of receiving this empowering of the Spirit and continually ASK, YIELD, BELIEVE, and OBEY for this power to operate through you.