As Pentecost Sunday comes to a close, I’ll share one more thought about life in the Spirit (I previously wrote about Dynamite and Immersion).
I’ve always understood the role of the Holy Spirit to be largely about empowerment. Moments before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his followers …
… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere … (Acts 1.8)
The Holy Spirit was poured out on us to empower us to tell people about Jesus!
In recent years, I’ve been particularly struck by the missional nature of how God spoke to the people who had gathered in Jerusalem from different lands and languages. It’s quite a miraculous story …
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
God acts in the world through people who are led by, and filled with, the Holy Spirit. May God continue to pour out the Holy Spirit upon all people, freeing them from sin and empowering them for the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ!