THE BOTTOM LINE OF PENTECOST

So good to see Pentecost so widely remembered last Sunday! It is so crucial that we never forget the paramount need of an outpouring of the Spirit for the growth of the Kingdom and the church of Jesus. It needs something more than just celebrating, however, if we are to see new Pentecosts in our midst. The 20th century began with two amazing outpourings of the Spirit in the shape of what we now call the Welsh Revival and the Azusa St. Pentecostal Revival. Akin to each other and feeding off each other they set the scene for a remarkable century of Pentecosts. Our sights must be firmly fixed on new Pentecosts bursting out in the 21st century.
The bottom line, the real starting point for such Pentecosts is always the same: a deep sense of spiritual need and a deep hunger for God to act in power. Pentecosts do not come to complacent churches. They come where people are genuinely grappling with their own spiritual limitations and inadequacies, where they are deeply concerned to see something more of the reality of Jesus and his power. When this is turned into prayer and intercession and where this prayer is persisted in then we find Pentecost returns.
No matter where you turn in revival history (and there is a lot of it now!) this is always the testimony. It was certainly the case with the Welsh Revival and the Azusa St Revival. Jesse Penn-Lewis (a contemporary of the Welsh revival) wrote about the “Hidden Springs of the Revival”, pointing to widespread meetings for prayer for several years before revival broke out; it was hungry prayer and prayer focussed of the need for God to manifest his presence. The same sort of hungry prayer was a feature of many Holiness churches before the events at Azusa St.
That it should be like this should be no surprise. The Day of Pentecost itself was preceded by ten days of earnest prayer by people who had heard Jesus make his promise about sending the Spirit and who were determined to “make a business of prayer” until the promise was fulfilled. The pattern was set then: it has never changed.
Equally important is the fact that Pentecosts are sustained by the same sort of hungry prayer. When the apostles felt they were in danger of losing their boldness they went straight to prayer (Acts 4:23ff). Revivals bring a great impetus to prayer, but if the Spirit is grieved or quenched by some kind of sin (particularly pride or quarrelling) then the flow dries up. So there's a need to watch and pray.
A most important moment in revival history is that moment when the Spirit stirs up in God’s people a deep spiritual hunger for Jesus. Incidentally there is nothing like reading revival accounts to create a spiritual hunger.


Bob


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THE POWER OF PENTECOST

Ten days after his ascension Jesus made his presence felt on the earth by baptising a small group of believers with the Holy Spirit. That was in effect a phenomenal release of power, of enabling. It transformed that group and gave it such an impetus in witness that within a week it had grown from 120 persons to thousands. No wonder that baptism was signified by a gale-like wind! Thank God this is not just history, but the first example of a ministry of Jesus which is still very much with us. It is released today, as it was in the apostle’s time, by taking hold of the promise of the Spirit (which is timeless) through prayer. The history of the church bears abundant testimony to the reality of that ongoing ministry.
Without that impetus the church would never have got off the ground. The 3,000 that were converted on the Day of Pentecost were first brought together by the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit and then brought under devastating conviction of sin by the anointed preaching of Peter. The book of Acts goes on from there to relate the history of some thirty years of Holy Spirit empowered activity among the first generation of Christians. That activity spread the gospel all around the Mediterranean world, raised many powerful churches in Gentile lands and saw the emergence of very strong leadership in those churches. It was a witness carried out with great boldness in the face of constant persecution. It was a witness of powerful preaching, miraculous signs, visions, dreams, healings, angelic visitations and much moral restoration among Jew and Gentile alike. It was a Holy Spirit ministry.
Whatever else may come in the 21st century we can be sure of one thing: Jesus will continue to pour out his Spirit on his people in this fashion. He will continue to build up his church, he will work until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, until the gospel is preached throughout the whole world and then he will bring in the “end”. The call on the church is to continue to believe the “promise of the Spirit” and to wait on the Lord for its constant fulfilment. This coming Pentecost Sunday is marked as a “Global Day of Prayer” when the church world-wide will look for renewed “Pentecosts”. What a wonderful prospect!


Bob


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THE SEAT OF POWER

At the moment it’s all talk about who will get the place of political power in the nation. No one knows which way it will go, a real cliff-hanger! Perhaps that is a good moment to reflect on the fact that Ascension Day falls this week.
What is the connection? Well, Ascension Day is essentially about Jesus taking up a place of “all power and authority, in heaven and on earth”, about Jesus being received “at the right hand of the Father”, about the King receiving his rightful position on the throne of God. Ascension is all about the rule and government of Jesus. And there is a very human side to it, for the ascension was very much a human ascension. It was not a vision or a symbolic idea, but a real ascension by a fully human Jesus, albeit in a resurrection body, to a position of the utmost authority.
If you ask anyone about the “ministry” of Jesus they are almost certain to think of him walking about Galilee. That was the time when he was active in the world. Ask about his ascension and the more likely reaction is that that was the time when he retired from the scene, his ministry having finished. It is that response that cries out to be radically changed. The fact is that he is as active in ministry from his throne as ever he was on earth. The ascension, in fact, compels us to examine his present ministry. There is a desperate need for us to do that and to recognise Jesus is very much at work in our modern world.
One aspect of that present ministry is clearly conveyed by the book of Revelation. There we see him as the Lamb in the midst of the Throne (Rev. 5). There we see the purposes of God symbolised by a book of writing in the hand of God, and there we see that only one person has the authority to open that book and bring about those purposes – that is the Lamb. And that is precisely what revelation portrays: Jesus, the Lamb, unlocking the seals which kept the book closed. In other words he is unfolding the future history of the world; he brings about his Father’s will. That is his present ministry (or part of it).
The resultant scenarios are anything but pleasant; war, famine, death, persecution and natural catastrophe. One could hardly quarrel with such an incredibly accurate picture of the world’s progress! But he’s in control and conquering evil. We should not quarrel with that either. He will fulfil all prophecy, he will bring in his kingdom, he will restore peace and redeem humanity and its world. He will not default!

All this is a very necessary corrective to the earthly power scrambles we are obliged to witness. Stability is in Jesus.

Bob


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