Peter was scared, beads of sweat forming on his furrowed brow as he checked that the doors were locked for the tenth time. The upper room was crowded with groups of people praying and huddling close for comfort, but so much had happened in the last seven weeks that was scary. Jesus being brutally murdered on Good Friday, for instance, followed by amazing moments of almost unbelievable encounters proving that He had risen from the tomb. And then there was that awesome experience of watching the Lord ascend into heaven bodily just ten days ago. That’s when the realisation really hit, “it’s over to me now. The keys of the kingdom are in my shaking hands. We’re all locked in here, but there’s a world out there, just waiting for the message He has given us. How on earth do we achieve that, and fulfil the great commission that He assigned us?” Within hours, however, Peter and the one hundred and nineteen others alongside him were to discover the answer. The baptism in the Holy Spirit! They would never be the same people again.
Read the second chapter of Acts and ask yourself ‘have I really received this power to witness for Christ and serve God like these early Christians did?’. The events of the first Day of Pentecost in the church age resulted in the conversion of over three thousand people. Amazing signs were seen, such as the appearance of flames of fire over each person’s head. Speaking about those individual flames of fire, Reinhard Bonnke, the well-known German apostle to Africa, declared that ‘they were in fact potent and portable power stations which would move with the people wherever they went’. Ordinary folk from northern Galilee began worshipping God using the many languages of the people gathered in Jerusalem, astounding onlookers. Windows and doors, previously locked in fear of the Jews, were flung open to welcome them and invite them in! Total transformation is the only term for it. Thousands were converted in a day and the global church was born.
And that was only the beginning. The book of Acts reveals at least four more occasions when folk received the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-17, 9:17-18, 10:44-46, 19:1-7) often marked by speaking with tongues and prophesying. The lives of the followers of Jesus would never be the same again.
Today, according to one recent academic study, Pentecostalism has become the fastest growing religion on Earth, with around 600 million followers. It is estimated that by 2050 they'll be 1 in 10 people worldwide❅. Many millions more in other churches and denominations rejoice in the same experience that the disciples knew on that first Day of Pentecost. This was so much more than just the birthday of the church - it was, and is, its power station!
How much does this matter to you? As Paul the apostle urges us in his writings, are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7, Eph. 5:18)? Do you have supernatural power surging under your prayer life, and your witness for Christ? Are you riding the wave of God’s Spirit who is moving so powerfully in all the earth? You can, and you can do so today. Ask someone who knows about this experience and has received their own baptism in the Holy Spirit to share more with you, and to pray with you and for you. Catch the fire today on this Pentecost weekend!
❅Taken from Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is taking over the world' by Elle Hardy.
