This year May 28 was Pentecost Sunday.
This year May 28he It was Pentecost Sunday. I find it so amazing how misunderstood, confusing and misinterpreted the word Pentecost is among the followers of Jesus Christ. Many just judge it to be a group of speaking in tongues, waving arms, prophesying crazy charismatics when in reality Pentecost means 50 which in the Christian faith is 7he Sunday after Easter which is the 50thhe day after Easter Sunday.
Many identify Pentecost as the day in Jerusalem when the Apostles and followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit, which is confirmed in the Scriptures in Acts 2:1-4. The “full filling” of the Holy Spirit is what has caused so much confusion among our Lord’s believers. To try and keep things very simple, there are 4 key Biblical themes that I refer to as the “P’s” in a Christian journey with the Lord. Private, Public, Power and Passage.
When a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord through confession of sin and asking our Lord to come into his or her life and heart, it is a private moment where the person is born again as he or she is born of the Spirit of God. The person becomes a child of God, and your body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit who resides in that person. The DNA of the Lord is now in you. That is the Private matter that exists between the person and our Lord.
Then we have the P for public, which is in fact water baptism when a believer openly and publicly declares to the world that he or she is a true follower of Christ, which means through water baptism that by being immersed in water you are dying to yourself as Christ did, but as you come out of the water, like Christ, you are rising with Him to walk in a new life as followers of our Lord. It is an external image of what will happen personally. That P is the Public.
The P of Power is described by Jesus in Acts 1 as one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit “But you will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses” and of course many think that this was for them 2000 years ago but the Apostle Peter declares in Acts 2 “The promise is for you and your children and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call.” For many the thought of being a witness of our Lord can be very uncomfortable, challenging, personal and sad for the purposes of our Lord who gave his life for all and called us to be witnesses and gave us the great commission. Maybe it’s because we lack the power of the Holy Spirit, and maybe that’s why we don’t share our faith? Who wouldn’t want to ask the Holy Spirit to fill them daily?
The last P is Pass as in Pass from this life to eternity and along with the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter makes this very clear when he states: “Salvation is not found in any other, for there is no other name under it.” heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” It is clear from the scriptures that we all stand before the bar and who would want to take the chance that the scriptures and the ways of the Lord are wrong. Let our P by the way be yes and amen to the Lord. Just call him because he listens to you.
John Grady – Fort St. John
