What is Pentecost and how can we experience it today?

The first house Janet and I purchased years ago in Arlington, Texas needed much work. So my granddad came to help. He became a carpenter after losing his farm in the Depression, then worked until he died at age 99. He built a tool shed, sheet-rocked the garage, redid the kitchen, and transformed our house.

I still remember his reaction when he looked at my tools on his first day with us. I had a socket wrench, a hammer, and a few screwdrivers to my name. So, first thing, he took me to Sears and bought me a drill.

He had to show me how to change the bits and use it properly. But one thing he didn’t have to explain was that the drill must be plugged into a power source. Unplugged, it’s of little use. There’s nothing wrong with it—it just needs power.

And the same is true for each of us.

So, as we prepare for Pentecost this Sunday, it seems an opportune time to reflect on the day when God gave his power to Christ’s first followers. 

Waiting for God

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all in one place” (v. 1). Pentecost was the 50th day after the Passover Sabbath. Jews from around the world were crowded into Jerusalem for the religious holiday.

Meanwhile, Jesus’ church was crowded into a single room. Where and why? 

Earlier Jesus had assured them that when he left, his Father would send another Counselor to them, the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). Then he promised them, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). 

Before his ascension, their Master told them one last time to wait in Jerusalem for the “gift” of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). And so they risked their lives to meet in an upper room of a Jerusalem house. 

First-century houses were often constructed with a large second-floor room, which was used for meals and guests. It was cooler than the first floor, with windows open to the sky, and could accommodate a large number of people. Perhaps twenty were gathered in this setting (cf. Acts 1:13-15).

For ten days—the period between Jesus’ ascension and the day of Pentecost came—they prayed constantly for God’s protection and his Spirit’s power. Despite their differences and the persecution which threatened their very lives, they prayed with one heart and spirit.

And God kept his word. 

Does the Spirit have you?

“Suddenly” (immediately, without warning, unexpectedly), a sound like the blowing of a “violent” wind came from heaven (v. 2). It filled the entire house where they were meeting together. Jesus had earlier likened the Spirit to the wind (John 3:8). 

Next, “what seemed to be tongues of fire” came from heaven, then “separated and came to rest on each of them” (v. 3). 

Fire is a consistent metaphor for the holiness and presence of God (“Our God is a consuming fire,” Hebrews 12:29, quoting Deuteronomy 4:24). John the Baptist had predicted that Jesus “would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). The prophet Joel had earlier predicted such an event (2:28-29), a promise Peter would soon quote (Ac. 2:16ff).

These “tongues of fire” were emblematic of the anointing and empowering of God. And they came to rest “on each of them” (Ac. 2:3b), showing that each believer would be equally and similarly empowered. No clergy/laity distinction here!

Here was the result: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (v. 4). “Filled” means to be influenced by, to be controlled. It does not refer to quantifiable experience, but to a yielded and submitted life. 

Previously, the Spirit would come “on” individuals for specific acts and times of service (cf. Samson’s experience, Judges 14:19). Now, after Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection, the Spirit is able to dwell “in” us. He came into the lives of God’s people at Pentecost and dwells in us eternally.

As a result, we are the temple of God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16-17); the Spirit enters us at salvation and never leaves (Romans 8:9). If you have made Christ your Lord, you have his Spirit. Does his Spirit have you?

How to see the Spirit work today

Do you want God’s Spirit to work in your life and church like he did in Acts? Do you believe Scripture when it says that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13.8)? Do you believe that God can move in our lives with the same power we saw in the early Christians?

Then why doesn’t the Spirit work like this today in us? The simple reason is that we haven’t asked him to. We haven’t done what Scripture teaches us to do to know his power today.

So, what are we to do?  Ephesians 5:18 is our key: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Let’s walk through this verse, step by step, and experience it in our lives.

First, receive the Holy Spirit in salvation. 

This verse is to believers, and it assumes that we have already asked Jesus to forgive our sins and be our Lord.  When we do, the Holy Spirit moves into our lives (cf. Romans 8:9). 

My hope is that most of you reading this article today have made this decision. If not, though, I pray you will make it right now. 

Second, decide that you need his power.

Not just his salvation, but his power. A carpenter knows that a drill needs power. Do we know that our church and our lives need power as well?

To be “filled” by the Spirit means to be under his control. Just as someone drunk with wine is “under the influence,” so a Christian is to be “under the influence” of the Holy Spirit.

The first Christians needed this power, and they knew it. A small number of 120 were charged with taking Christ to a hostile nation of 4,000,000 and an ungodly Empire of 25,000,000. This meant that each Christian had to win more than 30,000 just in Israel to fulfill God’s purpose for them.

But Jesus had promised them his help: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). So they were obedient and stayed in Jerusalem, at the risk of their own lives, until they received the power they needed.

You and I need this same power today. Listen to Zechariah 4.6: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” This verse should convict us every time we hear it: “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). Do we have all the power we need?

My friends, God will not do for us what we try to do for ourselves. If we are comfortable and complacent with our spiritual lives, our witness, our ministry in our city and world, then we will not know the power of God’s Spirit. 

Some of us like getting all the credit. We don’t like being dependent on others, we’re convinced we can do it ourselves. But we cannot.

This step is the hardest for most of us, but it’s essential: We must admit that we need the Holy Spirit as desperately as these first Christians did. Only then can he move in power in our lives.

Do you want the Spirit to have control of your life? To empower you? Make this decision right now, and then you can proceed to the next step.

Third, be cleansed from all that hinders him.

I can connect my drill to a socket and still not have power if the plug is corroded. The plug must be clean for the power to flow.

In the very same way, we are seeking the power of the Holy Spirit, and he cannot fill and control a dirty vessel. He cannot give his power with a dirty plug. We must be clean first.

We know the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” If we confess, God forgives. If we are clean, God moves in power.

We must be willing to be cleansed from everything that hinders the Holy Spirit in our lives. The best way to do this is to take a moral inventory. 

Write down anything that is hindering the Spirit in your life. If you’re not sure, ask him and he’ll show you. Confess these sins specifically to God, and claim his cleansing. Clean the “plug” and you will know the power.

Last, ask him to control and empower your life.

The drill doesn’t have to do this—it has no will. But we do. We must ask the Spirit to control and empower us, for him to control and empower us. 

Will you do this right now? In prayer, simply ask the Spirit to take control of your life, your mind, your time, and your abilities. Surrender your will to him. Promise to obey him wherever he leads you.

And believe that he has. Nowhere does the Bible describe how it “feels” to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some of you will feel something unusual; others will not. I seldom do. The proof is in the results, not the feeling.

And do this daily. The literal Greek for Ephesians 5:18 is, “Be continually being filled.” Whenever sin corrodes your relationship with him, confess it and claim cleansing. Then reconnect with the Spirit. Stay in communion with him all through the day—stay “plugged in.”

As you do, remember that God empowers us according to his purpose for us. The Holy Spirit never empowered a Christian in the Book of Acts except to make him or her a more effective witness. 

If we are not willing to share Christ, we will not have the power of the Spirit. If we are, we will.

“I am a leaky bucket”

Dwight Moody preached to over one hundred million souls in his ministry. He founded what became Moody Bible College and was widely considered one of the godliest men in America. His prayers have been recorded and published. His passion for the lost was legendary. 

And yet Moody often said of his own soul, “I am a leaky bucket, and I need to be refilled daily.” 

If he needed this, so do you. So do I.

Can we see “Book of Acts miracles” today? Can some of us be the next Paul, Barnabas, Peter, or Lydia?

God’s power and purpose for his people haven’t changed for two thousand years. If we aren’t seeing him move in our culture as he did in theirs, the problem is not with him. 

Are you working in the power of the Spirit today? If not, now is a great time to start.