Pentecost - Part 1

You will be my witnesses

For forty days after He had risen from the dead, Jesus met with the disciples several times. On one occasion, He said:

Acts 1v4b-5
"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit."

The disciples thought about this, and asked him:

Acts 1v6b
"Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

It seemed they still imagined that Jesus's kingdom was going to be an Earthly kingdom, that His aim in coming to Earth, dying and rising from the dead was merely to change the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. They still hadn't realised that the Kingdom of God would change humanity for all time, or that who governs Israel/Palestine has very little to do with it. Jesus answered them:

Acts 1v7b-8
"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This answer is still of great important for the church today. Some of us still waste much energy in speculating about the precise date and nature of the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus makes it clear that we cannot know when He'll return, and I'm sure that when He does return, everyone will be surprised by when and how He does so. Instead of inventing theories about the Second Coming, as many have (and some have made a lot of money selling books about these wild ideas) Jesus instructs us to focus on receiving power and being His witnesses. We will be His witnesses in every part of the world, until He returns. As Matthew 24v45-51 makes clear, Jesus requires us to keep working, not theorising, until he returns. And the work He gives us is witnessing.

It's only possible to live a fulfilled life if you're a Christian. No-one else has the kind of relationship with God that makes a fulfilled life possible. And yet many Christians also lead lives that are not fulfilling. Why? Because a Christian is a witness and, if we're not witnessing, then we're not doing what we were designed, and saved, and instructed to do. A Christian who isn't involved in witnessing is denying his own nature and purpose.

Most of us find witnessing difficult. In order to be a witness, we each need:

• Personal experience of God working in our lives: You can't be a witness to what you haven't experienced. If you don't know God personally, if you've never actually seen Him do something, then all you can offer is hearsay evidence - not a witness statement.
• Spiritual power: If we've been filled with the Holy Spirit, we will see God do amazing things, and we will have a compelling story to tell. Also, we need power in the Holy Spirit to keep going when we encounter opposition, and to speak clearly and convincingly when we have opportunity.

Jesus then ascended into heaven, and:

Acts 1v12-14
Then they [the disciples] returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Jesus had told them to wait for the gift my Father promised... in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit. So they did. They all joined together constantly in prayer. And when they'd prayed together constantly for ten days, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2v4). Immediately, the work of witnessing started. And the world would never be the same again.

To sumarise: to live fulfilled lives, we need to be Christians and to live like Christians. To live like a Christian is to be a witness. To be witnesses, we need spiritual power. And to receive that power, we need to pray.