PENTICOST:THEN & NOW!

The other day, a friend let me hold a small devise with a weak electric current. Its tingling sensation flowed through my body like harmless ripples. But suddenly my mind took me back some 30 years. I was scrubbing the church's gym floor with an old, donated commercial scrubber whose 100-foot cord periodically showed exposed wire. While holding the metal handles and in bare feet, I was unaware that part of the cord lay under an inch of sudsy water. Without notice, the 220-volt electric current made me its ground with its full power surging through my body. I was totally consumed and controlled by it! My stiffened body couldn't let go! Soon I blacked out and letting go, I hit the floor full-force, jolting my heart back to normal.

The Disciples felt God's power when sent out to do His bidding. But too often it was short-lived! Bickering, posturing and denials were mute evidence that the Divine Current was with them but not fully in them. Jesus made it clear that they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them" (Acts 1:8). Fifty days after the resurrection, while His followers were in the Upper Room praying, the Flame of God's Spirit engulfed them in permanent, supernatural, indwelling power. The Day of Pentecost became the launching pad for His Spirit-empowered Church.

Over 2000 years of church history has gone by and the message of Pentecost still cries out for His followers to serve under His full control. Too often we are content with the tingling sensation of limited Power. The full exposure of our will to His limitless power is the one Source that draws men to Him.