wfn.org | Editorial: Empowered to preach repentance and salvation

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3038 Edition

>May 17~23, 2010

Editorial: Empowered to preach repentance and salvation

>Translated by Lydia Ma

Just before Pentecost, Little Ming asked his Sunday school  teacher, “Why is 
the Holy Spirit so

busy?” Confused, his teacher asked him, “What do you  mean?” Little Ming 
replied, “Because

every year we pray for the Holy Spirit to come. Why doesn’t  the Holy Spirit 
just settle down at

our church instead and avoid the hassle of traveling back and  forth every 
year?”

According to the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came down soon  after Jesus’ 
ascension. That is

why the focus of celebrating Pentecost every year might not be so  much about 
praying and

waiting for the Holy Spirit to come, but rather, remembering that  the Holy 
Spirit has come.

When I “remember” or “mark” an occasion, it  always involves reflecting on the 
past and looking

into the future. That is why I now turn to reviewing what happened  after Jesus 
ascended to

>heaven.

Acts 1 records that many people had gathered to “wait for the  Holy Spirit”. 
Acts 2 describes

what happened when the Holy Spirit came, and it included “a  violent wind” and 
“tongues of

fire”. After this monumental event, many Christians were  filled with power and 
strength and

began speaking in different languages as the Spirit enabled them.

Perhaps it’s because of this recorded event in the Bible that  many Christians 
nowadays

spend time during Pentecost waiting and praying for the ability to  “speak in 
different

>languages as the Spirit enables them.”

However, must “being filled with the Holy Spirit” always  involve speaking in 
different

languages? Just because this was once the case, must all future  manifestations 
of the Holy

Spirit conform to this pattern? These questions reminded me of the  following 
story:

A man was rushed to the hospital after being in a car accident and  was moaning 
in pain. A

doctor who was just beginning his shift on the 2nd floor of the  hospital 
rushed to the

Emergency Room on the 1st floor to attend to this man’s  wounds.

Upon seeing the doctor, the injured man inquired, “Did you  take the stairs or 
the elevator?”

Dumbfounded by such a strange question, the doctor asked,  “Does it matter?”

The patient replied, “The last time my dad was injured, the  doctor who made 
him well took the

stairs. So, if you took the elevator, you won’t be able to  cure me!” Upon 
hearing this, the doctor \decided to first examine  this patient’s head for 
brain injury…

The moral of this story is that it’s not important whether  the doctor took the 
stairs or the

elevator, but rather, whether the doctor will do his best in  treating the 
patient. Similarly, the

most important thing to remember about Pentecost is the reason for  the Holy 
Spirit’s coming,

and not all sorts of phenomena associated with this event.

So, let’s examine the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s  coming because it’s far 
more important.

Acts 1:8 mentions the apostles would “receive power”  when the Holy Spirit came 
on them, but

it also goes on to say that they would be Jesus’  “witnesses to the ends of the 
earth.”

We can gather from this passage that the purpose of being filled  with the Holy 
Spirit and

receiving power from God is to “witness for God.” This  observation is proved 
true when we

read about Peter and the other apostles preaching the gospel to a  multitude 
soon after

>receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).

In Acts 2:17-18, we find Peter quoting God’s words in the Old  Testament when 
he addressed

the crowd and said, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy,  your young men 
will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and  women, I 
will pour out my

Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

The word “prophesy” appears twice in this passage; but  an expanded explanation 
of this word is “to proclaim a  message.” From the works of the apostles in 
Acts, we can confirm  receiving

the Holy Spirit is not merely about “dreaming dreams and  prophesying”, but, 
more than

anything else, it’s about “proclaiming a message.”

As Christians prepare to celebrate Pentecost, some are undoubtedly  pursuing 
different kinds

of phenomena commonly associated with being filled with the  Spirit. But, based 
on what’s

recorded in the Bible, the Holy Spirit has already come.

The Bible also instructs us to do the following: “Repent and  be baptized, 
every one of you, in

the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you  will 
receive the gift of the

>Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).

 From this admonition we can gather that, as long as people believe  in Jesus 
and are

baptized, they will receive the Holy Spirit and be empowered to  proclaim God’s 
message of

forgiveness. Furthermore, proclaiming the good news of the gospel  is the main 
purpose for

receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit in the first place.

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