Acts 2 tells the
story of Pentecost, the birthday of the New Testament church. Verses 41-47 lists what happened in the church
when the disciples became empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The list goes
something like this:
Verse 41
1.
Baptism
2.
Numerical
growth by conversion
Verse 42
3.
Bible
study
4.
Fellowship
5.
Eating
together
6.
Praying
together
Verse 43
7.
Collective
fear of/ reverence for God
8.
Miraculous
wonders
9.
Miraculous/
prophetic signs
Verses 44, 45
10.
Pooling
financial resources
11.
Meeting
financial needs through shared resources
Verse 46, 47
12.
Public
worship and
13.
Powerful
effect on the surrounding community
14. Repeating all of the
above
It's a long list,
and you’ll notice that it includes the words "wonders" and
"signs." But signs and wonders are only PART of the litany
of activities that come out of a Holy Ghost empowered church.
If we ignore the
reality of miracles, we're quenching the Spirit. We’re selling the Holy Spirit short.
If we ignore
everything except miracles, we also are selling the Spirit short.
A church filled with
and empowered by the Holy Ghost may, for example, speak in tongues and prophesy
(and they might not). But if the members
of the church ONLY speaks in tongues and prophesy; but they don’t help anybody,
or teach anybody, or touch their neighborhood, or love each other, or do
anything with their tithes other than make the building and the pastor look
fancier and fancier----- then that church is missing out on the Holy Ghost just
as much as those poor Christians who no longer believe in miracles.
The church with no
wonders and signs and the church with wonders and signs only are equally
incomplete in ministry.
And if we stay
satisfied with either extreme we become the kind of Christians that Paul warned
Timothy about. We become people having a form of godliness but denying its
power.(2 Timothy 3: 5)
Jesus promised His
disciples that after He sent them the Holy Spirit they would take His ministry farther.
Most assuredly, I
say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and
greater works than these he
will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14: 12)
Remember that Jesus
did many great works, and not all of them were miracles. Jesus healed, but He taught more than He healed.
Jesus multiplied physical
and financial resources, and He also advocated for the poor and the
marginalized.
Jesus prophesied and
discerned the thoughts of other, and He systematically explained the scriptures
and applied Biblical teaching to contemporary life.
Jesus came out and preached to mass gatherings of people, and He spent years training and discipling a small group of future leaders.
Jesus came out and preached to mass gatherings of people, and He spent years training and discipling a small group of future leaders.
Jesus did everything
on the Acts chapter 2 list. And He expects
that we who truly believe in Him will do even greater, even more of the same
things He did.
And that is what
Holy Spirit filled ministry looks like.
Jesus said, “The
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John
14: 26)
ALL things that
Jesus said. ALL of the same things. Not just the miraculous things, but also the
equally important and not so spectacular works of a Holy Spirit-filled
ministry.
This Pentecost season, I pray that we all seek and find, ask for and receive the fullness of Christ’s ministry. May this Pentecost make today’s church like the New Testament church on Pentecost. May we all grow into the full ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This Pentecost season, I pray that we all seek and find, ask for and receive the fullness of Christ’s ministry. May this Pentecost make today’s church like the New Testament church on Pentecost. May we all grow into the full ministry of the Holy Spirit.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T.
Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of
the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
To listen to sermons
and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church,
visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .
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Hall Memorial CME
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541 Seibles Road
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