Journey to Pentecost

April 8 John 20.10-14
Pentecost is about empowerment for service. When you take away the dynamics of evidence – you are left with the foundation of “power to do” for the kingdom of God.

Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ only to find an angel waiting with a disturbing announcment. “He is not here. Why do look for the living among the dead?” Three things here to note on our journey. One, He wasn’t where she thought He should be. How many times have we sought out the Lord only to hit a brick wall? She was prepared with attitude, spirit and resources – and He wasn’t there waiting for her. Sometimes I have “shown up” to minister to the Lord and it seemed He was a million miles away from me. One cannot stop, pull back, raise a white flag or retreat at this point. At this point you hang on with all the faith you can muster. You wait. You linger. You grab hold and hand on and He will show up for you. He will appear. Direction will come. He will not let you down.

Second, she was proactively looking for Him. She was engaged in forward motion. You will never find Him if you stand still. You have to move forward. The Greek term for Spirit is pnuema. It means “breath” and in relationship to the Holy Spirit it means “breath of God.” The breath of God means motion and life. Mary didn’t die to defeat. She was, in moments of dispair and crisis – moving forward. You will never experience a personal Pentecost until you move forward toward an experience with Him.

Last, you can’t find life among what’s dead. Sometimes we mix with the wrong crowd, we listen to the wrong voices, we practice the wrong motives for faith. Mary was looking for what she thought would be the dead body of Christ. His resurrection had not been discovered and understood yet. He had told them but his followers didn’t get the message. Eventually they would and their lives would never be the same. They would go to Jerusalem and wait for the dynamic of the breath of the Lord to blow into the upper room and leave them as pioneers in the Pentecostal movement.

What about you? Are you looking for a personal Pentecostal experience by listening to the wrong messages, focusing on the wrong dynamics and chsing the wrong motives? Mary took a critical moment and waited long enough to hear the “right message” from the angel. One hundred and twenty-plus believers waited ten days in the upper room and received the promise of the Father.

I would that each of us could find a first time Pentecostal experience and renew an old experience as we journey toward Pentecost together. Experiencing Pentecost is a personal dynamic. Are you proactively engaged in seeking out your experience with the fulness of the Holy Spirit? Take steps in forward motion towards your personal experience with the Holy Spirit. Wait on Him. He will show up….trust me! And when He does you will not second guess your experience.