Pentecost In Our Day

General Superintendent Rufus Reisdorph  Dec 23, 1959

Wesleyan Methodists entered the current quadrennium with a new administrative setup.  Together we share a common spirit of expectancy; we unitedly pray for a manifestation of Divine power that will surpass what we have previously known.  Is this but wishful thinking?  Or, is it a definite possibility?

Consider the import of Pentecost; it came as a part of a Divine plan.  It did not introduce the ministry of Holy Spirit; He moved “in the beginning!”  With remarkable power He ministered to and through certain individuals during the Old Testament dispensation.  But the Day of Pentecost was a mountain peak which marked the dawn of a new era.

Organizations with the Church must of necessity build promotional programs; these are usually made, however, with reservations, for questions which demand changes may arise.

Our Lord’s disciples did not plan the Day of Pentecost; Jesus Himself announced it and instructed the men where to go and what to do in their anticipation.  They obeyed and made adjustments in keeping with His command.  Their co-operation in the procedure was one hundred per cent; they were all with “one accord in one place!”

The first step toward Pentecost is to embrace the promise.  Jehovah declared, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and you daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out of my Spirit” (Joel 2: 28, 29).  “Those days” are these days—days for a great moving of the Holy Spirit!

The second step toward Pentecost concerns God’s will as it relates to procedure.  Procedure is important!  Doubtless the ministry of the Holy Spirit has been hindered many times through procedures that were not in harmony with His purpose.

Observe, the disciples went to the Upper Room to seek and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  That was the only item on the agenda—the one thing of importance.  Often more than a brief season of prayer spotted at certain points in the program of the Church is required to bring Pentecost.

The disciples tarried ten days before they were endued with power from on high.  The Holy Spirit’s ministry does not necessarily follow either calendar or clock.  He is revealed to and works through those who are wholly abandoned to Christ.

Wesleyan Methodists, are we ready to face the fact of our greatest need a personal and pervading manifestation of the Holy Spirit?  Where other claims take priority, God will leave us to solve our problems.  Christ is the Head of the Church.  As her File-Leader, He must be so recognized that no conflicting power can interfere with His ministry and program.

Observe a woman making a garment, a contractor building a house, a scientist in the laboratory: each follows a certain pattern, a blueprint, or formula to obtain specific results.  Pentecost was neither an accident nor a repetition.  Pentecost was a “new thing.”  It was a new way—a way of power, a way of victory.

It was discovered through obedience, faith, prayer and an abandon to Christ.  As a result of the new power upon the Church, God was manifested in the community.

Regardless of the bracket in which he serves, if each leader in the Church would enter upon an effective prayer life and lead his colleagues in the same, it would do more to bring about a Spiritual awakening than any other one thing.

Note, the disciples were unable to comprehend and follow through to a personal Pentecost until they were instructed by the Master.  Being instructed, they obeyed, and Pentecost was the result.  New power flowed through new channels.  Crystallized form could not contain it. Revival and resultant evangelism are the burdens of the Holy Spirit, who ministers only through those who respond in simplicity to all of His claims.