1. A Pseudo Pentecost? Do we have the Real Pentecost?
May is the month of Pentecost when the Church focuses on the coming of the Spirit. We draw our attention to highlight various aspects of Pentecost for Intercession.
As Pentecostals, we ardently embrace the doctrine and practice of Pentecostal experience.
However, it is disheartening that many do not carry the true Spirit of Pentecost, limiting it mainly to personal experience or to activity within the four walls of their churches.
I reluctantly call it a pseudo-Pentecost because the dictionary defines pseudo as: “not actual; but having the appearance of; pretended; false or spurious.”
Look at how one of our pioneers described Pentecost in 1916:
“The mightiest factor in this great Pentecostal Revival has been the wonderful Missionary spirit that has characterized it from the first.”
Stanley H. Frodsham, as General Secretary of the Assemblies of God uttered this in the 1916 General Council and further noted that:
the “paramount needs of the hour” were a “large spiritual horizon, a revelation of the need of souls, a passionate desire to see them saved, [and] intense prayer for multitudes to be pressed into the Kingdom.”
Frodsham made clear that Pentecost and Missionary Spirit are inseparable.
Yet, in many AG councils around the World, especially in the Global South, Missions seem foreign to them, just as their missionaries were. Many have continued for several years without sending out a single Missionary!
They are yet to discover the true Missionary Spirit of the Holy Spirit.
Our prayer is that the empowered Pentecostals will not be impoverished in Missions!
2. The Spirit of Pentecost: Is the Holy Spirit a Missionary?
Do you know that in Pentecost, we celebrate a Missionary event?
Almost all Bible translations don’t have the word ‘missionary’ in their Bibles.
However, the Greek equivalent is apostelló, from which the word ‘apostle’ comes.
- Apostles as Missionaries:
This term is attributed to the 12 Apostles of Christ since they were ‘sent out’ to preach the Gospel.
“Then he called his twelve disciples… and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. Matthew 12:1-2.
“He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles” (Luke 6:13)
Their primary call was to be sent out to accomplish Christ’s Mission on earth. - Jesus as a Missionary:
David Livingstone said, “God had only one Son and He made Him a Missionary.”
Jesus likewise is described in Hebrews as “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” (Heb 3:11). He commissioned His own Apostles saying “as my Father hath sent me (apostello or as a Missionary), even so send I you.” (John 20:21)
Therefore, their assignment is primarily ‘Missionary!’ - The Holy Spirt as a Missionary:
When Jesus spoke of sending the Holy Spirit as the ‘Promise of the Father,’ He used the same root word as the Father ‘sending’ Him (exapostolos – sending out).
“And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
Therefore, on the Day of Pentecost, the Father sent a ‘Missionary’ to empower us in the missionary task of taking the Gospel to the ‘uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Prayer:
Father, we pray this month of Pentecost as we celebrate how you sent a Missionary – to empower us with the same Missionary Spirit to take the Gospel to the lost.
- The work of Missions cannot be completed without the Holy Spirit!
- But the Work of the Holy Spirit is incomplete without the work of Missions!