Pentecost Fire - Steps to Success

Recently we saw a clip of Dennis Balcombe’s Revival Chinese Ministries International’s missionary success in Earth’s largest nation.

China       
Decades ago committed pioneers such as Hudson Taylor took Holy Spirit-led faith steps to live there under extreme difficulties, sacrificing much to share the gospel of Christ.


Christianity has grown strong there with hundreds of thousands of conversions. Despite communism, persecution, slayings, ungodly opposition, pogroms and forced government institutionalised churches, thousands of Christians have remained loyal to their faith, meeting in house and underground churches.


In 1978, when China opened its doors to the outside world, Dennis Balcombe took his step of inspired faith there. Fully persuaded that the Holy Spirit works incredible miracles, Pastor Balcombe refused to preach in English, studied hard and waited until he could fluently do so in Chinese. Then God used him to pioneer RCMI’s Spirit-filled teaching and worship ministry among China’s remote peasant churches. The result was renewal and revival among the house churches, thousands accepting Christ and many astounding miracles.  


Totally committed to God, he insists that churches need to be Spirit-filled; that speaking in tongues is a distinct sign of a Christian being Spirit-filled, an experience that comes after one accepts Jesus. He has seen first-hand the Holy Spirit work incredible miracles as he refuses to compromise on this specific message. 


Dennis Balcombe has always encouraged Christians to thirst after the Spirit and follow God with steps of boldness. Today in China many on-fire Christians arise at four in the morning to pray, worship God and seek redemption to sweep China. Tears flow freely as these Spirit-filled believers cry out to a merciful God. It’s no wonder that miracles happen and thousands are still coming to Jesus. Since the 70s Pastor Balcombe has been sending through many amazing stories of God moving in incredible ways for Christians, even those imprisoned. (Check http://rcmi.wordpress.com/)


Contrast  
This is a nation where countless Christians don’t have a Bible and when they can have a speaker teach from his or hers, they humbly but readily hunger for that preacher to teach for hours on end, even from 7am to 7pm for several days! On top of this, only a limited number have a comfortable meeting place with the latest techno gadgetry like we westerners are used to.


What a vast contrast to so many western Christians today! They have Bibles but how many bring them to church (where they also arrive late!), relying instead on the preacher to feed a weekly dose of spiritual medicine, often a poorly constructed 20 minute uninspiring sermon. Such complain about precious worship music, won’t stay for fellowship unless there’s coffee going, and moan about contributing finance to support the church’s ministry.


In 1945, when the communists took over, there were a reported 100,000 Christians in China (some sources state more). Today various statistics quote differing numbers in that nation.  But a while back an encouraging heading from The Times boldly stated: ‘Christianity in China is booming. With 100 million believers, far more than the 74 million-member communist party, Jesus is a force to be reckoned with in the People’s Republic. We talk to the new faithful who love China – but love God more.’


The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit has been at work in China responding to faithful, praying, believing Christians. Thousands are still coming to Christ right across China, in both major cities and country areas.


Dennis Balcombe is not alone in his mission. There are others who have likewise responded to the Spirit’s call to be on-fire for Christ. They too have dared to take faith steps to join those who are the ‘goers’ of Matthew 28:19, ‘Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’


Oh, many are not in the limelight as is Dennis Balcombe, but their endeavours are noted by the heavenly scribe and their reward will be great!


Cenacle 
Last month we said that today we need on-fire Christians in on-fire churches. Such Christians are those who will take faith steps to do whatever the Spirit challenges. Just like those first missio Dei disciples, immediately leaving the upper room and hitting the streets to evangelise, locally and abroad.


Visiting Jerusalem often includes a guide to the cenacle – supposedly the actual large upper room where the 120 disciples met, praying in expectation and the Spirit first fell. It has un-railed steps to a higher level. A few years back, one of our travel party fell from the top, crashing heavily to the hard floor with an ominous crack.


We had been talking about the Holy Spirit’s activities 2000 years ago in the upper room, that he was the same powerhouse today. Rushing to assist our fellow traveller, concerned that she had seriously hurt her head, we called on that same supernatural friend. He responded! Our friend arose unhurt. In fact, she spoke of being elated, warmly touched by an unseen hand.


We left the cenacle challenged anew to take every opportunity the Spirit would give us anywhere on earth to share Jesus.


Challenge  
Now you don’t have to visit Jerusalem to be powerfully touched by the Holy Spirit (Although if you do go you’ll gain unforgettable experiences). Nor do you have to go to China – although if you do from a clear call from God, you’ll be so blessed. You can find the Holy Spirit anywhere, and you can evangelise anywhere.


We should value our local church, pray and believe for it to be Holy Spirit on-fire. We should look around our western country and see countless God-given opportunities to reach people from other nations who ‘live around the corner.’


This Sunday, June 12, is Pentecost Sunday. As the anointing – the power and presence of the Holy Spirit – always makes the difference in the believer’s and a church’s life, hopefully your church has something special planned, open to the Spirit falling afresh. Empowered anew we can take our steps of faith to success for Jesus and go ‘out there’ to fulfil the great commission.

Needed today: On-fire, missio Dei churches!

Some teach that the church was born when Jesus mysteriously entered a room where his disciples were hiding and breathed on them (See John 20:19-22).

Easier-to-grasp is that the church was born on Pentecost Sunday, that amazing morning when the Holy Spirit fell at 9am with supernatural power, filling and anointing 120 patiently waiting faithful disciples.

Immediately they willingly moved out from that room of blessing into the marketplace to witness for Jesus. There, renewed and rejuvenated, a transformed Peter gave his first big sermon and a public altar call.

The incredible result was around three thousand convinced people accepted Christ as Saviour, received forgiveness of sin and gained godly confidence to live each day joyfully in their troubled world.

Now that makes more sense! Twelve people meeting in a room, no matter how blessed they may get by a heavenly visit, do not constitute a church! They’re really just a home group. A church is a vibrant Spirit-filled body of people active in reaching out to a needy society.

In Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8 Jesus had promised his disciples something exciting was about to happen, that they’d receive miraculous ability to become confident witnesses for him all over the earth.

A gobsmacking morning

And on that year’s religious feast day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came in such an unexpected but powerful manner at nine in the morning!

As the British would exclaim, they were gobsmacked! Bewildered, amazed and probably baffled! But they knew that something unusual and incredible had happened in a few seconds. The Holy Spirit - the Father’s promise, indeed as promised by both God and Jesus - came with fire and power and enabling!

Acts 2 paints the dramatic picture. A violent wind sound, the Spirit blowing on those faithful first disciples; fire falling from heaven touching their lips. They began to praise God in new languages granted by the Spirit.

Their immediate desire was to meet regularly without fail, to fellowship, pray together and be taught from scripture, share meals and communion, meet needs, worship Jesus and grow in him (Acts 2: 42-47).

But more importantly, they rushed out into the streets to witness for Jesus Christ and be involved in seeing the new church of Christ expand locally and worldwide.

It was the beginning…persecution began immediately, yet grow they did! They grew personally as friends and followers and studiers of the Word and pastoral teaching meeting in genuine fellowship. And they grew numerically as they witnessed for Jesus and what he meant to them personally and as they prayed for and believed for more new souls into the kingdom.

A committed and supernatural church was expanding the kingdom nationwide and on a world scale.

What has happened?

This was a dynamic, exciting, powerful church of followers living by the Bible and the apostles’ doctrine. A church with Holy Spirit anointing and empowerment, healings, miracles and answers to prayers. A church that Jesus vowed Satan and every ‘gate of hell’ would not overcome (Mat. 16:18). It was an on-fire group of people committed to seeing lives transformed by the power of forgiveness, the indwelling Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.

Over the centuries Satan, governments, cults, false religions, evil people, even some wrongly thinking Christians have opposed and tried to hinder its growth – but as Jesus promised haven’t succeeded.

Yet today many churches are not the powerhouses they’re supposed to be, many Christians are not on fire with the Spirit as they’re supposed to be. And many don’t know how to dream in God, trust him and, relying on the Spirit, serve Jesus in a fuller, deeper way.

What’s holding us back from being a powerhouse church? From being on fire for Jesus, witnessing, growing, trusting God, really giving ‘the 3 ts’ (time, treasure and talent) to his kingdom and ‘turning the world upside down ‘as did the early church?

Maybe we really need to rethink what church should be... the outworking of the doctrine of God - missio Dei - the sending of God! That is...a missions-mind God who so loves the world that he sends on-fire churches to evangelise it both locally and overseas.

So often we think in the easy terms of ‘Oh, yes, our church has a mission.’ But more correct, determined thinking would be ‘The mission has our church!’

Pentecost Sunday should be a time of renewal

In one sense it doesn’t matter when the church was born. The fact is that it was and we must do whatever it takes to strengthen Christ’s church today, ensuring it is the powerhouse it’s supposed to be.

In these continuing uncertain days, still rampant with dangers, including false doomsday prophecies as proclaimed this month by California’s Harold Camping (89), it is time to act. To be as the early Christians - determined to move ahead in the power, anointing and enabling of the Spirit!

This year June 12 is slated as the church’s Pentecost Sunday. Churches everywhere never forget to celebrate Christmas and Easter each year but few highlight this important celebration.

If we choose to remember what Pentecost Sunday is really all about and look forward in anticipation to something exciting happening to us - and our church as a whole - then in a few week’s time we could easily be greatly refreshed, renewed and re-powered by the Spirit.

The world offers many deceiving distractions, as well as pulling down negatives. Let’s recall afresh the Paul’s encouraging ‘Do not get drunk with wine, which will only ruin you; instead, be filled with the Spirit’ (Eph. 5:18).   The word ’filled’ is pleroo, meaning ‘filled full.’

Now that’s the pentecostal kind of wine that doesn’t ruin us but empowers us to witness for Christ, see our churches become havens of healing and comfort for all, and the kingdom expand.

What time does your church gather Sunday mornings? Nine o’clock, ten, eleven? It doesn’t matter; come along every Sunday morning, just not Pentecost Sunday, expecting Holy Spirit visitations.

More importantly, may every church have a desire to become an on-fire, mission- Dei one for Jesus!