We are a Pentecostal church and as such, we believe in the person, ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit as one of the blessings God wants to give to every one of His children. It’s one thing to believe in these things, though, and another to experience them.
As we study the book of Acts on Thursday evenings, we see that the key to effective witnessing and effective Christian living is the Holy Spirit’s presence and power among His people. God wants to pour out His Holy Spirit on all of us and wants us to be filled with the Spirit every day. We need His gifts (gifts of tongues, of interpretation, of prophecy, specific words of wisdom and knowledge and the discerning of spirits; the gift of faith for specific things, working miracles and healings) among us. This blessing of the Holy Spirit is for each one of us, whether we are young, middle-aged or old; whether we’ve been on the Christian journey a short time or a long time. Every single one of us needs to be filled with the Spirit – not just once, but on a daily basis. It was only when the Holy Spirit came on the believers on the Day of Pentecost that the church was born. (Acts 2:1-39) We cannot hope to see people come to faith unless we are people who are filled with the Spirit. We cannot hope to overcome sin and temptation unless we are people filled with the Spirit. We cannot hope to have an impact on our communities unless we are people filled with the Spirit.
On Saturday 2nd March at 4 p.m. we are having a meeting to discuss the way forward as a church. We will be looking at our personal relationship with God, at the need for evangelism, at prayer and Bible study (the ‘building blocks’ of faith), and we want to hear people’s ideas and suggestions and look at what God is saying to us as a group of His children. Paul makes it clear in Eph 5:10 that we need to find out what pleases the Lord and then do it. He urged the Ephesians not to be foolish, but to understand what the Lord’s will is. (Eph 5:17) The task before us as we seek to be with God in the community and with God for the community is immense, but the Holy Spirit working in the lives of those first believers was able to turn the world upside down. As He fills each one of us and we walk daily in the overflow of His life, He will do things which astound and astonish us. Come along on Saturday to talk and pray, knowing that as we see more of the Holy Spirit in our lives and church services, we can be filled with boldness and equipped to do the works God has prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)