There is nothing like a major hurricane or a flurry of tornadoes to remind us how powerful wind can sometimes be. Ask survivors of Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma last summer. Ask survivors of recent tornadoes in the South and Midwest. Wind is capable of an amazing amount of damage.
A book titled Blame It on the Weather tells about some extraordinary events that occurred in tornadoes, especially with regard to animals. It tells about a tornado that churned through a dog boarding kennel in Michigan. Later one of the dogs in that kennel was found high in a tree half a mile away--unhappy, no doubt, but unharmed.
There’s a story of a bull weighing some 1,400 pounds who was resting in his stall which was attached to the barn by a heavy logging chain. A tornado passed by. Afterward the barn was found sixty feet away. The bull, also apparently unhurt, was still attached to its stall.
Another tornado tore all the shingles off one side of a school, raced across a road, took the roof off a barn, crossed the road again, and lifted a horse about thirty feet before setting him down. Again, it was unharmed . . .
A cow in that same area was found lying on her back, four legs in the air, anchored to the ground by her horns. The cow was otherwise unhurt, but the farmer chose not to milk her . . . He thought the milk might be sour after such a traumatic event. (1) Obviously he was a pessimist. I would have gone ahead and milked her and hoped for a tasty milk shake.
Anyone who has ever been through a tornado or a hurricane will tell you how powerful wind can be.
Here’s an interesting fact you may not know. In 1975, a research center in New York conducted a series of experiments using live chickens. Their goal was to find a way to help estimate wind velocities during a tornado.
The idea was simple: the chickens would be placed in a wind tunnel and the researchers would see what wind speed was necessary to pluck the feathers off the chickens. Valuable information would then be known about any tornado that left a trail of plucked chickens behind.
Sadly, they discovered that a number of factors, including the physical condition of the chickens, are involved in determining how much force it would take to pluck a chicken. The final conclusion of the researchers was stated like this: “Chicken plucking is of doubtful value as an index of tornado wind velocity.” Plus, we could add, you get a host of traumatized chickens. Ah, your hard-earned tax dollars at work. (2)
When the day of Pentecost came, says the writer of Acts, all the disciples of Jesus were together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind [strong enough to pluck feathers off a chicken] came from heaven. [Actually the book of Acts doesn’t mention chickens.] But it does say that this wind filled the whole house where the disciples were. Then something else happened that was even more startling. Those gathered saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of those who were gathered in the room. Then to top it all off, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
“Now there were staying in Jerusalem” the writer continues, “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? . . .’”
One lesson we can learn from the events on the day of Pentecost is that when the wind of God blows, amazing things happen. You know by now that the Greek word for spirit is also the word for wind, as it is in the Hebrew. That, of course, is no accident. God breathed into man his own breath. He gave man of His own Spirit--thus the relationship of wind and Spirit.
Wind, like the Spirit, is not only powerful but it is also mysterious. It is invisible, but we can see the trees rustle as it passes by. It can be as soothing as a gentle breeze on a warm summer night or it can come with the destructive force of a tornado or typhoon.
Sometimes wind seems to have a mind of its own. Jesus said on one occasion, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” (John 3:8). This particular time it blew upon a group of individuals waiting in a room in Jerusalem just as their Lord had instructed them to do. He told them to wait until the Spirit came upon them and that is what they did. Then on the Day of Pentecost, just as he promised, the wind blew and the tongues of fire appeared. After that the greatest miracle of all came: these simple Galileans began to testify in such a way that everyone, regardless of where they came from could understand them in their own language. Wow! The Spirit came and amazing things happened.
Of course there were skeptics present, as there always are. We read that some of onlookers thought the disciples were intoxicated. They were not sure what to make of it all. We modern-day followers of Jesus are not sure what to make of Pentecost either. Should we expect these kind of special effects in the church today--mighty winds and tongues of fire? Should we expect to be miraculously transformed as these early disciples were transformed into communicators of the Gospel so effective that a multicultural audience could each understand what was being said in their own language?
It would be nice if such things could happen today. Who can deny that the contemporary church lacks power, life, energy, excitement? We don’t want to jump over pews, but it would be nice if people weren’t already measuring us for a casket. For that is what is being said about many churches--we are dying. The church today needs the power of the Holy Spirit. We can all agree on that. But what would that mean?
Would we have a new sense of excitement if the Spirit came upon us? I surely would hope so. That certainly happened to the church on the Day of Pentecost. Before Pentecost the followers of Jesus had been a group of nervous people hiding behind locked doors--fearful that they would be persecuted.
We hear some Christians in our land today moan about being persecuted. What they mean is that their neighbors disagree with some of their views and are a little critical. We in this land know nothing about real persecution. None of us will ever face crucifixion like Simon Peter and Andrew experienced. Or be beheaded like St. Paul. Or be stoned and then clubbed to death like James, the son of Alpheus. Those early believers understood what it was to be persecuted.
The church through the ages has dealt with all kinds of persecution. Dale Rosenberger tells of meeting a Catholic priest from Poland and learning of his struggles under a communist regime. The priest gave an example from the early 1980s. Churches in Poland were overflowing with new believers. The Communist government kept a close watch on all churches, and controlled them through stiff regulations and mountains of red tape. Finally, the government approved construction of a new church in their area. Government money paid for new churches, but only so the government could control all church activity.
Finally, the church was completed. Then, a few days later, some soldiers showed up at the church. They showed the priest a document concerning the nails used in building the church. The document was lacking one signature. Since the church had not included that one signature for the nails, they said, the government was taking back all the nails. Amazingly, the soldiers went throughout the whole church structure removing every single nail. The building, as you might imagine, collapsed without any nails to hold it together. Now that’s persecution! (3) We’re a long way from that.
The church at Pentecost had good reason to be afraid. They were threatened by both the religious and the secular authorities. But look what happened. On this day the followers of Jesus came out from behind their closed doors so forcefully to testify to their faith in Jesus Christ that more than 3,000 bystanders were converted at one time.
That’s quite a transformation. On that day the church had a sense of excitement that was contagious. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that could happen to the church today? Churches all over our county are in a steady decline. Not all churches, of course, but most. And we seem helpless to do anything about it. What would happen if the Holy Spirit overcame us in the church today? Would it give us a sense of excitement?
Maybe the Holy Spirit would increase our sense of love for one another. Listen as Luke continues his description of the church on the Day of Pentecost. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (42-47). Did you catch that? “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The coming of the Spirit not only excited and empowered them--it also brought them closer together.
Author Nelson Price tells about Charles Pritchett, one of the south’s foremost piano tuners. Pritchett once made an interesting analogy. He said it is almost impossible to perfectly tune one piano with another piano. It simply will not work. However, by using a tuning fork, you can tune one piano. By using the same tuning fork, you can tune the other piano. The result is that the two pianos will be in tune with one another. The tuning fork assures the basic pitch to be the same. The instruments may be in two different rooms. But they will be harmoniously together. (4)
If the Holy Spirit came upon us, one result would be that we would be increasing our love not only for one another, but also for the community outside these walls and for God. Then, perhaps, we could reclaim the joy that characterized the church at Pentecost.
There’s a story told about a man from Louisville, Kentucky, who had to travel to St. Louis on business. This was years ago when Christians still kept Sunday as a very special day. For this man, “keeping the Sabbath” meant not riding the trains on Sunday. So, after he finished up his business late on a Saturday night, he had to stay over in St. Louis until the following Monday morning.
On Sunday morning, he left the hotel looking for a place to worship. The streets were quite deserted, but finally he saw a policeman and asked him for directions to the nearest church.
The stranger thanked the policeman for the information and was about to walk off when he turned and asked the policeman: “Why did you recommend that particular church? There must be several churches nearby that you could have recommended.”
The policeman smiled and replied: “I’m not a church man myself, but the people who come out of that church are the happiest looking church-people in St. Louis. I thought that would be the kind of church you would like to attend.” (5)
What a testimony those happy Christians were making to the reality of God’s presence in their midst. That kind of happiness is only present in churches where people feel close to one another and to God. Notice again the church at Pentecost. “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” We need to pray that God would give us that sense of excitement and that sense of love for one another. If we had what the church had on the Day of Pentecost, we would have a sense of caring for one another, and we would enjoy fellowship in Christ that was so strong people would be attracted to us.
Those are two things that would surely happen to us if the Holy Spirit fell on our congregation today. We would have new sense of excitement and we would be enabled to care more about each other.
I suspect a third thing would happen. We would be empowered to do what we already know God has called us to do. The truth of the matter is that we already know what God expects out of the church. We are to find people who are hurting and love them into the Kingdom of God. If we did that one thing our church would never decline. It’s really simple. But where do we get the motivation and the power to do what God has called us to do? There’s only one way. We desperately need the Holy Spirit to fall upon us and transform us.
A little girl was visiting her grandmother in a small country town in the South. They attended a very emotional religious service, where people expressed their feelings by jumping about and shouting . . . what we might call a “Holy Roller” service.
The little girl asked her grandmother if all the jumping meant the Holy Spirit was really there. Her grandmother said, “Honey, it don’t matter how high they jump up, it’s what they do when they come down that will tell you if it is the real thing.” (6)
The church at Pentecost set the pattern for us. Pentecost is not about jumping up and down. It is about getting out from behind our closed doors and going into the streets to meet people where they are. It is about building strong bonds of fellowship in the church and studying God’s Word more intently. It is about seeking God constantly in prayer. That’s what Pentecost is really about. Could we be a Pentecostal church in the best sense of that word? Yes, if we pray today that God would send His Spirit upon us and if we open our hearts so that they will be receptive to His Spirit. Then, and only then, will we sense the mighty power of God come upon us.
1. David Phillips, Michael Parfit, Suzanne Chisholm (San Diego: Advantage Publishers Group, 1998), p. 122.
2. William Hartston, The Encyclopedia of Useless Information (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2007), p. 79.
3. Contributed. Source: “Preaching on the Lessons,” The Clergy Journal, August 1998, p. 47.
4. The Emmanuel Factor (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987).
5. Contributed. Source unknown.
6. Fuller, O.M. I. Stories for All Seasons (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1996) p. 108.