https://youtu.be/MRB-Lx_uvTk
The Day of Pentecost Year A 5/24/2026
Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Power is an important thing…
And power is impressive…
Just light night I considered the lightning and thunder rumbling through with the thunderstorm near our home…
as the dark sky was lit up by the flash of the bolt of lightning.
Our summer thunderstorms are impressive here in Florida.
Many of us (also) have experienced the lack of power after a hurricane comes rolling through.
Sometimes we must go on for days without power…
And being that hurricanes are usually during the most humid and hot months of the year…
We want the power…
We definitely need power in Florida, especially in the summer months.
Power is also a theme in the Bible…
Albeit a different sort of power than electrical power.
Before our reading from Acts chapter two…
Just before Jesus ascended into heaven…
The message of our Lord was this:
…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
(Acts 1.8)
Notice he doesn’t say you will receive guidance when the Holy Spirit comes on you…
He doesn’t say knowledge or some special revelation is coming…
Jesus says to his disciples:
…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
Power is a theme that is talked about in our world too.
There is a lot of emphasis on the idea of power today.
Power connected to authority.
Power connected to control.
Power connected to hope.
We also get weary of people with too much power…
In our society, we are highly sensitive to the over stretching arm of power…
Some want the Government to have more power…
Some want the Government to have less power…
Of course, we are all watchful, at least hopefully, of the abuses of power.
There’s that famous quote from the English Catholic historian and politician, John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton,
better known as Lord Acton.
Back in 1887 he said:
“power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Well, what about Christians and power?
What about the people of God?
How do we feel about power?
What are we looking for in power?
Do we look for power in the right places…
Political power…
Church power…
God’s power…
Theologian and Bishop, Dr. Emilio Alvarez writes:
Today, …it seems as though believers are more focused on power apart from its [Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ] context
and instead have become consumed by presidential power,
economic power, or military power.
Of course, as human beings in a world of commerce and information technology, we must grapple with these notions,
yet it seems we emphasize them over the power that derives from the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.[1]
It’s an interesting diagnosis of the American Church…
The temptation is certainly there to chase power in the wrong ways.
In our over-realized and over-saturated political media world…
It is easy to be mesmerized and seduced by the powers of our world…
The economic machine…
The political flexing…
The corporate influence…
The grasp and pull of power gets a lot of attention.
But can power also be a good thing?
Once again Dr. Alvarez…
He writes:
The power we need now is not the power of a certain political branch of government or the promises of power by business leaders.
The power we need now is the power of Pentecost,
which is intimately connected to the message of the good news of the Christ who lived, died, and was raised,
who is proclaimed as gospel in accordance with the Scriptures,
who is present in the breaking of the bread, and who is experienced still today by the power of the Holy Spirit.[2]
You see the power of the Holy Spirit is connected to the message of the Gospel.
Again, in Acts 1.8, just before the Ascension, Jesus said:
…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
You see it’s power to be witnesses…
In our reading for today in Acts 2…
It says:
When the followers of Jesus were gathered for Pentecost…
suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability.
And as people heard the commotion and came around…
Peter raised his voice and began to share with them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit came so that the disciples would share the gospel of Jesus with boldness, clarity, and conviction.
This is what Pentecost is for today…
To share the good news of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, I would suggest that the desire of the Holy Spirit is to empower us as God’s people for the purpose of sharing the message of Jesus.
Today is May 24th, and believers across the world are recognizing Pentecost Sunday for another reason…
Today is the International Day for the Unreached.
Around the world, billions of men, women, and children are living full lives without a real opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus.
Not because they’ve said no and rejected Jesus…
but because no one has come close enough to share who Jesus is.
These are real people, real stories, and communities deeply loved by God.
The first Pentecost was over 2000 years ago,
And yet still 1/3 of the world’s population has not yet heard the gospel for the first time.
Out of approximately 17,400 distinct people groups on earth,
over 7,000 are classified as unreached people by Christian missionary groups…
In fact, 1 in 5 people are still waiting for the Bible in their language
There are 7,393 languages in the world and
3,248 languages have no Scripture – yet!
We can pray and support efforts of missionaries that share the good news of Jesus in places we are not able to go.
But we are able to share the good news of Jesus in our neck of the woods…
In the places we go and live…
We share the good news of Jesus in our own community.
And one of the ways we help people hear the good news of Jesus is by inviting them to worship…
To church.
A personal invitation is consistently cited as the main reason people start attending a church.
I have seen these stats for over twenty years…
Studies show that between 70% to over 80% of first-time or new churchgoers start attending because a friend, family member, or acquaintance personally invited them.
Listen to these stats:
The question is this…
Why Do People Start Attending Church?
Here’s the response…
2% come because of an advertisement campaign
6% come because of some organized visit
6% come because the pastor or priest invited them
86% come because a friend invited them
Word of mouth is still the most effective advertising…
And it’s still the most effective way to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate Pentecost today…
The birth of church…
The coming of the Holy Spirit…
May we remember the promise of our Lord…
The Holy Spirit came…
To empower us to share the message of Jesus.
That wonderful message…
That God Incarnate came to earth…
Jesus lived, he died on the cross for the sins of the world…
He rose from the dead…
After appearing to his followers…
He ascended into heaven…
And one day he will come again to set the world at rights.
And by his grace, we by faith can receive the forgiveness of sins and become inheritors of eternal life.
May we hold on to this promise…
And may we share this promise with the people around us.
Amen.
[1] Emilio Alvarez, Pentecost: A Day of Power for All People (Downers Grove: IVP, 2023), 5.
[2] Ibid., 7.
