Pentecostal Preaching, Part 3

The first car I owned was a real clunker. Thankfully, it was of a pedigree that one could spend time tinkering with it to keep it going; and a lot of time was spent tinkering. At one point the gas gauge broke. Gas gauges are not an easy fix. Consequently, I drove without a working gauge, trying to judge when I next needed to fill up by how many miles I had driven. Needless to say, I ran out of gas more than once. At such times one becomes acutely aware of just how difficult it is for a car to do what a car is supposed to do without the requisite fuel in the tank. Having to push a car to the side of the road -- by yourself -- brings it home.

A task has been given to the church, a task that can no more be accomplished without the requisite fuel than a car can take a person from point A to point B without gas in the tank. This is why Jesus told his followers to tarry in Jerusalem after his ascension. He had commissioned them to bear witness to him and they needed to wait until the One who was to be sent, whose job it was was to to bear witness to Jesus (John 15:26), had descended and filled them. In His power they could, and did, carry out the task.

We are in no less need of the Holy Spirit to fulfill our role in making Jesus known than were the first followers of Christ. Persuading people to hand over the reins of their lives to an unseen Savior is not something that will be accomplished using ordinary methods of human persuasion. Mass marketing, appeals to emotions and desires, propaganda, even threat of death, will not bring a soul under the Lordship of Christ. It is only a work of the Spirit, a work of grace, that awakens a spiritually dead soul to life (John 3:3). This is why we need to pray with the early church for fresh fillings of the Spirit that we might speak “the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Our Spirit empowered proclamation connecting with people prepared by the Spirit to hear it, is what Jesus envisioned when he commissioned the church to be witnesses for him “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Converting Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy

Potential energy and kinetic energy. The difference between the two is evident in the terms used. Potential means energy that is ready to be used but is yet to be released (think a drawn bow string, taught, ready to send the arrow into the air). Kinetic describes energy that is on the move (think a released bow string that has sent the arrow flying).

This image, borrowed from physics, is helpful for understanding the work of the church in making the gospel known. Paul describes the gospel as “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). He understands the potential of the gospel to radically redefine and redirect the life of a fallen human being, and has dedicated himself to the task of converting it, through proclamation, into “kinetic energy,” as people hear and believe the good news. The results can be exciting, as when those in Thessalonica “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,” and were persuaded to “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers . . . from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Each Christian has had potential gospel energy converted into kinetic gospel energy through having, by the grace of God, ears that heard when the message was preached. Subsequently, each Christian becomes a new repository of potential energy just waiting to be released. By prayer and study, motivated by love and undertaken with humility, we draw the bow string back, making it ready to be released by the Holy Spirit, sending along the good news to neighbors, co-workers, friends, and relatives.

Let’s rededicate ourselves to the task of converting potential gospel energy into kinetic gospel energy by praying for the Holy Spirit to awaken us to opportunities to let go the bow string. The energy is there, it just needs to be released!