This month we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out into the church. Pentecost followed the resurrection, which followed the Lord's death. This has a logical sequence. First, our sins had to be paid for. Because this was done, death no longer had the right to rule over us. Christ arose, releasing His people from the grip of death. We may not remain in this "world of death." In Christ we have the right to become participants of the blessings of life which are in the risen Lord. Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit's giving us the riches in Christ. This will culminate on the final day when the old will be put away forever, and we will be made completely new by the same Spirit.

The scene was in Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit had just been given to believers as recorded in Acts 2. Peter, John and the other apostles still had the custom of going to the temple, even though the Old Testament temple no longer had any meaning for the New Testament church. At the door lay a paralyzed man who had never walked. Healed on the words of the apostles, he went with Peter and John into the temple, leaping and jumping for joy. This drew the atten­tion of many people who recognized him as he who had been sitting at the door begging. They flocked around him to learn what had happened. What an occasion for a sermon! The crowds listened in amazement. The apostles, careful to emphasize only the power of Christ, nothing of them­selves. The Christ whom the Jews had so recently killed arose from the grave. He is alive today and works by His Spirit. Look at the evidence. All this was reported to the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel. Remember, church and state were one. The coun­cil of the church was also the council of the city. Most of these men were wealthy and exerted great political in­fluence. It was late in the day. Without any kind of preliminary trial Peter and John were imprisoned for the night and next morning were summoned to appear before this ruling body. They had to give account of what they had done, and especially by whose power they had healed this man. The rulers recognized the miraculous healing and asked, How did they do this?

There was irrefutable evidence of this lame man being healed. The San­hedrin said that they could not deny it. If they could have found a shred of evidence to the contrary, they might have tried. They knew that Peter and John did not have these powers in themselves. They asked, "By what power or in whose name did you do this?" The apostles gave an immediate answer. It was by the power of Jesus Christ, whom they crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man was made well.

The Sanhedrin can deny the fact of the resurrection, they can disbelieve the words of Peter and John, but they cannot deny that this man was miraculously healed. The evidence was clear.

The same must also be true of the testimony of the church. We confess the risen Christ and preach that Gospel to the world. The church also must give evidence of this great power of Christ through the Spirit. What must that be? We must show that we are healed people, not healed in body, but spiritually, made whole, our na­tures transformed by the power of the Spirit of the risen Christ. We are a new creation in Christ, born again. Thus changed, we have different goals, we love the Lord, confess His name, trust in Him, and desire to serve Him. The world has to see a change in us, as it did in this lame man.

The Sanhedrin was not finished. Notice the sequence of statements. First, they were impressed by the courage of Peter and John. How could ordinary men have done this, not having been educated? Peter and John were formerly just fishermen. They also took note that these men had been with Jesus. They could say nothing to contradict the healing of this man, standing with Peter and John, on the previous day. Did they submit and believe? No, they com­manded that in the future there should be no more teaching or preach­ing about this Jesus.

Notice the apostles' appropriate answer. "Judge for yourselves, whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we can­not help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Not speak about Jesus any more? That's impossible! We can't do any­thing but speak about Jesus.

Have you ever had contact with ex­traordinary people? I remember that when I was a boy I had godly men as catechism teachers. They were elders in the church. To this day I feel that some of these men had a lasting influ­ence on me, as dedicated men of God. I have also met and had contact with some great leaders in the church. A few days of conference and discussion left something with me that I will never forget. When you live with peo­ple for some time, you learn to know them. You get a look "into their souls." As the disciples for three years lived with the very Son of God in the flesh, what an unforgettable ex­perience it must have been to know Him personally: His outlook on life, His deep respect and love for His Father in heaven, His devotion and deep love for God, high respect for the Word, and godly living.

They didn't understand His suffer­ing on the cross when it happened. But after the Spirit was poured out, it's meaning was made clear and a great change took place in them. Now they understood the purpose of His coming to earth. Recall the sermon of Peter on the day when the Spirit was given. Now they were filled with the Spirit and the knowledge of their great Savior. How could they keep still about Him! One might as well try to stop the sun from shining, or the Niagara River from flowing. Thus the New Testament church was alive by the power of the Spirit.

Is the church of Christ alive in that way today? Are we moved to speak by this inner compulsion? Generally speaking, the church of Christ is not living on a high spiritual plane. Indif­ference and materialistic idolatry prevail. What must we do about it? We must not just talk about the condi­tions of the church, but we must talk about our Lord and speak with others of what He means to us. Our churches support missions causes and often, at least financially, individual mission­aries. But much of this is mechanical. Do you, for example, know the in­dividual missionaries that your church is supporting? If you don't, how can you remember them in your prayers?

How can we have more of the Spirit of the apostles, the Spirit of Pen­tecost? We must be more "with Jesus" and His Word has to mean more to us. For and in that we need to pray. By the Word and the Spirit we, too, have to be filled with the knowledge of our wonderful Savior. His amazing grace and daily, covenant love has to become our trust. Overwhelmed by the amazing, condescending love of God for us in sending His Son into the world to save us, we must speak of this God.