WEA Encourages the Rememberance of Pentecost and the Birth of the Church

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When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4, NIV)

The World Evangelical Alliance hopes that churches and believers around the world remember the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit that was given freely to God’s people on the day of Pentecost.

It was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel which said: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Acts 2:17-21; Joel 2:28-32)

On the fiftieth day after Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday, ten days after His ascension to Heaven, Pentecost also marks the day of the birth of the Church. The image of the believers of this first church is described in the latter part of Acts chapter 2 and still serves today’s Christians as an example of unity and devotion to God and His word.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he 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. (Acts 2:42-47, NIV)

May Pentecost 2012 be a day when churches and believers around the world seek the uniting and transforming power of the Holy Spirit.