Quotes about Pentecost

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . ." (Acts 1:8)—not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language?

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

You are not the only one who has spent the night in reflection. The final festival of the spring season is this coming Sabbath, fifty days after Passover. In Hebrew it is called Shavuot, though many now call it by its Greek name, Pentecost. It marks the end of the spring harvest, and the day carries a divine purpose. We are called to draw near to the throne of God, to receive an earthly foretaste of the splendor to come.

Unfortunately, the marvelous understanding celebrated at the original Pentecost has faded into the background, and now the word "Pentecostal" often signifies not Christian unity but sectarian differences. Many Pentecostals are conservative Christians who disdain those of a more liberal persuasion. And mainstream Christians often dismiss Pentecostals as looney tunes; anti-intellectual in their theology, overemotional in their worship.

Pentecost was the day of power of the Holy Spirit. It was the day the Christian church was born.

Before three thousand people were brought into the church on the day of Pentecost, the disciples had spent fifty days in prayer, fasting, and spiritual travail.

The Spirit is as operative today in communicating the gospel to all who seek the truth as it was on the day of Pentecost anciently.

I, however, am also a fan of riot evangelism. As we read the book of Acts, we see that the church comes into being through a Spirit-empowered sermon by Peter on the day of Pentecost and not through some guy spending six months playing checkers with people, hoping to somehow earn the right to share the gospel.

This has to be emphasized, because today too many of us emphasize kingdom but ignore the Holy Spirit and Pentecost and church—as if kingdom meant nothing more than justice and peace and love in the world (or in their country or in their state or in their local village).