Why don't we see a movement of God?

Another Pentecost has just come and gone, yet are we any wiser regarding the identity and calling of God’s people?

When the day of Pentecost dawned, one hundred and twenty mostly Galileans were gathered for prayer believing Jesus would soon fulfill his promise and pour out the Holy Spirit on them.

Jesus had risen from the dead and restored his scattered band of disciples. Over forty days he taught them from the Scriptures explaining how God’s purposes were fulfilled in a suffering and rising Messiah and how they would take this Gospel for the forgiveness of sins would go to the ends of the earth. The Spirit was coming in power on all of God’s people to equip them for the task.

This is a movement of God. Like Jesus, they are under the authority of God’s Word, depending on the Holy Spirit, and faithful to the core missionary task.

Why should we expect a movement of God in the West if we bend and break the Word of God in an attempt to flow with the latest cultural trends? Why should we expect a movement of God if we limit the work of the Spirit to our meetings instead of bearing witness to Jesus in a lost world? Why should we expect a movement of God if we promise heaven on earth without the message of the Cross and the call to repent and believe?

In Acts, the Word is on the move in the power of the Spirit from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth—every people, every place. The Word and the Spirit combine to bring salvation and to create communities of disciples who are learning to follow Jesus and fish for others.

Our identity and calling as God’s people are on display at Pentecost. Until we return to who we are, we won’t see a movement of God.