Believers, and unbelievers, know, or they take note, that something happened between Acts Chapter 1 and half way through Acts Chapter 2. It was this that empowered that fellowship. It was this that galvanised the church. It was this experience which lasted and which continues to last today.

Have you enjoyed that experience of the Holy Spirit and does the power of the Holy Spirit inspire and motivate you in everything you do?

This happened to men who were taking time to wait upon God and listen to God. There will never be a Pentecost without that.

Consider Peter or Paul or Cornelius, or however it happened to you. Know what happened historically and spiritually speaking to Peter and Paul and Cornelius and the others. It is a highly valuable study and such wise investment pays dividends big dividends. I know that from personal experience.

It was in March 1969 that enjoyed that anointing of the Holy Spirit by the risen and living and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, and let me reassure you that it lasts. It has lasted!

These were Christ surrendered disciples. They would do anything and go anywhere, at Christ's command. We see that throughout the book of Acts.

Pentecost, and this fellowship of the Holy Spirit, comes after a man surrenders to Christ and not before. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a commanding King who demands to be obeyed.

The heart of their experience was not the rushing wind, nor the flames descending upon each head, nor the overflowing praise in languages they had never learned, important though all these were, the heart of their experience was the power of God.

It was a power that shook them and they went out to shake the earth and turn the world upside down.

The secret of this depth of fellowship is when we seek God with all our heart and soul, and if we are prepared to pay the price, and there is a price.

When you see these men after Pentecost they bare no resemblance to what they were before Pentecost.

There are people out there who think that to follow Jesus Christ results in a cramped and limited and weak insipid life.

We read of a humble Peter and John striding up to that crippled man and offering what they had: the power of God to heal. Now, there is an illustration of humble but effective leadership.

We read of that man Peter who had been so religious, daring, yes daring, to follow the Holy Spirit and venture into the home of Cornelius and within a couple of hours they are fellowshipping as brothers in Christ.

We read of that legalistically pure man Paul, being willing to be thrown into that Philippian jail, if that is what it meant to follow Christ, and if that is what was needed to rescue that jailor and his family from their sin. Here we have an example of sacrificial but willing leadership.

It is power on the mental level too. Just look at the Bible. It is throbbing with life and vitality and truth and light. No other book in the world comes near it.

Think of the power of God on the moral level.

Many of these believers spent half their life motivated and devoured by devastating passions, especially in Corinth. But, do not forget men like Matthew and Zacchaeus, or John who was one of the sons of thunder! These ordinary lives suddenly were lifted up to the plaine of spiritual leaders.

How could such a man change so much? It was not I but Christ in me through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

What mighty and powerful apostolic missionaries these men of Pentecost were. Wherever they went lives were changed and souls rescued. O, how our world is in desperate need of such spiritual leadership today.

There is not a trace of narrowness or pettiness or selfishness or feeling they were being limited in any way in any of them.

They were released and radiant and this was contagious. This was not religion. This was life and abundant life!

When the world looked at them the only thing they could say was that they had been with Jesus. And some said, you have found the secret. Help us to find it too.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit follows the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father.

Sandy Shaw