DYNAMITE — Pentecost Sunday
DYNAMITE — Pentecost Sunday Happy Pentecost! 1,993 years ago today, in an upper room in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit fell with fire and power and tongues and the church was born. Not with a program. With an explosion. Today we talked about something that should disturb every one of us: the difference between the church that was and the church that is. THE WORD The Greek word for power in Acts 1:8 is tied to four roots: dunamai, dunamis, dunamoe, dunestes. Dynamite comes from these words. The church was never meant to be an influencer. The church was meant to be dynamite. You can’t light dynamite and hide the explosion. It’s loud. It’s disruptive. It’s not quiet power. It’s life-altering, room-shaking, pattern-breaking dunamis power. And every single one of you who carries the Holy Spirit is carrying it right now. THE PROBLEM We have become a generation drowning in information and starving for demonstration. Paul said it plainly in 1 Corinthians 2:4–5: “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” We’ve reversed the order. We explain and never demonstrate. We teach about healing and never lay hands on anybody. We preach about boldness and never confront anything. We have the form of godliness but we’ve denied the power (2 Timothy 3:5). MONEY IS NOT POWER Simon the Sorcerer saw the apostles laying hands and people receiving the Holy Ghost. He pulled out his wallet and said “Give me this power too.” Peter said: your money perish with you. The gift of God cannot be purchased (Acts 8:17–20). For the carnal man, money is power. For the spiritual man, Holy Spirit is power. Money can’t buy you more life, more health, more strength. But we’ve been trained to believe money is the solution to everything. Peter walked up to a lame man who asked for money and said: “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The demonstration did what money never could.