Acts 2:1a (NIV)
When the day of Pentecost came,
CONSIDER THIS
Welcome back to the day after the Day of Pentecost—again. Yes, it’s still Day One. So yesterday, my friend, Rob Mehner, who is serving with Jesus in Guatemala wrote this in an email to me:
JD, at the end of today’s Daily Text you asked, “Do you get what I am trying to say here?” You’ve done well explaining conceptually the difference between the day after Pentecost and the day after the day after Pentecost and each subsequent “day after”. But what specifically is the difference between “first day thinking” and “second, third, or fourth day thinking”?
Then Rob offered a response to his question:
For me the biggest difference is between the impact of Pentecost and the acknowledgment of it. Time acts like geographical distance. If I settle for Pentecost being an historical event instead of a current reality, I settle for the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is hanging out somewhere in me. However, if I elevate Pentecost to a daily event – a new morning and I arise full of the power that raised Jesus from the dead—I am much more likely to be impacted by the Spirit’s presence. It’s intimacy vs. information and power vs. an idea.
I found all of this very helpful; especially this bit: “Time acts like geographical distance.”
Once we shift from day one to day two we might as well be at day 734,000. We are on the path of drift into sleep. We no longer have an experience of the Holy Spirit, just a doctrine. It has become information rather than intimacy; an idea rather than actual power. We exchange a movement for a monument. To close the gap created by time we must have awakening. We do not need first-century Christians. We desperately need first-generation Christians. That’s what I’m going for.
We will do well to remember the first words of the first sermon of Jesus:
The time is fulfilled.
Translation: It is day one again.
We will do even better to remember the rest of that sermon:
The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel. (Mark 1:15)
It seems right now to close with our favorite exchange:
“Wake up sleeper and rise from the dead. . .”
Your turn: “And Christ will shine on you!” Ephesians 5:14
When the day of Pentecost came, . . .
Still Day One.
THE PRAYER
God our Father, who with your son Jesus Messiah, fills us with the Holy Spirit, thank you for closing the gap between the event of Pentecost and the experience of Pentecost. The time is fulfilled. It is now. The Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. Jesus, wake me up fully to this right here right now reality. That is how I long to live life; in the right here, right now reality of you. Come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
THE QUESTION
How about it? Do you see yourself as a first generation Christian? We are blessed if we have a faith heritage. We do not, however, have a faith inheritance. God, as the saying goes, has no grandchildren.
For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
3 Responses
Upon waking up O’ sleeper, we should awake in our identity in Christ. (1 Peter 2:9, Galatians 2:20). On one hand, the flesh hangs on to self to survive, while on the other hand, our soul urnes to be fully connected to God. Being that our soul was intertwined with the sinful nature from the being, it takes conscious effort (until it becomes natural) to live in the spirit.
I think of Clark Kent. He was born powerless on his planet, Krypton. He was born again, on earth with super powers. I wonder if he ever forgot he was Superman? Aren’t we the same? Born powerless in sin. Born again in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I’d say Mr. Kent never forgot, nor did he have to remind himself that he was Superman.
Maybe, for us, that’s walking and living in the Spirit. Not having to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ, but living it out every day, this day. As long as it is today. How else can we do greater things than the works that Christ did (John 14:12)?
I pray today is the forever day of living fully in Christ.
Text correction: intertwined with the sinful nature from the “beginning”,
The gap between
Religious information
And inner reformation
Is huge.
God’s grace
Will close that gap
If with humility and repentance
You begin to practice
Ongoing obedience
To the living Jesus,
Now present through the Holy Spirit.
Let Him reside
And endlessly abide
In you
And powerfully be your guide
As you continually confide
In Him.