Last Sunday Christians around the world remembered the Day of Pentecost when in the first century the Holy Spirit came upon the Christians in Jerusalem. Before he died Jesus had promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to them. He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

After Jesus returned to heaven the Christians prayed for the Holy Spirit to come and, on the day of Pentecost, he came to them just as Jesus had promised. The transformation in the disciples of Jesus was amazing. They were no longer afraid but were given God’s power to tell the people about Jesus. Peter, who had denied Jesus because he was afraid, proclaimed to all the people in Jerusalem the good news about Jesus. He reminded them that they had rejected Jesus and called for him to be crucified but God had raised Jesus from the dead and made him to be both Lord and Christ. That very day 3000 people confessed their sins and received Jesus as their Saviour – the Christian church had been born!

Despite fierce persecution the Christians went throughout the Roman Empire proclaiming the good news about Jesus. The Holy Spirit empowered them and many people, both Jews and Gentiles, received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Churches, companies of disciples of Jesus, were established in Asia and Europe and even in Rome itself. Churches are at their best when they don’t identify themselves with civil and political institutions because their power is not human but spiritual because the Holy Spirit is at work through them.

The Holy Spirit has enabled the message of Jesus to be taken to all nations. In 1960 Christians went to Papua in the west of Indonesia. The people of Papua speak about 270 languages and live in remote mountains and valleys. The Christians walked to their villages and learned their languages. Today out of a total population of about 3 million people more than 2 million are disciples of Jesus. Their own testimony is that they are no longer living in darkness, fearing evil spirits, but now know Jesus and are living in the light. That’s the kind of transformation that only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.