In our beginning lessons we mentioned that Jesus instructed his disciples in Acts 1:4 – “And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me….verse 5 – “For John truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

Why did Jesus command his disciples to receive this experience, we call the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? Why did Jesus infer that he did not want his disciples to become involved in any type ministry without this experience?

I believe we can find one answer in the Gospel of John 7:37-39.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

When Jesus made these statements, it was during another Jewish Feast – the Feast of Tabernacles. Every day, water was carried from the pool of Siloam to the temple and then poured out as a reminder of God miraculously providing water in the wilderness.

It was in this context that Jesus made this statement – If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

In this passage, Jesus is talking about a river of water – notice, this river is not flowing into the believer but flowing out of the believer. The river in these verses refers to a work of the Holy Spirit that produces power.

What Jesus is talking about in these verses is not the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, but a work of the Holy Spirit that empowers the Christian to bless others.

This sounds very similar to what Jesus said in Acts 1:8 – "But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come (where) in you? No – upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

So we can see this experience or work of the Holy Spirit is to equip the believer with power to become a more effective witness for Christ.

A Christian author, Donald Gee, wrote these words, "Now it is the wise plan of the Almighty that the blessing of the Spirit shall normally come to men through other men. Jesus said, "Out of him shall flow rivers of living waters"; that is, out of the man who has been to Christ, and personally and believingly drunk for himself, from that Life-giving Fountain.…..a scriptural baptism of the Holy Spirit not only brings the Divine Fullness into our own hearts, it also results in the ability to pass on, either consciously or unconsciously, and overflow of blessing to other. Indeed such an outflow ultimately becomes the test of the depth and reality of any "Pentecost," and only by a continual outflow can we maintain spiritual health. We ought to cause "showers of blessing" wherever we go if we are truly filled with the Spirit of God. (Proverbs for Pentecost)

So we can see Pentecost's purpose is to increase our capacity for God to work through us to bring blessings to others. We become vessels of God's life and  power – we allow the Holy Spirit to pour out of us what God desires, and as a result, God touches people through us – God's will is accomplished, and God is glorified.

Donald Gee went on to say, in reference to John 7:37-39 – "to keep on drinking in and drinking in of the Holy Spirit and to never pour out our lives to others, is to end in a life of sterility and frustration.

Have you ever wondered why you are frustrated in your Christian walk? Could it be that you are always seeking a blessing from God, instead of asking God to make you a blessing to others?

The purpose of Pentecost is not a self-serving spiritual experience. It is not to make us feel good without corresponding actions. The Christian life is described in the Bible as a life that seeks the interest of others over the interests of self. The Christian life is a life that seeks to become a channel of God’s power and blessing.

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is supernatural. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is an enduement of power. Everything about this marvellous experience is consistent with the supernatural nature of our Heavenly Father.

However, if we are not careful, we can stay focused on the upper room and on the spectacular side of the supernatural element. The supernatural element’s purpose is to propel us into the will of God for our lives.

That will can be summed up in Matthew’s Gospel 28:18-20.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The purpose of Pentecost is to carry out God’s will on this earth. God’s will is the expansion of His Kingdom into all the world.

In James 5:7, we read – Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Here in this verse is a clear picture of what will happen before Jesus comes back. James indicates that God is waiting for something. What is God waiting for? He is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth. What is the precious fruit of the earth? It is a harvest. What kind of harvest? It is a harvest of souls.

God is waiting for the Gospel to be preached to every nation for a witness, then the end shall come. How will the Gospel be preached to every nation? It would be wonderful if we could pray and ask the Holy Spirit to go to every nation and preach the Gospel.

Romans 10:13-15 –

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

1 Corintians 1:21 says:

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

God has chosen to use the church, every born-again believer, to represent Him in this world. We have been chosen to preach or proclaim the Gospel to every person and every nation.

Until this happens, the harvest will not be reaped, and Jesus will not come back.

Pentecost's purpose is to empower us to carry this gospel message to every person we come in contact with. We are not all called by God to move to another country and change our vocation and current position in life.

However, we are all called to proclaim or to be a witness for Christ, an ambassador for the Kingdom of God. We can do that wherever we live and wherever we work.

This is the real purpose of Pentecost. Now we can understand why Jesus commanded his disciples to receive this experience we call the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

We serve a supernatural God – we live in a world that has a supernatural enemy – we have been given a supernatural assignment from Heaven – we have a supernatural eternal existence waiting for every one of us – is it no wonder that we received supernatural power and ability from the Holy Spirit to live this life and to fulfil the will of our heavenly Father.

When we return for our last lesson, we will share from the Bible how different groups of people received this supernatural experience that Jesus referred to as the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.