Faithfulness

Backdrop 4 - The Faithfulness

As we come to the end of this most encouraging, inviting and receiving Pentecostal Week, this week which has been offered to us a bumper, Holy Spirit, Harvest Time, what can we say? What excuses can we make for ourselves not receiving ALL that was received on that first Pentecost outpouring? Absolutely none.

We conclude with our final and most embracing and all-encompassing backdrop – faithfulness.

When we look at Bethlehem at the time Ruth is brought there, or follows Naomi there, the faithfulness refers to the faithfulness of harvest. We all remember the covenant-promise made by God concerning harvest. Creator God made this to Himself, after Noah offered burnt offerings to Him, having saved them in the Flood. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8: 21 – 22. The faithfulness of harvest remains, as long as the earth lasts.

How does this translate to you, in this lavishly open Hand of the Holy Ghost upon all people who received? Listen, speak, tell, rejoice, give thanks and praise as you have been enabled by this outpouring. The faithfulness of harvest is the faithfulness of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.

The faithfulness of harvest is not only for those who belong, but for the foreigner, stranger, alien and outsider who dwell in the place of harvest. Ruth, a foreigner, dwells in Bethlehem and is she not being blessed by the faithfulness and promise of harvest, to cross national barriers? It is the same with the Holy Spirit’s outpouring. You, a sinner, abide in Jesus, not because of any good works of yours, but because of His inclusive love and mercy. His Spirit is faithful.

As a child growing up in one of the Caribbean islands, and even now as an older, mature person living in another Caribbean island, I am always amazed when the sugarcane harvest comes along. Every year, around the same months, we all know that it is harvest time due to the distinct sights, sounds, scents, tastes and feel of harvest, most unmistakable to all. This set me thinking, for is this what actually transpired on that first Pentecostal outpouring? People who were around, saw, heard, tasted, smelt and felt the faithfulness of God’s promised Gift to come upon all people.

The faithfulness of the Holy Spirit’s Harvest was evident from beginning to end. He was faithful to keep His promise.

From the picture we have been given of Ruth in the grain field, we are told that when she left the field, she had more than enough to share and to spare. Will you look at the disciples in that upper room? When they left that place, they had more than enough Pentecostal Power to share and to spare. Listen to how Peter spoke to that crowd with command and boldness. See how people of all walks of life were convicted in their hearts and gave their lives to Jesus.

Many more things took place which you can read about in Acts Chapters two and three. Yes, everything they were enabled to do was as a direct and deliberate result of the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit’s harvest or outpouring.

What faithfulness in harvest has the Holy Spirit prepared for you in this time?