That Incendiary Fellowship
Acts 2:1–13
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4

Christianity is meant to be a spreading flame. When Jesus said that he had come to pour fire on the earth, he meant a fire that was destined to sweep over all the earth. How do we know? We know because of the way he spoke in giving the Great Commission. He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (1:8). This prophesied expansion of the Christian gospel began at Pentecost. That is why the second paragraph of Acts 2 talks about the many different people who were present in Jerusalem and who heard the gospel in their own language on that day: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians” (vv. 9–11)— people from all over the world, all the way to Rome and even beyond it. These individuals, reached for the first time at Pentecost, spread out in all directions like ripples on a pond.

When the Holy Spirit comes in power, what we are to have is not necessarily some particularly intense experience. We don’t have to speak in tongues so that in a miraculous way everybody will hear our words in his or her language. Rather, we need to have a widespread speaking about Jesus. Everyone will hear as the gospel spreads through the testimony of those who are obeying the Great Commission. That is what you and I are called upon to do. That is the task to which the Lord Jesus Christ sends us.

In his book The Incendiary Fellowship, Elton Trueblood describes the character and company of those who are filled by the Holy Spirit. “Incendiary” means “set ablaze.” It refers to Christians themselves. But “incendiary” also means the act of setting other people ablaze. It refers to those in whom the fire of the Holy Spirit is so intense and so meaningful that they just cannot keep the message of the Spirit to themselves. So they speak of Jesus, and, as a result, here and there little fires spring up. And pretty soon there is a great raging fire of revival that spreads across the world. I do not think we have a raging fire in our time, though there are some places in the world where it may be beginning. But there is a fire. The Holy Spirit is working. We need to be part of that working and see the flames spread.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.