Focus: Our Main Needs

Text: Act.2:38

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the REMISSION OF SINS, and ye shall receive the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST."

We all have needs. Yes, we have needs in different areas of our lives! And sometimes these needs are pressing and choking us. But of all our human needs two are basic, and they are the needs for PARDON and POWER. The two needs require divine solutions, and the good news is that God has provided for them from different points.

1. The need for pardon

The burden and guilt of sin weigh down the soul. Sin binds and blinds, and even deadens the senses. Sin entices and then enslaves. It fascinates and then assassinates. It traps and then slays. And from the Garden of Eden man has borne the brunt of sin. Paul cried out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom.7:24).

Calvary is our good news. On the cross of Calvary our need for pardon was provided. It is there that we have received the remission of our sins. On that cross, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them…" (Lk.23:34). In Christ we are free from the shackles of sin. Our need for pardon is met. God says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you…" (Ex.12:13). Hallelujah! Amen.

2. The need for power

Power is a fundamental need in our world. No one can afford to live here without some kind of power. In this world there are forces of darkness and evil. Satan and his demons operate here. Evil men with evil hearts abound here. The old serpent of Eden is still here. So the power we need is not ordinary or mere human ability. We are not looking for physical, psychological, political, economic, religious, academic or any powers of this sort. No, not at all! Paul tells us what we are up against in this fallen world of ours. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph.6:12). What we need is the supernatural power of God. In Act.8, when Simon the sorcerer, who was acclaimed as "the great power of God," saw the real power of God in action, he said to Peter, "Give me this power also…" And that's the power we need - the power of God. This is the only power Satan and his agents bow to. The power of God is the greatest power in the universe.

Pentecost is our good news. On the day of Pentecost God provided us with the power we desperately needed. Jesus says to his disciples, "But ye shall receive POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…" (Act.1:8). That's the Holy Ghost power - the divine dynamite of God. It is the power that is both explosive and constructive. It is the prevailing power of God - a living reality inside us. By the Spirit the believer is loaded with power to run Satan and his cohorts out of business and fulfill the mandate of God upon his life here on earth. Hallelujah! Amen.

And that's it - Calvary for pardon and Pentecost for power. In Christ and by the Holy Spirit our needs for pardon and power are met. God SAVES us by the cross of Christ and STRENGTHENS us by the Spirit of Pentecost. And this is the difference Christianity makes in our lives and in our world.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter