Profession AND Possession

In Mark 11, verses 12-14, Jesus does something very interesting:  He curses a fig tree that had no fruit. In the natural this would seem extreme. But Jesus was showing His disciples, then and now, a very important lesson. There are approximately 100 species of trees in the world. The process we are familiar with is a tree bearing leaves first and then bearing fruit. The fig tree, however, is the only tree on this planet in which the sap process works in reverse. The fig tree bears fruit first, leaves second. The fig tree that Jesus cursed had leaves but no fruit. If a fig tree has leaves, it's supposed to have fruit. It was making a profession, but did not have the possession of fruit.

This is a very accurate description of the Pentecostal Church. We have no problem with profession. It is in the possession area that we are depleted. Many people in our churches are professing to be Christians, but possess no transformation of character. They live the same way as they did before professing Christ as Saviour. We are professing the Pentecost experience, in that we are a "Pentecostal movement", but see very little evidence or possession of this reality. If we are to reach this generation, they must see the demonstration of the Spirit's power by their own experience. We MUST have not only profession, but also possession or our lives will be stifled and our fruit non-existent.