Enabled By The Fire And The Wind Of Pentecost. Series

THE SUNDAY IN THE SEASON OF PENTECOST

THE MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY THE 3RD OF JUNE, 2001

THE TEXT .....ACTS 2:1-11

PRAYER...MAY THE WORDS OF GOD AND HIS MESSAGE SPOKEN THIS HOUR BE BOTH A WORD OF COMFORT AND CHALLENGE

WE PRAY THAT IT WILL CHALLENGE THOSE WHO ARE COMFORTABLE

AND COMFORT ALL THOSE WHO ARE BEING CHALLENGED THIS DAY.

INTRODUCTION;;; Our Reading Today is taken from the Book of The Acts of The Apostles.

ACTS 2: 1-4 TELLS US THAT When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue of fire rested on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

VERSES 5-11 CONTINUES....And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

Amazed and astonished, they asked, ? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language,,, we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power."

The disciples of Jesus experienced - fifty days after his ascension, a profound change in their lives. AND IT started - after the fire and the wind touched them, entered them AND ENABLED THEM to do things that they had never done before.

IT HAPPENED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST..

The Day of Pentecost ushered in a new age, the age of the Spirit - the age of new life - for all people.

It happened when they went from believing in forgiveness to showing forgiveness,

It happened when they went from believing that God would protect them to actually venturing forth from the SECURITY OF THE upper room into the danger filled streets of Jerusalem.

It happened when they went from thinking about what Jesus had said, to proclaiming what he said - in word -and in deed.

There is a mysterious moment in our all of lives - a moment when belief comes alive -

A moment when our thinking about the promises that God has made becomes in us a transforming faith -

A moment when ideas suddenly move our minds and our hearts, move our feet and our hands, our mouths and our lips in a new and a life giving way.

A moment WHEN the fruit of the Holy Spirit , brings us closer to God - and closer to one another.

IT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST..

We READ last week from , the Gospel according to Luke, WHICH dealt with Jesus teaching HIS DISCIPLES IN (Acts 1:1)

WE noticed that JESUS mentioned SEVERAL things the apostles needed if they were to be the kind of WITNESSES/REPRESENT through which THEY could do his work and speak his word.

AN OPERATIVE WORD TODAY IS REPRESENT, WHICH MEANS

TO STAND FOR SOMEONE,

TO ACT IN PLACE OF

TO SERVE OR BE LIKE

TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF

TO BE A WITNESS FOR CHRIST IS TO REPRESENT CHRIST

WHEN YOU GET A JOB .YOU GET COMPENSATED TO PROMOTE/REPRESENT THAT JOB OR EMPLOYER..

SO IN THE NATURAL When you are HIRED to / WITNESS OR represent you represent..

AND IN THE SPIRITUAL, YOU ARE CALLED IN ORDER TO REPRESENT /WITNESS FOR GOD.

YOU ARE HIS WITNESS, CALLED TO REPRESENT HIM NOT YOUR SELF.

BUT IN ORDER TO REPRESENT CHRIST THE DISCIPLES..

A....First they needed a Spirit-BLESSED commissioning from the Lord. So verse 2 says he gave them commandment , TO GO OUT AND BE /REPRESENT WITNESS OF ME...

B...Second, they needed verification that Jesus was really alive and triumphant over death. So verse 3a says that Jesus presented himself to them alive after his death with many proofs appearing to them for forty days.

C.... Third, they needed more instruction about the kingdom of God. So verse 3b says that he spent time during those forty days between his resurrection and ascension speaking to them of the kingdom of God.

That’s where we stopped last week. But verses 4 and 5 go on to show that there is another crucial thing that the apostles needed in order to be the most effective WITNESSES in the hands of the living Jesus.

They needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

VERSE # 4....And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me, VERSE # 5...for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

YOU SEE,,,,Three years earlier John the Baptist led the Jewish people by calling them to repent and receive forgiveness for their sins and be baptized as a sign of their new relationship to God (Luke 3:3).