The Birth Of A Supernatural Body Series

Pentecost: The Birth of a Supernatural Body: Acts 2:1-13

OUTLINE:

I. The Supernatural Signs and Setting (1-4)

1. Like Wind: (Ezek. 37:9, 13, John 3:8)

2. Like Fire: (Matt. 3:11, Ex. 3: 2)

II. Supernatural Spirit-Enabled Speech (5-13)

1. The SPEECH was a SIGN of the promised baptism of the Spirit. (Acts 1:5)

2. Sent to an international body of believers to share a message with the world.

3. Sent as an understandable message of the mighty works of God.

III. The Supernatural Spirit

1. A unifying Spirit for Christ’s Spiritual Body (John 17:20, 1 Cor 6:17)

2. The Unified Body of Christ is FILLED with the Spirit. (Eph.5)

3. Provides a Unified Purpose and Goal to Proclaim the Mighty Works of God:

Born of God, filled with life FROM God, sent BY God with a MESSAGE about the Mighty Works OF God.

Last week we witnessed Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven, which was not Jesus’ final destination, but His return to His Heavenly home. Ten days later on Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks, 7 weeks after Passover) Jesus keeps the promise that the Father would send His Spirit to walk with every believer.

Now listen to the Word of God in Acts 2:1: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. (probably the 120 of them from Acts 1:15) 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

I like to think of Pentecost as the birth of the Church, the birth of the Spiritual Body of Christ. The church is a kind of first fruits of the full harvest of all the redeemed. The promised Spirit arrives as a first fruit guarantee of our full future inheritance. It is the breath of God coming to believers. It’s the living breathing spiritual work of God from heaven that comes down into the lives of believers on this day.

Romans 8:9 says: However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. So this is not an experience you seek or chase. This is not something for which you qualify or are worthy: It is part of the salvation given by God.

The Supernatural Signs and Setting (1-4)

The Spirit of the Living God comes with Supernatural Signs and Setting so that you can’t mistake that it is EXTRA-ORDINARY; It is a God-THING. The Spirit at Pentecost comes Like Wind- actually it resembles a blast equal to a hurricane or tornado of cyclonic proportion! It’s a wind that would blow you away…This is not a gust of hot air like we get in UT but an undeniable POWER FROM God HIMSELF from Heaven. How could you expect anything less from the very Heavenly Holy Spirit of the Living God? It comes from Heaven, where God lives; it is where Jesus ascended to reign. This is the Person of the Spirit of God coming in power from His throne room. John 3:8 says: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (See also Ezek. 37:9, 13) The BREATH OF THE SPIRIT blows away the old life, blows away the chaff, but makes life new for those who receive the Lord Jesus.

The Spirit of God comes from Heaven Like Fire: It is Heavenly Holy Cleansing and Power (John the Baptist said in Matt. 3:11: "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.) Physical fire consumes that which it burns. This was not PHYSICAL fire but spiritual fire and the tongues of flames were evident to prove that the Lord Jesus sent this Spirit. It was the presence of God come from heaven to earth to cleanse and empower everyone who believer. He comes and rests upon those whom He saves.

In Exodus 3: 2 we read of a first that did not consume physically but resembled the very presence of God: “The angel of the LORD appeared to him (Moses) in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."