It All Began At Pentecost!

It all Began on Pentecost!

Intro:

As we travel thru the book of Acts our first stop will be Acts Chapter two. This is where the Church began.

What was the message of the church?

What was the purpose of the church.

How did the church come about?

How relevant is the church?

All these questions and more will be examined

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

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.[b]" 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel

A. It happened on the day of Pentecost: The day of Pentecost is the 50th day after the Passover or Easter. On Sunday

morning, Jesus was resurrected from the dead and 50 days later we have Pentecost: Lets take a look at what happened on

this day.

1. In Acts 1 it tells us that including the Apostles, there were 120 gathered in an upper room. The word tells us they were filled

with the Spirit.

2. This was an miraculous indwelling of the Holy Spirit – began to speak in tongues.

a). In the infant church, they did not have the full complete revelation of The word of God. God thru miracles and speaking in

tongues confirmed the truth the Jesus was the Son of God and produced faith. These miracles were in part until the full

complete revelation of Gods Word would be revealed. “Now, Faith comes thru Hearing and Hearing by the word of God”

Romans 10:17 God used miraculous indwelling of the Spirit to usher in His Church.

b). There are those in the religious world that think they have a corner on the power of the Holy Spirit, Then on the opposite

extreme there are those that operate on their own intellectual power rather than the power of the Holy Spirits Power.

One time a young preacher was sharing the fact that we need “it”. “It” meaning the Holy Spirit. An older preacher

answered, “He is not an it. He is He – a person! To which another fellow at the meeting remarked, “I don’t care what you call

you call Him as long as We have Him and He has us”

B. The early Church was brought into existence thru the power of God and could do nothing without the empowering, infilling and

leading of the Holy Spirit

1. The “average church” and the “average Christian are bogged down somewhere between Calvary and Pentecost.

2. They have been to Calvary for pardon but not to Pentecost for power!

3. Bethlehem equals God with us, Calvary means God for us, and Pentecost means God in us!

C. In a recent popular magazine it reports the statistic data showing the decline of the American Christian Church.

Churches today operate on mans abilities rather than God’s power.. We are more worried about offending a member of the

church than the member of the Godhead.

1. The ushering in of the church of our Lord knew nothing of prayerless pews and lame excuses.

2. The early Church began in that upper Room with about 120. They were in one accord, in one place lead by one Spirit.

3. Speaking of Gideon and his men, the bible says, “and they stood every man in his place round the camp. Judges 7:21

4. What if Gideon and his men and what if the Apostles and other disciples had responded as we often do in today’s church? I