"Pentecost--United In Understanding, Truth, & Love"

Pentecost Sermon May, 2008

Únited in Understanding, Truth, and Love

By the Rev. John Donnelly

There is an old joke that says,” God so loved the world—THAT HE DID NOT SEND A COMMITTEE.’

· Indeed, God so loved the world that he did not send a committee—He sent His So, Jesus Christ.

· But after His son ascended to heaven, he left a committee in charge .

· This committee included not only the original 12, but also hundreds of other followers of Christ---most of whom had abandoned Him in his hour of need.

Fifty days after the first Easter, Christ had ascended to heaven and these paragons of courage were hiding together, for fear that what happened on Good Friday to Jesus might happen to them.

· If we could see slide # 1—God released the Holy Spirit from heaven, which descended upon the disciples like a tornado of wind.

· Slide # 2 There space was invaded by something ---

· Slide 3 & 4---They were filled with joy and excitement, and they left that room as totally changed people…as people who were no longer afraid, but as people fired up for the Lord.

HOW DID THIS CHANGE COME ABOUT? WELL, WHEN WE EXAMINE THE SCRIPTURE READINGS, WHICH WE JUST HEAD TODAY, WE SEE THREE SPECIFIC ACTIONS THAT OCCURRED WHICH BROUGH ABOUT THAT CHANGE.

· Would you please get out your gray insert from your service sheet, and look at page one?

PENTECOST SUNDAY SERMON NOTES

One of the most incredible works of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, was that the Holy Spirit supernaturally facilitated mutual understanding between people who spoke different languages.

UNDERSTOOD ONE ANOTHER

A.) GREAT DIVERSITY OF PEOPLE

Let’s look at the scripture verse in Section A of the “Understood one another “ section. “Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from all nations under heaven.”

· So, the setting is that hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world had come to Jerusalem for the Jewish Thanksgiving Holiday called Pentecost, from which our Christian celebration of Pentecost gets its name. gets its name. This was the central holiday for thanksgiving, and the town was packed like Disney World.

· These people most have spoken twenty or more different languages.

· The Holy Spirit falls upon the disciples, they ran out into the streets, and they are yelling and jumping and telling everybody that Jesus had risen from the dead. BUT, they were speaking in Aramaic, a language not understood by thousands of the tourists.

B.) HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS THEM TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER

So, as we read in the verse in point B---“…a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.”

· Notice that they came together not because of the fire, not because of the wind, and not even because the disciples were talking about Jesus. They came together because they could understand what the disciples were saying. They could understand one another. Mutual understanding is a key work of the Holy Spirit.

Next, the 2nd major work of the Holy Spirit was that the disciples were unified in the truth.

· On the night befoe he died, Jesus spent about 4 hours teaching the disciples about the Holy Spirit. Now, even after all that, most of them were still clueless.

· But Jesus predicted exactly what would happen.

Would you a’’ please join me in reading the scripture verse in point # 2, part A?

UNIFIED IN THE TRUTH

A.) JAD reads JESUS MAKES A PREDICTION Now together, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

B.) So, HOW IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN?? Verse B Point #1 1.) "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."

· Okay, Bible scholars---this is the night before Good Friday. Can one you, in the congregation, tell us what Jesus is talking about???? In Verse B point # 1??

So, Jesus then goes on to explain the truth in point # 2)--- “ I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” You will grieve…… “ then moving to point# 3) “…..but your grief will turn to joy.”

· And appropriately enough, on this Mother’s day, Jesus describes this joy as being similar to the joy of motherhood, saying ---- A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So it will be with you, and moving to the underlined section, Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy