Text: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
(Act 2:1-4)
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
(Act 2:22-24)
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
(Act 2:36-41)
Opening Comment: The place was Jerusalem, Israel, in a second or third story room, 120 men and women knelt seeking the power of God. They sought Him through prayer and fasting. They were not worried about time, about money, how they looked, how they smelled or about their hunger pains. They sought the power and the promise, their master gave them. After an undisclosed amount of time, their came a sound suddenly that would forever change their lives and the lives of those they would meet. God entered in and filled them with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. That day 3,120 or so people were born into the kingdom of God.
Flash forward nearly 1,900 years later to an old barn being rented for $50 a month to a black man who was blind in one eye, by the name of William Joseph Seymour. The address of this barn was 312 Azusa St, Los Angeles, CA. People of every race, whether white, black, asian or hispanic, all tarried together in unity for more of God than they have heard of or received in their churches before. Through prayer and fasting the fire fell and many received the baptism of the Holy Ghost over the course of this revival. One of those present that day, Frank Bartleman, wrote “The present worldwide Pentecostal manifestation did not break out in a moment…...There is a necessary time for preparation.” Elsewhere in his book he wrote that it wasn’t until he had given himself to prayer and fasting that he truly experienced Pentecost.
Now look to this night, in this house. How is God going to respond to us? Have we tarried for something more, or come expecting another common service? I know that I have come expecting a move of God and the potential of revival. Jesus said if any two would agree on one thing, it shall be done, anyone else expecting something today? I don’t just want Pentecost to come; I want Pentecost to FULLY come.
Prayer: The Important Part. Pray for the Conviction of God!
Body: As we read in our text, the first sermon of the church was about two to five minutes long. The results were simply amazing 3,000 people repented of their sin, were baptized in the saving name of Jesus Christ and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. When Peter had explained what had taken place in the life of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the people who had gathered asked an important question, one we should all ask, “What shall we do?” This is a question of significance because our whole destiny depends on how we answer that question, one answer will save us, and any other will condemn us. We need only to go back to Peter’s comments in the first sermon to bring clarity to the question.
1) Peter preached Jesus Christ’s life. He talked about who Jesus was. The man who walked on water, the man who gave sight to the blind, the man who healed the sick, the man who raised the dead, he who fed the multitudes, he that turned the water into wine. You see Peter had to give them a glimpse of the divinity of Jesus for them to accept him as the Christ. The world wants to tell you that He never existed, or that if He did, He was only a good teacher or prophet and only a man. But there is an importance in His divinity, because without it, His sacrifice on Mt Calvary would have been as unimportant or unique as the any other death and salvation would never have been brought to mankind.
2) The second essential that Peter told them was that Jesus in fact had been raised from the dead. This is the visible dividing point between Jesus and all of the would-be Messiahs that had already been forgotten about, is that while they remained in the grave, JESUS AROSE!!! You can go to Buddha’s shrine, he’ll still be there; go to Krishna’s tomb, his bones are still there; visit Mohammad’s grave and the corpse will still remain; go to that borrowed garden tomb if you want, but You won’t find Jesus there, because He’s ALIVE!!! I don’t serve a dead master, but I do serve a risen savior! He is master of death, hell and the grave, they have no power over Him. Death couldn’t destroy Him! Hell couldn’t hold Him! The Grave couldn’t keep Him down! Because He is not just alive, he is alive for ever more!
3) They now understood who Jesus was and that he was alive, Peter reminded them that it was them that had crucified the Lord of Glory. They were the ones that had cried unto Pontias Pilate “CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!” You see the Bible says after the Jews had heard from Peter they were pierced to the heart. This is the only place in the New Testament where the Greek word used here, Katanusso, pierced, is used. It depicts something sudden and unexpected, something that stunned them. And they came to the realization that they were overcome by their guilt and unjust behavior before God. Instead of welcoming Jesus and following Him they rejected Him and turned Him over to the Roman authorities to be executed.
Imagine: it would have been bad enough to hear that someone had killed the Messiah, but far worse when they found out that they were implicated in the crime. Could you imagine a greater sin than to have killed the Messiah?
They are not so different from us today. We need to realize that we cried for His crucifixion. With every lie told; every lustful thought imagined; every act of disobedience and rebellion; every dime stolen; every object coveted; every act of murder; with every ‘god’ erected that takes priority over Jesus whether it be house, car or job friends or family; with every ungodly song listened to, with every cursing uttered; with every piercing or other cutting of our flesh; with every vile movie we watch……we still today cry out to crucify Him. We today are still the cause of Calvary. Your sins, MY SINS, both past and present, and heaven forbid the ones we might commit later on; that is what held Him to the cross. The nails wouldn’t have been able to hold Him but His love for us, Him wanting to give us an opportunity to live an eternity with Him, THAT’S why HE went to the cross and that’s the only thing powerful enough to hold Him there.
So we have come to a place where we realize that we have done something wrong. Now What? Conviction comes, then we begin to feel remorse and guilt, we become repentant. That is where those who had heard from Peter had come. Overwhelmed with anguish, despair, remorse and guilt, feeling as if their hearts were about to explode or jump right out of their chests, they asked Peter, what shall we do? They needed release from the bondage of sin. Without conviction one will never see the need they have for a Savior. Today if you feel the tug of conviction at your heart and acknowledge that you have sinned, whether it was today or years ago, and you haven’t yet repented of that sin, today is the day to find release. There is hope!
PETER WHAT MUST I DO??????
Repent- Repentance is the Greek word, Metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o), which is a changing of purpose, a complete change of the direction one is heading and going the opposite way. A person who is truly repentant hates what they have done strongly. They hate sin, not because they were caught, but because they know it to be an offense to God. False repentance dreads the consequences of sin while true repentance dreads sin itself. A person who is truly repentant forsakes their sin and turns and makes a total commitment to live a life please unto Christ Jesus. Pentecost won’t come until repentance blazes the trail first.
Baptism in Jesus’ name- Peter also declared that they must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. First I might need to go to the Greek and mention that the word for baptized is baptizo (baptid’zo) which means to be completely immerged. Ok preacher, what’s that mean? It means that the Bible says that you must be completely and utterly covered by the blood of Jesus for your sins to be remitted. A sprinkle here or splash there isn’t enough; you must be covered, but why? Because we are buried with Him in our baptism and when you bury something you don’t just put a little dirt on it, you cover it. It is baptism that remits or takes away the sin that we have repented of. The world tries to tell us you can have Pentecost without baptism; this is a lie from the pits. While its true that you can receive the Holy Ghost before baptism, in fact I received in just a few minutes before I was baptized, you still have to be baptized to have remission of sin don’t take my word for it, take Jesus’. He said “unless a man be born of the water (baptism) and of the spirit (Holy Ghost), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God…marvel not that I said you MUST be born again!”
Ye Shall Receive The Gift of The Holy Ghost – Peter told them of the life changing gift called the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Jesus living inside of us. It’s the Holy Ghost that will comfort us when we are depressed and needing a release, it’s the Holy Ghost that will sanctify us, it’s the Holy Ghost the will purify us, it’s the Holy Ghost that will make us holy, it’s the Holy Ghost that will save our souls. The Holy Ghost is a gift that continually gives us what we need. If you need love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness or temperance, then you need the Holy Ghost, because these are the fruits of the Spirit. We cannot make it on our own, we need the Holy Ghost in this day that we are living in.
Closing: As the music comes. I want to let you know that Pentecost fully came that day for 3120 of those that were present that day. There were some that heard what Peter had to say and just scoffed at Him and decided to do it their own way. But I am here to let you know that Jesus said anyone who tries to come any other way is the same as a thief and a liar. Some might have repented, and left it at that. Some might have even continued after repentance by getting baptized and walked away. Others might have repented and received the Holy Ghost but not bothered with being baptized…. These experienced a part of Pentecost, but it didn’t FULLY come into their lives…. Saints, new converts, visitors, I must tell all of you the same thing, God is wanting every one of us to have an experience with Him, he wants Pentecost to fully come. Tonight if you are hurting, if you feel that there is no hope or that no one cares; if you tired of attending church without “being in church;” if you are tired of a dual lifestyle, living one way around one group and another way with others; if you feel as though you know God has something more for you but you just haven’t been able to get there on your own, you can come to this altar today and the ministry of this church will pray with you and you can have an experience with a fully come Pentecost tonight. You don’t have to wait until Pentecost Sunday, because were not promised tomorrow anyway, but you can get everything God has to offer tonight. These altars are open.
As Peter told them on that day this gift is not just for you who are gathered around on this day, but it is also for your children, it is available to your friends and family, and to generations yet to come. It is a promise from the Word of God, which we now access right now, the gift of the Holy Ghost was not just for the Jews but it became available to the Gentiles as well. Let’s all enter into prayer and get into one accord in this place, and seek God, and experience a fully-come Pentecost for ourselves.
