Thesis: The Holy Spirit was given for the last days!
I Introduction
A One day when Charlie Brown stops at the psychiatric help stand to talk with Lucy. He confesses, "My trouble is I never know if I’m doing the right thing. I need to have someone around who can tell me when I’m doing the right thing." Lucy says, "Okay. You’re doing the right thing. That’ll be five cents, please!" Charlie Brown walks away with a smile on his face.
In a few minutes, he returns with a frown. "Back already?" asks Lucy. "What happened?" Charlie Brown
says, "I was wrong. It didn’t help. You need more in life than just having someone around to tell you
when you’re doing the right thing." Lucy says, "Now you’ve really learned something! That’ll be another
five cents please." (William G. Carter, Water Won’t Quench The Fire, CSS Publishing Company, 1996.)
B How many times I myself I have thought the same thing. If only I had someone around to tell me I was doing the right thing. How many times I have wished God would write it on the wall for me so that I would know what I should do, the right thing to do. But like Charlie Brown I have found it isn’t knowing the right thing to do it doing the right thing.
1 The Apostles understood this. They had been told the right thing to do. They had been told what was going to happen but that didn’t help. Peter still denied Christ three times. The Disciples still ran away and hid in fear. They still doubted when they heard that Christ had risen from the grave. They had known the right things to do but it didn’t help, they were still powerless to do the right things.
2 And so at the ascension Christ promised them, not only would they know the right thing to do but he would give them the power by which to do the right things.
C TURN WITH ME IF YOU WILL TO THIS MORNINGS TEXT Acts 2:1-4, 14-21
II Pentecost
A Fifty days had passed since the resurrection had passed, ten days since the ascension and the disciples for once are doing exactly what Christ told them to do. They are waiting in Jerusalem to receive a package of some kind from him that enable them to do what they should do. They didn’t know what to expect. They didn’t know what they were waiting for. All they knew is that Christ told them to wait and so they waited and prayed. For ten days they had been praying. It must have been a time of tears, repentance. A time of emptying themselves of their past, their fears and failures and it must of begun to get a little old and frustrating.
1 Think about. Christ told them to wait but he didn’t say how long they were suppose to wait. I mean you and I have trouble waiting thirty seconds for an elevator to arrive. I mean we are standing there pushing that button the whole time wondering when in the heck is this thing going to get here. This is the slowest elevator ever. I could have walked up there and back by now, we could have you know. We could have just walked up that flight of stairs to our destination but we don’t we just stand there pushing that button getting more and more impatient as the milliseconds pass.
2 The disciples though had diligently been waiting for ten days. Can you imagine the whispers that must of begun. “We did hear Jesus right. He did say wait in Jerusalem and he would send us something right?!” “How long do you think we are going to have to wait.” I mean I’ve got crops to bring in, fish to catch. I have a family waiting. How much longer?” Some were probably ready to give up, ready to leave. Some were still praying and waiting. Some were probably beginning to doubt, beginning to question themselves. Did he really say wait? Did I really see him after he had died? Is he really alive? Others remembering Jesus’ appearances had the faith to quietly wait.
B Outside their hidden sanctuary all of Jerusalem was gathering. The diaspora jews from all over the world had journeyed home to celebrate Pentecost. That’s right Penetcost was a Jewish holiday even before resurrection.
1 It was the Feast of Weeks, a celebration of grain harvest and the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. Most Jews did come to Jerusalem for Passover due to the weather and so when Pentecost came around it became a mecca of sorts with everyone coming to Jerusalem gathering together to celebrate. It was the second most important event of the Jewish calendar held fifty days after Passover. Hence Pentecost which means fifty.
2 What an amazing time for the manifestation of the God’s power, when all of Jerusalem was filled with people from all over the world. What better time for God’s work to begin then when the streets were filled with potential witness.
C And then in one dramatic moment so indescribable that Luke can only say it was like wind that rushed in with so much power and might and blew open the windows and doors without knocking anything over. So powerful it rushed it with a roaring whirl – and you thought the wind was pretty powerful a couple of weeks ago at First Friday - with a power whoosh the holy spirit exploded upon the scene like fire radiating throughout the group, encompassing all who were they. Engulfing the disciple of Christ with power, joy and faith.
1 It was so dramatic that we are tempted to believe that it was the event of the Spirit coming into being on that day. But nothing was further from the truth for the Holy Spirit had been here since the beginning of time. The work and activity holy spirit is evident throughout the Old Testament. It is frequently described in the Gospels working in the events of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Holy Spirit was in the beginning, was God, is God. The Holy spirit wasn’t inoperative before this time. But with the coming of Pentecost with the whoosh of the wind and the lighting of the flames the work of the Holy spirit changed.
2 In the old testament the Holy Spirit was seen only in the lives of the prophets, priests and kings. But now in an instant, in an indescribable moment the holy spirit has descended upon, employed within, empowered within the body of all who believed. It was nothing less than the supernatural power of the living God manifested within the limits of time and space.
3 It is impossible to describe, to understand. It easy to get caught up in this image of power and see the disciples as transformed into some sort of spiritual supermen dashing off into a phone booth ripping off their outward appearances to reveal a physically enhanced red and blue caped superheroes of spiritual proportion.
4 They were the same ordinary, everyday people they had been moments before only they were now consumed by burning desire to do God’s will, to witness in his name, to praise and worship him, to bring glory and honor to his name.
5 I mean they are so consumed by this fire that they are giddy. I can only imagine there was uncontrollable laughter of joy, hugging, shouting so much so that people thought they were drunk.
D And this once timid man who denied Jesus as his friend is now standing on the street corner shouting and witnessing to the power of God.
1 Look back with me if you will to verse 14…..these men are not drunk
a Peter is saying these men can’t be drunk it is only 9:00 in the morning. Now that doesn’t mean much in our day. But it meant something to the Jews of that day. On holy days like Pentecost, the Festival of Weeks, Jews rarely ate or drank before 12:00 noon. It was highly improbable for these men to be drunk.
b Verse 16 – Peter is saying don’t you get it. This is what was prophecised over 800 years old by Joel. This is nothing new or strange. This is exactly what our God,, the God of Israel promised would happen. “In the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people.” What God said he would do he has done!
2 Read that one more time and notice the words carefully. “In the last days…” That which we speak so much of today. That which has become an obsession in books, like the Left Behind series and the late Great Planet earth has already happened. Pentecost ushered in the last days. We are living in the last days. Over the next several weeks we will be talking about what it means to be living in the end of times. The end of time began over 1,970 years ago but it still has not been fully fulfilled.
a Notice Peter goes on to say There will be blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood. It didn’t happen that day. In fact it has happened as of yet.
b But the spirit has come, and Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. The spirit has been given so that we, you and I might live out in the last days with power, confidence, joy and faith.
E We have been empowered by the spirit. But how do we get it. We do what the disciple did
1 We listen to the word of God as revealed in Jesus Christ
2 We obey him.
3 We wait patiently on him
4 We pray each day asking for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 5:18 Paul writes: “Be filled with the Spirit” “Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are those who crave it, who are willing to change anything the Lord requires, who are willing to serve as the Lord commands. We should be unwilling to live a single day without being refueled by spirit of the Almighty God. (Sermon Central)
III Closing
A Peter and a 120 disciples proclaimed the message of the power of the Holy Spirit and 3000 where saved on that day. In less than 300 years that small insignificant sect of dispersed Jews grew to one billion believers in Jesus Christ.
1 Now the way I figure it. In truth there are over 60 people in this church who could become or who are enflamed with the Holy Spirit. Now I realize that isn’t 120 disciples locked in a room in Jerusalem. But if 120 can grow to over 3000 in one day surely we can grow 1500 over a couple of years. Impossible you say – the disciples would have said it was impossible to grow 3000 in a day
B In West Texas during the Depression. Mr. Ira Yates was like many other ranchers and farmers. He had a lot of land, and a lot of debt. He wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage. He was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) they lived on government subsidy.
1 Day after day, as Ira grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
2 At 1,115 feet they struck oil. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
3 And Mr. Yates owned it all and had owned it all for years. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been verge of poverty and despair while all the while he was sitting on multimillion dollar heritage of resources. (Sermon Central)
4 It is fair to say that you and I are a lot like Mr. Yates at times. We are heirs of a vast treasure and yet we live in spiritual poverty. We are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, and yet we live unaware of our birthright, unable to let go of doing things our way to let the Holy Spirit lead through life his way.
5 TURN THE PAGE
C Folks It is a time to open up to the mind-blowing, heart-warming, life-changing power of God.
The power of God that can invade the body, inflate the mind,
swell the soul, lift the Spirit and make us more than we ever imagined.
It’ll make you young when you’re old, and it’ll make you live even when you die.
The power and presence of the Spirit will disturb, delight, deliver and lift.
When God sends forth the Spirit, "the whole face of the earth is renewed."
When God sends forth the Spirit chaos is changed into creation the Red Sea opens up to a highway of freedom.
When God sends forth the Spirit:A young woman says "Yes".Jesus is born and life is never the same.
When God sends forth the Spirit amazing things happen:
1 barriers are broken,
communities are formed,
opposites are reconciled,
unity is established,
disease is cured,
addiction is broken,
cities are renewed,
races are reconciled,
hope is established,
people are blessed,
and church happens.
2 Today the Spirit of God is present in this church.
So be ready, get ready...
discouraged folks cheer up,
dishonest folks ’fess up,
sour folks sweeten up,
closed folk, open up,
gossipers shut up,
conflicted folks make up,
sleeping folks wake up,
lukewarm folk, fire up,
dry bones shake up,
and pew potatoes stand up!
For Christ the Savior of all the world is has been lifted up and the spirit of God has empowered you! (from Sermon Central)
In verses 17-21, Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32.
1. You can look it up for yourself in your Bible and see the exact Scripture that Peter was using.
2. The first part of that quote from Joel says, "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people."
3. And Peter said that what had just happen (the descending of the HS with the tongues of fire and sound of the violent wind and the speaking in unknown languages) was what the prophet Joel was foretelling.
4. Peter was telling the assembled religious crowd that was there for the Feast of Weeks that God had just poured out His Spirit like He had said He would through the prophet Joel.
5. The crowd was God-fearing and believed in the God of the OT.
6. They knew and believed the OT Scriptures.
7. They knew this passage from the Prophet Joel.
8. Peter told them that this passage that they were well aware of was being fulfilled before their very eyes.
9. God had prophesied hundreds of years ago that in the last days, He would pour out His Spirit and this Feast of Weeks (a.k.a. the Day of Pentecost) God was fulfilling that prediction.
C. So we can take it from this that the last days began on this Day of Pentecost.
1. Joel said this would happen in the last days.
2. Peter said it was being fulfilled.
3. Therefore the last days began about 1970 years ago on the first day of Pentecost after Christ was crucified, resurrected, and returned to heaven.
II. The last days will end when Christ returns
the last days will end when Christ returns.
Peter is no longer afraid; he stands with the twelve; they support what he is saying; ministry is almost always done as a team
His sermon ushers in the last days
God says – not Peter says – what Joel said was what God said --- while what God said may have been somewhat enigmatic when first uttered, in the light of what has just happened it is clarified.
9:00 in the morning – on holy days it was very common for Jews to wait until very late to eat or drink therefore the reference to 9 suggests it would be very unlike they were drunk however , peter agrees that the disciples were filled but it was with the Holy Spirit not wine. He moves on quickly to say that trhis was a fulfillment of prophecy in Joel.
The phrase “in the last days” found in Peter’s quotations from Joel does not occur in the Hebrew or Septuagint texts but instead we find the readings afterwards or after these things. Obviously Peter made an alteration in order to show that what happened on the day of Pentecost could be nothing less than the beginning of the end time. Since Joel had said God’s people would receive his Spirit just before the day of judgment the spirit of prophecy now manifest in the Christian community convinced Peter that the age to come was present.
The jews of the Dispersion those who lived in all parts of the known world outside Palestine, did not customarily attend the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem due to the unfavorable weather conditions at that season of the year. They usually waited until the Feast of Pentecost and participated with the Palestinian Jews in the festivities for that occasion. Thus Pentecost was the next important event on jewish calendar after Passover. It was strictly an agricultural feast commemorating the terminato of the grain harvest. According to Levitical law the waiving of the sheaf of barley in the Temple on the sixteenth day of Nisan celebrated the beginning of the annual grain harvest. Jews counted the days after this ritual and on the fiftieth day they observed Shabuoth Feast of Weeks. In Hellenistic Jewish circles it was known as Pentecost which in Greek means fiftieth. Jerusalem was filled with Jews from all lands temporarily residing in the city and environs. What a strategic time for the manifestation of God’s power in the community of believers.
The author of Acts presents the coming of the Holy Spirit in such a dramatic manner that one could assume thtat the Spirit came into being on that day. However, Luke does not mean to convey. He is fully aware of the activity and inspiriational power of the HS in the Old Testament era and does not attempt to glass over this fact. Futhermore in his Gospel he frequently associates the HS with events in the life of Jesus. Thus we cannot say that Luke implies that God’ Spirit was inoperative before this day.
In the old testament the possession of God’s spirit appears to be generally restricted to individuals such as prophets, priests and kings. NOW the possession of the gift of the Spirit is offered to all.
Symbols of the Spirit Luke describes the coming of the SPiirt by two symbols. There was a sumbol of sound the rush of a mighty wind. Apparently, it was this sound that brought the multitudes together. There was also a symbol fo sight tongues as of fire. The people heard something and they saw something. With two sense of men involved in the experience it would be hard to discredit the reality of some kind of supernatural occurrence.
Luke doesn’t say it was fire he said it was like tongues of fire – a distributive force moving out upon the disciples emanating form a single flame.
Speaking in tongues – words which all persons could understand – not the same kind of speaking in tongues that is unintelligible. – this understanding was symbolic of the universality of the gospel.
Some people responded favorably some did not saying they were simply drunken fanatics.
The work of the holy spirit. He takes our lack of faith, our doubts, our fears our inabilities an dhe transforms them and gives us the words, the knowledge and the truth when we need it.
Sometimes it is easier to look elsewhere for our security and approval. Like the day when Charlie Brown stopped at the psychiatric help stand to talk with Lucy. He confesses, "My trouble is I never know if I’m doing the right thing. I need to have someone around who can tell me when I’m doing the right thing." Lucy says, "Okay. You’re doing the right thing. That’ll be five cents, please!" Charlie Brown walks away with a smile on his face.
In a few minutes, he returns with a frown. "Back already?" asks Lucy. "What happened?" Charlie Brown says, "I was wrong. It didn’t help. You need more in life than just having someone around to tell you when you’re doing the right thing." Lucy says, "Now you’ve really learned something! That’ll be another five cents please."
William G. Carter, Water Won’t Quench The Fire, CSS Publishing Company, 1996.
ome with me into West Texas during the Depression. Mr. Ira Yates was like many other ranchers and farmers. He had a lot of land, and a lot of debt. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on a government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it.
It is fair to say that you and I are a lot like Mr. Yates at times. We are heirs of a vast treasure and yet we live in spiritual poverty. We are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, and yet we live unaware of our birthright. We gather today to remember how rich we are.
Rev. Dan Rondeau "Come, Holy Spirit"
Peter did not say this was the fulfillment of the Joel prophency He is saying Why do you think this is something odd or something strange. We have prophecy that says these things are going to come to pass.
I don’t think that anyone would claim that on the Day of Pentecost the moon was turned to bood or that the sun was turned to darkness…Nor were there wonders of heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. Nor was there blood and fire and a vapor of smoke…Joel 2:28-32 has not been fulfilled to this day. If we turn back to the book of joel, we will find that he hade a great deal to say about the day of the Lord The day of the Lord will begin with the Great Tribulation Period. It will go on through the Millennium In three chapters of the book of joel the day of the lord is mentioned five times. Joe talks about the fact that it is a time of war, a time of judgment onupon the earth. That has not yet been fulfilled. It was not fulfilled on the day of penetecost. J. Vernon McGhee Thru the Bible Commentary Series.
Drunkedness at 9 was something that was not possible in the old testament days --- unfortunately the argument wouldn’t hold up in today’s society.
As we read the account in the book of Acts, it is obvious Luke cannot find adequate words to describe the event. "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 rested on each of them" (Acts 2:2-3). It was nothing less than the power of the living God, the Holy Spirit, coming into the midst of the followers of Jesus.
It is important to note that while Luke has difficulty wrapping mere words around the Holy Spirit in order to show us a recognizable shape, he speaks clearly about the result of the coming of the Holy Spirit. These terrified followers of Jesus were transformed into courageous witnesses of the Christ. From men and women too frightened to appear on the city streets, these people were transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit into fearless preachers willing to sacrifice their lives. Peter, the apostle who denied he even knew Jesus on the night of the Master’s arrest, took his stand on the curb of a Jerusalem street and preached a sermon so convincing that 3,000 people were converted to the cause of Christ.
In other words, the Holy Spirit is New Wine and it cannot make you drunk. The Spirit will not cloud your mind, it won’t cause you to talk stupidly, it won’t make you an unsafe driver, and it won’t give you a hangover. The disciples were not inebriated, but rather filled with God the Holy Spirit. They had not imbibed on the fruit of the vine, nor had they drunk the nectar of the gods, but they had been filled with the Divine Nectar, the New Wine from heaven. This Spirit will be a new wine, for all occasions, for all people.
And this precious promise of the Holy Spirit came in a particular and specific way as well. It was 50 days after the resurrection, ten days after the ascension, in the upper room, in Jerusalem, some time before 9 a.m. with the waiting disciples.
Still we speak of the presence of the Holy Spirit using metaphors like “air” and “wind” and “living water” and as “fire,” “balm,” “oil” or even as a “dove.” As an expression of God the Spirit is not impersonal, the Spirit is a He or a She and never an IT! The Spirit advocates for us, intervenes for us, comforts us and blesses us with His presence. No object has that power. Wind and air and water and fire have power. In that way the Spirit may be described as an “invisible force” but we need to know that the Spirit also “knows.”
We have to consider thoughtfully how we describe a power that changes lives; that comforts and directs, that convicts and afflicts, that beckons and drives away, that strengthens, disciplines, teaches, reveals, transforms, helps, unifies, and humbles those that know His power.
You are “empowered” with the holy spirit.
We often speak to the Holy Spirit in the experience of the death of a loved one. It is the deepest form of loss. What we say about the comfort of the Holy Spirit at times of such loss presents the greatest gift of the church as life is in the midst of death. How can we bear the prospect of death without the courage and comfort imparted by the Holy Spirit?
Speaking to the Holy Spirit, calling His presence into our lives as people and as families and as churches opens the greatest gift of presence that we can begin to imagine. We have an advocate that listens to our deepest yearnings and then responds with power.
Nothing else was said for the rest of the walk. As they parted the student said, “Good bye, Sir, I’ve so much enjoyed our talk.”
We are invited into a relationship with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is not a trick or a tactic or a manipulation by God. We respond in faith through Jesus Christ to God’s love and it is that faith in God’s grace that empowers our invitation, “Come, Holy Spirit, Come!”
A Holy presence sanctifies us by “writing the commandments of God on our hearts.” Who can be changed without the power of an inward witness. What conscience can be changed without a word of truth understood? We are spoken to by the Spirit of God and that Spirit works in us to call us to our vocation, to our sanctification and to our eternal state.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit calls us to defy the values and comforts of our culture. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying to others.
The disciples had gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus had instructed them not to leave Jerusalem…to wait for the gift that the Father had promised. So the disciples waited. It was now 50 days since Passover and it was the custom of the Jews to celebrate two things at this time: the first fruits of the Harvest and the giving of the Law. They called it the Harvest of Weeks. So the disciples find them selves surrounded by travelers from all over the world. The Jews had come back home to participate in this agricultural and religious Festival. Some had come form Europe, some from Asia, and some from Africa. Many different nationalities and languages could be seen in the market places. And then it happened.
At Pentecost the disciples were given the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. They were given power. It is hard sometimes to relate to a concept of spiritual power. Too often, I fear, we get the misconception that when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they became spiritual supermen. Nothing could be further from the truth. These men had far less talent, creativity, resources, and education than the people sitting in this room this morning. What they did have was compulsion. It was this motivation that thrust these dozen men out into the world with a message of redemption and by the end of the first century over a half million people had been brought under the Christian banner. That I submit to you is power.
But how do we experience the Holy Spirit? How do we experience this power? The pastor of a large urban congregation once polled his people and discovered that 92% said they believed in the reality of Christ, but only 50% said that they had experienced that reality in their life. How about you? Have you ever experienced the reality of Christ? How can we experience the power of the Holy Spirit?
when was the last time you left the church feeling so joyful, so out of control, that someone who didn’t know you might think you were drunk?
On a windy, spring day, when the howling gusts of wind sent even the sturdiest pigeons fluttering for cover, a four-year-old girl asked her Mother, "Mommy, can I go out and play with the wind?"
"Sure, sweetheart," her mother replied. "Go have fun." Then she stood at the kitchen window and watched as the little girl twisted and twirled and swirled in dizzying circles. She swung her arms and twisted around and around as she laughed joyously, dancing with the wind, rejoicing in the gift of life. Isn’t that the way the church is supposed to be?
More people came to a saving knowledge of Christ at Pentecost (3000) than at jesus resurrection and ascension (500)
In Hebrew the word for wind and spirit is the same--"Ruach." That mighty wind of the Spirit blew out from them cobwebs of fear and uncertainty. Then came an inrushing of confidence, faith, and joy.
Remember that the official symbol of the United Methodist Church is a pentecostal flame and a cross. Our mission is to tell and live a cross-centered gospel, empowered and taught by the Holy Spirit. Our founder John Wesley said, "The renewal of the soul, after the image of God...can never be wrought in us except by the power of the Holy Spirit."
On the day of Pentecost the disciples thrust open those closed doors they had been hiding behind. They poured out into the streets. Isn’t it time we stopped hiding and bust out of these doors!
FIRST, ASK EACH DAY FOR A FRESH INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. In Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, Paul issues this command:
"Be filled with the Spirit." Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are those who crave it, who are willing to change anything the Lord requires, who are willing to serve as the Lord commands. We should be unwilling to live a single day without being refueled by Almighty God
The prolific writer Lyle E. Schaller was asked some time ago, "Isn’t the hope of the United Methodist Church the young adult?" He replied, "No, that’s heresy. The hope of the United Methodist Church is the Holy Spirit." Our hope in the Holy Spirit if we let him. The hope of this church is HS
Pentecost was and is a Jewish feast day celebrating two
things. Called "Pesech" or "Pentecost" because it follows fifty days
after Passover and the High Holy Days, Pentecost was first a
celebration of the first harvesting of summer fruits. It anticipates
the later, greater harvest of the autumn season. Pentecost also in
later times came to be a commemoration of the giving of the law to
Moses on Sinai. Devout Jews praised God for giving guidance to all
mankind on how to live lives of order and righteousness.
So what did they do? Did they spend their time watching TV. No, they spent their time in prayer – in preparation.
In Acts 1:14 we read:
“They all joined together, constantly in prayer”
The first principle for success in the spiritual harvest isconsulting and obeying Jesus
After giving his disciples the Great Commission, Jesus told them to wait.
He didn’t explain to them why – though we can now see why with hindsight.
They were only going to be successful when they received the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
But there is a lesson for us too. The disciples
had to learn simply to trust Jesus’ word.
The third principle for success in the spiritual harvest is that the disciples earthed their message in the Scriptures
The only Scriptures that St. Peter has was the Old Testament. The New Testament hadn’t been written. Yet Peter was well versed in his Scriptures.
On the Day of Pentecost, he stands up to explain what is going on. He earths the event in Scripture – explaining that this event had been foretold 800 years earlier by one of the minor prophets – Joel.
His quotation from the book of Joel shows that he knew his Bible well.
He was able to earth his experience and the experience of the other believers in Scripture, because he spent time with the Word of God.
Jack Hayford said, Such a heartfelt passion must be sustained in our lives as disciples of Jesus. Otherwise, Christian living” becomes reduced to simply being nice girls and boys for Jesus, rather than living in the timelessly available resources of the Holy Spirit, fully empowered as witnesses of His life, love and power.
We Are Filled. Acts 2:4
In the Greek language, the verb pleroo (to fill) was not used except to indicate an overflow. The word means there’s more than enough! We need not depend upon the scanty resources of past experiences because His resources are abundant and always available.
On the day of Pentecost, in the year A.D. 30, 120 followers of a man named Jesus were gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly the Spirit of God filled each one of them and marked them with tongues of fire. On that day the Church was born. But no historian of the time saw anything significant in that event.
Those 120 disciples were just a handful of rather ordinary men and women, a few fishermen, a couple of housewives, a former tax collector, a few farmers and some servant girls. Yet through these ordinary people God built a Church which has lasted now for over 2,0000 years. In less than 300 years, that small, insignificant Jewish sect became the official religion of the entire Roman Empire and today the Church of Jesus Christ circles the globe and numbers some one billion members.
is a story about a sunken ship that illustrates the quietness of the spirit, but at the same time his Power in our lives.
"Several years ago engineers building a new bridge over the East River in New York, discovered that the wrecked hull of a ship, sunk many years before, lay right where the center piers were to be built. Powerful machinery was brought in to remove the ship, but it would not budge.
Then one of the engineers had an unusual idea-why not have the tide raise the ship!! Some strong cables were attached to the hull when the tide was low. The other ends were fastened to the barge above. As the tide came in, the barge gradually lifted the sunken ship. It was then towed out into the ocean and sunk at a spot that would not cause future problems."
God’s Holy Spirit is like the tide, it comes quietly, it comes in slowly, but it comes to us with enough power so that we might do the job God has called, led each of us to do. There is a power, a force and for many an untapped force in each of our lives, that is the Holy Spirit. Many times it is not dramatic, it does not cause us to do dramatic things, but it is there to give us the power to live the kind of lives, to be the kind of people that God intended us to be.
Paul says in Romans, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. When we cry Abba Father it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our Spirit that we are children of God."
It is this Spirit that comes into our lives, into the church to allow us to spread God’s message of love to all people. It is this Spirit which points not to itself, but to Christ. It is this Spirit which allows us to point not to oursleves, but to Christ. It is this Spirit which makes the church, the Body of Christ, the most unique organization on the face of the earth.
Yes, we are welcomed again to the Pentecost event in the Year 2001!!
"It is a time to open up to the mind-blowing, heart-warming, life-changing power of God.
The power of God can invade the body, inflate the mind,
swell the soul, lift the Spirit and make us more than we ever imagined.
It’ll make you young when you’re old,
and it’ll make you live even when you die.
The power and presence of the Spirit will disturb, delight, deliver and lift.
When God sends forth the Spirit,
"the whole face of the earth is renewed."
When God sends forth the Spirit
chaos is changed into creation
the Red Sea opens up to a highway of freedom.
When God sends forth the Spirit:
A young woman says "Yes".
Jesus is born and
life is never the same.
When God sends forth the Spirit amazing things happen:
barriers are broken,
communities are formed,
opposites are reconciled,
unity is established,
disease is cured,
addiction is broken,
cities are renewed,
races are reconciled,
hope is established,
people are blessed,
and church happens.
Today the Spirit of God is present
and we’re gonna‚ have church.
So be ready, get ready...God is up to something...
discouraged folks cheer up,
dishonest folks ’fees up,
sour folks sweeten up,
closed folk, open up,
gossipers shut up,
conflicted folks make up,
sleeping folks wake up,
lukewarm folk, fire up,
dry bones shake up,
and pew potatoes stand up!
But most of all, Christ the Savior of all the world is lifted up...1
Yes, welcome to the Pentecost event, 2001, and now depart with God’s Holy Spirit.
This 10-day prayer marathon must have witnessed the emptying of themselves so that they could receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And this same total commitment is a part of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in one’s personal life.
The historic Christian Pentecost was a not-to-be-repeated event. The sights and sounds were non-reproducible, just as were the events surrounding Christ’s birth.
2. A personal Pentecost is the birthright of every born-again believer. The in-filling of the Holy Spirit is for all of us today. We don’t need to travel to the Holy Land to receive this fullness. It can take place anywhere.
Jesus had promised the disciples before the ascension that the spirit would come to them, the counselor would come to give them power. It has been 10 days since the ascension and the disciples were waiting in the upper room. Can you imagine the conversations which were going on? Some probably wanted to leave, others were going to wait to see what would happen. Some might have doubted anything would happen, others remembering Jesus’ appearance before had the faith to wait.
If we look at the text from Acts, we see that the spirit arrived by itself from out of no where. The Spirit descended upon the disciples as they were probably going about their daily tasks. Some were praying, some where eating, some were cooking, some were just resting, but it happened. The Holy Spirit descended upon them with its own free will. The disciples did not ask for it, but Jesus promised it. It came and filled the disciples with its power as Jesus had promised.
The Spirit of the master, Jesus rested upon the disciples and filled them with the gifts of the Spirit, just as Jesus had promised. The Holy Spirit came of its own free will and empowered the disciples to spread the word of God through out the lands.
An unknown pastor wrote:
"Once in a while the Spirit comes. Sometimes he stings the soul, sometimes he sakes it, sometimes he troubles our conscious, sometimes he soothes it, sometimes he heals our pain, sometimes he just helps us to endure it. He lifts the clouds just long enough for us to glimpse the City that was not made with hands in order that we can go back and take up our cross and follow him."
The Spirit has been with the Church since the first Pentecost, so that it could enter our spirit and enable us to be the kind of people God intended for us to be. Each day we need to renew ourselves and allow God’s Holy Spirit to replace our pride full spirit so that we can bear His cross in this world.
The Holy Spirit works constantly with our spirit so that our lives may be transformed, be made new and rewarding.
We have here the first-fruits of the Spirit —Matthew Henry Unabridged
He that had sneakingly denied Christ now as courageously confesses him—Matthew Henry Unabridged
