Fern Hansen’s mother was taking her turn cleaning the church, when she heard some boys outside throwing snowballs too close to the building. Rapping on the window pane, she shook her head, causing the white scarf she was wearing to swing from side to side.
Alarmed, one boy asked the other who that was.
Convinced he'd seen the real thing, his friend answered, “The Holy Ghost!” (Fern Hansen, Onawa, Iowa, Christian Reader, “Lite Fare”; www.PreachingToday.com)
We laugh at that, but I wonder what would happen if the Holy Spirit really showed up in church today? What would happen if the Holy Spirit really came into this building right now? Oh, we know He’s already here, because God is everywhere, but what would happen if He decided right now, in this moment, to reveal Himself?
I’m sure most of us would be scared spitless, but I’m also sure some strange and wonderful things would happen.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Acts 2, Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit decided to show up right in the middle of a prayer meeting.
Acts 2:1-11 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (ESV)
When the Holy Spirit came down upon that first group of believers, they spoke in other languages. From the list given in vs.9-11, they were speaking Italian and Arabic, Greek and Egyptian, and a whole host of other languages. The crowd couldn’t figure it out.
Acts 2:12-13 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” (ESV)
Some mocked, but most of the people marveled. And that’s what happens when the Holy Spirit shows up. He causes people to marvel, to be amazed, to wonder at who He is and what He is doing.
Does that mean we’ll all speak in other languages every time the Holy Spirit shows up? No. That certainly didn’t happen every time the Holy Spirit showed up in the Book of Acts. Almost every chapter in the book of Acts speaks of the Holy Spirit, but in only two other chapters do people speak in tongues when the Holy Spirit comes upon them (in Acts, chapter 10 and Acts, chapter 19).
The Holy Spirit does not work the same way every time. 1 Corinthians 12 makes it very clear: Not every believer speaks in tongues, even though every believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not work the same way, every time, with every believer.
On the contrary, when the Holy Spirit does work, about the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. When the Holy Spirit shows up, people are “amazed and perplexed” (vs.12). People marvel.
It happened several years ago in Carriere, Mississippi. According to the May 9, 2000 issue of Christianity Today, “What started as a special presentation by the Pearl River Central High School's Fellowship of Christian Athletes turned into a full-fledged revival that transformed the Carriere, Mississippi, school and left school administrators astounded.
“It was the most incredible thing I've seen in all my years as an educator,” said Pearl River principal Lolita Lee. “The meeting couldn't be stopped. You could tell something spiritual was happening in the lives of those students.”
The revival started during a special program sponsored by the school's FCA and attended by nearly 90 percent of the school's 670 students. The program was originally scheduled for one hour, but when the bell rang, Lee said there were more than 100 students standing in line to pray and make spiritual decisions.
So Lee did something that she said probably doesn't happen in normal public school settings—she let the service continue. And continue it did, for more than four hours. Through three class periods and lunch, students wept, prayed, sang, and made amends with one another.
“It was heart-stopping,” said Lee, a member of the local Baptist church. “When I realized how many students needed to pray, I went ahead and let the program continue.”
Following a hastily arranged telephone call to the school superintendent, Lee went back to the gymnasium where the revival was taking place. “Who was I to say to these students, 'Hey, you aren't important. Go back to class'?”
And nearly one month later, Lee said the results of the revival were still evident in the hallways of Pearl River Central High. “I've had teachers and staff tell me how much better the students are,” she said. “This has been a wonderful thing for our kids.” (Todd Stames, Christianity Today, 5-9-00)
Oh, that God would do that here! Oh, that God would pour out His Spirit, starting right here in our church. There’d be weeping, I’m sure, and praying, and people making amends. There always is, when the Holy Spirit pours Himself out in revival.
More than that, our church and our community would be profoundly affected for months to come. We’re here to make a difference in our world, and if the Holy Spirit should come today, none of us would ever be the same.
A. J. Gordon was out walking one day, when he saw something across a field that caught his attention. There, beside a house, he saw a man pumping furiously at one of those hand pumps. The man seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing down in the slightest.
It was remarkable, so Gordon started walking across the field to check it out. As he approached, Gordon saw that it wasn’t a man at all, doing the pumping. It was a wooden figure, painted to look like a man. The arm on the figure was hinged at the elbow, and the hand was wired to the pump handle.
As it turned out, the whole apparatus was part of an artesian well, and the water was gushing out, not because the man was pumping it, but because the water was pumping the man.
So often, we work hard at trying to produce spiritual results in our lives and in our churches, don’t we? We’re pumping away furiously, but unlike the wooden man, we’re finding ourselves wearing out, slowing down and getting tired.
Sometimes I feel like that in ministry, and I’m sure some of you have felt like that too. We wear out, slow down, and get tired. But long before that happens, we need to relinquish control. Just let the Holy Spirit work the pump. Just let the Holy Spirit have His way. Put it all in His hands. Then, you’ll see spiritual results, not because you’re pumping them out, but because He is pumping you.
The results will be truly amazing! People will marvel, as lives are thoroughly transformed from the inside out. Families will be put back together, and this community will know that Jesus lives!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to do a work here that can be explained by my own human effort. On the contrary, I want to see God do something through us that can only be explained by His great power and grace. And that’s going to happen, only as we allow the Holy Spirit to fill and control us, rather than us trying to control Him.
When God pours out His Spirit, people will marvel. And yes, some will mock us too. People may accuse us of being drunk or crazy (vs.13). People may accuse us of being weird, but who cares.
If we’re going to accomplish what God has called us to do, then we cannot worry about what people think; we cannot worry about what people say. No. If we’re going to accomplish what God has called us to do, then we must…
DO IT IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
We must let the Holy Spirit fill & control us. We must let the Holy Spirit have his way in us today. Then, when we do, we will…
PROCLAIM CHRIST WITH POWER.
We will share the good news with supernatural results. We will be an effective witness right here in Rice County. That’s what Peter did.
Acts 2:14-16 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: (ESV)
Peter tells them, “What you see happening today is what Joel wrote about hundreds of years before. Then Peter quotes a passage from Joel 2.
Acts 2:17-18 And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (ESV)
Now, when you check the context of this passage in Joel, you see that the pouring out of God’s Spirit is the result of repentance. God warned the Jewish people of judgment and urged them to repent. Then He told them, “If you do repent, I will pour out my Spirit.”
And that’s exactly what happened here. 120 Jewish people repented. They turned to Christ from their sins, and God poured out His Spirit on them.
Now, what about those who don’t repent? What about those who don’t turn to the Lord from their sin? The prophecy of Joel continues in verse 19.
Acts 2:19-20 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. (ESV)
Those who don’t repent will face the judgment of God. They will face the terrible tribulation that is to come on this earth. They will face a judgment of blood, fire, smoke, and darkness.
That’s what happens to those who don’t repent, but Those who do repent are delivered from the judgment yet to come.
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (ESV)
That’s all it takes, my friends. Just call on the Lord and ask Him to save you.
In the fall of 2010, billions of people around the globe were captivated by the story of the Chilean miners. Trapped beneath two thousand feet of solid rock, the thirty-three men were desperate. The collapse of a main tunnel had sealed their exit and thrust them into survival mode. They ate two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, and a morsel of peaches – every other day. For two months they prayed for someone to save them.
On the surface above, the Chilean rescue team worked around the clock, consulting NASA, meeting with experts. They designed a thirteen-foot-tall capsule and drilled, first a communication hole, then an excavation tunnel. There was no guarantee of success. No one had ever been trapped underground this long and lived to tell about it.
Now someone has.
On October 13, 2010, the men began to emerge, slapping high fives and leading victory chants. A great-grandfather. A forty-four-year-old who had been planning a wedding. Then a nineteen-year-old. All had different stories, but all had made the same decision. They trusted someone else to save them. No one returned the rescue offer with a declaration of independence: “I can get out of here on my own. Just give me a new drill.” They had stared at the stone tomb long enough to reach the unanimous opinion: "We need help. We need someone to penetrate this world and pull us out.' And when the rescue capsule came, they climbed in. (Max Lucado, Grace, Thomas Nelson, 2012, pp. 53-54; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, if you’ve never done it, I urge you to do the same thing. Call out to the Lord and ask Him to save you from the judgment to come. Jesus has penetrated this world. Just climb into Him and be rescued from your prison. Trust Him with your life and be set free! For “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Great sermon, isn’t it? I’m talking about Peter, and he’s only getting started. All he’s done is read his text. Now, he’s going to preach.
Acts 2:22-32 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (ESV)
What is Peter’s message? It’s the death and resurrection of Christ. He’s saying, “Christ died and rose again, according to the Scriptures, even as David prophesied He would.”
Acts 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (ESV)
Christ has poured out the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:34-36 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (ESV)
Jesus is both Lord and Christ. He is sent by God as Israel’s Messiah, and He is God Himself – the word for “Lord” is the same word used of YHWH God Himself three (3) other times in this passage (vs.21, 34, & 39). Jesus is God! And as such, He has all authority and power.
G. K. Chesterton was talking about the difference between authority and power over lunch one day. He said to a friend of his, “If a rhinoceros were to enter this restaurant now, there is no denying he would have great power here. But I should be the first to rise and assure him that he had no authority whatsoever.”
There are people in this world, who like to throw their weight around. They think that just because they’re big and powerful, they can terrorize their world. Well, they may be powerful, but they have no authority whatsoever.
Only Jesus has both authority and power. Only Jesus has the right to rule, as well as the resources. Only Jesus has the right and resources to rule your life. Only Jesus has the right and resources to rule this church. Only Jesus has the right and resources to rule the world.
Jesus died for our sins. He rose again, and He is both Lord and Christ. That’s the Gospel Peter proclaimed, and that’s the gospel we need to proclaim as well. We don’t need to get into all the subtle nuances of theology. We don’t need to impress people with Greek & Hebrew. We don’t need to dazzle people with our knowledge of pop-psychology and current events. All we need to do is share the simple Gospel – nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
According to Christian author Nancy Pearcey, some parts of Japan are witnessing a revival through an unlikely source – the music of Bach. One Japanese journalist claims, “A veritable Bach boom has been sweeping the country for the past 16 years.” Performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio during Advent and St. Matthew Passion during Lent are always sold out – even though tickets cost more than $600.
The beauty of Bach's music and gospel-centered lyrics are leading people to Christ. A Japanese Christian conductor named Masaaki Suzuki said,
“Bach works as a missionary among our people. After each concert, people crowd the podium wishing to talk to me about topics that are normally taboo in our society – death, for example. Then they inevitably ask me what “hope” means to Christians. I believe that Bach has already converted tens of thousands of Japanese to the Christian faith.
For example, a Japanese musicologist named Keisuke traveled all the way to Bach's home church in Germany to study the biblical basis for Bach's cantatas. He ended up seeking out a pastor and asking, “It is not enough to read Christian texts. I want to be a Christian myself. Please baptize me.” Another Japanese musician, a female organist and former Buddhist named Yoko, said, “Bach introduced me to God, Jesus, and Christianity. When I play a fugue, I can hear Bach talking to God.” (Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo, B&H Publishing Group, 2010, pp. 267-268; www.PreachingToday.com)
Isn’t that amazing? Japanese people are coming to Christ through Bach’s Cantatas!
Did you ever pay attention to one of Bach’s cantatas – The Messiah or St. Matthew’s Passion? The lyrics are entirely made up of Scripture woven around the simple Gospel message.
And that’s all it takes for people to come to faith in Christ. We just need to share the gospel in the context of genuine, loving relationships, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. We don’t need all the bells and whistles. We don’t need a bunch of fancy programs. We don’t even need a professional praise band and a big, beautiful building. All we need is the Word of God and the Spirit of God. All we need to do is proclaim Christ in the power of His Spirit.
And when we do, lives are changed forever. People are convicted and converted. They turn from their sins to Christ, and they are never the same again.
Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (ESV)
This would be better translated, “Be baptized… BECAUSE OF the forgiveness of your sins”. People take aspirin FOR a headache, or BECAUSE of it. The headache comes first, then the aspirin. So it is with baptism. The forgiveness of sins comes first, then the baptism, which is a sign of that forgiveness.
Acts 2:39-42 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (ESV)
The church grew from 120 to more than 3,000 in one day! And all they did was proclaim Christ in the power of his Spirit.
If we’re going to be all that God wants us to be, then we can do no less, and we don’t need to do anything more. All we need to do is proclaim Christ in the power of His Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit take control. Then share the simple Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else is superfluous. Everything else is unimportant.
John Mckenzie looked at the church today in all its sophistication, and said, “If the church were to lose its hierarchy, its clergy, its vast collection of buildings, its stores of learning amassed over the centuries, even the text of its sacred books, and had to face the world with nothing but the living presence of the Risen Jesus and its mission to proclaim the Good News to all nations and people, it would be no less a church than the church of Peter and Paul was. Perhaps it might be more of a church than it is now.” (Father John McKenzie, Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2)
I don’t know about you, but I want us to be more of a church than we are now. I want us to be no less a church than the church of Peter and Paul here in the book of Acts.
Are you on board with me? Then let go of the unimportant details. Relinquish control of all the things that concern you, and let God’s Spirit take control. And then let Him use you to bring others to Himself.
