The Price of Pentecost, pt. 1 Acts 1:12-14; 2:41
10 days they waited for the promised Spirit to come. When the fire of God fell on those believers and the wind of God blew across their hearts as the spirit of God came down and inhabited His new temple…3k heard the gospel and were saved…
Some make a huge deal out of that fact that in Acts 2 that they spoke in tongues…and they did, they spoke in every language of every person present, that day. Languages they had never before spoken…
BUT that’s not the big deal of Acts 2! It wasn’t a rushing mighty wind or cloven tongues of fire on their heads…but rather the big deal was that 3k people got saved!
I have longing for an outpouring of God’s Spirit in my life… in your life, in this place.
Sometimes, I think to myself; “if only the fire would fall on our church, if only a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit would sweep across our church!”
But there is something that I believe we must understand in the 21st century church, before this will happen. We need to understand that there’s a price to be paid for Pentecost!
And Acts 2 would not have happened without Acts 1.
We all love to hear our worship team sing on fifth Sunday. Last week the choir across the road sang with power/authority but that doesn’t just happen.
Suzanne nor I run out into the parking lot each Sunday am and grab the first 2/3 people he can find, throw them up here and they make beautiful music.
These slides the recorded music doesn’t miraculously pop up; it takes hours of hard work and preparation to make it happen! There’s a price to be paid, if we’re to do it well!
In the same way, a growing, soul-winning church, making a difference, reaching the multitudes for Christ doesn’t just happen…there is a price for Pentecost! And many churches today are not willing to pay the price, and so they flounder in the sea of mediocrity!
Like the church that sent the annual report for the previous year:
#of soul’s saved-0…baptized-0…transfer of letter-0…by statement-0…
Then at the bottom it said, please pray that we will remain faithful.
I would have to ask; “Faithful to what?!”
The fact is, If any church is going to become an aggressive, soul-winning church; if God’s power is going to be present in EBC or any other church, there will be a price to be paid!…
And the conditions for it are laid out for us in chapter Acts chapter1!
It’s not complicated; it’s easy to understand, but rarely followed!
Any church that makes the decision to become an empowered soul-saving station CAN DO IT,
BUT ONLY IF they decide to pay the price! & there are 4 prices to pay but we’ll only get to the 1st one this morning:
1. The price of obedience
Acts 1: 12 why is verse 12 important?
Because they went there in obedience to Christ in verses 4 & 8.
Had these men gone to any other city they would NOT have experienced the power of God.
Jesus didn’t tell them to wait at Bethlehem…and if they did…they would have missed it…and when the fire of God fell, they were right there waiting for it!
Right where they were supposed to be!
What God requires of you and me…of EBC is not impossible!!
It’s nothing more than simple obedience to Him!
God WILL NOT pour out His power on churches full of disobedient Christians, There is a price to be paid, and first and foremost it is the price of obedience…
From the pulpit to the pew, we’d all do well to realize our personal disobedience can affect the whole body, and keep God’s power out of this place!
Three basic areas that need our attention if we really want the power of God!
1. Obedience in Attendance (Heb. 10:25)
[Hebrews 10:25 NIV] - 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
No church will ever be great where the membership is sporadic in their attendance.
Show me a church whose people come ONLY when they feel like it… ONLY if there’s nothing better to do… ONLY if it’s convenient…and I’ll show you a church that’s just playing games and not doing much for Christ!
Why? Because unfaithfulness in attendance says something about the individual…it reveals a lack of commitment, and a lack of love.
But I don’t want to deal with this from the standpoint of a lack of commitment because people just don’t commit themselves to much, these days.
Let’s look at it from the view point of the lack of love, instead…
There was a preacher who visited with a couple and noticed they had little housedog. Now they poured out their love on the dog to an extreme. The pastor said; “I can’t get over how much you all love that dog! You’d make great parents…maybe you should have a child to show all that love to!” When the wife ran out of the room, weeping, the pastor knew he had said something wrong and apologized to husband, who said; “there’s no way you could know. See pastor, we had a son and God saw fit to take him to heaven at a very young age…but that dog was our son’s dog. Pastor, it may seem silly, but the reason we love that dog like we do is that’s our way of showing love for our son. You see we love that dog so much simply because our son loved it so much!”
If for no other reason, you ought to love the church because God’s Son loves the church!
Please don’t ever say, “I love Jesus, but I don’t like to go to church” because that’s a contradiction in terms…you cannot separate Jesus from the church any more than you can separate the head from the body, or a building from its foundation! IT WILL NOT SURVIVE
It’s not “Jesus-or-the church” BUT “Jesus-and-the church!”
So, aside from the lack of commitment, unfaithful attendance reveals a lack of love!
Regardless of our many failures and flaws, God’s Son still loves the church and He gave Himself for her,
Eph. 5:25b-- Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her;
Therefore, it seems to me that we should love the church and show it by being faithful in attendance!
When you faithfully attend church, you’re saying, “Jesus, I love you!” “I care about the things YOU care about!”
Something else you’re saying, is “Pastor, I love you!” You’re saying: It matters to me that you study long and hard…pray over your messages/dig for Bible truth…plan out worship services…seek to minister from start to finish/use illustrations that makes God’s Word real for me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prepared a sermon, and while getting ready God laid someone on my heart, how much this message will help them…well, if it’s happened once, it’s happened 100 times, I’ll look around that day, and they’re not there! They’re not sick…their not on vacation or working.
I’m talking about just taking any ole’ opportunity that comes along or any good excuse Satan provides just to miss.
When you’re faithful in attendance, you not only say, Jesus I love you, Pastor, I love you…but also:
Faithful attendance says “members, I love you, too!”
Why? Because we’re a body, that’s intended to function TOGETHER!
What if your hands had taken the day off today? You ladies couldn’t have put your makeup on! Guys, it’s sort of hard to shave with your toes!
The reality is that whole body is intended to function as a unit!
Determine in your heart that “I care about my brothers and sisters in Christ…I’m not going to come only when it’s convenient or when I feel like it.
I AM going to be faithful and make the extra effort to make it work!”
There’s a price to be paid AND if we want God to take us seriously…we’d better take Him seriously! And take His church seriously!
2. Obedience in the Tithe
This point is not about building a bank acct. It’s about obedience and blessings!
Now this is the place where I’m supposed to convince you it’s for your sake only and not for the church but this time I cannot…giving is down and we discussed this in our first quarter business meeting. We’ve seen the warning sign and NO pastor wants to be at the helm watching his church go under!
But the right motive for giving is not one of desperation the right motive is obedience!
I’m sure that many of you are already giving in obedience and God is blessing you for your obedience…hopefully others will get on board with you so God can continue to bless our church!
The word “tithe” literally means tenth…ten percent and it is God’s perfect plan. The wisdom of God planned for you and me a method of giving which is completely fair and equal to all who will obey, no matter what you make!
It’s a definite portion, and to be brought to a designated place.
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10 tells us to bring the tithe to the storehouse.
[Mal 3:10-11 NIV] “10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the LORD Almighty.”
God says in Malachi, try me…try this…see if I won’t open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing bigger than you’re even capable of receiving!…see if I am able to take the other 90%, and make it go much farther than 100% ever possibly could.
There are 2 plans:
You keep 90% and make God your partner…or
You keep 100% and you’re on your own…how’s your plan working’?
See if some of these phrases I’ve heard matches where you are today.
“If God really blesses me, I’ll tithe”
That’s putting the cart before horse.
“We can’t afford to add that to our bills”
First off it’s not a bill and, in my understanding, you can’t afford not to!
Here’s the truth of how this works. It won’t work on your budget unless it’s first item!
Please understand that I’m not trying to put you into a strait-jacket, I’m trying to set you free!
“But pastor you don’t understand. We’ve got a lot of debt”
You can talk about financial freedom all you want, but as a believer, you’ll never be free until you are obedient in this area. No Christian can skip over this step.
Listen to what God says in [Malachi 3:8-9 NIV] “8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me.”
THERE IS A Definite portion…A Designated Place…AND it’s for a Divine Purpose
v. 10 gives us the reason: “that there may be food in my house.”
God has tried to give this church meat…but we must come to the table and present our portion of the meal. What if we had meal here and each person was to bring ONE item. But the only one who brought anything was person who brought the bread. When I don’t bring my part… the meal is lacking…
3. Obedience in Ministry
That’s using our gifts in the church. You were not saved to sit. We’re saved to serve! Willingly helping in needed areas for the Lord’s sake!
We have no young adult ministry in this church. Our, kids’ ministries need help!
The bottom line: God loves the church/God loves you/God has blessed your church, and we’re at a major crossroads, either we go forward w/ true revival, or Gods may require us to go back to the bottom of the pile BECAUSE there’s a price for Pentecost and my question to EBC is this; are we willing to pay it!
