Living Pentecost
Acts 2:42-2:47
Introduction-
This morning we celebrate and remember two distinct and important things.
This is Memorial weekend and we remember and thank all the great men and women who have died to keep this country free. We thank those that have actively served and those that are currently serving this great country. Freedom is not free and we do not take it lightly. THANK YOU!
The second thing we celebrate is today is Pentecost Sunday.
It is a very important part of the life of the church and essential part of the everyday life of a believer.
Pente= 50 Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
10 days after Jesus Ascension where people were gathered in the upper room waiting for the promised Holy Spirit of God to fall on the disciples and those wanting to be empowered to reach people for Christ.
Jesus goes to the cross, He was killed , and what we call Easter Sunday Morning, God resurrected Him from the grave and brought Him back to life.
40 days Jesus is seen by over 500 people and prepares His disciples and the future church that He must go and the Comforter of God would come to empower and equip them for life of ministry.
10 days after Jesus leaves, while 120 were gathered for prayer seeking God for what was promised, The Holy Spirit fell on them with power that changed their lives for ever.
Acts 2:12-
“Amazed and Perplexed, they asked each other, what does this mean?”
I get that!
I see a lot of deer in the headlight Christians wondering what is happening here.
I see a lot of believers today not knowing what they need to do or what is expected of them as believers.
Peter stood up- under the authority and anointing of God, he is going to explain it to them.
Acts 2:14-2:21 Bible
They are not drunk, it is early in the morning, it is a fulfillment of God’s promise to empower the church and for each believer to hear this message in their own tongue so that they can actually take that message and evangelize.
People get so hung up on the tongues that they miss the message, tongues was the tool used to communicate the message to the many different dialects of language. The message was to be empowered by God to all that believed and that they should be reaching out to evangelize the message of Christ.
God empowered 120 people that day in the Upper Room waiting for God- that was amazing and it was a miracle.
God would manifest Himself to us, but it wasn’t until Peter stepped out of his comfort zone and explained what happen and then began doing what God desired and we saw 3000 saved that first day.
This morning’s message is about what should happen when the church is empowered by God and what impact we are making in the community that God placed us.
In 1987, God placed this church right here, Garden Chapel came later and others were around, but this church Rosedale was placed here for a reason.
It has maintained through some tough times and here we are.
My question for you today is did God place us and call us to maintain or did He call us to thrive?
Maintain would be pay the bills, keep the lights on.
Thriving would be reaching out , not satisfied until everyone within the sound of our voices would hear the gospel.
Peter reached 3000, how many can we reach as a unified church?
Illustration-
There is a statement by Dr. Jerry Vines. He said that the average Christian and the average church are somewhere bogged down between Calvary and Pentecost. They have been to Calvary for pardon, but they have not been to Pentecost for power.”
That is quite a statement. Christians today are much like the Ephesians church when Apostle Paul came to them and said “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
Most Christians do not understand the role and power the Holy Spirit of God plays in our lives.
One preacher has said that “Pentecost is not a denomination, but it is an experience every blood bought child of God should receive.”
No one denomination has the birth rights of God’s Spirit.
We are blessed to live in a time I believe that God desires again to pour out His Spirit on those that want to be empowered and equipped.
Acts 19:2-
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit since you believed?
They responded that they did not even know what the Holy Spirit was.
You see that when you came to Jesus- meaning Jesus made himself available to you.
He drew you to Himself, and you accepted His plan of salvation.
But it does not stop there. It should not stop there. He knows that we are not able to live a life acceptable to Him without the Holy Spirit active in our lives.
He tells us that as we are seeking Him that there is more that He desires to give us with His Spirit.
A non-believer can be moved by the Spirit of god toward salvation but it is only a believer who is offered the filling of the Spirit because He will only come to those that desire Him to come.
The infilling of the Holy Spirit is a definite and distinct experience and a believer will know whether he/she has received His Spirit or not.
The way others know if a believer is filled is how they live their lives.
Say what you want, but your life is the best example if God is in your life.
God has not filled believers to enjoy alone, even though it is a great blessing, it is to make an impact on people’s life.
Here is the text this morning- it is recorded after believers were filled with the Spirit of God and what happens after.
Acts 2:42-2:47 Text
You see what happened at the early church, we see what God desires for believers to be empowered to live productive lives, but we spend too much time taking in the past tense.
We can preach Pentecost, but then God wants us to live Pentecost.
I want you to think about this a moment-
The problem
Believers in the early church were willing to be sold out for the gospel of Christ , they were willing to sacrifice all so that through them people that God put in front of them would experience God.
The problem, we have lost the enthusiasm of the gospel and we are not diligently seeking His empowerment.
The church today has lost energy that drives believers to care for those that need Christ.
There are some things that we can learn from the early church that will again allow believers to be what God intended us to be.
(42) “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer. “
Let’s stop there a minute.
They were devoted to each other.
They were devoted to the teachings of the disciples.
They fellowshipped together.
They prayed together.
The way to grow in Christ is to adhere to their teachings.
New believers made every effort to grow, they wanted to be united with other believers.
Some of the biggest problems of the church universal is that people have separated themselves from the church and occasionally get together as a casual meeting instead of devoted believers uniting in God’s purpose of fellowship and evangelism.
We say that we are the family of God- we say that we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. I’ve met some of your families and you have met mine, and I’m telling you that we have to live better because there should not be dysfunction in the family of God.
Closing,
The solution
Is to allow God to fill us to overflowing with His Spirit and live our lives empowered by the Spirit and not only talking about loving God and others but actually doing it.
Taking time to be involved in each other’s life and desiring church to be more than a place you come when you can fit it into your schedule but scheduling time to be with God’s people.
Not waiting for someone else to invite but you go ahead and invite someone new to get to know them.
Not waiting for someone else to step up but you and I step up and be a solution to one of the problems instead of waiting for someone else.
If we are devoted to God, we will be devoted to God’s people and God’s church.
Let’s pray together
