Last week we took a look at the Trinity and how the Trinity was in existence from the beginning but only fully revealed after the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost.
There are actually two Jewish connections to Pentecost:
Some scholars believe that the giving of the Law to Moses occurred 50 days after the Passover in Egypt.
Jesus was crucified as the “Passover Lamb” and rose from the grave at the Feast of Firstfruits. (the beginning of the barley harvest) Following His resurrection, Jesus spent the next 40 days teaching His disciples before ascending to heaven. Fifty days after His resurrection and after ascending to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as promised to indwell the disciples and empower them for ministry. The promised Holy Spirit arrived on the Day of Pentecost, which is another name for the Feast of Weeks.
Acts 2:1-12
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.
“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
“Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia,
“Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism);
“’Cretans and Arabs - we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own languages.’ Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’
And that’s exactly the question we need to ask ourselves!
What does this mean???
First let’s see what it meant to them.
God was introducing the third and final person of the Trinity to carry on the work that had been initiated by the Father and advanced by the Son.
The disciples were bewildered - they were praying but didn’t know what to do next.
God’s timing was awesome as usual! It couldn’t have been better!
There were thousands and thousands of people with seeking hearts in Jerusalem for Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks; one of the three Pilgrimage Festivals.
They came from as far away as Rome (over 1,000 miles) and probably just as far from the area east of Jerusalem.
God gave multiple signs to validate the event
Acts 2:2
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
Acts 2:3
“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
Acts 2:4
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.”
People from 16 people groups
Acts 2:11
“…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own languages!”
This was a multiple dimension miracle! The disciples were speaking in languages they did not know and each one in the crowd was hearing in their own native language!
When Peter started preaching he was most likely preaching in common Greek which was the trade language of the Roman Empire.
We do not know if the miracle of speaking in unknown languages and hearing in the native language was extended into this sermon or not.
But the power of the Holy Spirit was evident! Three thousand people were saved!
This was a one-time event just like the incarnation of Jesus!
Even in Pentecostal churches there are never services where there is a sound of mighty rushing wind from heaven, holy fire does not come into the place and separate into individual flames and come to rest on each person’s head, people do not speak in foreign languages they have never learned and foreigners present do not hear the proclamation of the Gospel in their own native languages.
I am not saying that they Holy Spirit is NOT present in their gatherings, I am just saying that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the initial giving of the Holy Spirit from God the Father and that exact set of circumstances will never be duplicated.
But, all Christians and all Christian churches should earnestly seek the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and in every gathering of the church body.
Why? Apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit in us and in our gatherings nothing of spiritual significance will ever happen.
Let’s look at some changes that took place in the disciples themselves.
First of all, the timid disciples who had been hiding behind locked doors were now boldly going out into a festival which was being overseen by the very ones who had seen to it that Jesus was crucified less than two months ago.
Before the Holy Spirit was given …
The disciples ran away when Jesus was arrested
Peter denied that he even knew Jesus out of fear
The disciples were hiding behind locked doors
After the Holy Spirit arrived and the disciples were filled with the Spirit of God they never did that again! There was now a godly boldness to their witness. The power of the Holy Spirit was living in and through them.
After the Holy Spirit arrived they never again even once asked or inquired about the Kingdom being restored to Israel! Their focus, their allegiance had changed from the things of this world to the Kingdom of God and obedience to the Master.
Their horizon has moved from the earthly hills to heaven and the glory of God.
Whenever I study passages such as this one I am fascinated by the history and the details and consequently my sermons may seem more like a seminar than a life changing message.
Hagion (Holy) - Pneuma (wind, breath or spirit)
What did we sing today?
This is the air I breathe, Your Holy presence living in me.
This is my daily bread, Your very Word spoken to me.
Aren’t you thankful for air? I know I am!!!
Is the presence of God the Holy Spirit really that important for our spiritual lives?
Now we as Christians use the expression of the presence of God in our lives as interchangeable with the Holy Spirit in our lives and it is … so … is the presence of God in our lives important to our spiritual lives?
Does anyone know what this kind of place would be called? (Picture of an Oxygen bar.)
At the Vitality International, Inc. Oxygen bar you can get:
… a quick, relaxing, rejuvenating experience without the need for a large scale spa. Aromatherapy infused oxygen leaves you feeling alert, refreshed, and full of energy and with a general good feeling.
How many Christians treat their relationship with God like that? Going to church once or twice or maybe even every Sunday? Instead of a quick, relaxing, rejuvenating experience without the need for a large scale spa they come to church for a quick, relaxing (the sermon puts you to sleep), conscience soothing experience without the need for a real, life changing relationship with Jesus.
In an oxygen bar you get a sense of better health which is soon gone once you leave the oxygen bar because you body quickly adjust your oxygen level back to what it would normally be. Most of the good feeling comes from a placebo effect. You think you feel better because you think you did something to improve your health.
When your relationship with God is like a person going to an oxygen bar then it too becomes only a false sense of spiritual well being. Every person on the face of the earth needs more than a couple whiffs of the Holy Spirit in order to be in good spiritual health.
The fact is a person can live quite nicely without an oxygen bar and a person will spiritually die without God.
You, see, the air we breathe has oxygen in it.
The world, however, cannot give us spiritual life. All of us who do not have a relationship with God are spiritually dead and coming to church once a week for a snort of God just won’t do.
Our need for the presence of God in our lives is much more like the scuba diver’s need for his oxygen tanks. If there’s oxygen in your tanks you will live. If the oxygen runs out you will die. If God is present in your life you will have spiritual life. If the presence of God is missing from your life you will spiritually die.
OK. Let’s look at it another way.
Suppose we looked at a person as a hydro-electric dam. A dam where no natural water flows. It would be useless. But, if God used His mighty hand to redirect a great river into that dam it would be filled up and soon be producing electricity to benefit the world created by God.
This is like a life that has come to Christ for salvation but that life is not given over to the Holy Spirit. That person has the form of Christ likeness but no power. It is only when we totally abandon ourselves to Christ and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us that we become useful to the Kingdom of God.
The same thing goes for the church as it does for individuals. This was the whole purpose of Pentecost, to allow God to fill us and empower us with His Holy Spirit.
Without the presence of the Holy Spirit filling and overflowing through us we have no power and we cannot add anything of worth to the Kingdom of God.
But … if we are filled with and overflowing with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit we will be more than conquers through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If we are filled with and overflowing with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit we will have victory in Jesus. Not just victory over personal sin but victory in the battles against the powers and principalities of darkness which stand in opposition to the cause of Christ.
If we are filled with and overflowing with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit our lives will be a sweet aroma rising before the throne of God and our lives will be filled with His joy.
So, what’s your decision? The spiritual condition of our world is not just like trying to survive underwater by only surfacing once in a while to get a sniff of oxygen.
The spiritual condition of our world is like a cesspool where we can never reach the surface for air and the only source for spiritual life is the fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit that enables us to have life in this present world in spite of its condition.
We are tasked not only with being filled with the Holy Spirit but with taking the Good News that Salvation through the shed blood of Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Spirit is available right now for everyone!
We have the best news in the world.
If you are a person who is trying to get by on the least possible commitment to Jesus you are no good to the Kingdom of God and you need to ask yourself, “Am I in or am I out?” You need to make a decision.
This new song we’re learning, “O Praise the Name”, there are certain phrases in it that almost bring me to tears.
Then on the third at break of dawn
The Son of heaven rose again
O trampled death where is your sting
The angels roar for Christ the King
When I think of all of the thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels watching the stone covering the tomb of Jesus, waiting for their God to come out and as the chosen angel rolls the stone away they get a glimpse of the resurrected Christ! And they ROAR. Does that make me a sentimental sap or is it the reverberation of the Holy Spirit within me that causes that feeling? And, is my life a reflection of that fullness of Christ?
The next verse says:
He shall return in robes of white
The blazing sun shall pierce the night
And I will rise among the saints
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face
I do love to think of rising to meet Jesus with all of the children of God when He returns but the phrase, the thought, that grabs my heart is, “my gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face.”
It’s like a family of a navy man searching the deck when the aircraft carrier comes in to port. Yes, there’s joy in seeing the crew standing around the deck but it is nothing like the joy of seeing the sailor who belongs to your family.
The Holy Spirit teaches us to yearn for Jesus.
Philippians 1:23-24
“I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”
Are you filled with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit?
Do you long to see the face of Jesus?
Are you living a life filled with victories for the Kingdom of God?
John Wesley
“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”
Communion
