THIS IS A FAMILY SERVICE SO THIS ‘TALK’ IS MEANT TO BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN AND QUITE INTERACTIVE.
The scripture quotations are from the International Children’s Bible.
Today’s an important day in the Christian calendar. It’s day for celebrating! It isn’t Christmas. It isn’t Easter. So, what is today? Why are we celebrating?
At Easter, we remember that Jesus died and rose again. But move on 50 days and we come to another festival. It’s called ‘Pentecost’. The word comes from a Greek word meaning ‘fiftieth’. Fifty days after Jesus rose, God poured out his Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples. That’s what we’re celebrating today. What’s it all about? We’re going to find out.
To help us, I’ve got six verses and lots of visual aids.
1 THREE PERSONS
God created the world. He created the sky and the earth. He created the large sea animals and every living thing that moves in the sea. Then God plans to create human beings. But before he does so, God says:
“Let us make human beings in our image and likeness” [Genesis 1:26].
Do you think there’s something strange in what God says? Why do you think God says, ‘Let US make human beings in OUR image and likeness’?
Somehow, the people who wrote the book of Genesis knew that God was made up of more than one person. Many, many years later, in Jesus’ time, some people understood that God is made up of three persons. For example, Jesus said:
‘So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT’ [Matthew 28:19].
But how can ONE GOD be made of three persons?
People sometimes suggest analogies to show what the Trinity three is like. But these analogies don’t describe the Trinity well.
VISUAL AID 1: water, ice and steam are different, but they are all forms of water.
But this idea of water, ice and steam doesn’t work to describe the Trinity. It makes it seem as though God is ONE person who we see in THREE FORMS. But we believe that God is three separate persons.
VISUAL AID 2: an egg is made of the shell, the yolk and the white. They are different but they all form one egg. This idea of the egg doesn’t work either. It makes it seem as though the three persons of God are each made of something different. But we believe that the three persons of God have the same substance.
Perhaps a marriage is a better analogy. A marriage is made up of two persons, not three. But when people are really married, they become one unit. They think the same and act the same, and they are of the same substance. That is what the three persons of God are like.
2 THE PERSONS HAVE DIFFERENT ROLES
We often think of God the Father as the creator. We often think of Jesus as our saviour. What about the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit’s special role? Before Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples he would send the Holy Spirit. He said this:
‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper. He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth’ [John 14:16-17a].
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be our HELPER.
VISUAL AID 3: PowerPoint slide of books with the idea of the Holy Spirit as our HELPER.
Some versions of the Bible use other words. Some use the word ‘friend.’ I like that idea. A friend is someone you have a very close relationship with; someone you trust and who trusts you. That is certainly true of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever.
3 WHAT ELSE CAN WE SAY ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Jesus once talked with his disciples about the Holy Spirit. He told them:
‘The wind blows where it wants to go. You hear the wind blow. But you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit’ [John 3:8].
VISUAL AID 4: A fan blows away some paper.
VISUAL AID 5: Bernoulli demonstration with two balloons.
You can see how the wind from the fan blew the paper away. You could also see how a little bit of wind made the balloons move.
We can’t see the wind. Sometimes, we can hear it. But the wind has a force. It can move things. That’s what the Holy Spirit is like. The Holy Spirit is an unseen but powerful helper and friend.
Let’s now look at what happened on the day of Pentecost. This is how Luke described it, in the book of Acts:
‘When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a noise came from heaven. It sounded like a strong wind blowing. This noise filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw something that looked like flames of fire. The flames were separated and stood over each person there’ [Acts 2:1-3].
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like a wind and now, Jesus’ disciples heard a sound like a strong wind! They also saw what looked like flames of fire. The tongues of fire were a great picture of God’s presence resting on his disciples. What does the fire mean? Fire gives light and it gives warmth. We like those ideas. But fire also burns up. We might not like that idea so much. But it’s a picture of the fact that the Holy Spirit works like a fire inside us, burning up what is impure.
VISUAL AID 6: Candle burning. And burning something up.
Can you remember what we’ve learned about the Holy Spirit? He’s INVISIBLE but he’s a FRIEND. He’s powerful like the WIND. And he’s like a FIRE: he burns up what’s impure.
We’re now going to have some songs and some other parts of our service. We’ll come back to the other three points we can learn about the Holy Spirit after that.
4 THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES GIFTS
We’ll now see something else about the Holy Spirit. Let’s read the next verse:
‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak different languages. The Holy Spirit was giving them the power to speak these languages’ [Acts 2:4].
The Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak in other languages! Was there a point to this? At that time, Jerusalem was full of people from all over the world – people who spoke lots of different languages. They listened to the disciples and shook their heads and said:
‘Look! Aren’t all these men that we hear speaking from Galilee? But each of us hears them in his own language … We hear these men telling in our own languages about the great things God has done!’ [Acts 2:7-11].
The Holy Spirit is a helper. And the very first thing the Holy Spirit did when he came on the disciples was to help them tell what God had done. If there is one thing the Holy Spirit LOVES to do, it is to help God’s people tell other people the great things God has done! And the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the gift of speaking in foreign languages so they could do it.
VISUAL AID 7: Other languages.
We have some people here today who speak other languages. Would you like to come to the front and tell us how great God is in your own language? All together!
That’s a bit like what it sounded like on the day of Pentecost. But on the day of Pentecost there might have been 120 people speaking other languages!
5 THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES COURAGE
Let’s go on a bit further. The crowd is astonished at all these different languages. Then we read this:
‘But Peter stood up with the 11 apostles. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd…’ [Acts 2:14].
Jesus had been crucified just seven weeks earlier. His disciples were still very scared. But NOW Jesus has the courage to stand up in front of a crowd of many thousands and tell them what was going on. He preaches an amazing, wonderful sermon. Where does he get the courage to do that? The Holy Spirit has come on him.
VISUAL AID 8: The balloon
I have two balloons. One is not inflated; the other is inflated. When we don’t have the Holy Spirit in us, we’re like the uninflated balloon. We’re limp. We have no strength. But when we have the Holy Spirit in us, we’re like the inflated balloon. Now, we’re strong!
6 THE HOLY SPIRIT GAVE BIRTH TO THE CHURCH
After Peter had preached, what happened? Let’s have our final verse:
‘Then those people who accepted what Peter said were baptized. About 3,000 people were added to the number of believers that day’ [Acts 2:41].
Wow! Can you imagine that!? 3,000 people came to faith that day! The Holy Spirit had worked in the disciples to enable them to speak in other languages. He had worked in Peter to give him courage to preach a great sermon. And he had worked in the crowd to convince them that what Peter was saying was true – and they needed to do something!
VISUAL AID 9: A cake with candles. I light them.
Rosebery Park was started about 133 years ago. But THE CHURCH was born on the day of Pentecost, somewhere around AD 30 or AD 33. Today is when we celebrate the birthday of the church! I’m not going to get us to sing ‘Happy Birthday, dear Church’ but it would be quite logical to do that.
Let’s finish our time with a prayer.
Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for sending the Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus, you told your disciples, ‘Even though you are bad, you know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.’
Heavenly Father, we ask you, please pour out the Holy Spirit on us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit more and more.
Holy Spirit, please come! Be our helper and our friend. Be like the wind, invisible but full of power. Help us, when we want to tell people about you. Give us courage and wisdom, just as you gave Peter courage and wisdom. Be like fire in us. Purify us from things that are impure.
Help us, in our day, to bless and build up the church which you brought into being 2000 years ago.
We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
TALK FOR SUNDAY JUNE 8TH, 2025, PENTECOST SUNDAY, A 10.30 A.M. FAMILY SERVICE AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOSCOMBE, BOURNEMOUTH, UK.
