THE SUNDAY IN THE SEASON OF PENTECOST
THE MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY THE 3RD OF JUNE, 2001
THE TEXT .....ACTS 2:1-11
PRAYER...MAY THE WORDS OF GOD AND HIS MESSAGE SPOKEN THIS HOUR BE BOTH A WORD OF COMFORT AND CHALLENGE
WE PRAY THAT IT WILL CHALLENGE THOSE WHO ARE COMFORTABLE
AND COMFORT ALL THOSE WHO ARE BEING CHALLENGED THIS DAY.
INTRODUCTION;;; Our Reading Today is taken from the Book of The Acts of The Apostles.
ACTS 2: 1-4 TELLS US THAT When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue of fire rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
VERSES 5-11 CONTINUES....And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
Amazed and astonished, they asked, ? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language,,, we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power."
The disciples of Jesus experienced - fifty days after his ascension, a profound change in their lives. AND IT started - after the fire and the wind touched them, entered them AND ENABLED THEM to do things that they had never done before.
IT HAPPENED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST..
The Day of Pentecost ushered in a new age, the age of the Spirit - the age of new life - for all people.
It happened when they went from believing in forgiveness to showing forgiveness,
It happened when they went from believing that God would protect them to actually venturing forth from the SECURITY OF THE upper room into the danger filled streets of Jerusalem.
It happened when they went from thinking about what Jesus had said, to proclaiming what he said - in word -and in deed.
There is a mysterious moment in our all of lives - a moment when belief comes alive -
A moment when our thinking about the promises that God has made becomes in us a transforming faith -
A moment when ideas suddenly move our minds and our hearts, move our feet and our hands, our mouths and our lips in a new and a life giving way.
A moment WHEN the fruit of the Holy Spirit , brings us closer to God - and closer to one another.
IT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST..
We READ last week from , the Gospel according to Luke, WHICH dealt with Jesus teaching HIS DISCIPLES IN (Acts 1:1)
WE noticed that JESUS mentioned SEVERAL things the apostles needed if they were to be the kind of WITNESSES/REPRESENT through which THEY could do his work and speak his word.
AN OPERATIVE WORD TODAY IS REPRESENT, WHICH MEANS
TO STAND FOR SOMEONE,
TO ACT IN PLACE OF
TO SERVE OR BE LIKE
TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF
TO BE A WITNESS FOR CHRIST IS TO REPRESENT CHRIST
WHEN YOU GET A JOB .YOU GET COMPENSATED TO PROMOTE/REPRESENT THAT JOB OR EMPLOYER..
SO IN THE NATURAL When you are HIRED to / WITNESS OR represent you represent..
AND IN THE SPIRITUAL, YOU ARE CALLED IN ORDER TO REPRESENT /WITNESS FOR GOD.
YOU ARE HIS WITNESS, CALLED TO REPRESENT HIM NOT YOUR SELF.
BUT IN ORDER TO REPRESENT CHRIST THE DISCIPLES..
A....First they needed a Spirit-BLESSED commissioning from the Lord. So verse 2 says he gave them commandment , TO GO OUT AND BE /REPRESENT WITNESS OF ME...
B...Second, they needed verification that Jesus was really alive and triumphant over death. So verse 3a says that Jesus presented himself to them alive after his death with many proofs appearing to them for forty days.
C.... Third, they needed more instruction about the kingdom of God. So verse 3b says that he spent time during those forty days between his resurrection and ascension speaking to them of the kingdom of God.
That’s where we stopped last week. But verses 4 and 5 go on to show that there is another crucial thing that the apostles needed in order to be the most effective WITNESSES in the hands of the living Jesus.
They needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
VERSE # 4....And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me, VERSE # 5...for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
YOU SEE,,,,Three years earlier John the Baptist led the Jewish people by calling them to repent and receive forgiveness for their sins and be baptized as a sign of their new relationship to God (Luke 3:3).
But John made it clear that the Messiah was coming soon and would baptize the people not merely in water but in the Holy Spirit. In Luke 3:16 he says:
I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
So Jesus says in Acts 1:5, "This is going to happen in just a few days -- you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
John immersed you in water; I am going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit. John drenched you in water; I am going to drench you in the Holy Spirit.
This is the fourth thing you need in order to be effective instruments of my life in the world. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit."
Now what was this baptism with the Holy Spirit THAT JESUS SPOKE ABOUT ? What did they need and what did they get when this happened?
Let’s begin by looking at what happened when the day actually came. Acts 2:1-4:
BECAUSE IT HAPPENED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST..
When the day of Pentecost had come, WHICH WAS LIKE A NATIONAL HOLIDAY they were all together in one place. MEMORIAL, FOURTH OF JULY..
And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, resting 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.
"They were all FILLED with the Holy Spirit. and they began to speak in languages that they did not know.
Verse 11 ALSO tells us what they were saying: "THEY WERE telling in THEIR own tongues the mighty works of God."
The Spirit was filling them with his own vision of God and his own passion for God and his own prophetic words of praise.
AND THEY RECEIVED A BOLDNESS TO WITNESS FOR CHRIST.
PETER PREACHED, VERSES 41-3000, WERE SAVED.
COMMON SHARING ......VERSES...43..
IT HAPPENED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.
SO What is the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit?
Is it the sound of wind,
the FLAME of fire,
the other languages,
the words of praise,
the prophecies and dreams and visions?
I think the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person, who is already a believer, receives extraordinary spiritual power for Christ-exalting ministry.
First, let’s start back at Luke 24:49. Keep in mind as we turn there that in Acts 1:4 Jesus said, "He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father," namely, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now in Luke 24:49 Jesus says virtually the same thing. "And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high."
What is important here is to see that what Jesus focuses on, of all the things he might focus on in the baptism with the Spirit, is being clothed with power.
Jesus doesn’t say, wait in Jerusalem until you are born again or converted or put into the body of Christ. He says wait until you are clothed with power.
He doesn’t say, You shall receive membership in the body of Christ when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. He says, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
Notice that when the baptism with the Spirit happens in Acts 2:4, Luke says, "And they were all filled with the POWER OF THE Holy Spirit."
In Acts 6 we meet Stephen who is full of faith and the Holy Spirit (v. 5).
His fullness gave him an extraordinary power for Christ-exalting ministry.
In Acts 9:17 Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit at his conversion and the result was that he spoke with such extraordinary power that the Jews of Damascus were confounded (9:22).
In Acts 11:24 Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit and faith and the effect Luke mentions was that "a large company was added to the Lord" (as at Pentecost).
In Acts 13:9 Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit as he spoke to Elymas the magician and God gave him the extraordinary power to pronounce Elymas blind for a season (13:11).
I AM LEAD TO BELIEVE..being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a believer in Jesus Christ receives extraordinary power for Christ- exalting ministry.
THE WORD OF GOD SAYS....that being baptized with the Spirit is a fulfillment of the promise of Joel 2, and Joel 2 promises an upsurge of prophetic power among God’s people.
THE WORD OF GOD describes being baptized with the Spirit as receiving power for witness when the Holy Spirit comes upon you (Acts 1:8).
THE WORD OF GOD AFFIRMS that being baptized in the Spirit is being clothed with power from on high so that message of Christ can be taken effectively to all the nations of the world (Luke 24:49).
REALITY 1. The power promised by Jesus in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49 is an extraordinary GIFT..
REALITY 2. This GIFT IS that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8) and that they would be clothed with power from on high
REALITY 3...The context of both texts makes that plain. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth."
IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS GOD CREATED MAN ADAM, AND THE FIRST ACTS AFTER THE CREATION OF MAN IS WHEN GOD BREATH INTO ADAM, IN ORDER FOR ADAM TO BECOME A LIVING SOUL...GENESIS..2:7
In breathing into Adam’s nostrils, God brought Adam to life; but in breathing into Adam’s nostrils God did more than that: he communicated something of himself to Adam.
In God’s creating of Adam and breathing into him, God also gave to Adam and us, a soul- A part of us which survives physical death and continues on.
Animals do not have souls. When an animal dies that is the end of it. When we die: we who bear the image of God, of whom God has breathed something of himself into us—we continue to exist (either going to eternal judgement in Hell or to the eternal pleasures of God in Heaven)
In John 20:19-23 WHICH TAKES PLACE AFTER THE CRUCIFIXION. it says "On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
When God breathed into Adam’s nostrils he received a spirit/soul. He became a living soul (our problem at birth: we physically alive but spiritually dead).
When God breathed into Adam’s nostrils he was activated and empowered and commissioned to serve Him. When Jesus breathed on them, they received the promised Holy Spirit.
When Jesus breathed on them they became filled with power, His power, to serve God and advance the kingdom of God.
When Jesus breathed on them, they received the Holy Spirit, also called the Spirit of Christ.
When Jesus breathed on them, they in effect received something of himself to them..IN WHICH HE ACTIVATES AND EMPOWERS US IN ORDER TO SERVE HIM.
TODAY IS THE HISTORIC DAY OF PENTECOST...
THIS WORD HAS VARIOUS MEANINGS...
IT IS AN EARLY HARVEST FESTIVAL THAT WAS CELEBRATED BY THE JEWS.
IT IS THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHURCH
IT IS A FESTIVAL CELEBRATED FIFTY DAYS AFTER EASTER..
SO FOR US THIS ONE WORD HAS MANY DIFFERENT MEANING..
AND IS ONE MEANING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE OTHER.. NO
YET THE RECORD OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN PENTECOST OF ACTS 2:1-11 IS AN FASCINATING ACCOUNT.
ACCORDING TO OUR READING OF ACTS...
IT WAS FILLED WITH SO MANY DETAILS..
A WIND IS FELT..
FIRE APPEARED UPON THE HEADS OF THE DISCIPLES
ALL BEGAN TO SPEAK IN OTHER LANGUAGES ABOUT GODS DEEDS OF POWER.
PENTECOST IS THE DAY OF THE WIND AND THE FLAME..
IN OUR LOGO WE HAVE THE CROSS AND THE FLAME..
WHAT IS THE CROSS, BUT THE SYMBOL OF crucifixion AND THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE..
THE FLAME IS THE SYMBOL OF HEART BURNING WITH THE CONVICTION OF JESUS AS OUR LORD, AND OUR DESIRES TO PLEASE HIM AND NO OTHERS.
YEARS AGO THE OLD TIME DOCTOR WHEN THEY WANTED TO CHECK FOR LIFE THEY WOULD HOLD A MIRROR IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE..TO SEE IF YOU HAD BREATH..
BECAUSE WHERE THEIR IS BREATH THERE IS LIFE..AND FOR THE CHRISTIAN, GODS SPIRIT GIVES US LIFE..
THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IDENTIFIES YOU AND I AS A PERSON AND THE CHURCH AS THE PLACE..OF GODS PRESENCE.
Many years ago..The People of Israel were discouraged and without hope BEING CAPTIVES in Babylon.
Far from their homeland for many years, they had given up all hope. Some had even lost their faith in God. They were like a cemetery full dead bones. They thought nothing or no one could help them any more.
Then God sent His Prophet with a message of hope and encouragement. Ezekiel says : "I felt the powerful presence of the Lord."
SO What are we to do when our situation looks hopeless?
When we have dark and bitter days, we should especially look to God for help. He has the power to do something for us when no one else c can. . We see from our text God’s Spirit gives Life
The Spirit caused the People of Israel to come alive with hope and expectation. At Pentecost God’s Spirit came upon all who were gathered there in Jerusalem.
He came in the visible form of tongues of fire with the sound of a mighty wind. The Hebrew word for ’’Spirit" is the same as for the word for "breath or wind".
The Spirit often works in an invisible way. You cannot see Him, but you can see the results of His work.
He breathes life into dead souls. It is like a sailboat on a lake. You cannot see the wind but you can see how it billows out the sail and drives the boat over the water.
So also in a person’s spiritual life, we expect to see some results when his life is awakened and renewed by the Holy Spirit. We know BECAUSE that life and breath go together.
Paul says that the natural man is dead in his sins. Only the Holy Spirit can breathe life into him through the hearing or reading of the Word of God.
God used His Prophet Ezekiel to speak His Word and thus through His Spirit to bring new life to His people on their Exile. He used Peter at Pentecost to speak His Word to the crowd that had gathered .
As a result of the Spirit’s work, three thousand people repented of their sins and believed in Jesus Christ. They were all baptized that day.
God gives us His Holy Spirit in order to give us new life. The Spirit came to us first when we were baptized.
He continues to come to us every time we hear or read God’s Word. Let Him work in your heart and fill you with new life and hope. Then you will truly know The Lord and the power of His Presence.
A few years ago, A PROFESSOR WAS TO MAKE A PRESENTATION at a seminary,
Just before the first lecture, one of the students stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal."
HE REPLIED "Do you mean do I belong to the Pentecostal Church?"
THE STUDENT SAID "No, I mean are you Pentecostal?"
THE PROFESSOR said, "Are you asking me if I am charismatic?"
THE STUDENT SAID AGAIN "I am asking you if you are Pentecostal."
THE PROFESSOR said, "Do you want to know if I speak in tongues?"
THE STUDENT said, "I want to know if you are Pentecostal."
THE PROFESSOR said, "I don’t know what your question is.
THE YOUNG MAN "He said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal IF YOU DON/T KNOW WHAT IT IS...
BUT THE WAY TO BE Pentecostal is to reproduce the first Pentecost.,
You know and I know, we all know that Pentecost was a gift of God. AND It was at the initiative of Holy Spirit that there was a Pentecost. PENTECOST IS NOT THE INVENTION OF A LOCAL CHURCH OR DENOMINATION OR FAITH COMMUNITY,,,,,,, IT IS/WAS CREATED BY GOD...
If you look at those early disciples before and after the experience of Pentecost,
they were not afraid any more. AND THEIR ABILITY TO LOVE WAS INCREASED. AND THEY WITNESSED TO THE POWER OF WHAT GOD CAN DO.
Here were peasants no longer frightened by the sound of foreign languages.
Here were fishermen no longer daunted by critics and opponents.
Here were poor people who had always feared the future and thus hoarded to try to secure themselves now free to share generously and confidently.
AND THIS IT the impact of Pentecost was about BEING TRULY PENTECOSTAL..
The Spirit WILL come upon OUR gathered church BLOW HIS BREATH and fill IT with power.
Jesus is God’s greatest gift to the world (John 3: 16). But God wasn’t through giving!
REALITY # 1....The Holy Spirit is THE SECOND gift from the Father.
The reason for emphasizing this is because not all Christians are convinced of the full value of the Spirit.
While we may believe in the Holy Spirit they/we are also frightened of something they can’t control. Their mistake is in forgetting that the Holy Spirit is from the Father and is, therefore, a good gift.
A gift not to be feared but to be embraced. While we may not always agree on how the Spirit works in our Iives-Iet us not ignore or discount the gift itself.
For the Holy Spirit is at the core of the Church today and without the Holy Spirit the Church is dead!
REALITY # 2...The Gift of the Holy Spirit Is Forever
This second gift from the Father is forever (v. 16c). Some gifts break after a day (like the toys we give our children on Christmas morning) or become obsolete in a few months (like computers) or wear out in five years or after 100,000 miles.
But not this gift from the Father.
Holy Spirit lives in us forever. He is with us for all time. We are never alone. We always have God’s presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit.
REALITY # 3....The Holy Spirit Is an Exclusive Gift-For Believers Only
Jesus promised this gift to his disciples and only to them. In John 14: 17 he said, the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit because it neither sees him or knows him.
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in Acts 2, Peter tells the people to repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit..
LASTLY, notice the process necessary to receive the Holy Spirit. First one must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, then repent of their sins, be baptized, and then receive the Holy Spirit as the Father’s gift to his children.
FINALLY, Paul explains that the Holy Spirit was given to believers as a deposit or down payment on our future inheritance and as God’s seal on believers, to show that they are his own people (Eph. 1: 13-14).
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Let us celebrate the coming of god’s second gift! Let us give thanks to God for his Holy Spirit! And let us renew our commitment to the Father and the Son and be sensitive to the breath of God and leadings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
AS WE WITNESS TO THE LOVE AND GRACE, AND GIFTS OF GOD AS REVEALED TO US THROUGH JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD..
AMEN...............AMEN........................AMEN.
