The Power Of Pentecost
May 19, 2002
Acts 1:1-8
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. 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, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:1-8
Introduction: If only I had a million dollars
-we wish for the sake of power
-power to control and manipulate our present and future
In our churches we wish for power
-if only we had more...........
money................. we could.............
S. S. teachers......
young adults.......
children/ teens....
room.................
updated facilities
different location
A Movement of God
Imagine what the early church must have wished for........."If only......"
An unlikely group did an unlikely thing. How? What power were they able to grasp?
The Power of Pentecost
1. The Power Of Pentecost Is The Power To Witness.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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, distributed and 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. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?"...And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." Acts 2:1-7,12-13 (RSV)
The disciples were expecting a power to "rule." But what they received was a power to "witness". "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
[In The Meantime. April 7,2002. http://www.preachersmagazine.org.]
And then Jesus gave the missionary mandate for what every disciple then and every disciple since is to be doing between his first coming and second coming: "When the Holy Spirit has come upon you will receive power and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem (with your family), in Judea (with your friends), in Samaria (out there with all the folks you don’t like and who don’t like you - with all the wrong-headed, hostile, most sinful people you can find).
[Ibid., In The Meantime.]
When the Holy Spirit fills a human heart with his power and presence, He generates the passion to carry out Christ’s command. And so for a person to claim to be filled with the Spirit and yet not be passionately concerned about witness is to deny their calling.
[Over The Edge. April 14,2002. http://www.preachersmagazine.org.]
Pentecost gives us a voice and then pushes us over the edge to speak. The Gospel, by its very nature, cannot be confined to a cuddly, safe, insulated environment where we just huddle up and wait for Jesus to come back. No! The Gospel insists on spilling out and running into the streets where the people are, where the hurting and dying are!
[Ibid., Over The Edge.]
2. The Power To Witness Does Not Come From Us, But From God.
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath" Acts 2:14-19 (RSV)
"And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." Acts 2:47 (RSV)
A.W. Tozer once said: "The Holy Spirit could be absent from 90% of what the Church today does and nobody would know the difference."
[Ibid., Over The Edge.]
3. A Lack Of Witness Indicates A Lack Of Power.
"no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:3b
For a person to claim to be filled with the Spirit and yet not be passionately concerned about witness is to deny their calling.
The same is true for a church. Can a church that claims to be Spirit-led, but who sits on their corner content to minister merely to those who come to them, also claim to be faithful to their calling? The Church of Jesus Christ is called not to "sit still" but to "move out" - not to "pull out" but to "reach out."
[Ibid., In The Meantime.]
If we are not careful, without even realizing it, our churches can develop a kind of fortress mentality that not only keeps people out, but attaches blinders to our eyes while the world around us drastically changes. And in the process we discover that we no longer speak their language!
[Ibid., Over The Edge.]
Do you know the irony in all of that? In the same way that witness is impossible without the Spirit - so also the Spirit is given for witness. It is true that no person can be filled by the Spirit of God, and keep that Spirit to themselves. Because wherever the Spirit is, Jesus is going to flow out - which is just another way to say that wherever Jesus doesn’t flow out - you can count on it - the Spirit is not there!
[Ibid., In The Meantime.]
No amount of biblical instruction can make us effective witnesses! We can have theological information seeping out of our ears and not be a vital witness! Do you know why? Because there is a dimension to being a witness that is totally dependent upon the gift and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
[Ibid., In The Meantime.]
As I walked down the mountain, chewing a mouthful of crow, it dawned on me that there are basically two kinds of skiers: Those who CAN and those who CAN’T! And they’re not too hard to distinguish between on the mountain. But in the lodge you really can’t tell the difference.
In the lodge, where all the folks have on ski clothes, and sit around a blazing fire drinking hot chocolate, everybody looks like a skier. In fact, if you can’t ski and you don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of your friends, you can just sit around and look good in your ski clothes. You can just pretend by looking like a skier and talking like a skier and chances are that nobody will know the difference.
The only problem is, if you’re going to be a skier, ultimately you have to ski. And in order to ski you have to get out of the lodge, climb the mountain, and go over the edge. That takes great courage because that’s the place you feel most of out of control. You can be a make believe skier in the lodge, but you won’t BE a skier until you get out on the mountain and go over the edge yourself.
[Ibid., Over The Edge.]
Conclusion:
"If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9 (RSV)
The power we need to grow our church is not the power of a program, but it is the power of Pentecost: The power to witness; a witness that does not come from us. You either have it, or you don’t.
