U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fort Stewart, Georgia
BIG IDEA: SPEAKING IN TONGUES IS A GIFT THAT SHOWED- UP ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST WITH THE POURING
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
REFERENCES: Ezekiel 37:1-14 (Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones); 1 Corinthian 14:1-5 (Paul tells us to make love our aim AND to earnestly desire the SPIRITUAL GIFTS of speaking in tongue and prophesying … but to desire prophesying more than speaking in tongues); Isaiah 28:9-12 (The root of the New Testament doctrine of speaking in tongue can be found here, while the doctrine of prophesying can be found in Joel 2 – which is the famous scripture (Acts 2:16-17) quoted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost); Acts 19:1-5 (When the disciples of John the Baptist are ministered by Paul, and they receive the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues). Acts 1:1 (Acts is a continuing story about Jesus …).
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Acts 2:1-4
II. READ THE PERICOPE: ACTS 2:1-4
III. READ THE TEXT: ACTS 2:3 KJV (And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them).
&
ACTS 2:3 NRSV (Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them).
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that THE GIFT of SPEAKING in TONGUES rested on everyone IN THE HOUSE.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “A TONGUE RESTED”
INTRODUCTION: Most of you are aware of the fact that I’m endorsed by the Grand Old Church of God in Christ – the largest Pentecostal-holiness church in the America. The C.O.G.I.C. has three ordinances: Communion, Bapitism, and Feet Washing. Those of us that are members of this Grand Old Church believe in the laying on of hands, as well as speaking in tongues.
(Illustration) When I think of speaking in tongues … I’m reminded of the fact that I , like some of you, haven’t always believed in speaking in tongues.
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MOVE 1: My memory carries me back to a time – shortly after my wife’s sister (Joyce) was murdered in front of her mother’s home.
a. It was a few days later, when the saints and I noticed that Dedra (my wife) needed some pastoral counseling and intervention – if she was going to get through this crisis.
b. So we arranged to meet with our late pastor – Bishop Lawrence C. Callahan of Philippian Community Church of Jacksonville, Florida. Well, my brothers and sisters ... many significant spiritual miracles occurred on that evening; one of which I was a recepient of ...
c. I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit which is evidence when one speaks in tongues.
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MOVE 2: For don’t you remember, in Acts 19:1-5, Paul encounter some disciples of John who had not so much as heard of the “Holy Spirit” (one of which was Apollos).
a. The Bible says that Paul layed hands on him and the other disciples of John and they received the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues.
b. What an anointed experience this must have been for those believers.
c. Ironcially, today (8 June 2003) is called the “Feast of Weeks” or (if you will) “Day of Pentecost” . For don’t you remember … The “Day of Pentecost” occurs ten days after the Ascension, and fifty days after Easter or Resurrection Sunday.
d. Likewise, in our scripture today, we find ourselves in the Book of Acts … on the Day of Pentecost.
*********************Take 5 Beats****************
MOVE 3: As you may recall, Acts is the book that reveals the power of the church. Therefore, when a church begins to dwindle, lose its power, and turn dull and drab in its witness, it needs desperately to get back into the spirit, expectation, knowledge and teaching of the Book of Acts.
a. In this book, the principles of the exchanged life -- "Not I, but Christ" -- is dramatically unfolded.
b. In fact, my brothers and my sisters ...if the book of Acts were taken out of our New Testament, we would never understand the rest of it. It would be like a child with his front tooth missing.
c. For without Acts ... when you close the record of the gospels, you see nothing but a handful of Jews in the city of Jerusalem, the center of Jewish life, talking together about a Kingdom for Israel.
d. When you open The Book of Romans, on the other side of Acts, you discover that a man whose name is never mentioned in the gospels is writing to a group of Christians in Rome -- of all places, the center of Gentile culture -- and he is talking about pushing out to the very ends of the earth.
*********************Take 5 Beats******************
MOVE 4: Obviously, something has happened in between. How did this tremendous change take place? What happened to make the gospel burst out of its confines in Judaism and the city of Jerusalem and reach out in one generation’s time to all the limits of the then-known world?
A. Now, my brothers and sisters, ACTS was written by Luke, Paul’s beloved companion, the same man who wrote the Gospel of Luke. Unfortunately, it’s my belief that it bears the wrong title. In almost all the editions of Scripture it is called "The Acts of the Apostles."
B. But as you read the book through, the only ones whose acts are referred to are Peter and Paul. All the others are left almost entirely unnoticed, so the title is hardly fitting. It really should be titled, "The Acts of the Holy Spirit," or even perhaps, "The Continuing or Perpectuating Acts of Our Lord Jesus Christ."
C. More specifically, you can find this suggestion in the introduction of the book. As Luke is writing again to the friend to whom he addressed his first book, he says,
d. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ... {Acts 1:1 RSV}
Obviously, then, Luke was "Volume One" and Acts is "Volume Two." Acts is a continued story of what Jesus began both to do and to teach.
