Evangelism # 5 – Resourced from PreachingPlus.com
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The Miracle of Communication -
Knowing God and Making Him Known
Are you a good communicator? In the estimation of what person?
If I asked many wives about their husbands’ skills in communication, the answer would likely be:
“What communication? He doesn’t talk!”
If I asked husbands, they might say;
“Why didn’t God equip my wife with a mute button? She never stops talking!”
In our multi-cultural nation having an interpreter is sometimes a necessity. When I drove through Miami,
Florida years ago, I thought I’d left the US of A and entered Cuba! Signs were in Spanish. Everywhere, people spoke Spanish! Communication was happening all around me, but I was largely shut out because I did not know the language.
Communication is sometimes hindered by specialized language that has come into every part of our lives.
This week at our Christian School I received a letter from a Child Study Team at a public school that included the following sentences:
“We will soon be making application for grant fund for children with disabilities allocated under the IDEA, Part B, which requires LEA’s to expend a proportionate share of funds on services to students with disabilities who are enrolled in alternative educational settings.”
I’m sure that an educator who is familiar with the lingo, could interpret that for me in a second, but I don’t know what the IDEA, Part B, is; nor do I know what a LEA is, thus I cannot comprehend the full message.
Listening to computer people talk with each other is like hearing a foreign language: Giga-bytes, RAM, Hard Drives, Floppies, USB ports, Software, PCI or AGP video, Macs and PC’s ...... Of course, medical people, lawyers, preachers – we each speak in our own language complete with short-hand and jargon!
The most important message in the world, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, – a message that brings hope, assurance, and life to those who receive it with understanding – requires an interpreter!
It is a heavenly message that no earthly words alone can convey adequately. Have you ever tried to tell someone about God’s love, about Jesus Christ, about eternal life – only to have them stare back at you blankly? They hear the words, but they cannot grasp the meaning! What’s missing?
AN INTERPRETER!
The Bible reminds us that we have an INTERPRETER that doesn’t leave us fumbling around on our own, trying our best to hear God OR stuttering and stammering as we share His message with others. Who is He?
The Holy Spirit.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Christian church, and the day that we celebrate the work of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. On Pentecost, God’s Spirit rested on the first disciples empowering them to speak His words of promise, hope, and salvation to the world. This message fits so neatly into this series on spreading the Good News, doing the work of evangelism, I cannot help but see a greater Mind, orchestrating it all!
TEXT: Acts 2:1-21 Pew Bible Page 1691
It’s a great record about a marvelous day of the first experience of the Spirit. Let me set the scene for you. It’s been 50 days since the tumultuous experiences of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. During those days, Jesus appeared to his followers and greatly comforted them. 10 days prior to the event in our text, he called the small band of disciples together to tell them to wait in Jerusalem to be filled with Power before they began doing anything else. He promised, “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” They heard, but they did not fully understand. Why? The Interpreter had not yet been given!
Then, he left them, ascending into heaven. They waited, faithfully and prayerfully. Perhaps they were discouraged, not knowing exactly what it was they were waiting to experience. Perhaps they felt abandoned, then... it happened while they were still a little sleepy, at 9 in the morning!
(READ - Acts2: 1-21)
A thunderous sound like a gale force wind filled the room. What does the wind symbolize? Change!
Violent winds accompany changing weather patterns. God, by His Spirit, was blowing a change into the world, a new era of His relationship with humanity.
At the same time, they saw a strange phenomenon. They saw fire separating and resting on the heads of each one gathered there. Fire is a Biblical symbol for holiness and purifying. Fire consumed the sacrifices laid on the altar, symbolically taking them for God’s purposes. God, by His Spirit, was claiming these people as His own, taking control of their lives for His purposes, to fulfill His plan.
That day was marked by yet another sign, Speaking in other Tongues. (v.4)
Language is a gift and a curse! In the letter of James, chapter 3, the apostle observes the power of the tongue, a symbol of the power of words. We can use our words to build up or tear down, to bless or to curse, to inspire others to great achievement or to reduce their dreams to rubble! He goes on to say, James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
In the outpouring of His Spirit, God chose to ‘mark’ the tongue with new language! Another way of seeing this is that when the Spirit of God takes control, He changes the source of the words flowing out of us so that we refresh and bless those who hear us! Our language no longer is condemning, cursing – bringing division and death! Instead, we speak words of worship, words that instruct, words that communicate the Good News from the overflow of the Spirit in us!
Jesus told his disciples – “evil words come from an evil heart and defile the person who says them.” The Spirit of God changes the heart. The baptism of the Spirit, our personal Pentecost, fills us. The overflow then? Living water, words of life!
As Spirit controlled their speech, He announced the birth of the Kingdom of God. How amazing God would choose to do this using the voices of provincial Jews, most of whom came from the region of the Galilee, an out of the way place not exactly renowned for its sophisticate flavor. These Galileeans, inspired by the INTERPRETER, proclaimed God’s message in a dozen languages or more! Those who heard them were, in the Bible’s word, bewildered!
Country Jews, without education, who had never ventured outside of Palestine, were talking the languages of the foreign Jews who lived in urban centers across the Empire. They were praising God with compelling words that gathered a wondering crowd. It must have been a huge crowd because at the end of the day they counted 3000 converts to the way of Christ!!
Peter, too, experienced the Interpretative power of the Spirit. This man, who 50 days prior had sworn to a servant girl that he was no follower of Jesus, stands up and preaches an astonishing sermon that spells out the plan of God, concluding with the Gospel of Christ and a compelling invitation for those gathered to become followers of the Way!
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In that story of Pentecost the key to effective and world-changing evangelism is held out —
the Power of the Spirit!
Jesus had referenced this promise on the night of the Last Supper, teaching His disciples that they were not about to be orphaned at the time of His leaving the world. In His place, God, the Holy Spirit would come. This Spirit, He promises, would not just be with them, He would be IN them. And what would He do?
John 16:12-15 “...when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
Have you had a personal Pentecost?
∙ a moment when God has blown change into you, turning your world upside down?
∙ a moment when the fire of Heaven has touched your mind and heart burning up the junk and making you a pleasing sacrifice for Him?
∙ a moment when the Spirit has taken control of your mind and tongue freeing you to speak with the
tongues of men and angels in praise of your Lord, when your language reveals a Spirit-transformed heart?
Pentecost was the birth of the Church and our own Pentecost is the birth of an empowered, effective service of God. Just as Jesus is our Intercessor, the Holy Spirit becomes our Interpreter!
Don’t let doctrinal issues about ‘speaking in tongues’ and whether there is a distinct and separate experience for the Believer after coming to Christ obscure the central message today. It would be tragic to let assumptions and dogma, keep you from the joyful experience of having the Spirit of God making God’s message known to you and through you!
The lesson of our text is crystal clear –
An experience of the Spirit of God, however we label it and ‘doctrinalize’ it, is a necessity to be powerful, living witnesses to His truth.
What were the last words of Jesus before He went back to His Father?
Acts 1:4, 8 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. . . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
As I close today – let me talk about YOUR personal PENTECOST . . .
I hope that in this message you have been stirred up, that your hunger for the Spirit has been sharpened.
What does a personal Pentecost mean? What are some of the ‘costs’ of being owned by the Spirit?
Let me use a couple of phrases....
Out of Control –
One of the reasons that many people resist a personal Pentecost so vehemently is because there can be no Pentecost with giving up control! Sorry, no control freaks are invited. It’s faith thing, start to finish! We must trust ourselves to Him.
At that first Pentecost, when the Spirit overwhelmed those Believers, their joy and behavior made them appear intoxicated! As they shouted the praises of God in the street in a cacophony of languages, some mocked their enthusiasm. They became crazy Christians, out of control – so it seemed, but; in fact, fully controlled by the Spirit of God!
When you invite the Holy Spirit to baptize you, to fill you up and to overflow, you must step out of the way and give Him control. Is that frightening? Sure can be!
Out of Comfort Zones –
He will take us out of our comfort zones. No, He won’t make us be foolish for foolishness sake, but He will lead us into places and situations where some may regard us as fools. He may lead you to people you would normally consider – FOREIGN. Galileans did not have much to do with “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; Cretans and Arabs.” They did not have much in common until an Interpreter brought them together.
A costly connection to others, not just those of YOUR choosing –
A personal Pentecost will lead you to care for people who are of differing races and religions, people outside of your class, people whose values differ, people outside of your circle. The Holy Spirit will give us words to speak to people that we might not even want to speak to naturally!
The Holy Spirit’s outpouring in a personal Pentecost reverses the curse of Babel which was DIVISION! Remember the story of Genesis 10? The arrogance and pride of the people caused God to confuse their language, thus dividing them. The Bible says, “the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Pentecost, the coming the Spirit, brings people of all nations and languages back together in a loving unity that is fed by their mutual love of the Lord Jesus Christ and their common language of the Spirit! A Spirit-filled church is a unified church! No unity indicates that the Spirit is not being allowed to take charge, that His work is being resisted.
A Compelling Prayer experience –
The Spirit in us, let’s us feel the heart of God, making times of prayer so much more meaningful as we sense we
are not speaking to the air, but connecting spirit to Spirit with the Almighty. In Romans 8:26-27- we learn that
“the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
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The logical question that closes this message...
HOW CAN WE ENTER INTO THE POWER OF A PERSONAL PENTECOST that we might know our God and so that His Gospel can come through us with clarity?
– Desire, as in hunger and thirst
Lord, I long for you. Lord, I hunger for you – not just in my rhetoric, but with all my heart.
– Faith, to trust His time and His place
“Wait for the gift” A word for then, a word for now
– Surrender, to lay aide your restrictions on through whom, when, where, and how He may come to you.
PRAY.
