Have you ever been around someone that you just don’t quite understand what they are saying? Maybe you think you know, but you are afraid you might not have it right?
Back in High school, there was this girl I liked. We went bowling a couple of times with a group. I was not old enough to drive. So my folks or her grandmother had to take us places. We were friends. I was a little shy, Well very shy. I wanted to hold her hand, but I was just so scared that I never could make myself do it.
What if she did not want to? What if her family saw it?
One evening we were invited to join her aunt and uncle and go to dinner at a Mexican place. We were in the back seat. Backing out of the drive way. She reached over and took my hand.
We held hands all the way to the restaurant and all the way home. My fingers went numb, but I did not want to let go.
There was a common message, based on friendship. I was too timid… or more plainly said, chicken to just take a tiny risk.
There was a message being sent, I just failed to act.
A few weeks ago we heard how Jesus breathed on the disciples, in the locked room, and told them to receive the Holy Spirit – and they received the power to forgive sins. We talked then about how experiencing the Holy Spirit is something you pick up slowly. It seems that today we have to learn to listen and respond.
How at that the disciples need to forgive sin’s , their own sins first. Desertion, denial, fear, doubt…. And then for forgive each other for their failures for the group stay together.
Jesus came to the group over the next 40 days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God.
Our scripture today happens after Jesus tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the gift that God has promised.
The gift is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It appears that they waited up to 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven. The day the Spirit was sent was a day of celebration for the Jews called Pentecost.
Pentecost is the last day of the season of Passover. On the first day of Passover is the festival of unleavened bread. The beginning of the harvest when the first fruits were brought to the temple. On Pentecost bread is made as part of the feast and is given at the temple, but because it has yeast, it never touches the alter. It is raised up and praised given to God.
The word Pentecost means 50 and is the 50th day after the beginning of Passover. The celebration of this day is to celebrate the giving of the Law to the people on Mt. Sinai. The day when the 10 commandments were written in stone were delivered to the people by Moses.
So there were about 120 disciples in the room. Waiting and praying. Wondering when something is going to happen. They hear a sound like the tornado from the Wizard of OZ or the movie twister. They can’t tell where it is coming from. It had to be frightening.
Then the light show starts they saw what “seemed to be tongues of fire” That separated and moved to each of them. And they all started talking in other languages, languages they did not know..
They must have rushed out into the streets and people from all over heard them speaking. Each one heard them speaking in “their own language.”
Today, here in the US, Most of us don’t speak more than one language. In Europe that may speak several. It is like a person from Germany being in England ad he hears someone on the street speaking in German. It catches his ear Or if you were in France and heard English. You would tune right in. It happens even closer that that. If you go to New York City fro a few days and hear someone with a southern accent. You would notice.
The people are attracted to the tornado sound and are amazed at of all the disciples testifying about Jesus Christ.
What a sight, all the folks talking at once. It must have looked pretty wild.
The amazing this was these people that were speaking in all the languages looked like Galileans.
Galileans were considered to be lower on the totem-pole than people from Mississippi. They were considered uneducated, improper hicks. Rarely did a Galilean have to ability to speak multiple languages.
So where are we going today? If we take the story that we read we are looking at the Birthday of the church. The 120 people that were disciples suddenly lit like candles on a cake. Their actions the testifying in the street was so wild looking that some of the people thought they were drunk.
When the Holy Spirit came, the result was and event they might have made any of us feel ashamed or embarrassed. When they started speaking out, their reputations went straight down the tubes.
These folks are drunk or crazy, just a bunch of nuts.
When any of us starts feeling the movement of the Holy spirit in our lives. It can be very frightening. When the wild ideas come into your mind, you start to think that You must be going crazy. Say something in Sunday School, sing a solo, talk to my neighbor or friend about church stuff…..
Be a teacher or a preacher.. That is nuts… No way.
I believe that every Christian is Guilty of Quenching the Holy spirit. There is not an innocent soul on this earth. Unfortunately, most of us never get over it. Once we shut it down, we master the ability to fight the urge, or allow our fear of miscommunication to take over we become totally useless to God.
If all we do is act like Christians on Sunday, show up to church because we have to. The rest of the week we are just that friendly person. Is that in any way useful to God, are we really Christians?
On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit demonstrated that the best way to tell people about the Good new is to speak their language!
Speak Greek to a Greek, Speak French to a Frenchman. The only way to break down the walls people put up is for us to show people we are interested in them for who they are , what they need.
Not for who we think they should be or what we think they need.
Think about the best friends in your life. Why are they your friend? I will bet they you have something in common. Something you like, or do or did that you talk about. You probably speak each others language.
That Pentecost morning, a few minutes before 9, God sent the spirit. He never told them when it was coming. Just to wait for it. Don’t get impatient and leave!
By 9 am the people were in the street talking, saying want was in their hearts and minds. And Peter, steps up to explain what that every body was staring at.
17" ’In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Then Peter gives a sermon that draws people into a new relationship with God. The told the Good news to this group of people and three Thousand people responded.
Peter, who denied knowing the man. Peter did not quench the spirit that morning. He let it speak through him. He let it lead him.
He just allowed the Spirit to empower the words and say the right things in the right languages. He let the Spirit perform the miracle of communication. The real miracle is getting people to listen.
It did not make him perfect but because he kept listening, he found that he could say yes more often, He found he could take a risk more often. He found that he could admit he was wrong and change more often.
-- In the past couple of weeks, I haven been encouraging you to have a quiet time and write down the things that popped into your mind.
If you took the action, and actually put the stuff down, even if it seemed foolish, then you are probably starting to hear the whispers of the Spirit.
For this week I hope you will continue to that the few minutes of quiet listening time and add to your prayer a request to be strengthened to act by the spirit.
With the practicing to listening to the spirit, you may find that you will hear of feel prompting of the spirit during the noise of your day.
Let me tell you how it will work. You will be busy doing your normal stuff and someone will pop into your mind. Perhaps you will think I need to call or visit or just pray for them. Please do it, just as soon as you can.
I know you will be amazed if you do.
One more suggestion, if you talk to or see the person or people, just mention that you just had the urge or the need place on your heart.
- Mention God or the Spirit, if you can, if the Spirit tells you to….
God uses the spirit to make relationships between his children. He isn’t just working in you when he asks for a step from you. He is normally working in the other person’s life as well.
- St Luke All Glory be to God!
I am gong to leave you with one last thought today; some people stay away from church because they are afraid of catching something. They don’t know what it is. they don’t know that it might be good for them.
And they don’t know that most churches have not been contagious for years.
It is time for a change. It is time to become contagious because we caught the power of the Holy Spirit. It speaks to and directs us.
When we need strength and courage we ask…. When we pray we know we are in the center of God’s will. The power of God comes from a focused communication with God. Communication means that we listen sometimes and when we hear his voice We act.
Next week, Sunday night, come here at 5 pm and let’s expose ourselves to a period of focused waiting, prayer and be willing witnesses when the spirit moves within us.
All Glory be to God!
