"holy Spirit Power"

"Holy Spirit Power"

Acts 2:1-13

A sermon for Pentecost Sunday

Pastor John Bright

Acts 2 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

I want to start off on a serious note – the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, wrote this in “Thoughts Upon Methodism,” – “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist in either Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast to both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.“ (in Works [vol. 13; Jackson edition, 1879], 258)

The early days of Methodism in Europe and America were marked by rapid increases in membership, vitality in reaching out to the least of these, and demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit. When John Wesley was asked "What may we reasonably believe to be God's design in raising up the Preachers called Methodists?” This was his answer, “To reform the nation and, in particular, the Church; to spread scriptural holiness over the land." That was the effect of the early Methodist class meeting in the beginnings of America.

Let me give you some stats – “In 1776 Methodists made up 2.5 % of religious adherent in the colonies. In 1850 Methodists made up 34.2 % of religious adherents! In seventy years they had increased from a tiny sect to the largest denomination in the United States. (In other words, in 1776 1 in 40 religious people in America were Methodist. In 1859 1 in 3 were.) And no other denomination was even close to the Methodists at this time. The second largest denomination was the Baptists with 20.5%.”

https://kevinmwatson.com/2009/06/17/the-explosive-growth-of-methodism-from-1776-to-1850/

That was then – what about now? On average, mainline Protestant denominations are declining about 1-2% every year while it grows by leaps and bounds in places like Africa and South Korea. What’s the difference? HOLY SPIRIT POWER!

The Power They Needed

We find this account of Pentecost at the beginning of Acts. I don’t think you could have the rest of Acts without this pivotal event for the Early Church. The festival of Pentecost was one of the festivals where Jews from many locations came to Jerusalem to bring their grain offerings to the Temple. The list of places is not only hard to read but gives us a snapshot of the world controlled by the Roman Empire at the start of the 1st century.

We have two groups of folks in this scripture – followers of Jesus (apostles and disciples) and the Jews from all over. Acts 1 tells us that there were 120 disciples and, after replacing Judas with Matthias, there were 12 apostles. In v. 5, those Jews that gather are described as a “multitude.” That means a lot! Later in v. 41 we find that 3,000 new Believers were added on that day of Pentecost at the beginning of the Early church.

I want to be really clear about what I believe happened that day – they were given a gift of power that was after the gift of salvation. These apostles had been saved back on the day of Jesus’ resurrection – John 20:22 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” There was no salvation, as we know it, without the blood of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary – amen? When we are saved, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus – John 14:16-17 “16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”