"under Construction"

“Under Construction”

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost is one of the most important days in the history of Christianity.

It is, quite literally, the birthday of the Jesus’ Church.

In importance, it is right up there with Christmas and Easter.

That being said, a lot of people know very little about it.

Why do you suppose that is?

It’s a very spectacular event, filled with lots of drama and even special effects.

But, there is no Pentecost Bunny or Pentecost Santa leaving plastic eggs in baskets for the children or gifts under a tree.

Grocery Stores and Pharmacies aren’t filled with Pentecost candy for months before-hand.

Hallmark doesn’t have rows upon rows of “Happy Pentecost” cards.

The radio doesn’t play Pentecost music from April through June.

People don’t spend months and months--not to mention--tons of money Pentecost shopping.

And when the church service is over, if we did go to church that morning, that’s usually it.

We don’t tend to go home to our Pentecost celebrations.

I wonder why that is.

Before Pentecost there was no church, just a group of about 120 frightened and confused people who had watched Jesus be Crucified, Resurrected and then Ascend back to heaven 10 days earlier.

Jesus had instructed them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for “the gift” God promised.

This gift, Jesus said was that, “in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

They really had no idea what Jesus was talking about.

It was just such a radically different concept—they couldn’t get their minds wrapped around it—it had never happened before, it was something brand new!

It was something that had to be experienced in order to be understood.

Remember back, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist?

What happened as soon as Jesus was baptized?

We are told “At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

This was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

We are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit.

A similar thing happens to the 120 Jesus followers on the day of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit comes down from heaven and rests on of each of them.

And they are able to speak in the languages of all the pilgrims who had entered Jerusalem from a bunch of different countries in order to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Weeks.

It was a wild scene and it drew a big crowd.

It’s like what happens to a person when they have a radical born-again experience.

Suddenly, the lights come on in their heart and mind, they understand the Gospel in ways they never understood it before, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit and along with that comes a new confidence, a new courage, a new outlook and a new life.

Nothing is ever the same again.

This happened to each one of the 120 first followers of Christ on that day approximately 2,000 years ago.

And it happened to them all at once.

And suddenly they were on fire!

And who should stand up and give the first Christian sermon in the history of the Church?

Probably the last person on earth whom we might expect.

The Apostle Peter, the same man who on the night Jesus was arrested, was so afraid that he wouldn’t even admit to a servant girl in the high priest’s courtyard that he even knew Jesus.

But sure enough, this once frightened man, stands up and speaks boldly, and passionately and loudly to some of the very folks who put Jesus to death.

Beginning in Acts Chapter 2 verse 22 Peter says: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

This man was handed over to you and you put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

But God raised him from the dead.”

Wow!

What a change.

What a day.

We are told that 3,000 people joined the brand-new Church that day, and the numbers kept growing and growing and growing.

And the Book of Acts is the story of the early Church and how it evolved from there.

It’s an amazingly exciting adventure.

And in it we get a very intriguing picture of a group of people—folks just like you and me—who are continually being changed and formed and transformed in their understanding of God.

And one of the things that stands out most is that even though the Church is born on Pentecost, the Church is not finished on Pentecost.