Acts 2: 1-21:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deed of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
On Pentecost Sunday, we remember the day the disciples received the Holy Spirit in a distinct way. The story in Acts 2 describes a powerful wind and tongues of fire as the Holy Spirit was poured out on people from all over the world who came to Jerusalem to celebrate a Jewish feast. At the first Pentecost over 3,000 people were baptised, creating the first church. This is why Pentecost is known as the birthday of the Christian church.
The word Pentecost comes from a Greek word meaning fiftieth. The Jewish Festival of Pentecost (called Shavuot, meaning “weeks” in Hebrew) falls on the fiftieth day after the original Passover. On that day, God gave the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Christian festival of Pentecost falls on the 50th day after the resurrection of Jesus.
Pentecost – The Birthday Of The Church
Happy Birthday Church! On the Day of Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the Church. The Bible text from Acts 2 that I have posted at the beginning of this message tells us of an amazing party that happened 2,000 years ago when the Holy Spirit came down and anointed the apostles with power. The Bible tells us that more than 3,000 were saved that day and the church began as a movement on this earth for the first time. Life has never been the same since.
Like any good birthday party there were presents: gifts from God. The good thing about these birthday gifts is that they are the gifts that keep on giving. These gifts are still ours today as we continue the ministry of the Christian Church in the world.
So what are the gifts? It can be best explained in the acronym: P-O-W-E-R!
P: Prayers Answered
- On the Day of Pentecost, the promise that Jesus made was fulfilled. Jesus instructed the apostles and the believers to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit. He said “This is what you have heard from me. For John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit a few days from now.” He told them to wait and pray.
- Still today, God answers our prayers. God promises us goodness and mercy. The Lord promises never to leave us or forsake us. Jesus promised that if we seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness first, all the things we need will be added to us.
- God kept his promise to give the apostles the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, but it took a while. They prayed for 40 days. They might have wondered if it was really going to happen. Jesus had left and waiting is hard. God’s promises are often slow in coming to us as well but we need to trust that the timing is always right.
- In every situation in life we need to pray. We need to pray in the good times and in the tough times. We need to pray. Keep praying and praying. God always hears our prayers and answers at just the right time.
- Keep praying and do not lose heart or give up. As we wait God has time to shape us and mould us into God’s image and prepares the way for new opportunities.
- God is teaching the church right now to do new things, to learn modern technology, to appreciate the challenging work of many we have taken for granted, to hear the cry of the poor and speak for justice, to pay attention to the environment, to listen to the hearts of people we have been too busy to engage.
- Keep praying! God is going to answer!
- God is faithful. God is good.
O: Other languages
- What an amazing gift this was! These men from Galilee began talking in languages they did not know and they never had to go to class to learn them.
- God gave this gift so that the people could understand about Jesus Christ and the salvation that he came to bring the world. This gift was for everyone, not just the Jews. God was going public with this!
- Still today, God wants the Good News of Jesus Christ proclaimed to all people, nations, and ethnicities. We need to strive to communicate it any way we can, be it spoken languages, or sign language, or facebook or twitter, and the most important language of all: Love.
- When you speak love it doesn’t matter if you understand a foreign language. It communicates GOD in capital letters.
- Who can you speak love to and thus spread the birthday gift of “other languages” to the world?
W: Witness
- On Pentecost the apostles not only received the gift of other languages, but they were also witnesses to their experiences.
- They told the many people who were in Jerusalem about the works of Jesus Christ in their life and they referenced it back to the teachings of Scripture found in the prophet Joel.
- Your personal witness is the most powerful thing you’ve got when it comes to growing your church and helping people receive Christ as their Saviour.
- But we are fearful sometimes, we don’t want to offend, we think we don’t know how to share our faith, or we think it is the preacher’s job.
- Simply tell people what Jesus has done for you. That is why advertisers spend millions of dollars producing TV ads with people telling their real-life stories to sell their products. We want a witness of what that product will do for us.
- Witnessing for Christ means telling what Christ has done for you personally.
- But you don’t have to be the preacher to do that. Just sharing your story with someone you meet at the supermarket or any one the Lord lays on your heart. Who can you witness to?
E: Empowerment
- Empowerment goes along with witness. Prior to the day of Pentecost the apostles were a group of fearful men. They hid in a locked room, expecting at any time to be arrested or even killed for being a follower of Jesus. Peter denied Jesus and all of them fled on the night of his arrest. Very few were at the cross to be with him as he died. This was a demoralized group, but they started to pray, and things began to look up.
- After this long time of prayer, the Holy Spirit showed up in wind and flame and gave them power to forget their fears and get in front of the crowds. They not only received the gift of other languages but they were empowered with gifted preaching skills so convincing that 3,000 joined the church at the end of the day.
- Still today, God empowers us with spiritual gifts to do the work of ministry: preaching, teaching, prophetic gifts, healing, helps, administration, giving and many more.
- If you are a Christian you have been gifted with skills from God’s very own Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry. Every one of you is a minister.
- What is your spiritual gift? Where can you be using your gifts more for the Lord for the work of the Lord?
R: Rejection
- The final gift might not seem like a gift at all: “R” stands for rejection. At the speaking of tongues some people laughed at the disciples and said they were drunk. They looked at the holiness of God and called it something profane. They rejected the message that was being proclaimed.
- Still today people are dismissing the power of the gospel as untrue, weak, ineffective, or worse yet as mean and judgmental. There will always be critics and they are a gift to us in that we always need to be ready to give an answer for the hope inside of us. We need to always be on our best behavior as people are watching.
- When you face trials or criticisms or rejection for your faith, remember that Jesus faced even more suffering and rejection than we will ever know. A disciple must expect to suffer but we are not alone. Christ is with us and upholds us with an overcoming spirit.
Conclusion:
I would pray that everyone who is reading this message is a Christian – a child of God. To those who are not Christians I pray that you will be convicted by the Holy Spirit that you are a sinner; that you agree with God that you are a sinner and need to experience the salvation available to you through the work of Christ.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16, 17 (ESV)
On the Cross Jesus carried the load of sin of humankind. But thanks be to God that He rose from the dead and broke the power of sin and death.
To those who are God’s children: May you celebrate the many gifts of the Holy Spirit not just on Pentecost but every day of the year! We are gifted with: answered prayer, other languages, witnessing opportunities, empowering gifts of the Spirit and even a bit of rejection to keep us humble and keep us walking in the path where Jesus walked.
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God bless you all!!
(The use of the acronym P-O-W-E-R comes from a sermon of the United Methodist Church, Pennsylvania).