What Can We Learn From The Pentecost?

Note to the reader

I preached this sermon at Academy Church of the Nazarene (on the campus of Africa Nazarene University, outside Nairobi, Kenya) on June 4, 2017.

Text: Acts 2:1-13

Introduction

Everyone was excited most the Feast of Weeks. They called it Shavuot, or Pentecost. They counted them down with anticipation. From Passover to the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt Sinai — count 'em: 7 weeks, l days. And so from all over the Mediterranean basin and beyond, Jews who had scattered descended upon Jerusalem for a 2 day celebration. It was party time!

A surprising twist

Do you like surprises? On Pentecost, God did something surprising, something these Jewish pilgrims could not have expected. Now, the 120 gathered praying in the Upper Room knew what Jesus had said. Just before he ascended to heaven, the Lord had promised:

In a few days y'all volition be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5, CEB).

But the visitors to Jerusalem knew cypher of Jesus' hope.

When the current of air blew, when the Holy Spirit descended, when the fire lit over the heads of the 120, when they heard them speaking their languages, miraculously empowered by God, the crowds were amazed. Some thought they were drunkard, fifty-fifty though it was only 9 a.yard.!

The rest of Acts 2 records Peter'south sermon. You might phone call information technology a birthday sermon. No, it wasn't Peter'southward birthday, simply if was the birthday of the Church.

3 Lessons from Pentecost

Today is Pentecost Sun. It's the day on the Christian Calendar when churches effectually the earth commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on that day then long agone. Red is the traditional colour of Pentecost, symbolizing the burn down of the Holy Ghost. Pentecost sometimes is overlooked. Information technology may seem less important than Christmas (the Festival of the Incarnation) or Easter (the Festival of the Resurrection). Yet Pentecost Sunday is foundational for our faith, especially for our life together as the Church, the People of God. Every bit we consider Acts 2, let'south look together at 3 lessons from Pentecost:

Lesson 1 – We really demand the Holy Spirit.

Lesson 2 – Nosotros actually need a new direction.

Lesson iii – We actually need each other.

We really demand the Holy Spirit.

You can't empathize Acts 2 unless you know something about Joel 2. When some in the oversupply at Pentecost accused the 120 of celebrating Shavuot a little also much, of being inebriated, Peter stood. Before a crowd of Jews, Peter appealed to a Jewish prophet. Joel had prophesied what God would practise:

Afterwards that, I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and daughters volition prophesy, your old men volition dream dreams, and your young men volition encounter visions (Joel 2:28, CEB; encounter also Acts 2:17).

On this, the altogether of the Church, Jesus knew that the task of making disciples in all nations was immense. There was no style that the Church in its own puny power was up to the job. They absolutely had to receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

If on that twenty-four hours long agone,theyreally needed the Holy Spirit, then hear this: Nosotros really demand the Holy Spirit! We only cannot fulfill the world-changing mission that God has given us if we operate in our own weakness.

In that location were iii symbols when the Holy Spirit brutal on the 120 gathered in the Upper Room: air current, fire, and languages. When I say, "We actually need the Holy Spirit," I call back first of the symbol of wind. The KJV describes it as a "rushing, mighty current of air." It's a symbol of spiritual power.

A.B. Simpson once said: "One of the special marks of the Holy Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the spirit of disrespect." Commentators accept oftentimes remarked near the alter that came over Peter on the 24-hour interval of Pentecost. But 50 days earlier around a blaze, when defendant by a solitary slave girl, Peter had denied Jesus not once, not twice, merely three times. Now in wide daylight, in front of a crowd of thousands, he boldly preached the Expert News. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes. Nosotros really need the Holy Spirit! I wonder: Has he filled you?

We actually demand a new direction.

Yet not only practice we really demand the Holy Spirit. Secondly, we really need a new direction. When the Holy Spirit comes – says John 16:8 – he will convict the world of sin.

Besides the symbol of wind, representing the Holy Spirit's power, there is the symbol of the flames of burn down hover over each of the 120. This flame symbolizes the Holy Spirit's cleansing. Looking dorsum on what had transpired at Pentecost, before the Council of Jerusalem, in Acts 15:8-nine Peter testified that God had "purified our hearts by religion." What do we mean by purity? We're talking about new direction, abandoning incorrect things that would destroy us and embracing the good things of God that give us purpose and long-term contentment. Simply the Holy Spirit and his cleansing can give us the new direction that we so desperately need. John Hyles comments:

Fire is called to symbolize the Holy Spirit, no doubt, because of what information technology does. Fire burns out the dross. Fire gives low-cal. Burn gives warmth. Oh, to be on burn for God!

As Peter preached to the crowd, he realized that his listeners likewise needed a new direction. Look at Acts 2:23: Yous crucified him, with the help of wicked men! Then in v.37, the crowd is troubled by Peter's accusation and asks: "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter answers: "Change your hearts and lives" (CEB). Other versions say: "Apologize and be baptized." What are nosotros talking virtually? New direction. Let the Holy Spirit'south burn purify your sinful center. Do you need a new management today?

We really demand each other.

All the same there is a third lesson from Pentecost. Not only do we actually need the Holy Spirit; non merely do we really demand a new direction. Finally, we really need each other.

John Wesley famously insisted:

'Holy solitaries' is phrase no more than consistent with the Gospel than holy adulturers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion simply social; no holiness, but social holiness.

It should strike united states that Jesus could have sent the Holy Spirit on each of the 120 individually when they were praying at dwelling lonely. Instead, the Holy Spirit barbarous when they were in the Upper Room praying together. In that location is something about joining forces that moves spiritual mountains.

The tertiary symbol – besides wind and burn down – was languages. These were earthly languages, the various mother tongues spoken by the Jews who had come up from so many far-off places. Was it a miracle of speaking or a phenomenon of hearing? The account is inconclusive, but 1 thing is sure: God was intent on getting his message across. The linguistic communication miracle symbolizes the connection God desires for his people; language is meant to bind people together for a common purpose.

What is striking most Acts 2 is that information technology begins with togetherness and information technology ends with togetherness. Acts 2:42ff speaks of shared pedagogy, shared meals, shared prayers, even shared possessions. The Holy Spirit united their hearts in singleness of purpose and mission. Don't you long for that kind of unity in the Church building today?Simply put, we cannot achieve individually the mission God that God has given us. The Ivorian maxim reminds us:

You lot can't option up a grain of rice with but one finger.

About two months ago, I was hospitalized with a sudden bleeding status. I thank the Lord for a wonderful wife who stood past me through that scary experience, which included an functioning. But there were many others who helped u.s.: nurses at the ANU clinic, ambulance drivers, ANU transport who took Amy to and from the infirmary, Pastor Gift, the DVC and the VC who visited me at the hospital, and then many who prayed for me. The proverb says: "No ane is an island," and I was then glad through that feel to exist office of community. The lesson from Pentecost is still true today: Nosotros really need each other!Let us never allow the Devil to dissever united states of america.

Conclusion

Today is Pentecost Dominicus. 3 lessons are before u.s.:

We actually demand the Holy Spirit. Nosotros need the spiritual power symbolized by the wind, the ability that only he tin can give us.
We really need a new direction. Only the fire of the Holy Spirit can cleanse our hearts and give us a fresh beginning.
We really demand each other. The languages symbolize our connectedness. To accomplish the Church'southward mission, we must piece of work together.

May the Lord open our eyes anew to the lessons of Pentecost.