The Day of Pentecost Has Arrived
What can I say about the day the Holy Spirit rained down? We learn about the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and it’s just really incredible.
Jesus told His disciples He was leaving. But He would not leave them as orphans. A day was coming when He would send His Spirit to guide and comfort them. And that day has finally arrived!
The Spirit Moves
Can you think of a time you have been in a worship service and felt the Holy Spirit moving?
I would like to think He is moving and working in my heart every time I open His Word. But there are specific instances throughout my life I recall that there was an extra amount of the Holy Spirit pouring out, making it more obvious He was doing something. Or maybe I was just being more sensitive to it.
The first time I can remember was at a church camp bonfire when I was 9 years old. Have you ever been to church camp?
That was the first year I could go, and I went every year until I graduated high school. After a week of knowing someone, they were my lifelong friend. I was literally standing around a bonfire singing kum ba yah as I embraced them because I would not see them for another year.
This particular bonfire, I was moved by the Holy Spirit as the camp pastor was talking about being saved from hell. I knew I sinned and I did not want to go to hell. I said, “Jesus please save me. I don’t want to go to hell.”
I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think I was actually saved that day. I went to Sunday School and big church just about every Sunday, Tuesday night AWANA, and Wednesday night prayer meeting. I knew a lot about Jesus and I still didn’t want to go to hell, but it didn’t keep me from being pretty naughty. Especially in my Jr Hi years.
Looking back I think the encounter at the church camp bonfire was the beginning of God calling me to Himself through His Word and His Spirit.
But it wasn’t until I was in high school that I wanted to really stop living for myself and live how Jesus wanted me to.
Interestingly enough, it seemed the Holy Spirit convinced me and made sense of what it meant to truly follow Jesus with all of my heart and mind after I worked at that same church camp between my junior and senior years of high school.
There are several other times I can recall related to a vocational change in college and ministry opportunities into my 30’s and 40’s.
No Take Backs
But More recently, the Holy Spirit was dealing with me and nudging me to go forward. I was thinking, “Can’t I just take care of this here in the pew?” That nudging is mostly a blessing but it does not always feel like it.
Sometimes He makes me uncomfortable. And this was one of those times He would not leave me alone!
So I went forward to pray at the altar as a public confession. I didn’t really know why He was asking me to do this. I didn’t really want to do it. My attitude about doing it wasn’t that great. But I did it.
Then He made it clear….He wanted to cement in my heart that I would hold my son Drew with an open hand and not take it back. No take backs.
It’s Understandable but not Obedient
I had placed an unintended burden on Drew by holding on to him too tightly. We suffered a great loss when his brother Nicholas died, so it is understandable that I would struggle with this. No one would blame me.
But being understandable and being obedient are not the same thing.
God has broken my fingers on several occasions to deal with me on this and remind me, Drew is a gift and being his mom is a great joy. But just like Nicholas, Eric and I dedicated him to the Lord. Therefore I cannot hold on to him like an idol.
Honestly, I thought I had taken care of this a few years ago, but it kept coming back around.
A Memorial Stone
Do you do that? You give up an idol of your heart and then you take it back?
I would say, “Lord, I am giving this up to You. I Trust You.” And at the time I said it, I meant it. But just as soon as those words barely had time to form, it’s as if the evil genius satan or one of his minions was saying, “oh we’ll see about that.” And then before I knew what was happening, I was struggling with it all over again.
I knew I needed to break this cycle.
This is the year I am not taking things back that I already gave to the Lord.
So just to make sure, the Holy Spirit nudged me forward and I bowed my head at the altar and laid my idol down. This is now a memorial stone, a rock of remembrance to look back on, and so far I haven’t taken it back. Now, confessing this to you continues to be part of my story and will help keep me accountable.
Pentecost is Like a Tornado
Getting back to Acts 2, the Day of Pentecost had finally come. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
That makes me think of a tornado.
An F5 tornado came really close to our house one evening when the boys were little. James Spann is the weather guru in these parts, and he had told us to get in our safe place. So we were hunkered in the basement when we heard it coming…whewwwwwwwwwwww. Like a train whistle and then Powpowpowpowpowpow like someone was shooting down the door.
The wind picked up a big 80 year old tree and threw it on our roof. Later, aerial photos showed the tornado came right up to our door and parted as if something or Someone stronger forced it to go around. A powerful force strong enough to make the F5 tornado go around. We were out of the house for about 3 months getting the roof and windows fixed and utilities restored. But the house on the rock stood firm.
But It’s Holy Spirit Power
This is what I think of when I read about a sound like a strong gale force wind filling the entire house where the apostles and other followers were sitting. Only this wasn’t a tornado. It was the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ raining down with all of the power Jesus promised a chapter ago in Acts 1!
The Spirit of God has been active in the world since creation. It’s just that now here in Acts 2, He is showing His power in a new way to launch the New Covenant Age and He will keep at it until Christ Returns in all His Glory)
Tongues of Fire
Then divided tongues resembling a purifying wildfire came and rested on each of them. This is the best way the author Luke knew how to describe what they were seeing. And all 120 of them who had been meeting together devoting themselves to prayer, while they waited for this moment, -all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in languages other than their native tongue as the Holy Spirit prompted them.
Devout Jews from every nation under heaven, who were also in Jerusalem for Pentecost, came together when they heard the sound. They were looking at each other bewildered because they were hearing the mighty works of God spoken in their own language that these uncultured Galileans would not have learned.
Faith is Having Ears to Hear
It’s like Rosetta Stone showed up and taught them different foreign languages – all of the languages in the known world at that time. Only it was the Holy Spirit and it happened the instant they were filled with Him. Those who heard were amazed and perplexed and were saying to one another, “what does this mean?”
Others who didn’t believe only heard gibberish. So they started mocking and accusing them of being drunk.
Let’s think about that for a minute.
Those who had faith were clearly hearing the mighty works of God spoken in their native language and those who did not have faith only heard gibberish. They didn’t have ears to hear because they lacked faith.
Doesn’t it seem like that happens in the world today? And not just in the world, but also in the church?
If Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, the Spirit must be present for us to have the ears to hear clearly. God uses the Spirit and His Word to reveal Himself.
And the Revelation of God is all we need.
Prophecy Fulfilled
Well, Peter, being the spokesman and full of the Spirit, backed by the other 11 apostles, began to speak to the crowd with bold urgency.
Answering the mockers, he said these followers of Christ have not even had time to get drunk because it was only 9 in the morning. Like he didn’t know anyone who got drunk by 9 in the morning.
But that what they were witnessing was prophesied by Joel. Do you remember Joel? He is one of the minor prophets. The life of a prophet, whether major or minor wasn’t easy. In chapter 2 of the book of Joel, he said God declared He would pour out His Spirit on every kind of people – men and women, young and old, servants and nobles – there would be no distinction between those who believed.
God would pour out His Spirit on them and they would prophesy about Him.
This prophesy was being fulfilled that day. And wonders and signs would continue until Christ returns. In the meantime, whoever calls out for help, invoking the Name of the Lord -that is everyone who worships the Christ as Lord – whoever does that – will be saved.
Joel prophesies about it, Peter recalls that prophesy and Luke writes about it here in Acts, and then Paul speaks of it in his book to the Romans. That’s 3 times that I know of that the Holy Spirit inspires men to write these same words:
Whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved! This is still True today!
There is No Distinction
What does it mean to you that there is no distinction?
That has relevance.
I’ve got news for you. It’s not just about the U S of A. I am probably going to offend some people here. But I think when we read about God’s people and it is referring to Israel, meaning the True Israel – THE Church that includes Jews and Gentiles that are grafted in -as was always God’s kind intention -when we Americans hear the words “God’s people or God’s children” -we tend to apply it mainly to the US.
News Flash! God does not make distinctions between races, genders, age, social class, marital status – none of it. All of us in this whole wide world can bring our baggage to Jesus and leave it at His feet and call on His Name and be saved! That’s the Gospel Truth.
The First Holy Spirit Missionary Church
But Peter is not done. He goes on for quite some time. Luke just records a piece of it -enough for us to understand Peter is saying this Day of Pentecost is best understood through Jesus Christ. His life and ministry of miracles and wonders, His death, resurrection, and exaltation to heaven results in our salvation and a new community in the First Holy Spirit Missionary Church.
There’s not a second church. THE Church started when God called out Abraham and told Him He would make a nation through him and would bless him and make his name great and all of the families of the earth would be blessed through his seed, speaking of Jesus.
This first missionary church is new because of this new work of the Holy Spirit indwelling believers at the time of their salvation. That had not happened before. Before this, the Holy Spirit came on people for specific purposes.
Now, as of this day, He would indwell believers and their bodies would be His temple. There is no longer a need to go to the temple to offer sacrifices because Jesus Christ offered Himself as the all sufficient, ultimate sacrifice.
Peter goes on to tell the crowd God had this planned out ahead of time as the way for sinful man to be reconciled to a Holy God. God is sovereign like that. But they would still be held responsible for crucifying and killing Jesus.
God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility Coexist
How is it possible for God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility to coexist?
If God had His plan in place for how things would turn out before He even created the world, why is man held responsible?
Maybe you have never really thought about this before? Or maybe thinking about it hurts your brain? Or maybe you have thought about it but you didn’t know how to put it into words.
I have had the privilege to sit under really good bible teaching and study the bible for myself for years. My short answer is…I don’t know. I don’t know. My longer answer includes God’s character of eternality and omniscience, but we will save that for another day.
Even though man’s responsibility for evil is not absolved by God’s predetermined plan, God in His love made a way.
His Son died and paid the debt we owed. But that’s not the end because But God showed up. I hope you have heard about But God moments. There’s before But God is about to do something and there’s after But God does it. In this case, Christ had died, But God raised Him up! Death was no match for Him. It was not possible for Him to be held by the pangs of death.
No Fear in Death
That is a huge word of encouragement for us! Don’t those very words give you courage to face even death without fear?
Death was no match for Him. It was not possible for Him to be held by the pangs of death.
What does that mean for us? What are the implications for us? How does that message give us Hope?
Christ conquering death made it possible for us to also. When someone who knows the Lord departs their body, their soul and spirit are immediately in the presence of Jesus. They are living their best lives. It’s us who are left behind who grieve because we have to learn how to live again without them. But we do not grieve as someone who has no hope!
The Glory of the Resurrection
Well, Peter goes on to speak of the glory of the reality of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection when he quotes a prophecy from Psalm 16 that David is speaking, not about himself, but about Christ.
The Lord is always before Him. Jesus Christ would not be cast down. His heart is glad. He dwells in the hope that His soul would not be abandoned to Hades but instead He would know the path of Life. God’s presence would enrapture Him and infuse His soul with joy.
Peter then testifies that they all were eye witnesses of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. And furthermore, what everyone in attendance was seeing and hearing that day -was the pouring out of the promised blessing of the Holy Spirit.
He said, David did not ascend into heaven but instead said this,
The Lord GOD (meaning the Sovereign Ruler Yahweh) said to my Lord (meaning my Master the Messiah, Jesus Christ),
Yahweh said to Christ,
Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.
Yahweh is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and His Son Jesus Christ would ascend to heaven and sit down because It Is Finished – the work He came to do on the cross was done, He had conquered death with His resurrection, had ascended to the second highest position in the universe, and would stay there until The Father said it’s time for you to Return to set up Your Kingdom on New Heaven New Earth. This is the place where heaven and earth will come together and those who love Jesus Christ and worship Him as the King of kings will reign and rule with Him forever.
Time For a Response
So there is no room for doubt when Peter says,
“Let all the host of Israel therefore know for certain, that God made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Whoa!
Do you want to know what their response was to Peter’s teaching?
They didn’t walk off offended by what they heard and never come back. No. They were cut to the heart by the TRUTH of the words as the Holy Spirit pierced them with intense conviction.
And they asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
And Peter said, “Repent and be baptized.”
In other words, change your views and purpose in your heart to accept the will of God instead of rejecting it. Change your life by turning to God. Identify with the character of Jesus Christ, taking on His Name. Then you will be forgiven and released from your sins. AND you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling you.
You can show the change of your inner heart through the outward expression of baptism.
This promise is for you and your children and all who are far off – everyone who the Lord our God invites to come to Himself.
The result? There were about 3,000 souls added to the Church that day.
Evangelism is Our Responsibility
How does Peter’s approach make you think differently about evangelism?
Do you think he was too harsh?
Does it matter that his audience was devout Jews and had access to the Law and maybe should have known better? How is that different from an audience who has not heard the Gospel, or who is unchurched or does not know the Bible?
It seems Jesus in His earthly ministry spoke differently to these different groups of people.
How should we respond? And what is our responsibility to share the Gospel?
These are all good questions to ponder until next time when we talk about how the Holy Spirit indwelling the Church radically changed how they lived.
