What is the greatest need in the entire world? It’s something each human must discover, though to be honest most of us weren’t looking for it at first. But the pain of life, and the heaviness of something we couldn’t explain, led us toward a reality of this life, that few want to openly discuss. It’s the presence of God. He drew us toward it, himself, when we were far away, so we owe it all to Him.
One day, a man named Moses was grazing his father in law’s sheep, and he came near a mysterious mountain. He saw a burning flame in the night, he inched closer, and a voice spoke from the fire, the presence of God had came to Moses, a man who wasn’t even looking for God.
God appeared to him as flames of fire. Indeed the scriptures say, our God is a consuming fire.
Moses learned to walk with God, and to see God work in mighty ways. God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt.
And God led the people of Israel to Mount Sinai, by a pillar of fire at night, and a cloud by day.
The God of the flames that met Moses in the wilderness, now was the God of the flames leading Israel to the Mountain.
And on that Mountain the Israelites received a glorious and beautiful gift, the law, the ten commandments.
Flash forward to the time of Jesus. The Passover celebration had occurred, and on the same day of the Jewish Passover, Jesus was crucified. And then, fifty days later, the festival of weeks took place, a Jewish festival that celebrated God giving the law, on Mount Sinai.
After Jesus was crucified, the disciples began to have these strange experiences where they saw the risen Jesus alive. Numerous times this occurred, and they were told, at the ascension of Jesus, to wait for a gift to come from heaven.
Acts 1:4-5, “4 Once when he (Jesus) was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with[b] water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
They were told to wait for this gift, of baptism by the Holy Spirit. This is a precious gift. More precious than any of us realize.
Because of this gift, I can sit in a hotel room in Traverse City, pray, and expect the Holy Spirit to guide me in writing a beautiful sermon from the heart of God. Without that I wouldn’t be able to. I could string together some scriptures, but it wouldn’t be in God’s agenda and will for that moment. I think we pastors, we have to learn to hear from the Spirit, otherwise, we end missing the will of God. And that is what we’re going to focus in on this Pentecost Sunday, is what it means to have and be led by the Holy Spirit.
So the eleven disciples, led by Peter, and the other believers waited patiently, wondering what this might mean.
Finally, the day of the festival of weeks came, what we today call Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth.” Because it’s celebrated fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus.
It says in Acts 2:1-4: “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”
The God of consuming fire, who appeared to Moses in flames of fire, the God whose fiery presence led the Israelites through the wilderness, the God whose fiery presence filled the temple of Solomon and made a home with the nation of Israel, had now sent His very presence, a burning fire, within human beings.
God’s temple was no longer near a man, or in the camp of men, or in the city of men, but now within the heart of each man or woman who believed.
First point today, the Holy Spirit is God. You are the temple of God, the scriptures say. God is living inside of you. The fire of God burns within you now. You are the temple.
Glory to God!
It’s interesting that the Jews were celebrating the festival of weeks, which celebrated the giving of the law of Moses. Today, we celebrate the giving of the Spirit of God to us. The Spirit writes the law of love on our hearts.
As the Holy Spirit landed on the disciples they began speaking in new languages. Jerusalem was filled with over a million people during this time due to the festival of weeks. The people heard the wind and gathered around the disciples as they began speaking the glories of God to the crowds in their own languages.
Some in the crowd were confused and thought they were drunk. Peter, the leader of the disciples stood before the crowd of thousands who had gathered, and Peter began to give an explanation for all that was taking place.
Peter quoted from the Old Testament prophet Joel 2:28-32, “
17 ‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below—
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The crowds in Jerusalem that day had witnessed something supernatural. They had experienced an intense wind, and heard Jewish men speaking in languages they didn’t otherwise know.
Peter points to the supernatural nature of the event. With the giving of the Holy Spirit, we should expect the supernatural to occur amongst us. We should expect divine healings, we should expect prophecies being spoken, we should expect people to have dreams from God, and experience visions. We should expect the presence of God at our meetings, in our homes, everywhere we go.
Do you have a supernatural view of God? That through the Holy Spirit you can experience these sort of experiences? Or are you closed off to the power of the Holy Spirit?
I want to challenge you today, to have an expectation in your life, that since the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you should expect to experience the supernatural aspects of God.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
The Holy Spirit is given yes, amazingly, so that we become the temple of God. And yes, so that the gospel can go across the face of the Earth. And yes, so that we can live a pure and holy life. But the Holy Spirit is also given for demonstrations of God’s power.
Prophesy, visions, dreams, healings, revival, are expressions of God’s power in the Earth. They are evidence that God is in fact at work in His people.
This is our second point today, Pentecost reminds us of the supernatural nature of our faith journey. Expect God to move in such ways in your midst.
I want to get into the main portion of our scripture for today, which is going to be Acts 2:32-41.
Peter has been giving a sermon, he’s started in the Old Testament, proving Jesus is the messiah, and showing in Joel how the Spirit’s coming was prophesied in the OT.
He talks about King David and the Psalms, all of it points toward Jesus.
Then in verses 32-33: 32 “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 33 Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.
Peter portrays the gospel in the clearest terms, Jesus died, Jesus was raised from the dead, and Peter says, we are witnesses of this.
We all have a testimony of how God has changed our lives. Whenever I’m talking with someone and I see an opportunity to discuss Jesus, I go to my testimony. Jesus changed my life through a radical shift in my thinking.
Peter explains that the Holy Spirit was given by Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. It happened on Pentecost, it happens today as well. Whenever someone believes on the Lord Jesus, and they really repent and give themselves to Jesus, they are born again in that moment, and the Holy Spirit is poured into them.
Verses 34-35 says this: 34 David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”’[g]
Again, Peter quotes from the Old Testament, this passage is from Psalm 110, citing the deity of Jesus. Jesus is not merely a man, he is the Lord. Jesus Christ is seated in authority with God the Father now, in the throne room at this very moment. And the God the Father is working out His plan, to make all the enemies of the cross throughout all of history, to be a footstool under the feet of Jesus.
Next, verses 36-37: 36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
37 Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
This message of Peter’s combined with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power through the disciples, those two things together, bring about a conviction in the hearts of the listeners, they are pierced.
The King James Version says they were “pricked in the heart.” The Greek word here for pierced/pricked is katanyssomai (kat-an-oos’-so) which means…
I.to prick, pierce
II. metaph. to pain the mind sharply, agitate it vehemently
1. esp. of the emotion of sorrow (Source: Blue Letter Bible)
The people in the crowd are agitated, they are feeling sorrow, this is conviction, they are disturbed, they are pierced, pricked in the heart. Many of you know how many often unpleasant emotions accompany the journey toward the moment of salvation. We argue with God, we resist the idea of Jesus, we feel difficult emotions, we don’t want it to be true, we want our own way, we get angry, why would God allow this or that, we start to feel pressure in our hearts, pain, confusion, and then finally, as we walk through these emotions, we begin to come through the other side of wrestling with God, and we realize, it’s really true, Jesus really is God, and I really need him. And we ask the question, alright, what do I need to do?
Peter responds, verses 38-39: 38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away[h]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
He outlines the message clearly, repent away from your past sins, turn toward God, be baptized. And your sins will be forgiven. Then comes the Holy Spirit to fill you. Who is this message for? For Israel, for the children of Israel, and to those far away, even people into the future.
Lastly, verses 40-41: 40 “Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.”
Peter says save yourself from this crooked generation, the same is true for us today. We live in a crooked generation. We’re called to a radically different life, than the culture we live in. It was true then too.
Those that believed the message, they took it to heart, they embraced and believed in Jesus, they were added to the church, baptized into the body.
Third and final point for today. What does all this mean? How do we fit it all together? What really happened at Pentecost? And what happens today when a new believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, or when a believer walks in the power of the Holy Spirit and they do a mighty deed for God?
All of this, very simply points us to the presence of God. I was talking to a district superintendent, and he said what we need more than anything is the presence of God in our services.
Pentecost was the presence of God joining with His new body of Christ on Earth. We need the presence of God in our lives. If you’re a believer today, you have the Holy Spirit within you already, meaning the presence of God. But, do you act on it? Do you live in His presence? Do you invite Him in? Do you get in tune with the Holy Spirit within you, and let Him lead your day? That is the difference.
What if we really lived surrendered to the Spirit? Well, look at what happened on Pentecost.
Can you imagine 3,000 people getting saved in one day? That is an amazing moment in the history of the church.
Maybe this morning, like the crowd before Peter, you’re feeling cut to the heart, and you’re thinking, what can I do? How can I see the Holy Spirit work in mighty ways in my life? And more so, in the life of the church I’m part of? The answer is simple, if we want to see revival, if we want to see a new day, and a new season, we need to trust in God, repent of our sins, and cry out to God in prayer, and ask Him to move.
Pray for your church. Pray for the future. Cry out to God, and we believe God will move in mighty ways. Its time to repent, and ask God to move again in our midst in mighty ways. God can do anything! Do you believe?
