The Church Empowered | A Message on Acts 2:1-13

Introduction
Pentecost is one of my favorite seasons of the Christian year.  I guess I love all the Red!

But I also love the Church and Pentecost marks the beginning of the Christian Church.  So, in a sense, Pentecost is the Church’s birthday.  

Originally, Pentecost was a Jewish festival celebrated fifty days after Passover.  It marked the wheat harvest, and also commemorated God giving the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  (That is a significant connection, because it is the fulfillment of an OT prophecy.  Jeremiah 31:33 says, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” 

The Holy Spirit speaks to every believer (if they will listen) to show us how we should live. So originally, Pentecost remembered how God gave Moses the Law to show people how to live.  Jesus was crucified at Passover.  50 days later, at Pentecost, God gave believers the Holy Spirit, so the Law would be in their heart.

Acts 2:1
¹ On the day of Pentecost^[a] all the believers were meeting together in one place.

One Church
The very first thing that struck me in this passage (and I want to point out here) is where it says:  “all the believers were meeting together in one place.”  There were at that time there were about 120 believers. That’s about the size of our congregation.  (Half of our congregation meets during the early service and the other half meets at 11 AM.)  This was an important time for the church and they started out together.  There would be times when they couldn’t all meet together.  They would often meet in homes.  The size of the early church also grew rapidly making it hard and impractical for them always to meet together in one place.  But here at this tender moment, they were altogether in one place.

In our own church, we worship at different services at different times.  We have enough space righ tnow to do it all in one place, but some people prefer to worship in one place or another and some prefer one time or another.  And that’s fine.  I want you to worship in a way that is meaningful for you.  (I actually am praying for more people–and I hope yo will too–so that we actually have so many people coming we need to worship in 2 services to accommodate all the people.)  But I hope we will always know that at the core of our being:  Stark Methodist Church is one church.

And it is important that we guard that understanding vigorously.  Next Sunday, we will be together literally in one service at 10:30 in the chapel.  

And I pray we will always see that Christians are One Church–whether we worship  at Stark, or Jackson First Baptist, or a Church up in Dalton, or one in Africa.  Christians belong to one church.  It is the Lord’s Church.  We do not compete against each other.  We are one family, all with the same mission.  Any understanding that is less is unacceptable.

Acts 2:2-13
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,^[b] as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵ At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. ⁶ When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

⁷ They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, ⁸ and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! ⁹ Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” ¹² They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

¹³ But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”

God’s Spirit Makes His Home in His Temple
The scene at Pentecost in Acts 2 is the same thing we saw happening when God’s Spirit filled the Holy Tabernacle in Exodus 40 and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 1 Kings 8. 

These 2 sacred spaces were where God chose to meet with people on earth in the OT.  And God’s presence in these places was manifested by rushing wind and a pillar of fire.  We see these same elements at Pentecost when God’s Holy Spirit fills the people of His Church.

What does that mean for us today?  It means, if you follow Jesus as Lord, God’s Holy Spirit lives in you.  You/we are God’s Holy Temple.  Let that sink in…

Miraculous Signs with Purpose
Besides the rushing wind and the tongues of fire dancing over everyone’s heads, there were other signs something incredible was happening.  Everyone started speaking in other languages (languages they could not previously speak)!

This is significant–not just because it was an amazing miracle.  Throughout the OT, God’s desire was to rescue the whole world from sin.  He chose Abraham and His descendants–the Israelites–to be His representatives to the world.  God wasn’t playing favorites in this.  He chose Israel for a purpose–to be a light to the Gentiles.  From the beginning, God wanted to rescue all the nations–every tribe and every tongue.

So at Pentecost, we see God making this possible.  He has miraculously enabled Christians to speak in all the languages of all the nations gathered in Jerusalem.  It’s not just a cool trick.  It has a purpose.  Now Christians can tell the Good News about Jesus to everyone in their own language.  And that’s what they do.

The Gift of Tongues Today

I think we need to rediscover and own the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues.  And I don’t mean the incoherent speaking in tongues that is often spoken in Pentecostal denominations.

What I mean is we need to rediscover speaking the language of people around us so they can understand the Good News about Jesus Christ personally. 

You don’t have to speak a foreign language like French or German to speak in tongues.  Your neighbors, co-workers, children and grandchildren need to hear about Jesus.  And God has put you in their life so that they can hear about Jesus from you.  For some reason, they know you and trust you.  And you have the ability to share the truth about Jesus in ways they will listen to.  You may not believe you can do it, but if God can make the Disciples i Acts chapter 2 speak foreign languages they never knew how to speak, then God can most certainly supernaturally give you the words to say to tell the people in your life about Jesus Christ. 

God wants the whole world to know Him. And He has chosen you and me to tell them.  And He’s filled us with His Holy Spirit so we can do it.

A Holy Commotion?
Now, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost caused quite a commotion.  The roaring of a mighty windstorm followed by 120 worshippers suddenly prophesying in a multitude of different foreign languages left everyone in Jerusalem amazed and perplexed.  

What can this mean?   Some people thought it was evidence that God is doing something profound.
Others were skeptical/cynical and scoffed and wanted to dismiss it for one reason or another.  “Oh, they're just drunk, that’s all!”  (Even though it was too early in the morning for anyone to be drunk yet.)  It was a holy commotion that got everyone’s attention and got people talking.  

I gotta say, a lot of people are talking about Stark Methodist Church right now.  What are they talking about?  Well, one topic of conversation is me.  I’m the new guy–the new pastor.  People around Jackson have heard.  Stark has a new pastor.  

After 26 years of ministry, I have developed a special sense.  I can often sense when people are talking about me.  Maybe it’s a gift God gives pastors.  Maybe it’s just an awareness that develops when you live in a glass house for so many years.  But I know people are talking about Stark because you got a new pastor and they’re wondering if that’s a good thing or what it means, etc.

But there’s another reason people are talking about Stark.  I’ve overheard conversations about us.  Some of the things they talk about are good things:  “Stark’s just had their chicken stew.”  “Stark’s got their River of Life coming up.”  Some of the things are a bit embarrassing to me, if I’m being honest.  I overheard someone talking, saying something like:  “What’s going on over at Stark?  They having some kind of squabble about installing TVs in one of their buildings.  All hell’s broke loose…”

One thing I’ve learned from for 26 years of being a pastor who is always in the public eye, you can’t stop people from talking about you.  (And it can be annoying because half the time they don’t even know what they’re talking about.)

But I’ve also learned you can use all the attention as an opportunity to show people Jesus.  John Wesley, caused quite a stir back in the 1700s as part of a dramatic societal revival with thousands of people giving their lives to Christ.  He had a great quote that said something like, "Light the church on fire and people will come from all over just to watch it burn."

And that’s what I hope Stark Methodist will always do.   I hope we will use every opportunity to show people and tell people about Jesus.  That’s what I plan to do with my life and I hope it’s what you will do too.  Because that’s what Jesus commissioned us to do & it’s what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do. 

There will always be scoffers who try to dismiss us.  “Oh they’re just a bunch of old fashioned religious zealots!” “Oh, look:  another church fight.”  But that’s OK.  We’ll just be busy using the power of almighty God to help change the world.

Is the Holy Spirit Still at Work Today?
I have one last point I want to make today.  Because some people ask the question:  “Does God still do miracles today like He did in the Bible?”

There is one school of Christian thought that says the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer active today.  This is known as “cessationism” and it says certain miraculous gifts mentioned in the NT such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healing largely ceased about a hundred years after Christ.

I want you to know, I am not a cessationist.  I am a continuationist.  I believe Christians today have access to the same miraculous power of the HS that the early church had.  We can still do all the miracles we read about in the Bible if God wants it.

If we don’t experience that same power  as in the Bible, it is not because it is unavailable to us.  It is because:

• We don’t look for it or have faith in it.
• We aren’t focused on God’s mission like they were in the early church.
• Or, God has helped through the church to establish more natural means to accomplish things (for example, the healing arts through medicine)

But I believe with all my heart and will lead this church with the understanding that God continues to be actively and supernaturally involved in our lives through the power of the HS.  
We are the same Church as the Church we read about in the book of Acts.  
We are a Church empowered by God’s HS to speak boldly and truthfully about Jesus Christ (even in foreign languages if necessary).  

Through the HS, we can pray for healing and expect it, perform miracles, prophecy in the name of God, and do a multitude of other miraculous things that help change the world.  Through the HS, we can be an answer to the Lord’s prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

But, in order to access the Holy Spirit’s power, we must be committed to doing the work of His Kingdom

Closing
So, let me ask you something this morning:

What would happen if the people of Stark Methodist Church truly believed the Holy Spirit still works today?

What would happen if we stopped treating the book of Acts like ancient history
and started seeing it as our family story?

Because the same Holy Spirit that filled those 120 believers in Acts chapter 2
is the same Holy Spirit available to us today to help us change our fear into boldness,
break down the barriers with our neighbors, and bring healing to a broken world.

Church, we are not powerless.  We are not abandoned.
We are not merely preserving traditions and maintaining buildings.
We are on a mission from God to tell people about Jesus and bring God’s Kingdom on earth:
to our neighbors, to our children, to the broken, to the lonely, to the lost,
to every tribe and every tongue.

So my prayer for Stark Methodist Church is this:
May we be a Church full of the Holy Spirit.
May we be a Church full of love.
May we be a Church full of courage.
May we be a Church that speaks the language people need to hear so they can know Jesus.
May we be a Church that causes a holy commotion in Jackson because the Spirit of God is alive among His people.

And if people talk about us…
let it be because they see Jesus in us.

 

The Spiritual Power We Need Today - Pentecost 2022

Introduction
I’ve been looking forward to Pentecost Sunday for many months.  The Story of Pentecost comes from Acts chapter 2.  Jews celebrate a harvest festival seven weeks and one day (50 days) after Passover.  In Jesus’ day, this religious festival drew thousands of people from all over the world to the Temple in Jerusalem for a time of celebration and religious devotion.  Pentecost is also the 50^th Day after Easter.  For Christians, it commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit to fill Jesus’ followers and marks the official birth of the Christian Church.  Let’s read the story.

Acts 2:1-3
¹ 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. 

This traditional picture of Christian saints from antiquity often shows a halo around their head (like the example of saint Thomas pictured here).  This halo was an artistic representation of the Holy Spirit's radiance shining around the believer.  It hails back to this Pentecost story from Acts 2.  It might seem out of place for us to picture Christians today with halos around their heads.  However, it would not be off base.  All believers of Christ are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4-13
⁴ And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵ At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. ⁶ When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

⁷ They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, ⁸ and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! ⁹ Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” ¹² They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

¹³ But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”

What is the Holy Spirit?
The Scripture says is verse 4, “Everyone Present was filled with the Holy Spirit…”

People might ask:  "What is the Holy Spirit?"  However, the Holy Spirit is not a What, but a Who.  The Holy Spirit is not a thing but a person.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.  In Christianity, we believe there is One God, revealed in Three Persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  It is easy enough for us to think of Jesus (the God the Son) as a person because Jesus lived on earth in a body.  We might also be able to think of God the Father as a person, because God often spoke to people in the Bible (and speaking is something a person does).  Unfortunately, God the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, is harder for many peole to think of as a person.  But the Holy Spirit is a person too.  This is a mystery of the Trinitarian God is too complex to tackle in this blog.  However, lets start with the concept of the Holy Spirit as being a personhood of God.  

The Holy Spirit is God's Spirit.

The Holy Spirit of God descended upon and filled the Christians at Pentecost.

Furthermore, every Christian who believes in Jesus Christ and follows Him as Lord is filled with the same Holy Spirit.  So, Christians today are the same in this respect as the Christians we read about in Acts.  We all have access to the wisdom, guidance, and power of God's Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to be witnesses for Christ.  What evidence of of the Holy Spirit’s power do we see in the believers in Acts 2:4?  The Holy Spirit empowered them to speak in other languages. 

Why did the Holy Spirit empower Christians in Acts 2 to speak in other languages?  Was it just a fancy parlor trick to show off?  No.  It had an important purpose.  The Holy Spirit empowered Christians in Acts 2 to speak other languages because there were people in Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival from all over the world—people who spoke all these different languages.  God wanted these Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to share the Good News about Jesus Christ in their languages.  This was the miraculous power of God.

Now, if you've ever tried to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language, you know how difficult it can be.  Even if you now a few words of their language and they know some of yours, you end up using broken language and playing a game of charades to try to get them to understand.  It's exhausting.  And even if they understand your language as a second language, they may not truly hear the full heart of your message--especially if you are talking about something as deep and heartfelt as spirituality.  That's why God wanted the people gathered from all over the world in Jerusalem for Pentecost 2,000 years ago to hear the Good News that Jesus came to save the world from sin in their own native tongue.  He wanted them to here the story with their heart as well as their heads.

Speaking in Tongues
Some denominations make a whole thing out of speaking in tongues.  It is often even a regulars element of weekly worship for many Pentecostal denominations like the Assemblies of God.  It may seem weird if you've never heard someone speak in tongues in church.  It sounds like gibberish, but it relies on a tradition that sprang up early in the New Testament.

There are two different kinds of speaking in tongues that we read about in the New Testament.  The first is what we read about in Acts 2.  It is where the Holy Spirit supernaturally enabled some Christians to speak in other earthly languages they had never known before for the purpose of communicating with people who needed to understand.

God Empowers You!
There is also another form of speaking in tongues in the New Testament--speaking in heavenly or angelic languages (a language that is not understood or spoken by people on earth).  Paul refers to this kind of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14.  He says that sometimes the Holy Spirit enables people to speak in tongues like this and that the same Holy Spirit will enable another person to supernaturally interpret the language so the rest of the church may be edified by it.  That is why it is customary for denominations today who practice the gift of speaking in tongues during worship will also include an interpreter who will translate what has been spoken in tongues.

I would add that there is another sense in which God's Holy Spirit can enable Christians today to speak in tongues.  God empowers you to speak to the people in your sphere of influence.  You see there are people in our world who only you can reach.  Because of the relationship you've formed with them--whether they are your friends, your relatives, your neighbors, your coworkers--they will listen to what you have to say about Jesus.  They won't listen to me--even though I am a preacher.  They don't know me.  They don't attend my church.  They may not even be a Christian and don't care what a Christian preacher says.  However, they know and trust you.  They will listen and understand what you say.

Furthermore, there are many different professions that have their own way of speaking.  Teachers have their own lingo.  So do medical professionals and construction workers and many other professions.  So if you are a teach or nurse or construction worker, etc., you know the language that may reach people in those professions.  You can speak to their hearts in ways a preacher like me may not be able to.  God has empowered you by His Holy Spirit to be a witness for Christ.

God’s Holy Spirit empowers every Christian to be a faithful witness.  You may not feel able.  You may think, "I'm not a speaker.  I'm too shy.  It's too uncomfortable to talk about my faith."  Or you may worry you might not know the Bible well enough or have concerns that you won't know the answers to people's spiritual questions.  

You know, you sound a lot like other people in the Bible who were reluctant to answer God's call.  I think about Moses when God told Moses to go tell the Egyptian Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go free.  Moses complained, "I'm not a good speaker.  My tongue get's twisted.  I think You've chosen the wrong guy."

God's response to Moses is much the same as it is for us today.  He says, "Who formed the tongue in your mouth and taught it how to speak?"  If God can empower Moses speak to Pharaoh and David to defeat Goliath and Peter to preach at Pentecost, God can certainly empower you to speak about your faith to your friends, your family, or your coworkers.

God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips those He calls. 
God doesn’t need you to be able.  He just needs you to be available.
God can enable anyone to serve.  He can even make a dumb man speak. 
In one place in the Bible, God even made a donkey speak.
He can surely empower you to be His witness & to make a difference in this world for His glory!
The real question is:  Are you available?

Apathy in Our World
There's a serious problem with apathy in post-COVID America.  People just don't want to work.  How many o fyou work for a business that just can't find enough people to work?  Every restaurant and business in town has help wanted signs up in the window.  And even though employers are raising wages to new record levels, they still can't find enough labor.

And churches are struggling too.  Not only is there trouble hiring staff, we can't find enough volunteers either.  In my own local congregation, it's like pulling teeth sometimes to get people to volunteer in the nursery, or teach Sunday school, or serve dinner on Wednesday nights.  And the harsh truth is, the Church's influence will either grow or shrink based on the number and faithfulness of the volunteers we can recruit to serve.  And right  now, my church's ability to minister to people in need is shrinking because we do not have the volunteers we desperately need.

The world needs Jesus now more than ever.  Turn on your TV and what do you see?  Crazy people walking into schools and shooting innocent children and their teachers, shooting up hospitals, doctors, nurses...  It doesn't matter what gun laws you try to pass or what new politician you elect to office, this is not the real answer.  The world needs Jesus and Christians are called to share Jesus with the world.

This is no time for Christians to apathetically stay home and be silent. 
This is no time for us to shirk our responsibilities to serve wholeheartedly.  
This is no time to forget the greatest commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.  And to love our neighbor as yourself.
The world needs Jesus NOW more than ever. 
Kids need Jesus NOW more than ever. 
Youth need Jesus NOW more than ever. 
Adults need Jesus NOW more than ever.
And Romans 10:14 says, “How can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”
Will you be the person who tells people about Jesus by what you say and what you do?