Church on Fire

All right.

So if you are seeing your bulletin and you're seeing saying, wait a minute, I feel like.

I saw this last week.

You did.

The front did not change minus the date.

I would encourage you look through the inside of it.

There are things that did change, things that are coming up in the coming weeks that you.

You certainly are invited to and we would love to have you join in.

That part inside the bulletin has changed.

But for those of you who were with us last week, you know that this was where I was supposed to be in planning to go with my message last week, and then I.

Changed course and we kind of a little bit of an update as to that biennial that Deb referred to, an opportunity that we both had to gather with other pastors and leaders from our region of the American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware.

That's why it's just usually apad 'cause that's a mouthful, but thank you.

For indulging me with that last week and I really would encourage you that the challenge at the end of that is.

What does the future look like for our church?

What are some of the dreams that we as a church body have for what the the Ministry of this church will look like on into the future?

It's a decent challenge as we come to the text that we're at today because we started two weeks ago looking at the book of.

Starting into this book, we we talked a little bit about its background, the fact that this is written by Luke, it's almost a a.

Second part to the book of the Gospel of Luke and an opportunity for us to see what does the church, what does the body of believers who were following Jesus, what do they do now that he's given them this challenge and that he actually leaves and that's where we left off.

End of chapter one.

They are just in the waiting.

They are waiting for the promise that God had for them, that there would be a helper for them to be able to spread this word, this good news of Jesus.

As far as they possibly could, they're still just waiting.

And so maybe you, like the disciples, have been waiting for two weeks for us to get to this passage.

I don't know.

But we have an opportunity to see the beginning of what does happen with these this group of believers that is gathering and waiting for God to fulfill his promise.

And so we're going to be looking at acts Chapter 2 today.

So if if you haven't already gathered that, if you've got your Bible, I would encourage you.

To open it up, whether that's in front of you in a book or on your phone, or there are some Bibles in in some of the seats in front of you.

This is one of those times for sure.

Because I will be exclusively in this chapter this morning.

I would really encourage you to have the words of this chapter in front of you, not just listening to it from me, but also looking at it for yourself.

I think it's important for us to actually get into Scripture.

I I love the phone.

I I love the ability that we have to be able to access scripture as quickly as possible.

But if if you've got a hard copy, I think sometimes it gets some of the distractions out of the way.

As well.

But we're going to start.

By reading this chapter.

This is one that I think we've probably heard bits and pieces of.

Pentecost is a term and a subject that we as the church focus on numerous times throughout the course of teaching and just life within the church.

It's something that we come back to 'cause it's a.

Pivotal moment?

But I think sometimes we need to.

Come back straight to Scripture and hear from it.

Directly before we start.

Adding our own thoughts into it.

So let's go ahead and let's read acts Chapter 2.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them.

Now they were staying in Jerusalem, now there were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken.

Utterly amazed? They asked.

Aren't all these who are speaking galileans?

Then how is it that each of us hears them?

In our native language.

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius in Asia, Viagra, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Psiren.

Visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism.

Christians and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another.

What does this mean?

Some, however, made fun of them and said they have had too much wine.

Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.

Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you.

Listen carefully to what I say.

These people are not drunk as you suppose.

It's only 9 in the morning.

No, this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel in the last days.

God says I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesied.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Fellow Israelites, listen to this.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man credited by God, by God, to you, by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you, through him as you yourselves know.

This man was handed over to you by God, deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

David said about him.

I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.

My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.

You will not let your holy one see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life.

You will fill me with joy in your presence.

Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the Patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

But he was a prophet, and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one on of his descendants on his throne.

Seeing what is to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.

For your feet.

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this God has made this Jesus whom you crucified.

Both Lord and Messiah.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other Apostles brothers.

What shall we do?

Peter replied, repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of.

The Holy Spirit.

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.

With many other words he warned them, and he pleaded with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized about 3000 were added to their.

Number that day.

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed.

By the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need everyday.

They continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

There's a lot there.

There is a lot there that honestly we do not have time to go into everything.

There's there's a good chunk of this that could be an entire course, just looking at all of the different pieces of which.

Of which Luke is referring to and Peter is sharing with us.

It's a beautiful.

Picture of how to hit the ground running.

We talked about in the in the first chapter of how they're waiting.

They're waiting on what to do next.

They don't know what to do.

They are still preparing for some things.

They're they're making steps to fill the holes, the hole that Judas left within the 12, and they're they're praying.

They are focused in on God in these moments because they didn't get it right.

Many times while Jesus was alive.

I do think there's a focus on getting it right now.

And they were, they were patiently waiting on what God had for them.

And then this happened, and then everything begins.

There's so much about this chapter that I just love because first of all, they finally get this promise and this is one of the times where I don't think God promises like so far out.

There's so many times throughout scripts or Old Testament for sure, but even New Testament where God made his people wait for a good long while.

They're depending on on the scholar that you read and all that kind of stuff.

It it's probably only a couple weeks that they had to wait in this kind of a way.

They didn't have to wait terribly long.

But they did wait.

And they waited on God's promise, and God fulfilled it.

But God fulfilled.

It in a way that is very different than probably anything they would have expected.

I mean the title of this sermon being the Church on fire.

That's probably not necessarily a phrase in a normal building that you want to hear that the building is on fire.

That's not usually a good thing.

But in this regard, it was an amazing thing.

But it was weird.

I mean God, God doesn't do anything normal and that's.

Honestly, what I love about him, it's what I love about the story of his his working in our lives throughout Scripture, and even to this day, nothing completely makes sense for God.

I mean we we get this account that suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be.

Tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

That alone is just strange.

I I don't have an image of this.

I have plenty of of images that children things have shown me throughout the years.

You know the the cartoonish depictions of what this could have been like.

You know, just nice little pictures of a small little tiny fireball on top of somebody's head. That's weird, but I don't think it fully encompasses, As for me, what that moment had to have been like.

This is not normal.

There's nothing in life that would have been like this that they could have pointed to and said.

Well, it's just a little bit like that thing over there.

This is brand new.

This is something that there's no way they could say this is anything but God, or anyone but God.

This is something to pay attention to.

And I.

Just this is an offhanded comment, but I I really hope that there's like a Jesus Netflix when we get to heaven that we can kind of press rewind and be able to see what that actually was like.

'cause I really.

Wanna be able to see what that experience for each of those people?

In and around that space.

Were able to experience when God's spirit.

Came on them that first time.

It's just.

But then it's also not just.

The the visual.

Then you get in verse four.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them.

Now I know in certain contexts we get a little uneasy when we start talking about speaking in tongues, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not going into that this morning.

But there is something about this that all of a sudden they are sharing the word of God in so many different languages.

And they're just praising in that moment in languages that they.

Never spoke before.

And in ways that they'd never spoke before, the spirit is clearly causing them to do something that was not within their skill set.

That was not something that they could point at the resume and go, Oh yeah, I knew you could do that.

That's right.

You were just kind of keeping that hidden.

This is clearly nothing that this group of believers could have done on their own.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit in and among.

And I I know this is just a tiny little glimpse, but over the last couple weeks, and specifically when we had the Dominican team here sharing that concert with us, I was reminded of just some of those moments that I've had of being able to worship with a group of people that are worshiping in a different language that I have no idea about.

I mean, I I don't.

I could peek, pick out small little words when I've heard some of the worship services that have been in in Spanish, but very little when I've been in the ER and they've they're speaking French Creole, I've got almost nothing.

I I'm just sitting in a room hearing essentially noise that I don't understand.

But there's something beautiful about sitting in a room, hearing words you don't understand, but knowing that those words are from people who are praising God in that moment.

I don't have to know all the words that I don't have to know exactly what they're saying.

I just know that I've got brothers and sisters right there beside me who are praising God.

In a completely different language that I don't even know.

And that's just a small glimpse of one language to another compared to this where there were multiple languages being spoken.

As the spirit.

Was enabling them.

This is abnormal.

This is something that we can't just gloss over, that, Oh yes, the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.

Let's move on.

I mean, we are going to move on, but I don't want you to miss this moment.

It was different.

And that is on so many levels, gods intention.

Sometimes he comes in subtle ways, like when he sent his son as a baby.

In a Manger, to me, that's the very opposite of the way that a king should come into the world.

I think in many ways the disciples, the believers who are gathered in those moments, we're just waiting for some small little thing to help them along the way.

And instead of a small little thing, they got this.

They've been waiting for something big from Jesus.

And in some ways they didn't get the big Grand King kind of moment that they were expecting from Jesus.

Yes, he did conquer death.

But they didn't get that king moment from Jesus.

They're getting not a king moment here, but they're getting a God moment.

They are getting something big that they never saw coming.

And when we see in verse 5.

Verse five through through 12 just the utter amazement that this was not only to those who are speaking, but to those.

Who hear it?

The crowd starts coming together because something is going on.

I I know I've seen this as adults, but my best imagery of this is in middle school or in high school.

Sadly, it's, you know, usually when there was a fight going on in the cafeteria, it draws attention, right?

Everybody starts wanting to see what's going on.

Everybody drops what they're doing, what's happening.

This isn't a fight.

But there is clearly something different going on and it's drawing people's.

Verse six they heard the sound and a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken, and we get this list of all the different peoples and nationality.

That are represented in this moment.

It's not just a handful of the major languages.

Not that there are multiple people in this time who would be multi language people.

It wasn't uncommon for them to know at least a couple languages.

But to hear.

All of these languages to hear your own language being spoken in a way that you don't normally hear.

In this kind of setting, this is a.

This is causing people to ask literally the question, what does this mean?

Because to everybody else.

They're really confused.

I'm wouldn't be surprised that to the disciples.

To the the ones who were were specifically gathered in that moment and were the first to receive the Holy Spirit, they were probably confused too.

That the question makes sense.

What does this mean?

And very quickly you get human people trying to put human terms to this thing that they're seeing, and they just assume everybody is drunk.

That's the only logical explanation right from.

An earthly perspective.

What else could do this?

Lots of alcohol.

It's nine in the morning.

Doesn't mean that that couldn't be the thing.

But hey, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense if we're going to start putting the logic together, as Peter does at the very beginning of his message.

No, no, no, this isn't what you think, and I'm going to explain it.

And that's what I want to I really want to focus on this morning.

We'll we'll end with that very end of Chapter 2.

But we've focused on that a little bit over this summer, so I don't want to.

Spend a lot of.

Time with it.

I want to.

Look at Peter's first sermon, essentially.

We talked sometimes about the idea of always being ready to have a defence for the faith in which you have.

This is Peter showing that for sure, I mean.

I don't think that he had been sitting down in those days writing out the sermon of this is what I'm going to say to the people when the Holy Spirit comes because they had no idea how the Holy Spirit was going to come or exactly what was going to be required of them when the.

Holy Spirit did come.

This is Peter finally being ready to stand up for Jesus.

To not deny him as he was known to do just before these moments.

I don't know him.

I don't know him.

I don't want to have anything to do with him here.

Peter is willing to stand up in front of everybody and give credit where credit is due and point people to Jesus.

Because in reality, that's the summation of his message.

But there are some pieces that I want.

Us to pay attention to.

First of all, Peter stands up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.

He's making sure that everybody can hear fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem.

Let me explain this to you.

Listen carefully to what I say.

This is where he gives his his.

Explanation we're not drunk, as you would think.

I know what you're thinking.

I've heard some of the grumblings.

We're not drunk.

It's only 9 in the morning.

And then he, he gives some words from Joel and and this is what I think is so impactful to me.

He doesn't just start saying his own words and listing off things that are on his head.

Hey, we're not drunk.

Here's the explanation.

Move on.

He starts pointing to scripture and multiple times throughout this message he is pointing them directly to the scripture that they would all know.

This specific section right here in 17 through 21 is coming from the prophet Joel, specifically Joel 2128 to 32.

It's it's not exactly verbatim the the way it is in Joel, but it is is pretty close to it as possible.

In this moment.

Peter is connecting his listeners to what they already know.

They would be familiar with Joel.

They would be familiar with his words and his prophecy from years ago.

And so he he gives these words that in the last day God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people, your sons and daughters.

Will prophesied.

Your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams even on my servants, both men and women.

I will pour out my spirit in those days.

And they will profit.

I will show.

Wonders in the heavens above the years I and signs on the earth below blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord and everyone who calls on the name of the.

Lord will be saved.

He's pointing to this prophecy in Joel that says this was going to happen.

Back then, or even in those moments, as they knew these words of Joel, they didn't know what exactly this was referring to.

And I don't think that Peter had a full understanding prior to this moment that these words of Joel were connecting.

To this time period and to this moment that they were in.

But Jesus in all of his teaching quite frequently pointed back to those Old Testament prophecies, those Old Testament scriptures that were leading to the Messiah.

It was Jesus proving over and over and again that he was the Messiah, and now Peter is doing the same thing.

In this moment, he's he's making it clear that the Holy Spirit is going to come, and it's going to come in a way that pours out on all people.

I love his statement and frankly, Peter has to be challenged by this statement a little bit more as we go throughout the book of Acts.

But his statement at the very end is he's reading directly.

From Joel, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

If I skip to verse 39 for a moment, Peter says the same sentiment that the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.

Is this a bit different?

And it's a bit interesting to me because Peter has a bit of a challenge as he goes throughout the book of Acts of trying to understand God's gift for all people.

Because on some level, they're still working off the fact that God faithfulness, God gift was coming through the Jews.

I mean, Jesus was a Jew.

The Messiah did come through the Jews, but the Messiah came to save anyone who was willing to focus in on him.

Not just those.

There were Jews.

But it's interesting to me that right from the very get go, he's sharing words from Joel that I think start to work on his mind as he processes all of this.

But he shares words from Scripture almost right off the bat in defence of what is happening in this moment that they are all in.

And then he goes on to elaborate even more.

Fellow Israelites listen to this and he starts talking about Jesus.

He doesn't hide Jesus in the corner.

He doesn't just leave Jesus as a footnote.

Jesus the central part of his message in this moment.

Let's hear it again.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did among you.

Through him, as you yourselves know, he's talking to people who know.

Who Jesus is.

He's talking to the people right in front of him who have been waiting on this Holy Spirit.

Who have seen Jesus do miracles.

He's connecting the dots for some of the people I'm sure who are in that room, in that space, who are questioning what is happening in this moment.

He's saying it's because of Jesus.

You saw Jesus do all this stuff.

And then he goes personal in verse 23. This man was handed over to you by God, deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him on a cross on nailing him.

To the cross.

I think so much of the gospel message that we have been charged with sharing is reminding us that it is our sin that put him there.

Not just the sin of Adam and Eve, not just the sin of Peter and the disciples in those moments, or the sin of the Pharisees who put him on the cross.

It is the sin of mankind.

It is the sin of.

Each one of us.

That is the reason that God sent his son to die.

For us.

That's a part of the gospel message.

And and really in terms of this, the first sermon to explain that gospel message, that doesn't come from the mouth of Jesus, Peter is making that clear to us.

You put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

But it doesn't stop there.

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

And he, he gives some words from Psalm 16 words of David that are again pointing to this Jesus.

They would have known who David was.

There was a lot of focus.

And hope in David.

And yet Peter is saying it's through David that we get Jesus, and that's where our focus needs to be.

Our focus needs to be on this Messiah.

He gives that example about David again in verse 29. I can tell you confidently that the Patriarch David died and was buried in his tomb is here to this day.

Guys understand that right?

David is no longer here.

But he was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

God has raised this.

Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of this gift.

On some level, he is talking to people who already know what Jesus has done.

This has not kind of gone outside of the walls of the believers that were gathered just yet.

I mean, there are probably other people listening, but he is directly talking to his brothers and sisters who were in that room.

Who've been waiting on the Holy Spirit and finally got it.

We were witnesses to the fact that Jesus was raised to life.

Throughout the rest of the book of acts and throughout the rest of the New Testament, it is Peter and Paul and the disciples doing their best to tell people who were not witnesses of it.

Who were not there when Jesus was raised to life and sharing the story so that those who didn't get.

To see him didn't get to touch his hands.

And to spend time with him would know what Jesus did for them, but in this moment.

These people were witnesses of what Jesus had done.

And then, exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you see at what you now see in here.

He's giving explanation.

But he's also giving credence to what is happening right in this moment.

He promised the Holy Spirit you remember.

He told us that we heard it just a few few days ago.

This is it.

Peter is the first one to just kind of claim that and make sure people know.

This is what?

God promised.

Can there be any doubt?

I mean I'm sure throughout that period of waiting that was that it?

Was that it?

Oh, the wind blew a little.

Was that it?

They don't have to question this came in such a strange, unique and beautiful way.

This is clearly nothing but from God.

But Peter?

Gives it that, that, that name.

He makes it clear that we are now seeing and hearing the promise of the Holy Spirit poured out.

It's a beautiful proclamation.

And again he quotes from the Psalm, Psalm 110 specifically, as he says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

David did not ascend into heaven, but he was the part of the lineages that led to Jesus, the Messiah, who did ascend into heaven.

And I love this statement.

Verse 36 therefore let all Israel be assured of this God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord.

And Messiah.

Lord and Messiah, he is not only the one who is is in charge that that that they were following and that they were learning from their Lord in that sense their teacher.

But he's the Messiah, he's the savior that they were waiting for for so many years.

And up to this point, really, the disciples have not really publicly.

Held onto that.

I mean, Jesus asked the question in the middle of his ministry.

Who do you say that I am?

And here Peter is one that is able to say that you are the son of God.

You are the one who came to save us, but when it came time for some of those public declarations, we understand and we know.

Peter screwed it up.

I don't know you.

I don't know you.

Know I don't know that person.

This is really the first time that Peter, or even to some extent the disciples, are willing to say that Jesus was the Messiah in a public way.

Not backing down.

Boldly claiming and boldly holding on to the fact that God is the Messiah.

I think it is important for us to realize that in some senses, to really be able to make that claim, we really do have to have the power of the Holy Spirit.

I mean Peter and the disciples when they were left to their own devices.

Let fear take a hold.

And they just kind of either internally just kind of came together.

They just ran away.

Now through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Not knowing what's going to come, not knowing what threats are out there.

And that's a part of the book of Acts of the Threats that are out there to this message that he is sharing right now.

Not even knowing any of that.

Without hesitation, Peter is speaking in front of everybody.

Peter is she?

Hearing the name of Jesus and Peter is connecting Jesus to that long-awaited Messiah.

It was pretty much blasphemy for Jesus to claim that he was the son of God, that he was the Messiah, and that's what put him on the cross.

This might be just a step below, but in the earthly standards this is blasphemy too, if you don't also believe that Jesus is who he says he is.

But they stand up and they he gives this message and there's some excitement that comes out.

Of all of this.

Verse 37. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other Apostles brothers.

What shall we do?

Which I think is a very useful question.

To ask.

We've been waiting for weeks.

We've finally gotten the Holy Spirit.

We are standing behind you, though I think the cut to the heart.

Also means that it's.

OK, you know, a little, a little bit nervous, a little bit introspective that OK, this now means I have to do something.

What do I do?

What do we do?

What do we do now?

But I think it's pretty clear from in a moment like this, in this big grand way, that Jesus brings or that God brings the power of the Holy Spirit on his people.

It is clear that they can't just sit around anymore something.

Has to happen.

And Peter does give an answer.

Peter replies, repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promises for you and your children, and for all who are far, far off, for all whom the Lord our God.

Will call.

The Holy Spirit came on a lot of people in that moment, but there are other people now who have gathered because something is happening and they're asking what now?

And Peter goes back in some senses to the Great Commission that Jesus gave before he ascended into heaven.

That they were called to go out and to baptize and to teach and to show people what this good news looks like.

And so.

When Peter is asked what now?

Well, I think we need to.

Repent and be back.

That cut to the heart.

Some of that is, hey, you are that Sinner.

You are the one who helped put Jesus on the cross.

You need to actually ask for forgiveness.

For that you need to actually own that and say, yes, I am a Sinner, Lord, please forgive me, and then go to that moment of baptism.

Go to that moment, a public profession of faith.

Because especially in this moment, if you're going to be a part of this group that's already doing some strange things in this moment, and then you're going to join them in a moment of baptism.

That's already going to be on its own different than really what the society around is doing at that time.

You are fully placing yourself in that same group.

That no longer from a very public sense, you can't just say.

Oh, I I just went to listen to.

What they had to.

Say if you're taking this step, you are believing that Jesus is the Messiah as well.

And you're putting Jesus name.

In front of everybody else in your life, putting yourself in the same place of potential threat that all of the disciples are going.

To be facing.

But in that moment, it didn't matter.

In that moment, they could see God at work.

And there are many people.

Who received this gift of the Holy Spirit?

In fact, in verse 4041 we have those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day.

One of the, one of the.

Things that I read this week is I was preparing.

Josephus estimated that at the time, in that day and age, there were about 6000 Pharisees in all of Palestine.

6000 Pharisees in all of Palestine and 3000 conversions happened in this moment.

This is not.

Something small and I I don't think most of.

The time that I've ever.

Thought that, well, this was just.

A tiny little thing that happened with a few people.

But I don't think I really fully put together how big this moment is.

It's not just in the corner of the country where a few people hear it and then the message starts to spread.

There are a lot of people who hear this message.

I'm also fairly confident, though Scripture does not exactly say this, but I'm also fairly confident with a crowd like this comes more than just the 3000 that were saved. There are probably people there who are maybe just still needing to ask more questions.

And I'm sure there are people there who are going wait a.

Minute I thought we got.

Rid of that Jesus guy.

I thought we.

Got rid of this message.

And now they're proclaiming this message even more boldly than they were before.

And did you see how many people came to know who he was, came to believe in Jesus as Messiah?

This is not good.

There are people in that camp, so there are a lot of people in this moment.

Who get to?

See what the power of the Holy Spirit does.

In this group of believers get to hear Peter's message and then no matter which side they are on, they get to see that this message, this Jesus.

Is having an impact 'cause this is a huge moment?

When you get this many people calling out, having that that cut to the heart and asking what do we do now?

And then their words in verse 40 save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Sorry, that was Peter, but he warned them because.

There were so many people who needed to hear this message.

Peter is pleading with them and they are responding.

People's lives were changed in this moment.

And when I think about how the gospel has spread over generations since, it's because of little moments that are found throughout the book of acts.

Not everything they do is a gigantic display.

But then there's also from these moments, this is the beginning of a revival.

This is the beginning of a Jesus movement.

These people's lives are changed and when you have that many people together in one place and make this statement that Jesus is the Messiah and they all go their separate ways.

It doesn't surprise me.

That the gospel story was spread.

I want us to hear that piece for sure, that we often attribute the gospel spreading in the book of acts to the names we know, Peter and Paul and Silas and Timothy and others.

Of the disciples.

The the example of Stephen and so many of these bigger names that we could kind of put in a group of like 10.

They are the.

Reason that the gospel message was spread.

They are pretty big reasons that the gospel message was spread, but I'm pretty sure that the gospel message was spread because there were 3000 people who started that day.

There were normal everyday people who their lives were changed and they went out and told people they went out and shared this message.

So the question for me this morning for us this morning.

So what does this have to do with us?

Because on some level, this is a history book.

It's not exactly a playbook of this is how the church must be at every single moment throughout the generations.

Our world looks differently than their world did then.

This is really a history account of how they did it back then.

I don't think this is a prescriptive kind of thing that we must do it exactly the way they did, but there are some principles that we can take.

And there's the same challenge that they had to take, that we need to take today.

The first one is, are we willing to share the message?

I'm fairly confident that most of us are probably not going to be called like Peter, to be standing up in front of a group of thousands.

To share the good news in a moment like this, but you never know.

You might be put in a place where you are not as as comfortable.

It might not be thousands, but you might be put in front of a group of people.

In a moment where.

They ask, wait a minute, there's something different about you.

There's something different going on.

Who is it that you follow?

What is it that you follow?

What are you doing?

And in that moment you can't say, you know.

Can I get back to you?

I can you give me about 2 weeks prepare.

A big, long speech for you.

There are going to be times in each of our lives where we'll have time to prepare.

There are going to be other times where there is a person or persons in front of you who are asking.

What's different about you?

Are you willing to point them to Jesus in that moment?

Not later down the road.

And I'm not saying that you give them everything.

Peter continues to share more words with these people and with other people he comes in contact with.

He's not done.

He hasn't.

OK.

I gave my one sermon.

I gave my one message.

Check somebody else now.

He is not done, but in this moment he didn't have time to prepare.

What he did have time to do is point people to Jesus.

Also the reminder to me.

That even in the midst of his unpreparedness he had the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that he was able to do that.

It wasn't on his own volition.

It wasn't just because of his great memory of Scripture.

It was because the Holy Spirit was helping to give him the words he needed in that moment for the people who needed to hear it.

You are going to be placed in locations with groups of people that are gonna need to hear about the story of Jesus.

And I'm fairly confident if we look within our past, we could probably find times where that was the case.

We were placed in front of people to be able to share.

The words of Jesus and we didn't.

We were scared.

We felt unprepared.

We just kind of waited long enough until the subject went away.

Maybe we can just wait him out.

There are times where we've said no.

To sharing the words of Jesus.

That's where some of that repent needs to come in to, where we need to ask God for forgiveness for those moments where we missed it.

But forget what we've done in the past.

Peter had his own past.

What are we willing to do today?

Are we willing to have conversations with people?

That can include the statement of.

I don't know.

I think that is something we desperately need to hear in our world today because we often feel like we have to know everything before we come and share a message with people.

It is OK to say.

I don't know.

At times I'm going to look into that.

I'm going to spend some more time with that question.

I don't know.

But I do know.

And I do know that Jesus.

Cares about you, that Jesus wants something better for you.

That you can.

Actually, take a hold of this Jesus too, even if you don't know everything.

Are we willing to stand up, whether it's in front of one or many?

And be able to.

Just publicly proclaim that we believe in.

This Jesus too.

And that is why.

Our life looks different than the world around us.

And that leads us into this last little bit.

That our life needs to look different than the world around us.

And from the very beginning life looks different. This is not normal. Acts 242 to 47.

Is not how the world around them live.

We could go into a lot about how the world around them lived, but it wasn't this.

This is, these are just some of the things that they decided to do right from the very beginning.

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching into the fellowship, to the breaking of bread into prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone.

Who had need?

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved.

They spent time together.

If we need, if we need a summation of all of this, they spent time together focused on God.

Part of the reason for the decorin here is just the throughout this book, we will see that they gathered in multiple different places.

One of them, they gathered in the synagogues, they gathered in the common places of worship to talk about Jesus.

To make sure other people knew about Jesus, but they also gathered in homes.

They gathered around the table in an intimate way.

And I I.

Can gather then, that this takes multiple different forms.

It wasn't like this entire group of thousands of people then continued to meet together and never left each other.

They were meeting in their places of worship, they were meeting in their homes and some homes could only handle a couple people.

The synagogues could handle more than that.

But they were gathering.

The point was not the numbers.

The point was not exactly who they were with.

They were gathering with people who were believing in Jesus, and not just that.

As they were gathering, other people heard about this.

Their gathering wasn't a clique ish club that was insular and nobody else knew about it. The ways in which they gathered brought other people because in the end of verse 47, the Lord added to their number daily those who.

Are being saved.

As a result of their gathering, their prayer and their focus on worship to God with each other.

Other people started asking questions, other people were interested, and many others were added to the number of people who were worshipping and following God as a result.

Are we willing to share his news?

And then are we willing to gather in a purposeful way?

This is one of those gatherings, but it is only one of those gatherings as we gather together as a body from all different ages, all different.

Backgrounds all different mindsets.

We gather together under one name.

All focusing on our worship to Jesus.

Do we all have it together?

All together?

But we gathered together to worship God.

But it shouldn't.

Just be here.

We should be bringing people into our homes, both those who know God and those who don't.

We should be talking about Jesus.

It should be a part of our daily, everyday language.

It shouldn't just be something that Jesus comes.

Up every so often.

This drasticly, this moment of Pentecost, this moment of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, drastically changed the lives of the men and women that were around in those moments, and then the men and women who were changed as a result of those moments.

It was a ripple effect both then and all the way up till now.

The challenge will continue to be as we go throughout this book.

What are we willing to do?

Now it's.

One thing to look at those.

Those men and women, those faithful people.

All that time ago.

But the charge is now on us.

What is your role?

In sharing the good news of Jesus, it's not all that different.

Than the apostles and the people around them.

It's gonna look different.

The execution is going to be different.

But the challenge is still there.

Are you willing to repent and be baptized and to go share this good news?

So that others can do the same.

I hope we are willing to take stock.

Of our own hearts.

And maybe if we're cut to the heart in.

This moment that we take some moments as we close in prayer, as we close in song, as we go into our school Christian living classes, that we actually spend some time with that and really figure out what God is.

Wanting us to do with it.

Don't gloss over this moment in this challenge.

That I'm positive God.

Is continuing to give to this generation today.

But let's pray and ask for the the gift of the Holy Spirit now.

To give us what we need.

So that we can live.

Out this challenge.

Let's pray.

Lord, I really just.

Would love to have a visual of what that moment was like.

I love big spectacle movies that can Add all of the CGI and I just don't think any of those could come close to what this moment had to be like.

I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have today, not just because of that moment back then, but because through the power of your Holy Spirit you have been faithful, and there have been people who have been faithful throughout the generations to share this same good news.

And I thank you for the words of Luke and the opportunity we have to have a glimpse into this beginning of your people, of this Jesus movement, of the church.

The Lord I ask for your help.

We come to you asking for your help.

Because if we're going to take on this same challenge and the same message in our day-to-day lives, both today and in the days to come.

We need you.

We know we can't do this on our own.

We can't do this without each other.

And so I pray that you would give us the moments that we can gather to be a support to to lean on each other, to be able to worship you so that people would come know you through those moments, but also come to know you through the moments that we have outside of those worship.

Times that people come to know you because we are faithful in sharing the good news with those around us.

This is not an easy challenge and there are days where our human spirit doesn't.

Doesn't jive with this.

And so we desperately ask.

That you give us what we need, the encouragement, the push, the the words, the actions to show this same message that so many were faithful to show.

All those years ago.

But I thank you.

That we get to play a part of a part in your story, and I pray that you would find us faithful.

We love you, Lord.

It is in the name of Jesus, I pray.