The coming of the Holy Spiri

Acts 2:1–12 KJV 1900

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Suddenly

Vs 2 “suddenly”. This sudden occasion came in a moment but was the product of many different elements that led a sudden experience

In our modern culture we are infatuated and obsessed with “suddenly”

Just as an illustration, in preparing for this teaching, I googled “the coming of the Holy Spirit” and received 120 million results in less than one second

If that isn’t enough…and again…just for illustration purposes, I went to chatai, and asked it to provide me an outline on the topic of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and within 10 seconds it had provided a 5 point outline. (be assured that is not the outline that I am using tonight)

we have iphones that enable us to make immediate contact with people that live minutes away or thousands of miles away.

With Amazon prime you can have most any production you want with a day or two…We love suddenly.

But the suddenly that took place in the book of Acts…and the suddenly that takes place in the child of God is not an Amazon Prime suddenly…it isn’t an Artificial Intelligence suddenly. It isn’t a Google search suddenly. It is the result of a process.

2. The Acts 2 vs. 1 suddenly was the result of a process.

Promise

In Acts 1 Jesus had promised the Holy Ghost would be poured out in Jerusalem. but this was not the first time that the Promise of the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon humanity had been made.

Isaiah 32:15 KJV 1900

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness be a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

Isaiah 44:3–4 KJV 1900

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, And floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, And my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, As willows by the water courses.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 KJV 1900

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Joel 2:28–29 KJV 1900

And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids In those days will I pour out my spirit.

During his ministry, Jesus had promised the coming outpouring:

John 7:38–39 KJV 1900

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John 4:13–14 KJV 1900

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

b. Obedience

Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait there for the coming promise of the Holy Ghost.

1 Corinthians 15:6 Tells us that after his death and resurrection, Jesus had been seen by more than five hundred brethren

1 Corinthians 15:6 (NASB95)

After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;…

but by the time we get to the upper room and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, Acts 1:15 tells us that their were 120.

Not everyone was there for the suddenly. Because the promise alone isn’t what produces the suddenly. It takes obedience to the promise to produce the suddenly.

c. Structure and authority

And then after there was obedience, there was structure and authority put into place. (We talked about this last week).

one other point that I would note is that God had promised both the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the replacing of Judas for the authority of the church to be in place .

However, it wasn’t God that interrupted the prayer meeting to ensure that what had been prophesied was fulfilled…it was Peter that stood and ensured that what had been prophesied was put in place.

God has put in place authority. He has provided structure for His Church, but he has left it in the hands of man to ensure that structure is upheld.

d. Unity

Twice the unity of those gathered in the upper room is illuminated. Acts 1:14 and again in Acts 2:1.

Both times it speaks of them being in one accord in one place.

It is easy to lean on the importance of one or the other…

(1) Unity of mind…unity of spirit…

(2) Unity in coming together

During the pandemic it was emphasized that the building is not the church…that don’t need a building to come together in to be the church…that each of us individually are the temple of the Lord and we are joined together in purpose. (it is an interesting take on spiritualizing FEAR)

While I agree that this building is not the temple..it is the place that we come together to worship, to pray, to study the word, together…and that cannot be minimized.

On the other side of the coin, coming together but being divided is equally ineffective.

Coming together while not being united in mind and in spirit will not produce a suddenly fulfilment of the promises of God1

e. God’s timing

This is the one piece of the process that we often don’t like. God’s timing. It was not until the day of Pentecost was fully come that there was a suddenly.

there is no doubt that this particular moment on the calendar of heaven had been pre-ordained for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

Pentecost was the celebration and the anniversary of the day that Moses had ascended to the top of Mt. Sinai and received the 10 commandments that had been written by the finger of God.

Pentecost is the day that God once again write his commandments, but this time He would write them upon the tablets of our hearts.

Jeremiah 31:31–33 KJV 1900

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant With the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt; Which my covenant they brake, Although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their God, And they shall be my people.

GOD’s promise will come to pass if we will be obedient, if there is established authority, if we are in unity ...it will SUDDENLY come to pass in God’s time!

Many times we see people that it seems like God does a sudden work in their life…It may have taken place suddenly.

it happened suddenly, but it happened because someone was obedient. Someone was under authority…Someone was in the right mind and in unity with the body…and it was God’s time.

There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting in.

The move of God starts in heaven and fills the house. Its not what fills the house that moves heaven…its what moves from heaven that fills the house.

In modern Christianity, there is so much emphasis placed upon what fills the house. We have to have the right lighting, the sound at the right level, the praise team needs to be in the right key, the drummer needs to be at the right beat…and if we can get everything in the house right, then we can move heaven.

But what we need in 2023 is not something that starts in the house, we need what comes from heaven to fill the house!

Acts 2:3–4 KJV 1900

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.