The Gift Given

We began a sermon series a couple weeks ago focused on the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit is able to impact our lives. You can find these sermons and any sermon on our You Tube channel.

Today we are celebrating one the most important events in Christianity if not in humanity, the coming of the Holy Spirit. A life-changing event for all who recognize Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The possibility for a better life for those who do not yet believe. Our scripture comes from Acts 2:1-21. The words will be on the screen.

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues xas the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, d 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, 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. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Let us pray…

What a powerful passage as we get to hear of what took place when the promised Holy Spirit came upon those that were in the upper room. These individuals had been told by Jesus to wait. They were in the room praying to God. They were preparing for this life-changing moment.

There is also a good chance that they had no idea what would happen to them after they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They may have been asking each other questions like “will we feel different?”

Those that were originally sent out by Jesus may have been wondering “will we have power like we had when we were sent out by Jesus and were able to heal the sick and remove demons? This would be a good question to ask while they waited.

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I would expect that the coming of the Holy Spirit would have exceeded their expectations. Not just concerning the impact on their ministry but the physical manifestations that the Spirit took as it entered the room and then entered each one of them.

I have heard stories in the past of how those around me had been changed when the Holy Spirit entered them for the first time. How life was completely changed and how they felt different inside and outside. Can you imagine being the first ones to have this happen?

We also can tell that the coming of the Holy Spirit influenced those outside of the upper room because it attracted those around Jerusalem as well. The sound caused those around Jerusalem to come running and to discover what was taking place.

Did you notice that the disciples didn’t have to gather a group together to hear what God had done? God gathered the group together and they were ready to hear what had caused this great commotion  to take place.

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The Holy Spirit arrived during one of the three pilgrimage holidays in Judaism. What that meant is that people would converge to Jerusalem from all over for this holiday, which is the reason why there were so many people from so many nationalities there at one time.

We cansee God at work in this can’t we. Jesus tells the disciples that they will spread his word in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth after the Holy Spirit comes and the Spirit comes at a time in which people from all over are in Jerusalem.

And not only that but the Spirit manifests itself into giving the followers of Jesus the ability to speak in all of the different languages of the people. It is no coincidence that after Peter speaks to the crowd that over 3,000 gave their lives to Christ that day.

Where would they go after the celebration was finished? Back to where they were from and what would be their message? The Messiah has come. The word of God would end up being spread for miles outside of Jerusalem without the disciples even having to leave the city.

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Personally, I did not have that life changing moment when I originally gave my life to God through Jesus. In fact, I personally couldn’t tell you when it took place. But there was a moment later on in life when my connection to the Holy Spirit changed. A moment when I felt different inside and out. A moment when God touched me in a special way.

Some maybe listening and watching today and say that they believe but they have never felt that connection. The only words of encouragement that I can give is keep trying. Each person gets connected to the Holy Spirit in a different way.

 It may take some trial and error to discover what is the way for you to discover that extra strong connection. It also may be that God is waiting for the right moment. That moment when he knows you will need that extra feeling, that extra nudge, to help you keep the faith.

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John Wesley, the founder of Methodism is a great example of this. He believed, in fact he had preached the word of God for many years before he took a trip from England to the Americas. It was on that trip there was a huge storm and he speaks of fearing for his life. It caused him to doubt his faith in God.

There was another group on that ship called the Moravians and instead of fearing for their lives they were spending the time during the storm worshipping God. Afterwards Wesley would speak to one of their leaders and he would tell him about his connection to the Holy Spirit.

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Wesley knew that this was the type of relationship with God that he wanted and he began praying to God to allow him to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit the way the Moravians did. This was not something that happened right away.

The original event occurred in January of 1736 and it was not until May 24, 1738 that Wesley would feel the power of the Holy Spirit as never before. He explains it this way in his diary, he says that “his heart was strangely warmed.”

We are all blessed in our faith in different ways. Just like we all have different gifts we also can each one of us have the Spirit of God felt at its strongest in different ways. If you believe you haven’t felt it strongly yet, go to God and ask for his assistance in finding the way that your heart can become strangely warmed.

But also remember that Wesley didn’t have his relationship with the Holy Spirit changed overnight. He had to wait for God’s timing. You also may need to keep the faith until the right moment comes and you will have your heart strangely warmed.

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Back to our scripture, did you also notice that there were some that didn’t get it? They didn’t believe that what was happening was from God. They believed that the disciples must have been drunk. We often wonder why people don’t get it. How people can hear the Gospel story and not believe.

There isa reason why God has to be involved. There are some difficult presumptions that need to take place. First a person has to believe or be led to consider the fact that there is a God. This seems easy to us that already believe, but in these times of doubt this becomes harder for some to believe.

They also must reach a point that they are able to believe that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Once you believe this as true it seems simple to acknowledge. But if someone doesn’t believe that, it wouldn’t make sense to them.

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When we speak of Jesus dying for our sins, we are saying that God chose to come down and suffer and die. First, why would anyone make that choice? Second, why would God make that choice? And third, why would anyone be willing to do something like this for me?

That third point is what often gets in the way of someone believing. They may struggle with what they have done in the past. They may struggle with their current identity and believe they aren’t good enough.

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We can tell them that none of us are good enough. None of us deserve the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus. But God doesn’t care if we deserve it, he still wants to save us and he wants to leave a helper for us, the Holy Spirit.

I bring this up because a person reaches the point of belief often through the help of the Holy Spirit. We can become a part of their journey through the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only helps us, but it can lead us to being able to help others.

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The Holy Spirit helps unite us. There are many people groups gathered together in Jerusalem. Each one of them left with the same power inside of them. The power of the Holy Spirit. We have Paul later lead those that were not Jewish into an understanding of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We are all united under the power of the Holy Spirit.

This gift is able to be received by all. Some Christians within Judaism struggled with the fact that Gentiles, those that were not Jewish, could become Christians without becoming Jewish. They would follow behind Paul and after he left explain to those that had converted that it was great that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah but that they couldn’t receive the full benefit without becoming Jewish.

God looks at all people the same. It says in Ephesians “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all.”

We are all equally loved by God. It does not matter if you are white, black, Asian, Hispanic. It does not matter to God. It does not matter if you are rich, poor, homeless, unemployed, a CEO or if you work part-time at a grocery store. Each person has equal worth to God.

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Our first reading this morning points out to us that all were once away from the Lord. We all were once “foolish and disobedient.” But just like each person has the opportunity too, we were changed due to the “goodness and loving kindness of God.”

None of us deserve God’s love and grace but God chooses because of his love for us to give it to us anyway. It is the same reason that Jesus came down to live among us and to die for us. It is the same reason that we were left the Holy Spirit. We were left with a special way to connect with God so that we would be able to receive and understand God’s love in a special way.

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Therefore, each person should have equal worth to us. Each person no matter the color of their skin, their way of life, or even their belief in God. We should choose to love and care for everyone around us for who they are because God loves and cares for them as they are.

This may mean that there are times when we may have to call out others for their actions towards these people groups. There may be times that we have to say to remind someone that God loves all people and so should we. We don’t have to agree with them, but we do need to choose to love those around us just as God chose to love each one of us.

Many people around our state and our nation don’t believe that right now. They are struggling with the belief that they are loved and cared for by those inside many of today’s churches. What are ways that we can find to express our love to them? What are ways that we can choose to say I know you are hurting, how can I help you?

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Peter begins speaking to the group that had gathered. He emphasizes two things. The first is that those filled with the Holy Spirit were not drunk. I don’t know about you, but it would be awesome for me to be so caught up in the Spirit that people would wonder what is wrong with me.

What if I forgot about what is happening around me and my focus turns toward the one who will always love me and will never leave me. Christian singer and songwriter David Crowder wrote a song about this called “undignified” where he is speaking about King David beginning in 2 Samuel 6:12 where it says…

12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.”

David’s wife was not happy with his attire and that he was dancing which led to this statement from David…

“I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.”

 I know what you are probably thinking, “that is not something I would do.” Me neither, but what if we show our love for God through the actions we take and through a willingness to let others know about him.

What if we shock those around us by showing that we love God and because we love God, we desire to share that love with those around us through our words and through our actions.

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The second point Peter makes is that what had just occurred was predicted in what we call the Old Testament. He ends up quoting from the book of Joel chapter two.

“I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” He wants those that our gathered to understand that God spoke about what is taking place.

This would lead him to explain to them the power that has been unleashed. And that it was unleashed by the one that the Jewish people had killed. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit and Jesus has given the Holy Spirit to us.

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The Holy Spirit helps us connect with God in a special way. He works in mysterious ways. The Holy Spirit may even lead us to become undignified.

The Holy Spirit can be our conscience if we allow it. The Holy Spirit can help us make decisions that not only benefit us but also those around us. Let us allow the Spirit to lead us in all we say and do.

I want to end with the last sentence from our text, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ If today you have heard these words and realized that you want to have the power within you that we celebrate today. The Holy Spirit can become life changing and life directing for you. We want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. Let us pray…