The Fire That Fills Us
The Fire That Fills Us
Fanning the Holy Spirit’s powerful and passionate flame in our lives
Acts 2:1-14 – Page 1692 in the Pew Bible
A. The Holy Spirit fills the church with his power and presence. (1-4)
The Holy Spirit came upon the early church like…
1. Wind—bringing the church to life.
Let’s take a moment to set the scene. In the first chapter of acts we’re told there were about 120 believers in Jerusalem following Jesus resurrection and ascension into heaven. As we begin the second chapter of Acts, all 120 believers are huddled together in one house. They stayed together because before Jesus returned to the Father he gave them strict orders to not make a move until the Holy Spirit came upon them.
But Jesus’ promise is now10 days old. Perhaps he’s forgotten them. Perhaps Jesus really has left them all alone. But still they gather—they’re hopeful, trusting that Jesus will indeed keep his promise. We’re not told what they were doing in that house that day, but I’m sure they were praying and seeking God. I’m sure they were encouraging one another to stay faithful in Jesus’ absence.
Suddenly the Holy Spirit of God bursts into the house like a wild wind. The wind is violent and it fills the entire house! What is this wind? Where did it come from? What will it do?
- Can it be the same wind that swept across the dark waters the first morning of creation?
- Can it be the same wind that breathed life into the lungs of the first man?
The wild wind is once again bringing something to life. He is calling the people of God to life—we’re witnessing the Spirit of God breathing life into the Church of Jesus Christ. We’re witnessing the birth of the Church.
Like the wind, the Holy Spirit can’t be BOXED, BOTTLED or BOUGHT. He blows wherever he pleases. He’s just as wild today as he was then. And his wind still blows in the church!
The Lord has blessed our church.
- We pray, study and worship in beautiful buildings—buildings that are used day and night by our church and our community.
- The Lord has blessed us with financial resources to fund programs for all ages and participate in worldwide missions.
- The Lord has blessed our church with gifted leadership—men and women of integrity who seek God and not their own agendas.
- The Lord has blessed us with children, students and adults with incredible talents and abilities.
For these blessings we are thankful, but let us NEVER FORGET that what makes us a Church is not possessions or people—but the wild wind of the Holy Spirit. Without his life-giving breath we’d wither and die.
But the Spirit isn’t done! He also comes upon the church with fire.
2. Fire—igniting his passion in their hearts.
When the Bible mentions fire we can immediately think, “Watch out! God’s mad—he’s about to burn someone to a crisp!” But there’s no judgment in this fire. This is the fire of God’s passion. This is the fire of God’s power!
Last week, Leron preached a sermon from the first chapter of Acts. He began by saying the Book of Acts tells the story a great adventure—the adventure of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ made its way from Jerusalem to Rome—what was then the center of the world.
He said the hardest part of any adventure is getting started—getting the wheels on the road. If the wheels aren’t rolling, we’ll never join in the great adventure.
I laughed to myself, because I knew exactly what he meant. Earlier that week I had taken my car to the shop. It was having tire trouble. Both of my back tires were slowly leaking air, and one of my front tires wasn’t looking too good.
The mechanic called a couple of hours later to say he found screws and nails in the rear tires, and that my front tire was completely. After I gave him the ok to take care of the problems, he said, “Oh, there’s something else.” I hate it when mechanics say that!
He asked, “Are you having trouble starting the car?” Now that he mentioned it, I guess I had. That’s when he told me my starter was going out.
Well, a few hundred dollars later I was back on the road!
I authorized the mechanic to replace the starter, because I know enough about cars to know I can have the best tires in the world, but unless there’s some spark—some fire—under the hood my car’s not going anywhere.
Actually, that’s not true. My car could still get around without a starter. I could take it anywhere I wanted—the only problem is I’d have to push it!
The good people who designed my car did not design it to be pushed—they designed it to be driven. That’s why they gave it an engine!
So many of us push ourselves through life—especially the Christian life. We serve, worship and even share our faith—but we’re exhausted from expending so much energy. God never intended us to go through life on our own power—that’s why he placed the Spirit within us.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the church, each believer …
1. Was filled with the Holy Spirit.
The most extraordinary thing has happened in verse four. I think it’s one of the greatest miracles of all time. It may surprise you, but I’m not referring to speaking in tongues.
What I can’t get over is the miracle of the Holy Spirit filling human flesh. Since the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit has literally taken up residence in the heart and soul of every believer.
If you’ve placed your trust in Jesus, the Spirit of WIND and FIRE lives within you! The LIFE and PASSION of the Spirit is within your very life. What does that mean? It means Christians should be the liveliest and most passionate people on the face of the earth.
As believers, we should never forget we carry the Spirit of God in our human flesh. Yes, we are weak, yes we have doubts, yes we still struggle and sin, but the LIFE and PASSION of the Spirit is within us and will never be extinguished.
I’m told that the risk of robbery is so great in the Jewelry District of New York City money is rarely transported by armored cars with armed guards. Instead, vast sums of money are carried by ordinary people wearing ordinary clothes. Money is stuffed in backpacks and paper sacks. Looking around you’d never know who was transporting treasure!
By his grace, God has placed his Spirit within us. But the Spirit we carry with us shouldn’t remain a secret—his LIFE, LOVE and PASSION should flow through us.
2. Began speaking in other languages.
There’s not time to get into it this morning, but let me say that the Bible describes two manifestations of the gift of tongues.
First, at times the Holy Spirit gives some the gift of speaking in an unknown language. It can be used for encouraging the church or as a private prayer language.
The gift here in Acts 2 is the supernatural ability to communicate in a known language the speaker has never studied. The early church was birthed in Jerusalem—a metropolitan community where various languages were spoken. To quickly spread the Gospel, the Spirit enabled the believers to proclaim the Gospel to all people and all language groups.
B. The Holy Spirit enables the church to proclaim the wonders of God to all people. (5-11)
The Holy Spirit ENABLED the believers to speak in other tongues. It doesn’t say he FORCED them to speak. We have to make a decision to open our mouths.
1. Who heard the message? People from every nation under heaven.
Japanese? Native Americans? From Luke’s perspective God was reaching out to every nation under heaven.
The title of this message is “The Fire that Fills Us.” As I’ve already mentioned, we’re not really filled with fire—we’re filled with a person. That person is the Holy Spirit of God. The heart of the Spirit is burning for the world. He burns with a passion to bring them to Jesus Christ.
A large portion of our passage presents a list of those who heard the message. Why so much space?
ACTS 1:8. Jesus was serious when he commanded us to be his witnessed here at home to the very ends of the earth.
2. Who did they hear it from? Common, ordinary men and women.
They weren’t rabbis or religious scholars. They weren’t gifted orators who could sway thousands with their powers of speech.
Instead, you see a fisherman. You see a former tax collector. You see businessmen.
Even worse, the group included men who were still licking their wounds from severe spiritual failure. Just a few weeks ago, when he needed it most, they had deserted Jesus. For three years they had followed the very Son of God. They heard his teaching with their own ears, touched the miracle working hands of Jesus with their own hands—but
Jesus restored them. Jesus forgave them. And now Jesus has kept his promise that they would not be alone in his absence. They are now alive like never before.
We allow our insecurities and inadequacies to limit God’s plans for us. Maybe we use our insecurities as an excuse or maybe we really believe God can’t use us—but when we stay in the shadows instead of stepping up to serve God we’ve turned down the Holy Spirit’s flame in our lives.
A couple of years ago I had the joy of having dinner with E. V. Hill, a great African-American pastor and preacher from Los Angeles who Time Magazine named one of the 10 greatest preachers in America. He invited a pastor from Oakland to also join us for dinner. Before the dinner, Dr. Hill told me what a great preacher this pastor from Oakland was.
Once we were all settled at the table the conversation began. I asked the Oakland preacher a question and couldn’t believe my ears. As soon as he began his answer, he spoke with one of the most severe speech impediments I have ever heard. He was a delightful man. He was brilliant and interesting person, but it was painful to hear him talk.
After dinner, I drove Dr. Hill back to his hotel. Since we were alone, I asked Dr. Hill how this man could be such a great preacher with such a severe problem.
Dr. Hill said, “Oh, I know! It hurts listening to him, doesn’t it? But you know, it’s the funniest thing. As soon as he steps before his congregation and puts his hands on the pulpit—it all goes away. His speech is as clear as a bell. And when he’s done the stutter comes right back.”
The Spirit of God enables us for the work he has for us.
Someone once said, “God isn’t interested in your ability—he’s interested in your availability.”
3. What did the crowd hear? The wonders of God in their own languages.
- How many of you are grandparents? Did you need to attend a training seminar before you felt equipped to show pictures of your grandkids, or tell others how cute the kids are?
- How many of you are Raider fans? We’ll pray for you. (Actually, there are a lot more Raider fans in our church—I guess they’re going to the 3:18 service today.) Raider fans, did you attend a class on the techniques of communicating your passion for the Raiders?
- We naturally tell others about the things we love the most.
What’s keeping you from telling your story? What’s keeping you from declaring the wonders of God?
I want to read a quote I came across. Be warned, it’s going to hurt. I know it hurt me.
“Our problem in evangelism is not a lack of training. The problem in evangelism is that we don’t love enough. Evangelism doesn’t require training. Evangelism requires love. Lack of evangelism means lack of love.”
C. When the Holy Spirit’s passion becomes our passion we can expect a reaction. (12-14)
As we proclaim the wonders of God with those around us, people will react with…
1. Amazed by us. – An invitation to explore or consider. The group that was amazed and perplexed wondered, “What does this mean?” Peter will stand up and try to make some sense out of what happened.
2. Amused by us. – A way to reject. “I don’t need to deal with this.” There’s nothing miraculous going on around here
Have you checked the temperature of your spiritual life lately? Are you fanning the flame of the Spirit within you? Are you experiencing the life and passion of the Holy Spirit?
Perhaps the best way to gauge your spiritual health is by the reaction of those around you. When was the last time an unsaved person was amazed by you? When was the last time an unbeliever was amused, agitated and offended by you?
Last week Sue and I had an appointment with a financial named Brian. All of our conversations with Brian have been by phone, so we though it would be nice to meet face to face in our home.
We sat in our living room, and while Brian was there to help us, I started the appointment by simply asking Brian how he was doing. He said he was doing fine, but I told him he didn’t sound too sure. He said, “Well, I’m having some struggles right now.” When I asked him what kind of struggles he said, “I have spiritual questions.”
Brian told me about one of his friends—one of his best friends—a lifelong friend. Brian said his friend was always a great guy—but he had some problems. He said all through their growing up years his friend was an angry person.
A couple of years ago his friend became a Christian. “I don’t know how, but my friend is a different person. He’s completely changed. The anger is gone.”
For a moment I was in Peter’s position—I sensed the Lord wanted me to help Brian make sense of what had happened.
“You know, the Bible says that when a person gives their life to Jesus he becomes a new person—a brand new creation. That’s what happened to your friend. God has changed him.”
Brian didn’t kneel in my living room and confess Christ as his Savior.
He still has doubts. He could see the change in his friend—he didn’t have a doubt about that. What he doubted was if that same kind of change could be his.
I assured Brian that God loved him just as much as God loved his friend.
Brian seemed encouraged.
It’s been 2,000 years since Pentecost and the Spirit is still at work. He was working in my living room the other day—just as he works in your office, home, neighborhood, classroom or wherever you go. I didn’t hear any wild wind or see flames of fire—but he was there.
Brian – wondering, asking “What does this mean?”
The Lord loves you and has made a way for you to come to him.
“Jesus, I have so many questions and doubts,
But today I reach out to you in faith.
I trust you to be my one and only Savior.
Please forgive me for the wrongs I have done.
Make me a new person—change me from within.
Lord Jesus, thank you for keeping your promise to send the Holy Spirit. I thank you that he is here this morning—in our presence and in the heart of each believer.
May we experience his LIFE and PASSION—for our church and for our world. May we continually bear witness of the wonders of God. Give us courage, give us strength to obey you and be led by you.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Proclaim the gospel throughout the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness
In the power of the kingdom
And with deeds of justice and mercy.
Amen? Amen!