When God Moves

This is week 3 of our new series, Following Jesus in Acts! So, just in case there are some joining us today for the first time, I want to recap what has happened thus far.

Acts is Volume Two of Luke’s Writing – Acts 1:1-5

This is a continuation of our study of and commitment to Follow Jesus during 2020 (which started back in December of 2019 as we began studying the Gospel of Luke). Acts is volume two of that work we call the Gospel of Luke.

After His resurrection, Jesus remained on earth for forty days and ministered to His disciples. He had already opened their minds to understand the Old Testament message about Himself (Luke 24:44–48), but there were other lessons they needed to learn before they could launch out in their new ministry.

The Coming of His kingdom – Acts 1:6-7

We live in the tension of the time between Jesus’ first and second coming. It is a reality that the Kingdom of God was announced by Jesus at the start of His ministry, but His disciples still had unanswered questions regarding that Kingdom when they last talked with Him. His Kingdom is an “already and not yet reality.” That means that believers are actively taking part in the kingdom of God right now, although the kingdom will not reach its full expression until sometime in the future. We are “already” in the kingdom, but we do “not yet” see it in its glory.

The Power of the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 is a key verse. To begin with, it explains that the power of the church comes from the Holy Spirit and not from man (see Zech. 4:6). Ordinary people were able to do extraordinary things because the Spirit of God was at work in their lives. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury; it is an absolute necessity.

“Witness” is a key word in the Book of Acts and is used twenty-nine times as either a verb or a noun. A witness is somebody who tells what he has seen and heard (Acts 4:19–20). Every Christian can and should bear faithful witness to the savior.

Acts 1:8 also gives us a general outline of the Book of Acts as it describes the geographical spread of the Gospel: from Jerusalem (Acts 1–7) to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8–9), and then to the Gentiles and to the ends of the earth (Acts 10–28). No matter where we live, as Christians we should begin our witness at home and then extend it “into all the world.”

The Assurance of His Coming Again - Acts 9–11

As the believers watched Jesus being taken up to glory, two angels appeared. The two messengers gave the believers assurance that Jesus Christ would come again, just as He had been taken from them. Jesus is coming again. This is a great motivation for faithful Christian Witness.

The Believer’s Obeying & Praying - Acts 1:12-26

Last week, we noted the emphasis in Acts 1:12-26 on Obeying & Praying! While it is not always easy to understand what God wants us to do, if we are willing to obey Him, He will reveal His will to us (John 7:17). What is important is that we follow the example of the early church by obeying the Word of God, prayer and the leading & empowering of the Holy Spirit. With that dependence on the Word, Prayer and the Holy Spirit, the 120 believers turned their world upside down for Christ and so can God do again through contemporary believers!

When God Moves! - Acts 2:1-13

Today, we turn our attention to the second chapter of Acts and I want to comment for a moment on a subject that, I must admit to you, I loathe. You see, I simply hate to have to wait! During their obeying and praying they were also waiting. I don’t know about you but I just want it NOW!

And yet, there are times, (like now) that we wait! Those times can be uncomfortable, inconvenient and frustrating. Who wants to go get their hair cut? Who would like to gather with friends in a restaurant again? Who wants to meet to go to their church facility and meet with other believers? Well, right now, even though I’m sure we would all like to do those things, we wait.

But what do you do when God moves? Often, God moves; and we miss it because of our complaining about waiting!

Right now, God is moving. Are you noticing it, or are you too busy feeling bad for yourself? Today, I want us to look at what can happen when God moves.

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

God Moves on His Schedule – Acts 2:1

God had everyone where He wanted them; and when He wanted them to be there. Pentecost was a festival held 50 days after Passover to celebrate the harvest. The Feast of Weeks, as it was also called, was 1 of 3 festivals that all Jewish men had to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate.

Many people are asking God, “Why now? Why are you allowing this virus to run rampant through the world?” While, I don’t know why this is happening now; I do know that this is not a surprise to God. God knows what is happening with each person. God knows what we are struggling with.

God is moving in this situation. God is not still or uninvolved. God can take the terrible and use it for good. There are people receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ right now that have never been receptive in the past. There are those having to depend upon someone other than themselves for their food and shelter. There are those who are separated from their usual resources for spiritual guidance. This is a time that people should ask questions about what is most important in life. This is a time that the Church should be the Church.

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

God Empowers Believers by the Holy Spirit – Acts 2:2-11

On our own we can do nothing, but through the Holy Spirit we are enabled to do great things. We need to be reminded that Jesus said we would do greater things than He did through the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice that they were filled with the Spirit. There is a battle between your flesh and the Holy Spirit within you. Who is winning?

When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes into their life. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts that are to be used for building up the Church. That means that God can stir up gifts and talents within you for His purpose. That which you cannot do on your own, God can do through you because of the Holy Spirit.

As we go through these difficult times, allow God to use and grow your spiritual gifts. Allow the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say and the actions to go with it. Let’s stop telling God what we think He should be doing and allow Him to use us in His power and glory. Mighty things happened on the Day of Pentecost. Mighty things can continue to happen through the power of God.

Acts 2:12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

God Impacts Lives – Acts 2:12-13

The topic the people discussed in all these languages was the wonders of God. It seems they were praising God. Their message was not one of repentance; it was not the gospel, but it was at the very least an acknowledgement of the miraculous and even perhaps an openness toward God. Many people were moved and drawn to Jesus through the witnessing of the power of the Holy Spirit set loose in the lives of these believers.

Notice that I said “many”. We need to notice verse 13 very carefully. There were some that resorted to scoffing and mocking. They saw only an unexplainable commotion and assumed that these people were drunk. They saw nothing spiritual about this. They missed it.

God is moving. Are you where you are supposed to be and are you ready to watch Him work? The Church must lift up Jesus Christ during these times so that people are saved, healed, and renewed.

God is moving. Are you where you are supposed to be and are you ready to watch Him work and participate in His work?!!!

1. Acts emphasizes not the Spirit’s manifestation in the private, personal lives of individual believers but the greater story of the Spirit’s empowerment of the community of believers.

The Spirit will push the movement like wind so that it sweeps across the face of the Roman world and beyond. There is danger when we emphasize our individual experiences apart from the community. One may feel that one’s personal experiences of the Spirit are so effective and so wonderful that one no longer needs the rest of the congregation or needs to hear about others’ different experiences and convictions. This emphasis on private, subjective experiences was the problem for the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 12–14).

Some in Corinth came to believe that they had become self-sufficient from their encounters with God and could dispense with fellowship with other Christians since they had met God in the inner sanctum of their souls. The intensity of their personal experiences became a source of pride and inevitably disrupted fellowship.

The Spirit fell on the entire community when they were “all together in one place” (2:1) and praying fervently. This circumstance should not be taken as a magic formula that guarantees the coming of the Spirit. Humans have no control over the Spirit and cannot manufacture his presence. Like the wind, the Spirit blows where he wills, and the effects are not always so dramatic. Sometimes the Spirit is like a still small voice. The church must be alert to and responsive to this divine presence. Presumably, the Spirit can also come when the church is fragmented and at loggerheads, but it is doubtful that the Spirit comes when the church is not living a life of prayer.

2. The list of nations seems to be random, but it may be intended to evoke the first listing of nations in Genesis 10 that immediately precedes the narrative of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9). In that event, God scatters languages in judgment, but at Pentecost, “God gathers languages … to bring a new cross-cultural unity in the Spirit.”

The catalog of nations reveals the scope of the miracle and symbolizes “the beginning of the gathering of the scattered tribes of Israel (cf. Isa. 66:18) and thus of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel before the Second Coming (1:6).” The list may also counter Roman political propaganda that boasted of their reign over the entire world. It is God who “made all the nations” (17:26) and who rules over them.

The preaching is meant for more than the people of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem (2:14); it is meant for the entire world so that all might have an opportunity to turn to God.

3. The work of the Holy Spirit does not make the believers agent of confusion, but enables them to speak as witnesses of Jesus so that all can here the Truth.

Luke presents this phenomenon as speaking in other languages. The “other tongues” (2:4) are identified by the hearers as “our own tongues” (2:11). They hear their “own language” (2:6), which is further clarified as “our native language” (2:8). The same verb translated as “gave them utterance” (2:4 ESV) is used when Peter “addressed” the crowd (2:14). Luke does not represent this miracle as mindless babbling, rather, they speak intelligible, earthly languages, and the result is that their message edifies and convicts the listeners who understand what they are saying. The miracle of Pentecost is the universal reach of the gospel that can cross barriers of culture and language.

Jesus promises disciples only the power to be witnesses in the world. God is present in power in a seemingly powerless community. Jesus’s death and exaltation reveal that God’s victory is won through the giving of one’s life for others. The community is given the power not to destroy the enemy but to transform the enemy, to win them over rather than simply to win over them. Their primary weapon is the Scripture, as is evident from Peter’s speech that follows.

Thank you for joining us for worship today! We will return at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 to celebrate Jesus with you!

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