Come back to Pentecost

Our theme for 2020 is “Seeing Spiritually.”

Our current series is entitled “Be the Church!”

We are learning how to “be the church,” even when church looks different.

Even though we are still under restrictions, people are starting to venture out and to do things outside their homes.

I have informed our people that we are still here when they are ready to come back.

“Come Back to Pentecost” - is somewhat in hope that people might decide that this is a good occasion to come back to church.

However, each individual and family needs to make their own decision based on their risk factors.

Today is Pentecost Sunday.

It’s the Jewish feast of Shavot - the “first-fruits.”

It’s also the birthday of the church when the Holy Spirit was poured out.

The other meaning of “Come back to Pentecost” is to return as a church to living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a message to Pentecost that we need to keep coming back to; returning to our roots and to the original spark that ignited our passion.

Two weeks ago I preached a message entitled “the Prime Directive” where we looked at Jesus’ last instruction to the church.

We finished that message with “Don’t go without the Holy Spirit!”

Acts 1:4 ESV

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;

After they were instructed to go, they were instructed to wait.

They needed something to be complete for the going to be successful.

Pentecost reminds us that faith must be total and complete. Every believer in Jesus receives the Holy Spirit. However, at Pentecost this same Holy Spirit fills, floods and overflows the believer.

The Holy Spirit fills us

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

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

Pentecost is not the first impartation of the Holy Spirit.

We sometimes hear Pentecost presented as the coming of the Holy Spirit when in fact, the Holy Spirit is active throughout the whole of scripture.

In the Old Testament we read that the Spirit of God would come upon people at various times and for various purposes.

The first references to being filled with the Spirit are said of the craftsmen who built the tabernacle. God helped them to know how to do their job.

The prophet Micah was filled with the Spirit to be able to prophesy and to have the courage to confront people with their sin.

Micah 3:8 ESV

8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

The filling that we read of in the OT was not the indwelling that Jesus talked about in the NT.

We know that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit was with Him continually.

This is the change that Jesus told his disciples would happen.

John 14:17 ESV

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Holy Spirit is in every believer.

The Holy Spirit now indwells believers in Jesus.

This actually happened before Pentecost.

After Jesus rose from the dead and before He ascended, He breathed on the disciples and imparted to them the Holy Spirit.

John 20:22 ESV

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

So when does the Holy Spirit come in? Does that only happen when people have a Pentecostal experience?

I once asked a man in my congregation if he would lead the Men’s Ministry. He was a Bible School graduate, he was regularly sharing his faith and discipling other men. His life exhibited the fruit of the Spirit and he had spiritual gifts of creativity, craftsmanship and teaching.

He told me that he wasn’t qualified to lead the Men’s Ministry because he lacked an important qualification. He doesn’t speak in tongues.

I was shocked! Why would he think that this disqualifies him from leading a ministry?

He was familiar with the Pentecostal teaching that tongues is supposed to be the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He had prayed for the experience many times, but had not received this special experience. He thought that since the Holy Spirit equips us to minister and since he had not received this evidence that he would not be thought to have the Holy Spirit.

First, I explained that as a Charismatic church our theology was slightly different than that of Pentecostals. We hold that tongues is one evidence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. Any of the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit would also serve as evidence of the work of the Spirit.

We also do people a disservice when we put them in categories of “have” and “have not” with regard to the Holy Spirit. I was proud to have him serve as a ministry leader and he did that well!

When you receive Jesus as your savior, you receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration.

The Holy Spirit is the one who sanctifies you.

in fact, the Holy Spirit was already working in you before you were saved, but now you are allowing the Holy Spirit to influence you in a way that you may not have before.

Every believer should want more of the Holy Spirit!

Mark 1:8 ESV

8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The baptism of Holy Spirit is considered by many to be a second work of grace, but the first work of grace was also the work of the Holy Spirit.

Why should there be a second work of grace?

And is there only a second? Why not a third, fourth, etc.?

Before the pentecostal movement, revivalist like Charles Finney were urging Christians to rededicate their lives more fully to Christ and to have a supernatural encounter with God.

Before Finney, John Wesley had an encounter with God that transformed his otherwise mediocre Christian faith into a dynamic and compelling transformation.

What drives people into Pentecostal and Charismatic churches is often the desire for more than traditional Christianity.

However, even as Spirit-filled believers we can become complacent. What was once an earth-shaking church can become normal and lose the power that it once had.

Some people may think that because they have once had an experience that they are good to go.

The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one time event. It is a continual thing.

To be filled with the Spirit means that we are constantly growing, constantly being transformed and increasing in our capacity to transform the world around us.

To be baptize literally means to be immersed. It is not just being filled, it is being flooded!

The Holy Spirit floods us

Acts 2:4–7 ESV

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?

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a separate experience.

If Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice paid for my salvation, why should I pray for or desire another experience?

Some people believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit happens at the moment of salvation.

Some equate baptism in the Holy Spirit with water baptism.

Some people prefer the language of living a victorious life or of making Jesus Lord of your life.

There is no rule to say that it must be a separate experience, but it can be and often is.

Acts 19:1–2 ESV

1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

In this account, these believers had heard about Jesus and had repented of their sin, but they had not yet heard about the Holy Spirit.

Some people know that they are sinners and have received Christ’s gift of salvation.

They look forward to heaven, but the Holy Spirit is a foretaste of heaven.

How is the baptism in the Holy Spirit different from salvation?

Salvation for many evangelicals is about believing (intellectual knowledge) the baptism in the Holy Spirit is about receiving (experiential knowledge).

At salvation we exercise a kind of faith were we begin to trust Jesus with our life, but in the baptism in the Holy Spirit we are trusting God to manifest supernaturally through us, giving over control of our speech and even over our bodies.

Someone has said that the Holy Spirit comes in at salvation and comes out at Pentecost.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience.

Can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit when you are saved? Absolutely! (Karie)

However, many people can testify to a time in their lives when, although they were saved, they had a new encounter with God which increased their spiritual capacity.

Having a subsequent experience builds upon and does not negate the first experience.

I accepted Christ as my savior when I was around the age of five. Through my growing up years I would rededicate my life to Christ about once a year, usually as summer camp. I finally reached a point where I wanted more that just a re-commitment of my life where I simply try harder. I had read about Peter’s transformation at Pentecost and I prayed to be transformed like Peter. That is when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

If we are going to make the baptism in the Holy Spirit about having a particular kind of experience (like speaking in tongues) then we are diminishing what we have already received and what God may yet want to give to us.

There is always more! Don’t ever think that you have all that God wants to give!

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a supernatural experience.

Pentecost highlights the experiential aspect of faith.

Someone can profess to be a Christian because they believe.

They can go to church and do all of the right things.

They can participate in Christian disciplines (prayer, fellowship and Bible study).

But a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit can do in a moment what might have taken years of effort to accomplish.

Faith begs for the supernatural. (Do the stuff!)

We read about spiritual gifts, miracles and the supernatural in the Bible. If we are to do the things that Jesus did, how is that possible except by the Holy Spirit?

At some point faith needs to exceed what we can do by our own effort.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit calls for a faith that is mature.

It is a faith that goes beyond mere trusting in God and calls for complete surrender/ self-abandonment.

We are like Peter walking on the water.

Unless God does it, nothing is going to happen.

The Holy Spirit overflows us

Acts 2:7–13 ESV

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.” 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.”

The Holy Spirit gives power for service.

Do you see a pattern? The Holy Spirit fills, floods and then overflows.

The power of this experience is not just for us!

God has always intended to bless the world through His people.

What happened in the upper room did not stay in the upper room. It spilled out onto the streets.

Notice the response of the crowd, they were amazed and astonished.

The disciples were supposed to be unremarkable people, but they were behaving in a way that drew everyone’s attention.

They were uninhibited - thus the assumption of drunkeness.

They were speaking in languages that they had not learned.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for the believer, but it is meant to overflow from our lives with gifts of grace.

The gifts of the Spirit are called “grace gifts” because it is out of the overflow of our lives that God is giving grace to the world.

The Charismatic movement has sometimes been criticized for having lots of meetings where people get filled with the Holy Spirit.

If we want to be like the book of Acts then our meetings need to spill out onto the street.

Even more, the Holy Spirit wants to impact people from every nation because of our witness.

The Holy Spirit helps us to live holy lives.

This is not so much found in this passage, but it is a point that needs to be made, that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives should make us more like Christ.

Galatians 5:16 ESV

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

When we are no longer focused on trying to live our lives in our human strength, the same applies to our sanctification, we can do more in the strength of the Holy Spirit that we could by trying harder.

At the beginning of our Christian lives, we just want to be free from sin. It may seem like it will take the rest of our lives to overcome.

By learning to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, not only to we overcome temptation but we find that there is so much more that God wants us to see and do.

The Holy Spirit gives us power for service and power for sanctification. It’s power that glorifies God!

The Holy Spirit causes the gospel to spread.

Because it was the feast of Pentecost there were Jews in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire.

The Holy Spirit causes the believers to speak in languages that they do not know, but which are understood by the multitudes.

This event precipitated the initial spread of the gospel, paving the way for the Apostle Paul and others to take the message of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman world.

This has been God’s intention all along - to bless the whole world and to spread the good news of His love and invite people into relationship with Him.

The Holy Spirit causes the multiplication, because as people receive the Holy Spirit they are empowered to become a witness to others.

Questions for Reflection

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? To what degree? Are you filled with the Spirit? Are you flooded - baptized in the Spirit? Are you overflowing with the Spirit?

Is your knowledge of God experiential? Have you had an encounter with God that made you aware of the Holy Spirit’s work? How has that encounter changed you permanently?

Are you continually being filled with the Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit working though you in ways that you could not do yourself? What would it take for you to come back to Pentecost?