The Gift

Kids

Bouncy vs Breaky, Part 1

Next few weeks

A few weeks ago I was surrounded by balls to talk about discernment

Today I have a few balls again - a lot of fun balls, a lot of bouncy balls

Will this one (egg) bounce?

Nope.

When they hit something hard, balls are bouncy and eggs are breaky

God made you and I to be bouncy, not breaky

4 Things to help you be bouncy when you face hard things

Body - Move, Move, Move

Not good for us to just sit around - God made it good for us to be moving.

Stand Up and practice being bouncy - Move, Jump, Dance

Hands (Friends and Family) - Love, Love, Love

Hard when you mess up friendships (shaking fist)

Love in this case means clearing up and asking for forgiveness and giving forgiveness

Practice: Is there someone to ask forgiveness? (hi five)

Mind (Thinking)- Thank, Thank, Thank

Hard thing is stuff you don’t like and tend to just think about that

Instead, find something to be thankful for

Practice: say what you’re thankful for out loud

Heart (Worship God) - Pray, Pray, Pray

When hard things happen we forget God

Bring your cares to him

Practice: Ask God to help you love him and help you with whatever is hard for you.

Review

Pray

Intro

Today we’re celebrating Pentecost

Initially a Hebrew celebration that started after God led his people out of Egypt

Also known as the Feast of Weeks, it was the presentation of the firstfruits of the grain harvest and took place 7 weeks after Passover

Later, it also became a time to remember and renew the covenant of God and his people and a celebration of God’s giving of the Law on Mt Sinai

We’re celebrating because it’s also the occasion that God took to give birth to what became known as the Christian church

Today, I want to do something a bit different and take you on a journey to the first Christian Pentecost and beyond to begin a journey we’ll take over the next 4 weeks to understand what it means to be a people filled, guided, defended and comforted by God, the Holy Spirit.

Body

Imagine with me that you and I are Jews in the year 33AD in Jerusalem

We’re among the 120 people gathered in a large room to celebrate a harvest festival known as Pentecost

It’s usually a time for joy but the last couple months have been strange to say the least.

You’d been following a man, a teacher and miracle worker whom you believed was the Messiah, you’d staked your whole life on this man and then watched him be brutally beaten and murdered.

But then he was resurrected and though you couldn’t believe it at first, you can’t deny it, Jesus was alive!

He’d spent 40 days teaching you further, helping you understand more than ever who he was but then he left again!

And this time he told you to wait.

Why? For what?

John 16:7 CSB

7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.

So you’ve been waiting and praying, asking God to help you make sense of these past 50 days, when suddenly...

Acts 2:2 CSB

2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

This was a sound so loud that

Acts 2:6 CSB

6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

But it wasn’t just wind that you heard, you also...

Acts 2:3 CSB

3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

And it wasn’t just any crowd that gathered...

Acts 2:5 CSB

5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.

And these people didn’t just hear wind, they heard you and your friends speaking in their own languages.

How could this be? What happened?

Acts 2:4 CSB

4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

What started in that room then spreads and you find yourself doing just what Jesus said

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This movement is so wonderfully disruptive that some of your friends will be described as “men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts17:6)

Again, how?

Peter, the same Peter who just 50 days ago had denied even knowing Jesus addresses the crowd gathered in Jerusalem that day and boldly answers this question:

Acts 2:32–33 CSB

32 “God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. 33 Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.

Acts 2:36 CSB

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Acts 2:37–38 CSB

37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ah yes, the gift

A couple years back Jesus had been teaching us about prayer when he told us...

Luke 11:13 CSB

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Like usual, you’d nodded and acted like you understood but you were faking it, and Jesus knew it.

But now, now you understood, now you’d seen...

Though you knew the Holy Spirit had been working in times past, now you knew that

The Holy Spirit is God’s birthday gift to the Church. (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:1-6, 32-38)

Now flash forward 20 years

That movement had indeed traveled across the known world, to the heart of the Roman empire, and imagine you’re now in the great city of Rome.

You’re a part of the church there.

A church that had thrived as the gospel spread with Jewish Christians leading the way and a growing number of Gentile converts.

But then the Emperor Claudius, in AD 49, kicked all the Jews and Jewish Christians out of Rome.

5 years later when Claudius died and many Jewish believers returned to a new normal - the church was doing well but there were problems brewing.

As you gather to hear from the elders, one of them begins reading the longest letter you’ve ever seen.

It’s from Paul, who has never been to Rome but his deep care for the church is apparent in just the first few lines.

He knew that your church needed some general instruction, they needed to understand the big picture of how Abraham’s faith had found its fulfillment in Jesus. Your faith is a Jewish faith that through Jesus makes it possible for all who have sinned, and that’s everyone, to receive, not the wages of their sin, but the free gift of life in Christ. Your church needed to know

Romans 8:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

And they needed to know firmly that

Romans 8:8–9 CSB

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

The church in Rome, just like every church from the first one in Jerusalem to one in Gladstone, MO and those to come, needed to understand what it meant to be a Spirit-filled church.

A Spirit-filled church is made up of Spirit-filled people. (Romans 8:1-2, 8-9 14:1-16; Eph 5:18)

Need to be re-filled - Pursue

That church in Rome had another, more specific problem, that shows up in one way or another in every church in anytime anywhere.

They needed to figure out how to get along when they had pretty different ideas about even the most mundane, practical things like what’s ok to eat and drink.

And they were told not to argue about these matters but instead to see this an opportunity to serve Jesus , to put the Kingdom of God on display....

Romans 14:17–18 CSB

17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.

They were told that

A Spirit-filled church puts the Kingdom of God on display.

Whatever their styles and preferences, churches exist to spread the message and culture of the Kingdom

Set the right priorities

But then he went on and said

Romans 14:19 CSB

19 So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.

He was telling them that

A Spirit-filled church is a church with attitude. (Romans 14:19)

One-anothers - Romans 14:13, 15:1-2, 7

Peacefully Provoke each other

As he wrapped up teaching about being a Spirit-filled church Paul did something curious...

He prayed.

Romans 15:5–6 CSB

5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

Romans 15:13 CSB

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A Spirit-filled church is not guaranteed. (Romans 15:6, 13)

Pray

Conclusion