The Freedom The Spirit Brings

Context

Good morning Church!

Isn’t it good to be free!!! Isn’t it amazing to have the opportunity to praise the Lord!!!

Today, we are going to look at how being filled with the Holy Spirit of God brings us the freedom to worship God as He deserves to be worshipped.

If you have your Bibles, I want to ask you to be finding the book of Acts 2:1.

Acts 2:1–13 CSB

1 When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

Now again, we are going to be looking at how being filled with the Holy Spirit of God brings freedom, but before we do, we need to set the stage with some context.

Last week, we saw that Jesus gave a command and made a promise. He told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem. He then told them that within a few days, they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Imagine how the disciples felt at this moment. There really is so much to ponder about this scenario. We were able to see a glimpse of the disciples the first time Jesus left. When he was crucified, even though He told them he was going to be, they sat in the upper room pouting and trying to figure out what to do next.

Jesus gets up out of the grave and comes back! Everyone is ecstatic. He reveals himself to them for forty days and teaches them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Now, Jesus is leaving again. In Acts 1:9-11, we see Jesus ascending to heaven and the response of those present.

Vs. 12 tells us that the disciples did as Jesus commanded and returned to Jerusalem. As we open up in Chapter 2, we get to see what is going on there.....

The first thing we need to understand comes from vs. 1. It says, “When the day of Pentecost had arrived”. Let’s take a second and talk about Pentecost, so that we don’t miss the big picture.

The term “Penta” means 5. Uni means 1. Bi means 2. Tri means 3. Quad means 4. Penta means 5. The term “Pentecost” actually means “Fiftieth”. Now, let’s dig a little deeper into the significance of this day.

In the OT, there was a yearly feast that took place known as “The Feast of Weeks”. God commanded Israel to start counting the day after Passover and then count 7 sabbaths. In other words, it was a weeks worth of sabbaths. Now we all know that there are seven days in a week, so seven 7’s is 49. Exactly 50 days from Passover, there was to be a festival held to commemorate the firstfruits. This was a harvest festival. They were to bring the wave offering, which consisted of grain/wheat, and present a certain amount of it to God in the temple. It was a sacrifice that represented the firstfruits of their crops. It was a day that God was remembered and celebrated for what He had provided to the people.

Pentecost was a special day for one other reason as well. It was on this day that God gave the law to Moses.

Now that we understand that Pentecost was an annual feast to be celebrated by all of Israel, we can make a littme more sense of what we have read today. Vs 1 told us it was the Day of Pentecost, but Vs. 5 tells us that many Jews were in Jerusalem on this day. It even says that they were devout people from every nation under heaven. What took place on this day reached the entire world!!!

Now, i don’t know about you, but when i read about this great spiritual moment, it makes me want to be a part of it. I want to witness a great movement of God like this in our day. I have come to realize though, If we want the life they had, we must be willing to live the life they lived.

There were certain things that they had to do in order for them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Believe (vs. 8)

Obedient (vs. 4)

Unified (vs. 2:1)

Content

Sets Us Free (Vs. 1-3)(Freedom From Sin)

Remember what we said the Day of Pentecost was: remember God for what He has provided: the harvest and the law.

Isn’t it amazing that the same day God provided the law, was the same day provided a means to keep it.

Enables Us (vs. 4-7)(Freedom From Physical Limitations)

Receiving the Holy Spirit enables us to do Godly things. It enables us to operate outside of our physical limitations and equips us with supernatural spiritual abilities.

Classifies Us (Vs. 8-13)(Freedom From Worldly Expectations)

We must dare to be different. Isn’t it startling that devout religious men didn’t even realize when God showed up?

No matter what you do, there will always be those who are unhappy with your decisions. There will always be those who mock you, gossip about you, lie against you, and mistreat you. Regardless what you do, there will always be a group of people who hate who you are. Being filled with the Holy Spirit sets me free from those worldly expectations so that I can live my life according to what God would have me do and not worry about everyone else.

Commitment

Our commitment must be that we are willing to live the life they lived, so that we might have what they had. If we want the relationship with God they had, we must be willing to commit our lives to God. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit like they were, we must be willing to position ourselves to receive it as they did. If we want to change the world, we must be willing to be used by God as He sees fit like they did and trust that He knows best. If we want to reach those around us for the cause of Christ, we must be willing to be different and live according to the will of God.

If we want to make a difference, we must be willing to be different.