Acts 1:12–14 (ESV)

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:38 ESV

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:41 ESV

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Give Me A Witness

We are in Olympic season, church. How many of you are fans of the Olympics? I find myself drawn to the opening ceremony and all of the pomp and circumstance of that night. I am always sucked in to the Parade of Nations. One by one each country walks onto the field and the population of the country is announced, followed by the amount of athletes competing in the Olympics.

Growing up in the great U S of A, we are used to arriving at the Olympics with numbers, aren’t we. I was watching as some countries had 3 or 4 athletes competing this year in the summer Olympics. Have you noticed the difference in these athletes? These 3 or 4 either looked nervous or just happy to be there. There are some countries who are only sending two athletes to compete at the games.

For the most part, there isn’t much expectation when these countries arrive. Yes, they have world class athletes, but not many.

Then the big dogs roll in… USA, Japan, and China. When these countries are walking into the stadium they are a shear force to be reckoned with, simply because of their size. The USA sent 657 athletes, more than any other country in the world.

Now, let me take you back to last week where we left off. How many of you heard Pastor Phil come in and hit it out of the park last week? Summer With Friends turned into Summer With Phil. Come on, let’s go.

Jesus told his disciples to remain in Jerusalem.

Everyone say, REMAIN.

Jesus telling his followers to remain was like telling one of these smaller nations to go compete against the USA, in the USA.

Jesus is talking to 500 followers. The estimate of Pharisees at that time was 6,000. The amount of Essenes was more than 4,000. Then there was a group of Sadducees, that numbered around 1,000.

In the religious world of Jerusalem, the Jesus followers were less than 5%. And remember, this group of 500, turned into 120, putting them at just 1% of religious influence.

Someone say, Against All Odds.

So, it wasn’t just that the disciples were much smaller than the other Jews in Jerusalem, they were also playing an away game.

The base of Jesus’ ministry was in the town of Capernaum. Going to Jerusalem was headed into the mouth of the religious lion.

How many of you know that the home team has the advantage?

I remember when we had a home wrestling match. It was the same routine every match. We’d get through with the weight ins, get some warm ups in, and then we’d lock ourselves back in the wrestling room. The away team would be on the mat warming up, and then they were told to clear the mat.

Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses would start blasting through the speakers, the doors to the wrestling room would fling open, and a bunch of pimple faced, hormonal boys would come running out in a single file line, jogging around the wrestling mat, shifting it over to side to side while sparing with the air, we’d then go into a well rehearsed routine of take downs and sprawls. The point of this big show was to let the visiting team know that they were in our house. It was our music. It was our logo on that mat. This was our home turf.

Remember now, when the Jesus followers first came to Jerusalem, they had their best player, Jesus, coming in before them. He rode on a donkey. The Jews in the City threw down palm branches and sang Hosanna. The visiting team came into town with a lot of fanfare that lasted until Jesus was tried, convicted and hung on a cross.

All of a sudden, the wind was knocked out of the disciples. Peter denied Jesus three times. The believers were scattered, and some began to doubt that Jesus would rise again.

Now, Jesus did rise again, but only his followers knew it.

So when Jesus sends his disciples back into Jerusalem, he is sending them back into their opponents turf without their star player. They were probably thinking that they had no chance to do anything of significance in the City.

This was like Space Jam without Michael Jordan, or without LeBron James, if you watched the sequel.

And when all of the odds were stacked against Jesus’ followers, he began to get to work.

The writer, Luke, records that the disciples led the way to the upper room. And the man who led the disciples, was Peter.

Peter was an unlikely hero.

You see the first thing that Peter does after they crucify Jesus is fail. He began to separate himself from Jesus, and made his way to a party that night. When they were having drinks around the bonfire someone recognized him and asked, “aren’t you one of his followers?” To which, Peter replied “no,” not just once but three times.

Your Failure Is Not Final

As a matter of fact, God has a way of taking the least likely person, with the least accomplished pedigree, to do the most incredible things.

Jesus could have used James or John to lead the church. They were the Sons of Thunder. I imagine they were like Thor and Loki.

Jesus could have used Simon the Zealot. He had a political background and was a galvanizer by nature.

But instead, he takes Peter who is like the weird 25 year old guy who enjoyed hanging out with teenagers. You wonder if he ever grew up, and he had a way of putting his foot in his mouth. Worst of all, when it came time for Peter to really represent and be Jesus’ ride or die, he simply rolled over.

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. - Oscar Wilde

Years earlier, it was Peter who had the revelation of who Jesus was. Jesus, standing around his disciples asked them, “who do you think that I am?” And it was Peter who first confessed Jesus to be the Messiah. When that confession happened Jesus said to him, I give you the keys to the kingdom.

Now, I want you to get this. Just because you’ve made a mistake, it does not cancel God’s plan for your life.

Your friends may cancel you, your family may cancel you, and the church may cancel you. But there is a God up in heaven who has already declared that his word will not return to him void, but it will accomplish what it set out to do.

There is a God up in heaven who has already said, my gifts and my callings are without repenting.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how far you’ve gone, and how long you’ve been gone. When you are ready to come back home, the Father is right there waiting for you with open arms.

And not just the Father, but there is a new church in the City of Vista, called Lighthouse Church, that agrees with the Father. We are the perfect church for imperfect people.

Listen, if you think you are perfect, and if you think you are Jesus’ first cousin, and you’ve never made a mistake in your life. We might not be the right place for you. We aren’t a country club for the saved, but we are a hospital for the broken.

We know that every sinner has a future. And we are here for it. We want to see God do a work in you that leaves your family speechless. We want to see God do a deep work in you that leaves your coworkers guessing. We want to see God do a work in you that will make your friends say, never did I ever think that he would be this way.

Why did it happen? Because against all odds this person believed that God could do it.

Romans 4:18 (The Message)

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.

You Must Receive the Promise

Peter remained when others chose to leave. And because he remained, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

I think that Peter saw people walking out one by one and thought, there’s no way I’m quitting again. I already messed up when I denied Jesus three times. I don’t care how long this takes, I’m waiting. It took 10 days of prayer and supplication until the Holy Spirit came. But when it did, it showed up in such an undeniable way. Not only were they Baptized with the Holy Spirit, but they began to speak in other tongues.

The difference between the Peter who denied Jesus and the Peter who preached on the say of Pentecost was he was Baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t make me better than you, it makes me better than me.

Imagine for a second that as Peter is preaching, the crowd from the party shows up and they recognize him. It’s the same guy, but he’s different. Imagine their reaction as he’s not just speaking to the crowd, but he’s speaking with authority. Not only is he speaking with authority, but people begin to change just by listening to what he’s saying. The hard hearts are starting to soften. The skeptics are starting to wonder. Finally, in response to their preaching some begin to ask, “What do we need to do in order to be saved?”

That’s the power of the Holy Spirit. It will change you from the inside in such a way that everyone will see it on the outside.

Now imagine for a second you are Peter. He’s looking out at the crowd and he sees the people who were there when he denied Jesus. The old Peter would have stepped down and said, “Andrew, you take this one. I’ll get the next one.” The old Peter would have felt the conviction of failure and would have backed away from the moment. But the new Peter… the Peter that has been filled with the Holy Spirit. He’s not even worried about what they are thinking. He’s not even worried a that they are hearing him. As a matter of fact, he’s rising to the occasion and relishing the opportunity to correct what he messed up.

The power of the Holy Spirit will change you in such a way that you see yourself differently.

We Get To Share the Promise

Peter, having just been filled with the Holy Spirit, began to do what he was called to do.

As Peter began to preach, 3,000 people received the word with gladness and they were baptized. At the end of this chapter, the writer records that the Lord added to the church daily. Someone say daily!

Today, we are continuing what started on that day as we are going to baptize some incredible young men.

But I feel in my heart that there are some of you out there, who have not made a decision to get baptized and you need to do that today. Yes, today. When Peter was done preaching, and when they asked, “What shall we do to be saved?” he told told them to repent, and to get baptized. And 3,000 people did it right there and right then. If you want to take this next step, don’t wait another day. We are ready for you. We are expecting you. And we want you to make this decision today, even if you feel like all the odds are against.