OUTPOURING: EXPERIENCING PENTECOST
Acts 2:1-13, 5/20/2018
We
celebrate the birth of Jesus & all the world pauses to celebrate Christmas
with us. We celebrate His resurrection, & most of the world recognizes
Easter as a special day on the calendar. But I wonder how many in the world
recognize the importance of today? Today is Pentecost, & hardly anyone
realizes it. Yet, this day is important, on this day over two thousand years
ago an ancient prophecy was fulfilled.
It
was on the Day of Pentecost God poured out His promised Holy Spirit upon a
small group of His disciples, giving birth to the world-wide Church of Jesus
Christ, of which we are a part. This morning, let’s look at the Biblical
context of Pentecost and revisit that phenomenal day which changed the history
of the world and find out how Pentecost impacts us today. The out pouring of the Holy Spirit has been
recorded in the 2nd chapter of the Book of Acts.
I.
PENTECOST, WHAT IS IT?
What
comes to your mind when you hear the word Pentecost? Many churchgoing
Christians often mistake it to the Assemblies of God Church or other
Pentecostal Churches, so is it then a denomination? No, it is not a particular
denomination but it is the manifestation of God’s power. It is a fulfillment of
God’s promise that one day He will pour out His Holy Spirit upon all nations.
What are the roots of Pentecost in the Old Testament?
II.
PENTECOST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
In the OT God commanded all the men of Israel
to appear before him three times a year. “Three times a year all your males
shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.
They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he
is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17
In
Exodus 19:1, we read, “On the first day of the third month after they left
Egypt on that very day they came to the Desert of Sinai.” It was remembered as
the moment when Israel reached the base of the Mount Sinai, where God descended
in visible fiery glory. God spoke from the mountain to reveal his will to them,
which is also coincided with their harvest season. In the Bible, this event is
remembered as the Festival of Harvest or Weeks. In Hebrew it is called ‘Shavuot. In the Greek translation, this
festival is called Pentecost (“fifty” as this festival is celebrated fifty days
after Passover.) We will pick our story from here.
A
brief context to the 2nd Chapter of Acts. After his resurrection
Jesus met with his disciples and spoke with them about many things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God for a period of forty days. “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; for John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And he
went on to say, “But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:4-8
Taking
this command seriously a group of 120 disciples kept meeting in an upper room
in Jerusalem, waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. “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 2:1-4.
Why
did Jesus choose this divine moment to pour down the Holy Spirit on His
disciples? The festival of weeks required a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Luke
notes, in Vs 5, “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from
every nation under heaven.
A
rushing wind comes from heaven and fills the house.” The gathered disciples see
what seems to be tongues or flames of fire resting on each member of the
believing community. They were all filled with the fiery presence of God, yet
they are not consumed. Instead they began to speak in other languages as the
Spirit gave them the utterance. They were declaring the mighty acts of God, and
everyone gathered there heard them speak in their own language. That must have caused
a great commotion. Many wondered asking, what does this mean?
Then
Peter spoke up to the onlooking crowd from the ancient prophecy of a 9th
century BC prophet named Joel. “And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will
pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:17-18
On
the day of Pentecost Jesus kicked off his world-wide preaching campaign by
sending His Holy Spirit on the timid and fearful disciples. The Apostle Peter
was filled with the Holy Spirit stood up along with the other eleven disciples
and gave a powerful message. At the end of his sermon 3000 people got saved and
were baptized in water. That was the First the church.
Let
me bring a parallel between the Festival of Weeks in the OT and the Pentecost
in the New Testament. In the OT the Israelites worshipped and honored God with
the first fruits of their harvest. Whereas in the New Testament we see a
different kind of harvest, it was the soul harvest. The people who got saved
that day were the first fruits of all who would be saved.
The
small Holy Spirit fire that began in Jerusalem became a wild fire as the
disciples went out from there taking the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
wherever they went. As a result of what
happened on that day of Pentecost, according to a new Pew research, Christianity
claims to have a third (31%) of Earth’s 7.3 billion people, which amounts to
2.3 billion.
Hopefully
those numbers will increase as the Holy Spirit is still in the business of
saving people all over the world. What
does this all mean? Does Pentecost have to remain as a key date in the History
of the Church so that we can visit Jerusalem or ponder about it once a year in
our churches or does it have any significance for us to day?
III. THE
POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
In
Acts 1st chapter we read, “you heard from me; for John baptized with
water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
And he went on to say, “But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” This scripture tells us
what happens in the life of an individual when he or she is filled with the
Holy Spirit and also the purpose for which the Holy Spirit was sent, when he
was sent on the day of Pentecost.
The
Apostle Peter who cowardly denied Christ three times, but when he was filled
with the Holy Spirit became as bold as a lion and reminded the crowd about the
prophecy of Joel. When we hear about what happened to Peter and the other
disciples on the day of Pentecost, you may say great, good for them, they were
special people so that is why they received that power. But what about me, I am
an ordinary, born again, bible believing Baptist Christian. Can I also receive
that power which I so badly need in my life?
The
answer is an emphatic Yes! God is no respecter of people. He has no favorites.
He wants to bless all people. He wants everyone to experience such power of the
Holy Spirit in their lives. This is what Peter said to the crowd of people who
have heard his powerful message. Vs 38-39“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. For the promise is for you and for your
children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to
himself.”
As
this scripture suggests, this promise of God is for you, and me and for our
children and for all those whom our Lord would call unto himself. No matter who
you are, the criteria to receive the power of the Holy Spirit is to repent of
our sins and ask Jesus to forgive and get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
then you too will receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
In
the past I shared with you my personal journey of faith and how I have experienced
the presence, the power and the inner workings of the Holy Spirit over and over
in my ministry. Just this Friday again as I was driving to Maine, I began to
cry out to God for a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit in my life. Suddenly,
I began to feel a warm sense of God’s overwhelming presence welling up from the
depths of my heart. I sang my heart out
and praised God.
On
this Pentecost Day, are you feeling dry in your spiritual walk? How is your
witnessing of Christ these days, are you feeling shy, fearful and unable to
defend the claims of the gospel before your colleagues, friends and neighbors? Are
you feeling a sense of defeat over dilapidating sinful habit patterns? Are you
in need of a fresh start of your life?
All you need to do is to appropriate that promise of God for your
personal life. Some of you may need to repent and ask God for forgiveness and
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And
others of you, may need to recognize that you already have received that gift
of the Holy Spirit, when you surrendered your life to the Lord, and now by
faith you need to fan into flame that gift which is within you. By faith you need to take bold steps in
witnessing to others. By faith allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into
all the truth that is there in God’s word. By faith let the Holy Spirit take
full control of all aspects of your life. My prayer for all of us is that may
God open our eyes and ears to the truth and the innerworkings of His Holy
Spirit, so that we might continue to recognize, and receive the Power of Holy
Spirit and become powerful witnesses for Christ in our generation. Amen
