Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. A forgotten holiday/celebration in many churches. For some it gets just a cursory glance. Some pastors are afraid to celebrate this with their congregations, due to the issues of tongues which are present in the text. Which introduce us to Pentecost. While tongues, tongues of fire are present, there is so much more to the day of Pentecost. It is the birthday of the church. It is a day of miracles, it is a day of reversal, it is a day of realization of God’s promises, it is a day of unity, it is a day which has been bathed in prayer, it is a day of repentance, it is a day of two voices, it is a day we celebrate the out pouring of the Holy Spirit. It is a day the New Covenant came to earth; God dwelling personally with the redeemed, it is a day the gospel spreads throughout the world.
I am sure you have guessed by now I preached from Acts 2. To be exact Acts 2:1-7 & 41. Yesterday I started the message by saying happy birthday to those gathered, so happy birthday to those of you who are Christians who will read this.
Without further delay let’s get into the meat of this post. First Pentecost as a day of miracles. Well I am sure their hearing the sound of a mighty wind, without there being any damage was a miracle. Then tongues like fire settle on the people present and they are all filled with the Holy Spirit. Pure miracles. But there is more. Peter gets up to speak. He is addressing people from many different locations, who speak various dialects and languages. Yet the crowd is each able to hear the message in their own language, without an interpreter. A miracle. Another miracle is the day starts with 120 believers and by the end of the day there are more than 3,000 believers. Wow is all I can say here, I have had people accept Christ during my preaching; I consider one to two at a time a great thing. I can’t imagine 3,000 but here you have it.
Second, Pentecost is a day of reversal. I want to go back to Genesis for a minute. To the Tower of Babble to be precise. When we look at this section of Genesis, we see a people united around one task. That sounds exciting, but they are united around the wrong task. Sure they want to build a tower to reach God, but it is not to be closer to Him but to be like Him. So God destroys the tower and confuses their language. In the story of Pentecost we have a reversal of this. The people are able to understand what is being said. They are able to hear in their own language. The scattered are now untied around God and His message of salvation for humanity.
Finally it is a day of realization of the promises of God. The Church (120 believers) had been praying for the Holy Spirit. They had been united around seeing the will of God done on earth as it is in heaven. Now the time has come. They go from 120 to over 3,000 in a day. The Great Commission begins to be fulfilled as the Good News is taken to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the end of the earth. It is a day of disciples making disciples, making disciples, etc.
Ok Travis, great message it gave me a warm and fuzzy but so what? Well it seems the church of America has gone from bold to cold. Sure we want to complain about what is wrong in society but as a whole we do nothing about it. What would happen if we put into practices lessons from Pentecost? Dwell on that for a minute.
The first lesson we need to put into practice is the need and power of prayer. Ask yourself when was the last time you prayed? When was the last time your congregation really went to prayer? Oh I do not mean asking God for this or that. I do not mean praying for the sick or needs of the people of the congregation; this is not bad but it is a small part of prayer. What I am talking about is hitting our knees, crying out to God to heal our land. Crying out for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I mean praying like my son (Jason) did Saturday for the saved to be bold, for the lost to be found and for the misplaced to get off the fence and get in the game. When was the last time as a whole we united in prayer like this?
Lesson number two, we need to be expectant. We need to believe God. In many churches I have been associated with we use words like revival, a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, etc. Yet we tend to act like this will never happen. We do so when we long and pine over the old days. We do this when we place other things in front of God. We do this when we ride the bench (pew) instead of getting into the game. After all if we truly believed such things as John 3:16 wouldn’t we be screaming this from the roof tops. Wouldn’t we be reaching out to those in need showing the love of Christ? Wouldn’t we love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves?
Finally lesson from Pentecost. We would follow God without fear. What I mean here is often times when we do not get involved in societal issues or volunteer in our community, or our local congregation, it is because we are afraid. We are afraid of opening ourselves up to God and others. We are afraid of surrendering our times and finances to God. We are afraid of being rejected by those we reach out to. So we go cold instead of bold.
I know you might read this and think boy your being rough. What caused you to be in a bad mood? I assure you I am not, but it is time the Church in America wakes up, it is time we quit fighting among ourselves and fight the enemy. It is time we come expecting the will of God on earth as it is in heaven; salvation for all. It is time we resume making disciples, who make disciples etc.
Pentecost was a day of boldness. It is a day of following the Spirit’s leading without fear. It is about prayer and fasting. It is about fulfilling the Great Commission. It is about growing in 2018. Food for thought Pastor Travis out.
