Rev Gideon Lee
Acts 2:1-21
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God- fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked:“Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs–we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine. ’”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved. ’
Now let us turn to an earlier chapter.
Acts 1:4-8
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command:“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them:“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The title of my message is Earth, Wind and Fire. How many of you know where this title came from, if you are old enough.
Originally, Pentecost to the Jews in those days is when they celebrate the law, which Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. It happens 50 days after the Passover.
Today, Pentecost represents the birth of the church, or the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church.
You know the story, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem. Jesus never told them to wait for how long. If it was me, I would have asked some questions. Like when and how? Jesus told them to wait, so they waited.
They were all in the upper room. And there was a rush of wind, a violent wind that filled the place. And like tongues of fire that fell on them. They were there in one accord, in unity and they were in prayer.
What I want to say is if you are looking for unity in the church it must start with prayer. Events, Programmes and even the pastor cannot bring unity to the church. We need to pray together. So I am going to hammer on our prayer meeting.
If you want the church to be united, we need to be a praying church. Guess what happened when they were together and praying? God sent the Holy Spirit. Something happens when we pray together. Remember, Jesus never told them when. They were just together praying. Something miraculous happened. The disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and praying with other tongues.
The people were wondering how come? They were praying in languages they didn't know. There is a reason why God sent the Holy Spirit. There are reasons.
First Reason
The Holy Spirit makes sense of our lives and its purpose.
Life can sometimes be so confusing right? You may be fine one moment and you get a tragic news and your life could be turned upside down in a moment. What do we do? We go into prayer right? Or we read His words. Right?
Sometimes we don't understand God's word but the Holy Spirit actually illuminated God's word. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Without Him we'll have a hard time understanding what He means and wants. He guides us in His words. Sometimes within the same passage we get different meanings because the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into His truth.
God's promises is made alive by the Holy Spirit. He makes it real to us.
Let me give you an illustration.
There was this guy, a great blues master named Jimmy Reed. During the 50's and 60', he would play his harmonica and guitar and had significant impact on such stars as Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones. You can often hear if you listened carefully, a woman's voice telling Jimmy the next lyric he has to sing. That voice was his wife. She would whisper to Jimmy the next line of the song.
For us, that's the task of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes in the business of life, we forget Him. He is there to remind and encourage us.
Second reason.
The Holy Spirit will give us the power to accomplish what God has called us to accomplish.
Let me ask you a question. What had God called us to do? What is the great commission?
Do you think that's a big task? Easy? How many of you have gone into the world to preach the gospel baptizing people. Is it a big task? I think it's an impossible task.
But here the bible says you will receive power to do what? Read your bible. Power
to be witnesses. The Holy Spirit empowers us to go out to be a witness, not to just sit comfortably here.
How many of you know what's this. Glove. It looks like a hand right. If I ask the glove to pick up this bottle do you think it's possible? It looks like a hand. No? But what if I do this. (Pastor puts on the glove.) Now can the glove pick up the bottle. Can?
It's the same like the Holy Spirit. We are like the glove. We can only do what we can do if the Holy Spirit is in our life. The Holy Spirit has to fill you up completely. Like the glove, our fingers must fill all of the glove. If not it will not function.
But we sometimes tell the Holy Spirit no entry to parts of our lives. The Holy Spirit works in us but if we don't surrender all to Him, it's near impossible to do what we are suppose to do.
Third reason.
The Holy Spirit helps us to become all God has created us to be.
One of the images used in the scripture is a refining fire. The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood of the trinity. Sometimes we only relate to the Holy Spirit as fire and wind. But the refining fire can help us understand Him better. What does refining fire do? Refine.
How many of you know a silver smith? He will turn molten pieces of silver into jewelry. His job is to prepare the silver to make it into other things.
There were three women who was studying the bible but they could not understand the passage where the Holy Spirit was called a refining fire. So they went to a silver smith to see how it's done.
The silver smith with experience will build a fire and will know how hot based on the colour of the fire. The furnace has to be brought up to a certain temperature. When the fire is at the right temperature, he will quickly put the silver right in the centre of the furnace.
The women asked the silver smith, how do you know when the silver is ready? He said when I put the silver into the fire, it will burn up the impurities. He knows when because if the silver is there too long, it will spoil. He said when I look into the silver and see my reflection, it is ready.
God looks at us and and no longer sees our reflection because of sin. The Holy Spirit is here to work in our lives and get us purified so that God can see His image in us. We must be willing to be put into the refiner's fire.
But the question is this. Going into the fire is painful. The Holy Spirit when working in your life will be painful.
My question is are you ready to let the Holy Spirit work in your life. There are areas in your life He want to work on. He wants to work on you so that you can be an overcomer.
We are Christians, little Christ, so He wants us to be in His image. He wants to work on us so that our life reflect Him. On Pentecost Sunday, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we want Him to accomplish His purpose in our life and empower us to accomplish His purpose and to be who God intended us to be.
Life can sometimes be so confusing right? You may be fine one moment and you get a tragic news and your life could be turned upside down in a moment. What do we do? We go into prayer right? Or we read His words. Right?
Sometimes we don't understand God's word but the Holy Spirit actually illuminated God's word. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Without Him we'll have a hard time understanding what He means and wants. He guides us in His words. Sometimes within the same passage we get different meanings because the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into His truth.
God's promises is made alive by the Holy Spirit. He makes it real to us.
Let me give you an illustration.
There was this guy, a great blues master named Jimmy Reed. During the 50's and 60', he would play his harmonica and guitar and had significant impact on such stars as Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones. You can often hear if you listened carefully, a woman's voice telling Jimmy the next lyric he has to sing. That voice was his wife. She would whisper to Jimmy the next line of the song.
For us, that's the task of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes in the business of life, we forget Him. He is there to remind and encourage us.
Second reason.
The Holy Spirit will give us the power to accomplish what God has called us to accomplish.
Let me ask you a question. What had God called us to do? What is the great commission?
Do you think that's a big task? Easy? How many of you have gone into the world to preach the gospel baptizing people. Is it a big task? I think it's an impossible task.
But here the bible says you will receive power to do what? Read your bible. Power
to be witnesses. The Holy Spirit empowers us to go out to be a witness, not to just sit comfortably here.
How many of you know what's this. Glove. It looks like a hand right. If I ask the glove to pick up this bottle do you think it's possible? It looks like a hand. No? But what if I do this. (Pastor puts on the glove.) Now can the glove pick up the bottle. Can?
It's the same like the Holy Spirit. We are like the glove. We can only do what we can do if the Holy Spirit is in our life. The Holy Spirit has to fill you up completely. Like the glove, our fingers must fill all of the glove. If not it will not function.
But we sometimes tell the Holy Spirit no entry to parts of our lives. The Holy Spirit works in us but if we don't surrender all to Him, it's near impossible to do what we are suppose to do.
Third reason.
The Holy Spirit helps us to become all God has created us to be.
One of the images used in the scripture is a refining fire. The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood of the trinity. Sometimes we only relate to the Holy Spirit as fire and wind. But the refining fire can help us understand Him better. What does refining fire do? Refine.
How many of you know a silver smith? He will turn molten pieces of silver into jewelry. His job is to prepare the silver to make it into other things.
There were three women who was studying the bible but they could not understand the passage where the Holy Spirit was called a refining fire. So they went to a silver smith to see how it's done.
The silver smith with experience will build a fire and will know how hot based on the colour of the fire. The furnace has to be brought up to a certain temperature. When the fire is at the right temperature, he will quickly put the silver right in the centre of the furnace.
The women asked the silver smith, how do you know when the silver is ready? He said when I put the silver into the fire, it will burn up the impurities. He knows when because if the silver is there too long, it will spoil. He said when I look into the silver and see my reflection, it is ready.
God looks at us and and no longer sees our reflection because of sin. The Holy Spirit is here to work in our lives and get us purified so that God can see His image in us. We must be willing to be put into the refiner's fire.
But the question is this. Going into the fire is painful. The Holy Spirit when working in your life will be painful.
My question is are you ready to let the Holy Spirit work in your life. There are areas in your life He want to work on. He wants to work on you so that you can be an overcomer.
We are Christians, little Christ, so He wants us to be in His image. He wants to work on us so that our life reflect Him. On Pentecost Sunday, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we want Him to accomplish His purpose in our life and empower us to accomplish His purpose and to be who God intended us to be.
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