The Power and Purpose of the Church

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

But we want to enjoy everything and understand everything that you provided for us to do.

And so, Holy Spirit, we need you to illuminate the Bible today, to cause the Bible to come off the page and make sense.

Because if we understand this and this gets in our head and in our heart and starts to find expression in our hands, we will begin to see things like that that people don't have language for.

And instead of people, the cynic and the jaded critic of the church and the deconstruction is coming and bringing their questions to the church, we will begin to live in such a way that the culture will ask us questions.

Like, what must I do to be saved?

How in the world do I experience this life that I see you living?

It makes me envious.

I want to tear it down, I want to destroy it, I want to deny it, but I can't.

And so, how do I get it?

That's why we're here today, God, to be the equipped people of God who live in such a lush, free, and full way that people want to hate their sin and they want to repent because they live next door to us.

And so deliver us from anything that's less than that.

Because that's why you sent the Holy Spirit.

That's why you came, lived the life you lived, died the death that you died, and then ascended back into the heavens so that the comforter, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit would come.

And Jesus and Holy Spirit, Jesus said, When you come and you're here, you would lead us into all truth.

So lead us into the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth today.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Acts chapter two.

And if you're our guest, we're preaching through the book of the Bible like we typically do.

We're in Acts.

It's right after the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.

And basically it is the it's called the book of Acts because it's the Acts of the Apostles.

This is what they did.

This is how the church got established.

And today we're in chapter two at this event called Pentecost.

And I'll explain that to you in just a little bit.

But while you're finding Acts chapter two, now if you don't have a Bible, just relax.

Doesn't mean you're a bad person.

Everything I say will come up on the screen, all right?

And let me just confess this right up front.

The wagon is a little loaded today.

So you might want to just listen.

And there's people in our church that come to church, then they go home and watch the podcast and take notes because they said, we try to keep up with you, but you get going.

Well, today will be worse than that, okay?

Uh and here's why.

Because when I understood this, my my I thought differently about Christianity.

Uh it it and it wasn't taught in the church I went to.

The church I went to when I first became a Christian, I was told, don't drink and don't buy lottery tickets.

Uh and I was like, please tell me that's not what I've got to look forward to for the next 80 years.

Uh behavior modification.

Let me explain like this.

When I was in the second grade, my dad and stepmom, we had I had two brothers and two stepsisters, there's five of us.

Crazy dysfunction.

But at Christmas, we got to pick out one toy, and they said, You will get this toy, and maybe a few other things, but this one thing, you've got to have this.

And so in the second grade, my teacher was Mrs.

Forrester, and my Christmas wish was this robot I saw in the Sears catalog.

Does anybody remember Sears Catalog?

Raise your hand.

Thank you.

Old people, there's a long time ago we we butchered trees, students, and made these things called catalogs.

That thing was that thick.

My stepmom would plop it down and said, pick out something.

And I was like, mm-mm, blue and silver robot with these red lights on top.

It's about two feet tall.

That thing would walk and make noise and shoot his gun.

I was like, I gotta have that.

Well, I got it.

Christmas Day, I opened it up.

I was crazy.

I got a few other things, like some socks and a brute soap on the rope.

Uh, and I was just like, Really?

I'm in the second grade.

Do I smell that bad?

Uh but here's the one thing they forgot to get the batteries that powered the robot.

I'm bitter to this day.

I'm 58 years old, and I just remember looking, hey, after we're cleaning up the paper, I said, So where are the batteries?

And my stepmom's like, Oh, I forgot to get batteries.

And I was the angry second guy's like, Oh, you man, so remember them cigarettes you smoke all the time.

How about some batteries?

So I was without the batteries to power it, I was left to imagine what all it could do.

And that describes many of you in this room.

You don't understand what God has provided to power this, not just this, but to power this.

Because, see, that God's relationship with his people, it started off, God dwelled in the tabernacle, and then he dwelled in the temple, and now he dwells in your body to empower you to live the life that the Bible talks about, not out of behavior modification or fear of going to hell, but of demonstration of the power and the fullness of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you.

It's why Paul, see, if we understood the Holy Spirit more, our morality morality would be different in America.

This is why Paul says, Don't you know?

Don't you know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?

God lives inside of you.

This is where that happened, okay?

That Jesus had promised it all along, and now it begins to happen.

So let me just read Acts chapter 2, verse 1.

Acts 2:1

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 a fire appeared on them and rested on each one of them.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And at the sound, uh and at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphlia, Egypt, and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.

We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others, mocking, said, They're filled with new wine, which is Bible talk for these guys are drunk.

There's no way.

This is crazy talk right here.

Uh, there's three things that I want you to see in the text, okay?

And I want you to see them.

I want you to understand them, and I want you to walk out and begin to enjoy them.

And here's the first one verses one through four.

The church is a spiritual entity which is intended to demonstrate a spiritual reality.

Let me say it again.

The church is a spiritual entity.

It's not just a bunch of people.

I'm going to church, bunch of hypocrites.

You need a bigger ecclesiology.

It's a spiritual entity which is intended to demonstrate a spiritual reality.

Said differently, we cannot do what Jesus commands us to do without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

And to attempt to do otherwise is both futile and faithless, meaning we don't have faith in God or what God said he would do.

And so, you see, if you read the Bible, you'll understand pretty clearly that we exist to demonstrate the faithfulness of God, not the creativity of man.

Let me say this again.

I'm not against creativity, okay?

Uh, but but I am against it at the expense of content.

Because what's happened in America is churches have gotten uber creative and huge.

And so we got big churches that crank out little Christians.

And they and they don't live lives that the Bible talks about.

It's because we as the church, we don't have faith in God or what God said he would do.

So what are we left to?

We we have faith in ourselves.

And so when the church becomes this uber creative gathering, void of the Holy Spirit-empowered people and spirit-inspired gospel content, we're confessing that we have faith in us and our abilities, not in God, which is why so many people have no confidence in the church today.

As a matter of fact, instead of having confidence in the church, they have contempt for the church.

And here's the reason why.

I think they come looking for God and they only find man.

You say, What do you mean?

Have you ever come to church and walked out mad and you just didn't know why?

And it wasn't my fault.

You're just like, man, I because I remember that was my experience consistently when I first became a Christian.

I was like, I'm going to hell because nine out of ten times I go to church, I leave angry.

I'm just like, what?

It's like I pay, I bought a ticket to a movie and they showed another movie, and there I was stuck.

I'm like, I don't want to hear no more behavior modification.

Could you please stop?

And this is what I think.

I think this is where the world is.

And we say lost people, unchurched people, or our pre-Christians, whatever you want to call them.

I just want to say that.

I think they come expecting to experience and encounter and understand God, and all they get is a commercial about the church.

Now, if you're visiting today, our church is not like that.

And I'm not saying we're better or whatever, I'm just saying we strap ourselves to the text and we're gonna be about what God says and who God is.

Uh, to better this person says it so much better than me, John Stott.

Uh, he said it like this he says, without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible.

There can be no life without the life giver, no understanding without the spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the spirit, no Christ-likeness of character apart from his fruit, and no effective witness without his power.

As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the spirit is dead.

I think this explains graphically what has happened to the church in America.

It died a long time ago, but it's so hooked up to the machinery of human creativity, we don't we don't we don't know that it's a corpse.

We think it's still a body.

I just want to say this is it this explains why Jesus says to them, wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father in chapter one.

So it behooves us to ask and understand what is the promise of the Father that he says, wait for.

And is it going to be a robot without batteries?

No, it's not.

Uh matter of fact, in chapter one, verse four, he says this, 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.

Skip down to verse 8 of chapter 1.

But you will receive power.

Again, this is the promise of the Father.

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 ends of the earth.

Now, see, one of the things the church in America has to understand is you've got to stop waiting for permission and understand that you've been given power.

Not power to go out and be obnoxious, but power to go out and live in such a way that people ask you questions.

They're like, hey, I noticed that you don't.

What's that about?

Oh, I'm not better than anybody.

It's not about morality.

It's just about my faith.

And now Jesus' ascension back into heaven is essential because he's promised to send the Holy Spirit, and here he keeps his word.

Now, in the first four verses, there's really two things that most people's eyes are drawn to, and they're both in verse four.

I want to read it again.

Look at it with me.

And they be and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Those are the two things that most people misunderstand.

This is where my Pentecostal brothers and sisters get it dead wrong.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit and then began to speak in other tongues.

What do you mean?

Let's just take the first one.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is God keeping his promise to send the Holy Spirit and the noise, they said there's a noise of a like a mighty rushing wind.

Uh, they have to use like language because they don't have a frame of reference for what just happened.

What just happened is God kept his word.

God says, Hey, I'm never gonna leave you nor forsake you.

Jesus in John 14 is telling the disciples, hey, I gotta go.

It's expedient that I go so that the comforter, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit could come and he'll lead you into all truth.

And they're like, Okay, cool, see ya.

And this is what God keeps his word.

And so they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

The noise is God announcing, I am arriving and I am bringing all of myself to bear on all that you never could be.

And this is a good thing.

If you've ever been in a tornado, uh, you ask people, what's a tornado sound like?

They say, Well, it sounds like a train.

That's exactly what it sounds like.

There's just and I remember as a little kid being in the backyard because we were white trash.

We had a pool table in our backyard.

Yeah.

We were driving down the road one day, and somebody put a pool table out on the curve.

My dad just pulled over and said, Get out.

I was like, Are we stealing?

No, they don't want this, we want it.

And so we kept it in our backyard.

It got rained on.

We didn't care, it was trash.

We out there shooting pool in the backyard, thought we were the richest people in the world.

We were out there, this is how ignorant we were.

There's a storm coming.

My dad wasn't on the farm, it was just us.

And I knew it was bad when I was shooting pool, and all of a sudden the pool table went four feet off the ground.

Wham, back on the ground.

Here, you can have my stick.

I don't want to play pool no more.

But I remember I can still hear it.

Okay, I heard and my oldest brother screamed, That's a tornado! And you looked up.

And when it came to the bobware fence, the bobware fence was glowing orange.

And I remember thinking, so we lived in the country and people, our neighbors had a storm cellar.

If you know what a storm sailor is, say, Amen.

Just basically a concrete box.

And I remember as a little kid thinking, we're all gonna die down here together.

Until Mr.

Minnick, who had the thing, he lit a match and lighted up a kerosene lantern.

He said, Hey boy, just relax.

I got some snacks down here.

I was like, okay, we're good then.

Let's go.

Stayed in there about an hour and came out.

But to this day, I never forget the noise of that mighty rushing wind.

And it wasn't a wind, it was like they had to use like simile and metaphor language.

It was like this, because we don't have a frame of reference to tell you what it was like.

Now, the Bible uses different words to describe the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit.

It talks about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is what happens here.

Now, listen very carefully.

Being receiving the Holy Spirit, or they talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Uh, this happens when you're converted and it's a one-time experience.

However, listen even more closely now.

However, staying full is the responsibility of the individual and it's repeated constantly.

You say, why?

Because the spirit leaks?

No, because we sin.

And when we sin, look at me, we grieve the Holy Spirit.

Now, now look at me.

For the true believer, here's the great thing about the Holy Spirit, he never leaves you.

Why?

Because Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30 says that you've been sealed by the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30

So what you and I have to learn to do is we have to learn to live in relation to the Holy Spirit.

That's why in Galatians chapter 5, about verse 16, Paul says, Hey, walk in the spirit, live at the mercy and the leadership under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

You just won't.

We've got to stop teaching behavior modification to our students and even our children early on.

Teach them to walk in the spirit, and the desires of the flesh will lose their appeal.

Here's why.

The things of the spirit are so fascinating that sin cannot hold a candle to it anymore.

You're just like, I don't want to do that anymore.

Are you kidding me?

That's a total waste of my life.

And not out of this proud haughtiness, but just a sense of, oh my goodness.

No, again, you receive the Holy Spirit, that's a one-time thing.

Staying full of the Holy Spirit, that's our individual responsibility.

Not again, not because the Spirit leaks out of us, because when you sin, when you grieve the Holy Spirit, then his influence in your life is lessened, okay?

Now just this week, okay, pray for me.

Because just this week, I think I saw something on TV.

Like, I don't like people that lie.

I don't trust politicians.

Uh, and so when I watch TV, sometimes I get a little wound up.

I know you find that hard to believe, but I'm just like, you people lie for a living.

Oh my gosh.

And I say things like, Oh, if I was God, we'd hunt these people.

You'd have to get a hunting permit, like a hunting license.

We wouldn't harbor them or anything, we just bag them and hang them upside down.

And this woman that I'm married to over here just looks at me and says, Are you filled with the spirit right now?

I'm full of something.

I tell you what.

It's holy anger.

I no, I don't think it's righteous anger.

I just think you need to ask yourself, are you full of the spirit?

And I'm like, now, by the way, that wasn't the spirit's fault, that's my responsibility.

So you've got to learn to discern when you're full of the Holy Spirit.

Because you operate at the mercy of whatever you're full of.

Let me say that again.

You operate at the mercy of whatever you're full of.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Here's the easiest way to understand it.

Have you ever been drunk?

Don't answer that.

You operated at the mercy of what you were full of.

Yes, absolutely.

And so oftentimes in the Bible, you'll see a person accomplish great things for God, and it's prefaced by this phrase, being full of the Holy Spirit.

Like in Luke, let me give you two biblical examples.

In Luke chapter 4, it says this, there's these what I call the postures of the Spirit.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

It says in Luke chapter 4, and Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

He's tempted by Satan.

He cut and then at the end of that, it says he comes out in the power of the Spirit.

See, when you're full of the Spirit, you're led by the Spirit.

And when you're led by the Spirit, you experience the power that only comes from the Holy Spirit.

And later on, we'll get Acts chapter 7.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Stephen is getting ready to die because he preaches a sermon that is so convicting, people want to kill him, and they do.

Don't get any ideas.

And the Bible says Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up and saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.

It's the only time in the Bible where Jesus stands up.

He has sat down since the cross.

But when you see Stephen come, he's like, Come on in, buddy.

You got to ask yourself, are you gonna be a man or woman that Jesus stands up for when you walk into glory?

He was full of the Holy Spirit.

Why?

Because the Spirit gives you a capacity that you and I by nature do not have.

This is why students, you should be looking at Ian today and kind of going, Hey, this whole walking in the Spirit, I need more of that.

I want to understand that.

Because once you learn to do that, a lot of this sorts itself out.

See, receiving the Holy Spirit, like I said, is it's not some next level experience for really earnest Christians.

They say, Well, I wow, because see, a lot of what my Pentecostal friends say is, Well, you gotta be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues is evidence that you're saved.

Uh we'll we'll get to that in just a minute.

But let me let me just say this uh there's a difference in command and gift.

Command and gift.

If you're in chapter two, look down at verse 38 and verse 39.

I'll show you what I'm talking about.

Peter, he preaches this sermon at Pentecost.

Where, by the way, 3,000 people come to faith.

And in verse 38, look at how they respond.

I mean, he lays it out, verse 38, and Peter said to them, because they like when they heard they said that when they were cut to the heart, they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

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.

Look at me, that is command language.

What shall we do?

Here's what you do it's instructions.

You repent and you get baptized.

Here's the promise, 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.

So look at me.

You do not get a relationship, you don't become a Christian without the Holy Spirit come to live inside of you.

It is not a secondary experience you've got to earnestly seek God for or give money to the church like you could buy it.

That is crazy talk.

No, it is the experience of every person who's genuinely converted that the Spirit of God comes to live inside of them.

And this is why the Bible tells us over and over and over walk in the Spirit.

And so, uh now, now here's the other thing.

Uh he says they they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now, receiving the Holy Spirit, being filled, being baptized, different language refers to the same thing.

Upon conversion, a person receives the Holy Spirit.

All right.

Uh uh now the second part that people's eyes drawn to says, Oh, they began to speak in other tongues.

Uh, this here in Acts, listen carefully, it refers to other languages.

Uh, remember I told you that the miraculous is a platform for the gospel in the book of Acts.

Remember the first sermon?

The miraculous.

God performs a miracle, and then the people that are part of that, they stand on that miracle like a platform to preach the gospel, to explain this God that just healed this person.

Uh, it's a this is what happens here.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

What do you mean what happened here?

Look at verses five through eight in Acts 2.

It says, Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And at the sound of the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these speaking Galileans?

How is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?

And it goes on to list all these different people.

Let me just read them out to you again uh Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia and Judea and Cappadocia and Pontius and Asia, uh, Phrygia and Pamphlia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.

We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

Again, miraculous is a platform that people stand on to preach the gospel.

But what I want you to hear is that there's people from all over the known world at the time who were gathered.

And now these men begin to speak in other tongues.

Here it's referring to other languages.

Now, look at me.

Some of y'all come up to me every once in a while, like you're dealing drugs, and you're like looking around, you're like, hey, what does our church believe about tongues?

We believe what the Bible says.

He said, What do you mean?

In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, don't turn there.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Where's what the Bible talks about?

The gift.

There's a spiritual gift of tongues.

I do not have it.

I have friends that do.

Uh, my gift lies in other areas, but that that's not what's happening here.

And basically, there's three differences, distinctions that I want you to understand.

In Corinthians, I mean in Acts, they're talking to men.

With these other languages.

In First Corinthians, they're talking to God in this unknown tongue.

Secondly, here they don't need a translation or an interpretation.

Everybody hears it in their own native language.

And then thirdly, I mean, and in 1 Corinthians, hey, if a person speaks in tongues, because I've been asked, What'd you do if somebody got and spoke in tongues?

I would stand up and say, Is there an interpretation?

So the whole body gets edified.

If there's not an interpretation, sit down.

And then only three people would be allowed to do it because that's what the Bible says.

Because if you're not careful, you start desiring this mysterious stuff so much, your church gets kooky.

That's a good Bible word.

Write that down.

K-O-O-K-Y.

And I've been there.

I've been there.

I was preaching at a church that's way over there, that way.

It's uber charismatic.

Doesn't scare me at all.

They say, man, we love you.

Preach the Bible.

I'm like, what do y'all do every Sunday?

And I'm sitting from the stage and the pastor, I got done, he said, Boy, when Pastor Neil was preaching, I saw the mist of God over our congregation.

He looked at me and said, You saw it right, brother?

No, I didn't see a thing.

God came up to me afterwards.

He goes, Man, you you just killed your love offering.

I don't, I don't care.

I don't care if y'all send me home early.

I'm not gonna lie.

You don't need the you don't see the mist of God.

You got the Spirit of God inside of you.

Why are you looking for some external experience at the price of this internal reality?

So I had to stand in the church park lot for 30 minutes and the guy, well, you know, brother, you embarrassed me.

No, you embarrassed yourself.

That ain't on me, bro.

The mist of God.

Where's that in the Bible?

Needless to say, uh, I went home broke that week.

Anyway, here's the third difference in what you see other languages in our other tongues in Acts versus 1 Corinthians.

Uh, in Acts, it's evidence that the Holy Spirit has come.

In 1 Corinthians, it's edification for the whole church.

Does that make you understand the difference?

In Acts, because these people are like, What just happened?

They're like, Oh, well, yeah.

See, people had, I'll say this again in a minute.

Uh, people did not have a frame of reference for a God who keeps his word.

When God said, Hey, Jesus, I'm gonna go, and the Holy Spirit's gonna come like, yeah, yeah, whatever.

We don't know what that is.

That's some kind of mythical, mystical thing that you can't really tell if it's happened or not.

Yeah, you can.

Why?

It's called the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

But the fruit of the spirit is obvious.

Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, blah, blah, blah.

See, you get two people that both love Jesus and they don't understand walking in the spirit, and when they start dating, they try to manage their behavior and their sin.

Instead of walking in the spirit and the fruit of the spirit, in other words, the outward evidence that the Holy Spirit produces in us, one of those is self-control.

And so if you're in a relationship and you're not married and you're struggling with self-control, it's not a moral issue, it's a spiritual issue.

Stop trying to fight a spiritual battle with some kind of moralism or some kind of, hey, you know, we we gotta stop.

No, walk in the spirit, and the fruit of the spirit will be born in your life and born out in your relationship.

Here's the second thing we see in the text.

You still with me?

Some of y'all are like, decaf, bro, decaf.

Look at me.

I understand what Paul said to the churches.

He said, I labor for this to be formed in you.

I want you to understand this today, okay?

Uh, secondly, the text tells us that God is purposeful in everything he does.

God is purposeful in everything he does.

Now, before I go any further, let me just say this.

If you're suffering in this room right now, that can feel offensive to you.

You're gonna be like, Really?

You want me to believe in and enjoy and love a God that has a purpose for this?

Yes, but let me say this.

Uh, to anyone who's suffering right now, God is in that with you.

He is sovereign over it, but he's not responsible for it.

We suffer because we live in a sinful world that's been contact, it's it's under the the penalty of sin.

And so people die, people get sick, good things happen to bad people.

All this stuff just kind of goes on.

And it's easy to look at God and kind of go, Why do you want me to keep worshiping you?

Yeah, because God's not responsible for the state of the world.

Humanity is.

We're the ones that didn't believe back in the garden, Adam and Eve, and they represented all of humanity.

And so when they fail, sin entered into the world.

And with sin comes death and disease and destruction and disorder and racism and sexism and all the other isms you can think of.

And so, God, when I say God's purposeful in everything he does, I just want to acknowledge that that can be you can be like, are you kidding me right now, bro?

Come on.

You Christians are so naive.

No, no.

Ideally, we should be really hopeful.

You say, what do you mean God's purposeful in everything that he does?

Let me just uh verses 5 through 11.

I won't read it again.

I've read it a couple times, but let me just point out three things that's easy to miss, okay?

Number one, he says, men from every nation under heaven.

Just stop right there.

Men.

Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Does that remind you of anything from the Old Testament?

The Tower of Babel.

Remember the Tower of Babel?

Genesis 11, Earth tried to build himself up to heaven.

Here, see, a lot of times God gets at you.

God raises his voice and is like, hey, listen, I'll pull this car, whip everybody.

And sometimes God just grabs the rearview mirror and adjusts it where you can see him and he can see you.

And you're like, never mind, I ain't touching my brother anymore.

And sometimes he just kind of winks at you when he walks by, and you're like, oh, hey, what happened there?

This is one of those times.

There's three historic biblical things you need to understand.

When I say God's purpose for everything he does, because God, the better part of wisdom is to be in sync with the times and the timing of what God is doing.

That God never wastes a moment.

He never wastes a moment.

See, men from every nation, the first thing you should think about is the Tower of Babel.

God scattered them back then, and now they're all together, and he exposes them to his spirit, and then he's gonna send them.

What's the big deal?

Here's the big deal.

Most people live as scattered people, the result of God's discipline, and not never sent people, the result of God's plan.

Let me say that again.

Most people live as scattered people, the result of God's discipline, but never live as sent people, the result of God's plan.

And so what God's doing here is because, hey, I'm kind of reversing what happened at Babel.

Because God's not always wanting to just He doesn't want you to live under discipline.

He wants you to live under understanding.

Here's a second thing that happens.

This is why I say God's purpose with everything He does.

Uh, Pentecost marked the giving of the law at Sinai.

Now, Pentecost, this is free, uh, Bible dirt information.

Pentecost is not a word they came up with to describe the giving of the Holy Spirit.

No, Pentecost uh in Greek it means 50th, and it comes 50 days from the day after Passover.

It's an Old Testament feast.

And so this was already established.

Uh why do I tell you that?

Look at me.

Because God comes to his people in familiar ways.

Don't always get addicted to new and novel.

He comes to you in familiar ways.

You say, What do you mean?

Let me demonstrate.

How many in this room have been married over 20 years?

Say amen.

Would you ever want to go back to when you first got married and relate to each other that way?

No, it's not that it's bad.

Like I'm doing premarital counseling right now with a couple.

They're like, yeah, they hold hands.

I'm like, stop touching each other.

What?

Like high schoolers.

I'm gonna use my left hand, yeah.

I just wish I had a stick so I could just whack you in the head.

And I told them, I'm so full of compassion.

I told them our last session, you might like, I tell you, tell me why you're here.

Why you might as well go and I tend to pick up a hitchhiker.

That's how well you know each other.

No, we really, we really divulge everything.

I'll just stop talking.

And by trying to be great, I said, you will look back 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now, and you'll kind of giggle at the way you relate to each other right now.

I'm not clowning on you, I'm just telling you, you become familiar with each other.

Now look at me.

Don't miss this.

God's the same way.

He comes to his people in familiar ways.

And so he says, Hey, the giving of the law is at Sinai.

Now, here, here, here's why Pentecost kind of it marked the giving of the law.

Why is this a big deal that he sends the Holy Spirit?

Look at me, so you're not gonna be balanced, okay?

Because if you're just about the law and not the spirit, you're gonna go around judging and being harsh and full of criticism and never joyful.

It's 2 Corinthians 3, about verse 5 and 6.

He said, We've been made ministers of a new covenant.

Uh, not a covenant of the law which kills, but of the spirit which gives life.

Most people think about Christians as people that just kill everything.

You're like Debbie Downer, and God kind of winks at us here because he's purposeful when he says, Hey, by the way, I don't waste anything.

What I'm doing here is I'm kind of saying I want you to be balanced.

I want you to hold on to the law.

The spirit doesn't nullify the law, but the spirit gives life to the law.

Here's the third thing uh Pentecost, it comes, uh it means 50th.

Again, it's not like come up with a word to describe the Holy Spirit being given.

No, God comes to his people in familiar ways.

And so it marked, I told you many ago, it was Old Testament feast day known as the Feast of Harvest or the first fruits of the barley harvest.

And so, because it is the day that the first sheath of barley, the first ripe sheath of barley, they would take it and they would wave it before the Lord uh as the first fruits.

Now, hear this phrase.

This festival and this uh this act of taking this first sheath of barley and waving it before the Lord and saying, This belongs to you.

It it they're practicing the law of the first fruits.

Uh we call it tithing in the church.

It's really first fruits.

The first fruits of your income should be given to the Lord, which is why Christians meet on Sundays because it's the first day of the week.

The pagan calendar even acknowledges that.

And people are like, oh well, some churches meet on Thursday, some meet on Tuesday.

Stop bowing to convenience to people who worship their kids or extracurricular activities.

Oh, I did it again.

Yeah, yeah.

You see, at some point, look at me.

Hey, hey, by the way, parents, this is free.

Stop looking at God through the lens of your kids' extracurricular activities and stop acting so offended.

We didn't know this, this would take up so much time.

Yes, you did.

No one believes you.

Now I'm not saying don't do extracurricular activity, I'm just saying stop, stop complaining about it.

God is purposeful in everything he does.

This festival anticipates the fuller harvest to come.

Let me say that again.

This festival anticipates the fuller harvest to come.

This this the this feast of the first fruits.

So, what do you mean?

What I mean is, and this is why I say when I God's purposeful in everything he does, the the giving of the Holy Spirit on the same day that commemorates the giving of the law.

Uh, and basically he comes along and says, Hey, Pentecost, first fruits.

What does that mean?

The conversion of 3,000 people was also an anticipation of the greater harvest to come.

That's why you and I are in this building right now.

You're part of that harvest.

You see, God's just very subtle, but very obvious for those who have eyes to see.

Here's the third and final thing we see in the text.

The church is designed to cause questions, not just answer them.

Look at verse 12.

You still with me?

Say amen.

Look at verse 12.

Look at what they say.

And all were amazed and perplexed.

When's the last time you've used those two words?

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others mocking said, Ah, they're filled with new wine.

These cats are drunk.

By the way, it's nine in the morning.

They're like, uh, I mean, the hard drinkers.

I mean, Otis on Andy Griffin, the drunk guy, he doesn't drink at nine in the morning.

Come on.

The church is designed to cause questions, not just that, not just answer them.

You see, what you see in the text is that nobody, and this makes me sad, has a framework for a God that keeps his word, which is why Peter has to start with an explanation before he can get to the proclamation.

This great sermon that he preaches.

And see, one of the things that makes me sad is that so many people in our culture, they troll the internet or they talk to some people and they and they think they got a question that's going to suspend everything the Bible teaches.

And what I want us to see here is that the church is the one that causes questions.

We're not here like the whipping boy for all the cultural critics and a sounding board for the cynical deconstructionist who's never experienced anything in their life.

I mean, someone came to me and said, Hey, I just I think I'm in the process of deconstructing because I'm listening to these podcasts.

That's your problem right there.

You're listening to two knuckleheads in their basement with a half-drunk bottle of whiskey on the desk, like we're so free, looking here and talking about Christianity, just taking pop shots from the sidelines.

Now let me tell you something.

If I didn't experience the life that the Bible talked about, and like you do, you don't, and they don't, I'd quit too.

I'm serious.

If all this is, is it's morality with a cross on top, let's leave here and never come back.

That's a tragedy.

And if you taught your children that that's all this is, as soon as they graduate high school, they'll go off to college and they will leave the church.

Here's why.

They think that sin holds out promise and they're missing out, and you're holding back on them.

And when they're 33 and got a minivan and two kids and a mortgage and a marriage that's on the rocks, they'll come slanking in the door.

And the American church will just bend over backwards and go, Oh, oh, we don't want to offend you.

I don't want to offend you either.

I want you to know the truth.

Look at me, and I want you to be set free by that.

This is what Jesus says.

You'll know the truth.

The church is designed to cause questions, not just to answer them.

What does this mean?

Look at verse 14.

Are you still with me?

Peter, before he can make proclamation, he has to explain because they're like, hey, these guys are drunk.

What's going on?

Verse 14.

But Peter standing within 11 lifted up his voice and addressed him.

Now I ain't got time to preach this.

I told you the wagon was full.

I had to throw this rock off.

Just let your knees be buckled at those little two words.

But Peter.

Remember him?

Peter.

Oh Jesus, I'm not gonna die.

I'm not gonna deny you, man.

I'll go down, bro.

I'm dying with you.

And Jesus is like, Peter, you're gonna die me three times for the rooster crows, okay?

Just stop trying to distinguish yourself from everybody by you by your sincerity.

But Peter.

But Peter, some of you are in this room may be far from God right now.

And God is going, but John, I see I know what you did, and I know what you're gonna do in the future.

So don't rule yourself out because I've not counted you out.

But Peter, standing with the 11, lifted up his voice and addressed them, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem.

Let this be known to you, and give ear to my words, for these people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

Imagine that.

God keeps his word, and in the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

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 my female servants.

In those days I will pour out my spirit.

In those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I shall show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood.

This is why America freaks out when they have what's called the blood moon.

And I get texts from some of y'all in this room.

You think Jesus is coming back during the blood moon?

You might want to tighten it up just in case.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

What does this mean?

Well, let me just tell you.

Don't try to write this down because I need to be done.

But just from that, right there, what does it mean for us?

It means five things.

It means that God uses imperfect people to tell a perfect story.

This is Peter, this is Neil.

Imperfect people to tell a perfect story.

But Peter stands up.

Secondly, what does it mean?

It means we've been living in the last days since the ascension.

Look at verse 17.

And in the last days it shall be, God declares.

So here's what preachers try to do.

They try to scare you with this last days.

We're living in the last days.

Look at me.

We've been living in the last days since Jesus ascended back into heaven.

And I'm not saying, therefore, relax.

I'm just saying let's be biblical.

Here's the third thing it means the Bible's cohesive.

Verses 17 to 21, Peter's quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel.

Joel, the book of Joel was recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 800 BC.

Is there anybody that has 800 years worth of integrity that you think for 800 years it can look like crazy chaos, but I am not doubting this person because they said this was going to happen.

Only God.

Fourthly, what does it mean?

It means that God uses all kinds of people to tell his story: sons, daughters, young and old.

I love what it says right there.

Yeah, I'll pour out my spirit.

And he lists all these people.

Your young men will see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

Some of you think that I rag on you about worshiping your grandkids.

Here's why.

Because have a great relationship with your grandkids, but dream dreams when you're 70.

See, there's no ism in the kingdom of God.

There's no sexism, there's no ageism, there's no racism, there's no classism.

He says, even your servants, God uses all kinds of people, all ages, all backgrounds, all socioeconomic status.

Lastly, nobody's too far away.

What does this mean?

It means that nobody's too far away.

Look at the last verse, 21.

It shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

You got to be asking.

That means nobody's too far away.

Nobody.

None of you in this room.

You may have gone out last night and just put it in the ditch.

Got up this morning, got just mad bills, a red gatorade, brushed your teeth, and came to church to pay God back.

You're not too far away.

God may be just calling you even today.

So you got to listen for his voice.

You got to listen here and look at me.

You got to listen in here.

Now, you got to ask yourself the question.

When I said the church, remember, the church is designed to cause questions, not just answer them.

I think we've allowed the culture to put us on the defensive.

Pentecost puts us on the offensive.

Not that we go out and be offensive, but we're not afraid.

Because I just took the liberty of reading ahead.

Let me just close this morning by just reading you some of the questions that people ask Christians in the book of Acts.

What does this mean?

Brothers, what shall we do?

Why do you wonder at this?

Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

By what power, by what name, did you do this?

What shall we do with these men?

What prevents me from being baptized?

Who are you, Lord?

What must I do to be saved?

May we know this new teaching is may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

That's Paul talking to the smartest people of the day.

And what they said before that was, hey, you're you're bringing some strange ideas to our ears.

Can we know this new teaching you're bringing?

We want to hear you more on this.

Look at me.

The spirit-filled life is not some ecstatic utterance and some it's very practical, it's very approachable, it's very available.

And look at me.

People want to see and savor it in you and I.

Don't make it your goal to go out here and have some experiences.

I've never in my life thought, I won't have an experience today.

I have thought, Holy Spirit, I want to be full and I want to be free today.

And whatever comes my way, I'm gonna see it as a gift from you.

Whoever comes my way, however gnarly they are.

I told a man recently, you'd make a good Christian one day.

I don't think I believe any of that.

I said, Oh man, God could get a lot of glory from a knucklehead like you.

And you know what he said back to me?

He didn't say, I'm offended.

He said, You reckon?

Yeah, I do.

And so all your behavior, it's nothing.

God can change all of that, can forgive all of that.

That's good news, but not today.

Oh, yeah, I can't make you.

But it'll be good news tomorrow, it'll be good news six months from now and six years from now.

This is you gotta ask yourself.

Don't just be content, let the question the culture bombard you with questions.

Look at me.

Live your life in such a way, spend your money in such a way.

Love your wife, love your husband in such a way that people ask you questions.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and give you some soul space to think about it.

That's all voice of prayer.

Some questions come on the screen.

Uh let's just think for a moment.

A lot, a lot in the text.

We don't apologize for that.

So, oh Holy Spirit, thank you that the Father sent you, and he sent you for a reason.

We don't have to be afraid of you.

Uh, you're not gonna embarrass us.

I'll take that back.

Sometimes you will, uh, but it's for our good because we we've got to lay down our reputation to take up the reality we were created for.

But I pray, Holy Spirit, that we wouldn't live in fear, that we would come to desire the fullness of that God created us for.

And so now just brood over us, if you would, Holy Spirit.

Love on your people.

Oh, Father, our confession today is that we want to figure out a spiritual belief system that allows us to sin in the ways we want to sin with the people we want to sin with.

And yet you're so gracious, your desire is that we come to this faith, this spiritual belief system, belief system that shows us how to live.

It's life, life, and more life.

Is it any wonder, Jesus, that you said in John's gospel, I have come so you can have life and have it to the fullest.

We're tired of emptying ourselves out in pursuit of sin.

We want to be filled up with the life that the Holy Spirit gives.

This is our confession, God.

Make it our experience.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Thanks for your presence here today.

There's a lot of things going on in the life of our church we want you to know about and be a part of.

And so check out our screen for this week's video announcements.

In 1985, John Stock wrote these words in his book, The Cross of Christ.

In daring to write and read a book about the cross, there is of course a great danger of presumption.

This is partly because what actually happened when God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing, and partly because it would be most unseemly to feign a cool detachment as we contemplate Christ's cross.

For whether we like it or not, we are involved.

Our sins put him there.

So, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness.

We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.

And there we remain.

Until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts, his word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by his love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in his service.

Each year the church gathers for Good Friday to plumb the depths of what Jesus accomplished at the cross, to be gripped by the Father's love, and to worship in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we say with our Lord.

It is finished.

And so next Friday, or this coming Friday, on Good Friday, we are excuse me, two weeks from now, we will gather in here at seven o'clock just to bask in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Would love for you to be a part of that.

Let me make one other announcement while I get it together here.

Next Sunday, we have a candidate for our associate pastor position.

And she will be here.

She'll be here all weekend interviewing different groups of people.

She'll be in this service next Sunday.

And so be praying for a young woman named Annie.

We believe that she can be God's person to come and partner with Ian in our student ministry.

We're very excited about that.

And so we practice full disclosure.

So there you go.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So stand to your feet if you would.

Hold your hands out.

Man has always tried to capture the spirit of God with tabernacles and temples.

Yet God chose your body to reside in.

Not in your flesh, but in his spirit.

This is why the Bible says that Christ in you is the hope of glory.

Depart now and live in and enjoy this hope.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.