The Message of Pentecost

Let's pray. Dear Father God, it's not in the many,

it's in the committed. Your work will be finished when

there is no compromise in the life and Jesus shines bright,

the truth goes forth. Oh, how easy it is to

sell our souls and lose our way. Forgive us our debts, Lord,

because we need it. But help us to forgive our debtors.

And Lord, open up the word of God today that

we can hear and perceive the message of Pentecost in

Jesus' name.

Amen.

When God poured the Holy Spirit out of Pentecost, God

sent the Holy Spirit with his special burden for the

human race. The Holy Spirit came with a passion to save.

The Holy Spirit was sent from the heart of God

to be the heart of God on earth. Christ had

previously a few days before I sent it to us. Father,

Now the promise of the Holy Spirit had at last

come from the Father and the Son into the world.

Empower, power, nothing less.

When the wind and the fire broken into the upper

room of one hundred and twenty people, the earth shook,

and it will never be the same again. We are

living in the age of the Spirit, the old age

of darkness.

Is passed, as C. S.

Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia put it. I think it was

Edmund who said, or if someone said, the winter has

passed and spring is on the march, asland is alive.

Of course, Aslan is a figure of Christ.

For C. S. Lewis means the lion and Turkish.

I believe when the wind and the fire a broken

in the upper room, the world will never be in sane.

The one hundred and twenty people were seeking God in

prayer for the good of their friends, their neighbors, their nation,

the whole world. Does it pray to fall on your

knees and pray for others? Absolutely it does. They had

spent the last three and one half years with the

great greatest teacher and preacher the world had ever known.

Jesus disciples were Galileans, and they had no advantages of

a formal education or a good background to make them

preachers or teachers. Christ didn't pick what you would say,

the person passed the job description.

Well.

He picked people who you would think would not be picked.

They were humble men. He taught them. They spent time

with Jesus, and these humble men changed the world because

they had been with Jesus, they had come under the

leadership and tutelage of the creator of the universe in

human form, and with his departure they felt the need

for special power for spiritual guidance.

They missed Jesus.

Now, when you don't have Jesus personally there, how can

you have Jesus here? And the answer is the Holy

Spirit for this need and to this end, God sent

the third person of the Godhead. And that's the language

of the Spirit of Prophecy consistently, the third person of

the Godhead, who is one with the Father and the Son.

And what the Spirit of Prophecy calls it the hoarded

love of eternity, the triune ball, that is, one God,

three persons wrapped up in eternity from which all love flows.

Some people say, well, how can that be.

Isn't there a point in time which Jesus had to

be created or the Holy Spirit? Friends, if that is true,

then there is a point of time which God is

not love. There is a point in time in which

God cannot give. There is a point in time which

God is a monad, a single entity who is not

plural and one at the same time, and When you

have that equation, you don't have love. God did not

create the universe out of need. He created the universe

out of love, the hearted love of eternity. The Holy Spirit,

the third person of the God who personates Christ on earth.

He was sent from the Father and the Son to

us to bring us the Father and the Son, so

that the God, who is one, will make us.

One with him.

Paganism believes in magic. What is magic? It's the idea

that you can tap into the impersonal power of the

universe and somehow you can manipulate reality. It is a

counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not impersonal.

He is a person, and we don't manipulate God's power.

God's power should control us because he is Christ in us,

the hope of glory, unfettered by human limitations or any

limitations for that matter. The Holy Spirit exploded on the

world with the express purpose of leading the world to Jesus. Christ,

the person of the God, had on the mission to

bring people to Jesus. Take your Bible's turn with me

to Acts two, verse one. Let's begin. When the day

of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one

place and Suddenly a sound came from heaven, like the

rush of a mighty wind. It filled all the house

where they were sitting, and there appeared to them tongues

as of fire, distributing and resting on each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and

began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave

them utterance. Now people have all kinds of ideas. Is

what this means to speak in other tongues. Some people

think it's speaking in Gibberish, you know, bah blah blah

blah blah blah.

No, that's not the tongues here.

I once was forced into a room by an army

sergeant who wanted to force me to speak in tongues.

I was selling Christian books on the West Coast as

a teenager, trying to earn my way through academy. And

he closed the door and locked it, and he says,

we're gonna annoint you with oil and you're gonna be

speaking tongues before.

You leave here. I said.

I thought to myself, why would the Holy Spirit want

to force me to do that kind of thing? And

as they began to pray, I felt an electric shock

in the room. It was supernatural, and I just began

to shake and I felt this compulsion, but it wasn't

from God.

And I said, I rebuke you.

In the name of the Lord Jesus, who would never

force me to do this. And then that I got

to the door we were to open and got out.

I'd left my books there by the way.

I had to go back.

I had a friend who had learned karate, you know,

who was a canvasser as well selling books, and he

would do the hong kong fu e faster than the

human eye kind of thing, you know. And I took

him back and I got my books, but I was

kind of scared. I was a young person. Look, you

cannot force people through group dynamics, through any kind of

means to receive the Holy Spirit. And tongues is not

a sign that you have the Holy Spirit. It was

simply a method and means that the spirit used to

share the Gospel. And when it's used right, that's what

it does. And so it is that the Greek word

for tongues means languages very clearly in the Greek in.

Verse four, the keyword in verse four is other.

Notice what the text does not say, it does not

say they begin to speak in the same language that

would have been at the time of Jesus. It does

not say they began to speak in another language singular,

because that would have limited it to one language. The

Greek and English both agreed that they began to speak

in other languages, other tongues plural. Imagine suddenly being able

to speak French. Excuse him, walk monsieur. You know mone

frosea fres, which means my French is awful. I learned

to read it to get through a doctoral exam for

interance into a PhD program. And Andrews, I did not

get the doctorate. I came here to be a pastor.

But I haven't learned German yet. I want to. I've

always been putting it aside. But imagine being able to

speak French, German, Arabic, Chinese, or one of the many

languages of India and Africa and other parts of the world.

Wouldn't that be great if you had total control of languages.

You should say, Amen to that. Amen.

Now that's exactly what happened in the day of Pentecost.

Suddenly the curse of the tire of Babel was over.

You know, the confusion of the languages, and people from

all over the world came together in Jerusalem to reunite,

not by building a tower to impress God, but by

coming to Pentecost where God would come down to the

Holy Spirit, and by hearing the clear and simple truth

of salvation in their own native language. That's how we

come together. The modern charismatic movement today is not of

true fulfillment to the promise of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

How do we know this? Well? By their fruits, you'll

know them.

The movement has diminished Jesus and elevated the Holy Spirit,

something the Holy Spirit will not do. Secondly, the movement

has bridged the gap between Rome and Protestantism and the

Great World religions the Pagan world religions, so that the

tongue speaking movement is utilized in these interfaith conferences by people,

whether they're a Christian or not. That is not an

evidence of the Holy Spirit. It is unifying for other purposes.

He does not make the truth easier to understand because

no one does, and there's no interpreters, as there should

be if the gift is used correctly according to First Corinthians. Therefore,

it must be judged as something other than the work

of the Holy Spirit. Acts two five. Now there were

dwelling in Jerusalem Jews. Well, that's not new. They noticed

how the Bible states the obvious devout men. No, that's

the point, devout men from every nation under heaven. And

at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were

bewildered because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

They weren't bewildered because they didn't understand. They were bewildered

because they did understand. Do you catch that they heard

every man speaking his own language. The immediate result of

the Holy Spirit's influence on the disciples mouth and mind

was clarity. So if you either write one word down,

what was the fruit of the spirit here? Clarity. They

were gifted with clear teaching, clean proclamation of the Word

of God, clear linguistic skills in the exact language needed

for the task at hand. Unlike my French, which is awful.

They had great French, if that's what they spoke back then, but.

Every dialect you can imagine.

In fact, the immediate result of the Holy Spirit's influence

on the multitude was wonder and amazement. Because of the

excellence of the speech Verses seven and eight. And they

were amazed and wondered, saying, are not all of these

who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we

hear each of us in his own native language. The

Greek word is dialect. The Greek word for amazement is

literally to stand outside of oneself. So they were disassociated

with wonder whow amazement Here.

Was a form of disassociation.

Kind of the world had never seen before, Holy Spirit disassociation.

The text also says that they marveled or wondered at

what was happening these simple men who were speaking so

eloquently and clearly. The first they first took note that

the Galileans were speaking. I mean, Galilee wasn't noted for

his educational system for anything good, and yet these men

were really awesome and how they were communicating. The Greek

text also indicates that they each heard the message Cloe

as I said previously, in their own dialect. It was

not just their language they heard, it was the exact dialogue,

the nuance of their language, perfectly spoken.

And for this they marveled greatly. When I was.

Taking Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, hieroglyphics in college and at the seminary. Yes,

I took all those languages. Syriac is a form of Aramaic.

I wanted to cover all the langues of the Bible.

I wished and I even pray that God would give

me the gift of tongues. Wouldn't it be great so

I can know hieroglyphics. I'll share with you one word

from hieroglyphics.

You write this down.

Deb deb d eb d eb deb deb say it

with me. Come on, interact with me. Deb deb.

That's the higherlyphic word for heart. Deb debt deb deb

deb deb. Does that make sense? Okay?

Well, come on, you guys are to work with me.

I hope you have a good deb deb today. Okay,

and your deb deb is consecrated by the Holy Spirit.

I wish, like everything, God would have given me the

gift of tongues and interpretations so I could go fishing

instead of studying.

Greek and Hebrew and all those languages. So art here

God gave the gift.

Of languages to fishermen instead of scholars, so the fishermen

could stop fishing and start phishing for men and teach

the scholars and the common folk also in a clear

kind of way, the much needed message of salvation. Notice

in Acts two nine, how many people were there that day?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea

and Kappadisia, Pontius in Asia, Phryggia, Pamphilia, Egypt and the

parts of Libya belonging to Syreen and visitors from Rome,

both Jews and Proslya, Cretans and Arabians.

We hear them telling in.

Our own tongues languages the mighty works of God, and

all were amazed and perplexing to one another. What does

this mean? This is awesome history that we're reading here.

Never had this happened ever, God had broken the boundaries

of language to speak the truth of Jesus. They were

asking the same question we should ask this morning, what

does this mean? Miracles without meaning don't mean anything. Tongues

that are gibberish don't mean anything. They want to know

what it meant for the message of Pentecost. I ask

you this morning, what does it mean to you and me?

Today? For some it meant nothing that day.

The shallow hearer, the person doesn't want to really let

the Bible affect them. They just assumed the disciples were

drunk a little early.

When was the.

Last time getting drunk help someone to speak a foreign language?

Perfectly makes no sense. The people who sound drunk are

the ones who come up with that idea. At this point,

Peter stood up to dispel the confusion with pure clarity.

Look at verse fourteen, Acts two. But Peter, standing with

the eleven, 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 men are not what does it say in

the Bible, there are not drunk. Okay, as you suppose,

since it is only the third hour of the day.

Using our time, the third hour of the day was

about nine a m. It was the same time Jesus

was crucified in the morning. That should not be ignored

when you read the text. The power of the Holy

Spirit converge on the city of Jerusalem at the very

hour they had crucified Jesus at the feast of the

Passover fifty two days earlier. Now it was Pentecost, and

the Holy Spirit would not let them forget what happened

at the ninth hour when Jesus was crucified according to

Mark fifteen twenty five. Now it was Pentecost, and the

Holy Spirit would not let them off the hook. Here

at this point, Peter quotes the prophet Joel as a

philed Some people say, well, what is holy Spirit preaching

and teaching? Here's Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, stands up,

denied Christ a few days earlier, over fifty days earlier.

He stands up and he starts quoting the Bible.

So holy Spirit preaching starts with come on the Bible,

the Book of Joel. And it's not just any part

of the Bible. It's prophecy, prophetic preaching and teaching, Holy

Spirit preaching and teaching. Now, I've heard people say, well,

you know, to have the Holy Spirit, we need to

get away from this prophecy stuff because it really doesn't

doesn't help me walk with Jesus and go close to Jesus.

I've heard pastors say that nonsense.

Holy Spirit Pentecost preaching was from the Word of God

and prophetic preaching and teaching that pointed to Jesus. Now

look at Acts two sixteen, as he quotes Joel to

but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel

verse seventeen. And in the last days, it shall be

God declares that I will pour out my spirit and

all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your

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

Yay.

And on my men's servants and my man servants. In

those days, I will pour out my spirit. And now

let me just say something to the young people. I

haven't forgotten you. We're gonna have our scripture reading before

I get off the platform.

Are you with me? You with me? Hang on to

your texts there. I haven't forgotten you. Yay. On my

men's servants and my man's servants.

Those days I will pour out my spirit, and they

will prophesy, and I shall show wonders in the heavens above,

and signs on the earth beneath blood and fire and

vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness,

the moon into blood. Before the day of the Lord comes,

the great and manifest day. And it shall be that

whoever calls the name of the Lord, what does it

say in your Bible, will be saved. The verse that

Peter zeroed in on in verse twenty one is from

Joel too. It's the very verse we should focus in

on also, since it is the message of Pentecost that

we need today in our lives. Verse twenty one again,

and it shall be that whoever calls on the name

of the Lord say it with me, Come on, shall

be saved. Now, don't rush through this verse too quickly

this morning. This is Peter's first sermon. The first thing

Peter does in his first sermon at Pentecost is to

quote the Bible as he points the precious people in

need to Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy, friend is a road

map that leads to Jesus into salvation. And don't let

anyone to commence you otherwise. And the prophecy Peter dwells on

is a simple affirmation of how to be saved for

the coming judgment, relevant for our lives. Good people, friend,

good people listen to the Bible. Good Bible teaching. Good

Bible preaching leads men and women and children to Jesus

so they can be saved. He says, yeay on the

man's servants and my maid servants. That means young people

and older people, but the younger people here in those days,

I'll pour up my spirit and they shall prophesy. How

can children get the Holy Spirit hew through the world

of God. So we're in the Holy Spirit filling business.

And we do this, he says, And I will show

wonders in heavens and above and signs and earth beneath,

blood and fire and vapor and smoke, and the sun

shall be turned to darkness and moon into blood before

the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day.

And it shall be that whoever calls on the name

of the Lord shall be saved. We read that so

the key verses verse twenty one, And it shall be

the whoever calls the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Dear heart, you may not feel like you can be saved,

but you need to look at this verse and hear

it in your head loudly. God is speaking to you

right here in this verse. He says, whoever calls on

the name of the Lord, does it say, what does

it say shall be saved or will be said? Now,

notice what it does not say. It does not say

you have to be perfect to be saved. If you

ever heard someone tell you that when you get to

be perfect, then you'll make it. You ever hear someone

tell you that, I hear all kinds of nonsense like that.

It does not say that you have to remember every

sin you've ever committed to be saved, you'd have to

have a perfect memory. It doesn't say you have to

have a perfect character be saved, even though it will

be perfected. It's not why you're saved. It does not

say you have to be born into the church to

be saved. You may have nothing, no knowledge, you may be.

In a prison.

It does not say you have to measure up or

be smart to be saved. It says one thing, and

one thing only. Whoever calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved.

That's what it says.

It doesn't say might be saved, doesn't say could be saved,

doesn't say should be saved.

It says they shall or will be saved. Does that

mean some to you and me? It's huge? Do you

want to be saved? I asked the question, Raise your hand,

interact with me? You do, okay? For real? Raise your

hand again? For sure? See he knows how the hands

quit going up.

They should go up every time every time, every time,

with no ifs, no ants, no butts, or maybe he's

attached to it.

Dear heart, then call on the name of the Lord,

and you will be saved. How do he do that?

Peter knew how from experience.

One night, he saw Jesus walking on a stormy sea,

and Peter was in a boat that was sinking or

could have sunk. The wind was blowing. Peter called out

to Jesus to let him come to him. As he

was walking on the water right past the boat. It

appeared Peter was afraid that Jesus would walk on by.

If you've been afraid that Jesus would walk on by you,

Peter said, Jesus said to Peter, come. Peter called out

to the Lord, and Peter got out of that boat.

He started walking toward Jesus. And then he did what

we often do, and we come to Jesus, we get afraid.

Peter looked away. He looked at the wind.

The Bible says, now, I don't know how you can

see the wind. He's looking at the wind. He could

have looked at Jesus, and he began to sink into

the sea instead of coming to Jesus. Matthew fourteen thirty.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and

began to sink. He cried out, and he didn't just say.

Like, Lord, Lord, say save me? Is that how he

did it? Come on, how'd he do it? Why don't

you say it with me? Lord? Save me? Is that right?

Lord?

Save me? Now? Is that the way to do it? Now?

What's the difference between the two? One is from the

heart and you mean it.

The other wall you're not sure. Jesus immediately reached out

his hand caught him, saying to him, my man of

little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got

into the boat the wind ceased. Peter cried out, Lord

saved me, and Matthew cords that. Immediately Jesus reached out

his hand and caught Peter. He caught him, he was falling.

How long does it take a man or woman to

be saved?

If you just look at the story, you say, Lord,

save me, How quick is Jesus to respond instantly?

And as soon as you call in the name of.

The Lord with sincere heart, recognizing Jesus's Lord at that

very moment, he reaches out his hand to save you.

And he catches you. In the Bible.

The hand of God is the hand of Jesus, which

is the Holy Spirit. Did you know that God sends

his hand, the Holy Spirit to catch you. Look at

Ezekiel three fourteen, real quick in your bible versus here.

I don't have them on the front monitors, but I

think you can see them here. Yes, Ezekiel three fourteen.

The Spirit lifted me up, took me away. I went

into bitterness and the heat of my spirit, the hand

of the Lord being strong upon me. The spirit is

the hand of the Lord. Go to Ezekiel eight three.

Notice again he put forth the form of a hand

and took me by the lock of my head, and

the Spirit lifted me up. So God's hand is the

Holy Spirit. When the hand of the Lord is upon you,

the Holy Spirit is upon you. When we lay hands

upon people were asking for the Holy Spirit to come

upon them.

So what is the message of Pentecost. It is the.

Simple, clear, and profound message for our future and for

our need and life. Peter said, whoever calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. Peter denied Jesus

just a few days before, but Peter called on the name.

Of the Lord, and Peter was saved.

The Lord appeared to Peter in a secret meeting with

only Peter and the Lord at present. And I am

sure Peter fell into the arms of the Lord after

he denied him he'd fall into the sea, but he

really fell when he denied Jesus. And that after christ resurrection,

that meeting that we know nothing of, except that it happened.

I guarantee you he fell into the arms of the

Lord because he knew that Jesus saves Peter's life. Teaches

us that we're not efficient saviors capable of saving ourselves.

We aren't perfect enough to save ourselves from our past,

from our present struggles, from Satan. We aren't strong enough

to save it all. I mean, people who think that

they are, are they going to get there? Are going

to be lost because we need to rely on Jesus

and not upon ourselves. We aren't good or gifted in

ourselves to come to.

God and be saved. People need the Lord to be saved.

How does the song go? People need the Lord?

I wish someone could sing it. I haven't come up

here and sing it. People need the Lord. At the

end of broken Dreams. People need the Lord. You know,

perfectionism doesn't work because it doesn't give you the Lord.

People need the Lord to be saved. That is why

people get saved only when they call on the name

of the Lord. That's how it works. Practice it with me,

say it, Oh Lord save me. Yeah, say it again

and mean it, Oh Lord save me, And do that

in your prayer life. Do it when you're under pressure

and stress and you've let God down. Just say, oh

Lord save me, and the hand of the Holy Spirit

will pick you up and lift you up to Christ.

The Apostolic Gospel is the clear message of Jesus, who

is the good News, with a special focus on his

death as primary, his burial as necessary, his resurrection as victory.

Can you remember that with me?

Put it on the screen here, his death as what primary,

his burial as necessary, his resurrection as victory.

Act two twenty two.

Men of Israel, hear these words Jesus of Nazareth, a

man attested to you by God with mighty works and

wonders and signs which God did through him. And you're

midst as you yourself know this. Jesus delivered up according

to the definite plan and fore knowledge of God. You crucified,

and you killed by the hands of the lawless men.

But God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death,

because it was not possible for him to be held

by it. Peter is saying that they were guilty, as

we are guilty, but Jesus is alive. We all put

Christ on that cross. They killed Jesus, we did too,

But God raised Jesus. Romans four twenty five says he

was raised for our justification, our acceptance. You can't get

away from Jesus in your life or in the future.

Christ is here to stay. So if you want life,

you better come to know Jesus. The judgment will rotate

on the person, the power, the presence, and the verdict

of Jesus. So get to know Jesus. Acts two thirty two.

This Jesus God raised up. Now that we're all witnesses,

being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and

having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,

he has poured out this which you see in here

verse thirty four. For David did not ascend of the

heavens now, he didn't die and go to heaven. Very

clearly stated there, for David did not sin to the heavens.

But he himself says the Lord said to my Lord,

sit at my right hand Verse thirty five, till I

make thy enemies a footstool for thy feet. Jesus is Lord,

let all the house of Israel. Therefore Noah. Surely that

God is meeting both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom

you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were cut

to the heart and said to Peter and the rest

of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? We should

ask the same question they asked Peter and the apostles

that day when they were cut to the heart by

the Holy Spirit preaching of Peter, prophetic preaching and teaching.

That's what the Holy Spirit does, he cuts to the heart.

They asked the right question of the apostles, brethren, what

shall we do? Here's the answer the right answer Acts

two thirty eight and thirty nine. And Peter said to them, repent,

be baptized every one of you in the name of

Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. How many

of you need forgiveness of sins? Well, you need bad baptism.

If you've not been baptized. You need to be baptized

for the forgiveness of your sins. And what does He

give us, and you shall receive what the gift of

the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children.

That's why we spend time with children in church, and

to all that are far off. Everyone whom the Lord

our God calls to him. Friends, whoever calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. That is the

message of Pentecost.