Freshbrook Church Podcast | 24May26 | Pentecost Sunday | Dave Davison

I'm going to bring our Bible reading to us now.

And we're going to be reading from Acts 1 and Acts 2, not the entire chapters.

But in the church Bible, it's on page 100, well, sorry, 1093.

And 1000, starting on 1092.

But if anyone would like a church Bible to read along with, please raise your hand and one of the stewards can bring one around.

So Acts 1, verse 1 to 8.

Acts 1:1–8

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.

After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave them, gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

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.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Then they gathered round him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority, 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.

Chapter 2, verses 1 to 8, and in the second half of eleven and twelve.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language.

Being spoken, utterly amazed, they asked, Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?

Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.

Amazed and perplexed, they ask one another, What does this mean?

This is the word of God.

Sorry, I always do that.

Um Good morning.

My name's Dave.

I'm one of the two pastors, has been prayed already.

Phil, my colleague is on holiday with his family.

Do pray God will bless them.

It's certainly got good weather to be at the seaside.

Uh this morning, before I begin, uh I've created a handout worksheet.

If you're the note-taking type, then taking one of these this morning might be really helpful because there are quite a few, just skipping around references and points that I'll make.

So there's a pile of them at the back in a box, and there are pencils with them.

So if you would like one of those and you're able-bodied, but nip up and get it.

If you're not able-bodied, um, then just smile sweetly at somebody next to you, see if they'll go and get you one.

And if you're near the front, you can see that one.

On the subject of uh waiting, uh I remember my first tour in the Falkland Islands in 1985.

Uh I arrived, it was winter, it was wet, it was grey, it was horrible.

I had four months in front of me.

My accommodation was one of the coastels.

That was one of those buildings they towed back from the South Atlantic and moored off Portland to use as a prison.

But it needed a million-pound refit because it wasn't fit for prisoners, but it'd been fine for servicemen.

But this coastel, as I arrived, as I was driven through in a four-tonner and pulled up in the bleakness, had a huge banner on it, would have been the size of the wall, and it just had like 120 days to go.

Nobody's got that long, and that was your greeting as you arrived for a four-month tour in the Falklands.

Uh, yeah, so I wasn't anticipating that.

The church, however, uh at Pentecost had a sense of anticipation.

So this morning, as we come to this text, do have open Acts 1 and 2.

I won't be going through it in the same way as I have done the other texts most recently, but we'll be moving around.

This is the base around which we'll move this morning.

So the the big idea, the sense that I want us to grasp this morning is that Pentecost is the fulfillment of God's ancient promise, of the gift personally promised by Jesus, and the continuing empowerment of Christ Church to carry out his mission in every generation.

I wonder what.

I'll start that sentence again.

Uh I wonder what you think or feel when we speak about Pentecost or announce that today is Pentecost Sunday.

For some of us, or for some of you, especially those newer to church or newer to Christian faith, Pentecost may not mean very much at all.

Perhaps today simply becomes another opportunity to learn more about God and the Christian faith.

For others, Pentecost may stir anticipation.

You may quietly and faithfully pray for a deeper encounter with God and long for the church to know again something of the life and power of the Holy Spirit.

And for some of you, the mention of Pentecost may sound alarm bells.

Perhaps your experience of Christianity has included some expressions that felt more emotionally driven and less uh rooted in Scripture.

So it's it's that kind of an emotive experience of the Holy Spirit and less grounded in what God has written and given us.

And so, if that's you particularly, let me reassure you.

We're not stepping away from our theological foundations as a church this morning.

We are not abandoning the word of God.

But equally, let us not be content simply to know about God without also depending upon the Spirit of God in our lives so that we might know the life, the life in all its fullness that Jesus promised.

My prayer this morning is that we leave persuaded that we truly do want to be a word and spirit church, grounded in the truth of Scripture, but empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that together we may fulfill what is given as our mission and our vision, and that is to know Christ, to grow in faith, and to go to the world.

And that's the framework that we come uh to uh at Pentecost this morning.

But before we looked at what happened, it might help some to understand what Pentecost was.

Now uh Tanya's given a little clue into where the the name Pentecost comes from, it was 50th.

Pentecost was and still is one of the great Jewish pilgrimage festivals.

People traveled to Jerusalem from across the known world to worship and celebrate God's provision and covenant faithfulness.

They'd arrived at this festival.

The last time they'd been there had been Passover.

So many who were present at Pentecost had seen and been involved in the events around Jesus' trial, his death, and then ultimately his resurrection.

So Jerusalem, it's Pentecost, the city is full.

And it's not full because people came expecting revival.

It's not because people anticipated something dramatic, but it's full because people had come to gather and to worship.

And into that act of ordinary obedience, the familiar journey to uh to Jerusalem for Pentecost, God did something extraordinary.

So as we come to God's word this morning, may I invite you to posture yourself in three simple ways.

Would you this morning open your mind but not switch off your discernment?

Test it.

What I say, what's in scripture is it said of the Bereans, and then open your heart and desire more of God.

And then thirdly, open your hands and be willing to receive whatever God desires to give to you.

Because Pentecost was never simply about having an experience, it was always about being filled with God's presence so that God's people could become his light in this world.

And so I'm gonna uh just open with a first of uh of three uh headlines.

Firstly, Pentecost was promised by the Father, and we're just gonna look at a couple of texts through this.

Tanya opened our service this morning uh with Peter quoting from Joel from Acts 2, 17 to 21.

Peter stands before the crowd and explains to them what was happening, this furore, this excitement that was going on.

And Peter says to them, quoting Joel, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.

So he says to the crowd, this is what's going on.

It's what Joel promised.

Joel, the Old Testament prophet, not the uh colleague of Jesus, not the counterpart of Jesus.

This was an Old Testament promise being fulfilled in what was now the New Testament.

And then notice who this promise is for.

It's not only for kings, it's not only for prophets, it's not only for apostles, but as Joel writes, it is for sons and daughters, it is for young and old, it is for men and for women.

Joel shows us that God had always intended a day when his spirit will be poured out on all people.

Listen to what God had already promised through the prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel wrote in chapter 36 and verses 26 and 27, I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you, and I will put my spirit in you, and move you to follow my decrees.

And the prophet Jeremiah wrote in chapter 31, verse 33, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

And then Moses once longed, I wish that all God's people were prophets, and that Lord would put his spirit on them.

That comes from Numbers 11 and verse 29.

Do you see?

Pentecost is not a new idea.

Pentecost is a covenant fulfillment.

It is God's people transformed inwardly.

This reveals not a new plan, but how long God had wanted this?

The Spirit is not merely given for emotional experience.

The Spirit is given for transformed lives.

And we'll take a few moments just to reflect on this.

Do you think of the Holy Spirit mainly as unusual experiences?

Or do you see him as God's promised presence enabling ordinary faithfulness?

Just take a few moments to dwell on that thought before we move on to my next point.

Then secondly, Jesus promised the Spirit to equip ordinary disciples.

Jesus repeatedly told his disciples not to attempt his mission in their own strength.

Jesus said, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.

John writes that in chapter 14, verses 16 and 17.

Notice this Jesus does not promise an impersonal force.

The Holy Spirit is not an it, but a being.

They are Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is to us an advocate, and he is a helper, and he is a comforter.

He is the continuing presence of God among his people.

Jesus said, I will give you another advocate, one like me, in the pattern of me, who will be to you what I have been to the disciples.

He was not different, he was not less, but he was like Jesus.

And Jesus promised him to us.

So the Holy Spirit was the continuing presence of God among his people.

Then Jesus would later say, When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, and he will glorify me.

Now this is vital because the Spirit's ministry is not to draw attention to himself, his ministry is to reveal Christ.

Which means if our spirituality or the outworking of that as people observe it, moves us away from Jesus, then that is not the Spirit's work.

But if the work of the Spirit in us leads us into a deeper love and a deeper obedience, and to greater worship, and to greater witness, then it bears the fingerprint, the hallmark of God in the Holy Spirit.

Luke records Jesus saying, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses.

That's what Luke wrote in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Notice the order of events.

The Spirit comes, and he gives power, and then what follows out of that is witness.

So God sends the Holy Spirit, He empowers us, and He empowers us to witness, to give testimony to Christ that others may know and believe.

What follows is not spectacle or spectacular, but what follows is mission and outreach and witness.

Jesus never intended his church to carry out his mission through human effort alone, but to do it with the Advocate who would be a helper to them.

So as we draw to the end of my second part, this reflection for you to ponder for a few moments.

Where are you relying mostly on your own strength?

And where might God be inviting you to depend more deeply upon his spirit.

So we're looking in Acts two there and then around that text.

As we come to Acts two, uh let's first just observe something important about what is going on here.

Acts chapter one and verse 15 tells us there were around 120 believers.

This occasion of Pentecost is not just 11 apostles or the handful of women that were with them, but there are around 120 believers.

And Luke tells us in his account here in Acts that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.

This Holy Spirit came to them audibly in the sound of a rushing wind.

It came to them visibly in the appearance of like tongues of fire that settled on them.

But don't miss, don't miss what happened next.

Luke's attention in this text moves on very quickly from the audible and the visible.

And he draws our attention to what the crowd says.

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.

This miracle, this encounter with the Holy Spirit amongst these 120 created proclamation.

The proclamation, the declaring the glory of God, the wonders of God, drew a crowd.

The Spirit-empowered witness.

The crowd are looking, they're listening.

And so Peter responds with the gospel.

He preaches to them and explains to them what is going on.

And you read that as you work your way through Acts 2 and beyond the verses that Tanya read.

As Peter outlines all the events that led up to Christ's crucifixion, his death, and his resurrection.

And he's preaching this to this crowd of faithful followers, uh, obedient Jews.

And this crowd.

In hearing the gospel preached, in hearing what is shared, ask the question: What shall we do that we might be saved?

So the declaration of the glory of God of these 120 believers opens an opportunity to share the gospel.

The gospel shared invites the question, What must we do that we can be saved?

And Peter declares to them in Acts chapter 2, verses 38 and 39: Repent and be baptized, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

The promise is for you, your children, and all who are far off.

From Peter's perspective and the early church's perspective, you and I are the far off.

The Holy Spirit was given for them, for our grandparents, our parents, us, our children, our grandchildren, and the generations to come.

And as Peter preaches this gospel, the Spirit moves in the hearts of the crowd, and three thousand are added to their number that day.

Not through the wonder of spectacle, not that it was the sound of the wind that drew a crowd.

It was the wonder of God's praises that engaged the crowd.

It was the gospel preached that changed their hearts and minds and drew them to a confession.

What must we do to be saved?

And then three thousand gave their lives to the Lord.

And that day the church was born.

Acts tells us that the community, the church of that day became marked by worship, by generosity, by fellowship, and by growth.

The spirit produced transformed lives.

And then as we move forward a little bit from there to the writing of Paul, we begin to see what that looked like worked out in a transformed church.

This church who were together and as one.

Paul writes, There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit.

Galatians 5 details the fruit of the spirit that we should all of us bear.

That fruit bowl is not one you pick through.

You know what we like this one?

I don't like that one.

Can't be bothered with oranges, they're just too much fuss.

I'll take an apple.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

That's the fruit of the spirit.

The spirit that indwells us, that should be manifested in our lives, but he gives us gifts too.

And so Paul would add in chapter 12, verse 7 of 1 Corinthians, to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

So the fruit of work in us and the power of the Spirit gifting us should work together for all of our good.

The spirit and the gifts of the Spirit exist to build the church.

It is not to elevate individuals.

And Paul balances expectation with a measure of wisdom.

He writes in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, because he's writing to the Corinthian church in there, an excitable bunch.

1 Corinthians 14:40

Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

The New Testament refuses two extremes.

On the one hand, a fear that expects nothing, and on the other, an excitement for the work of the Spirit, but without the discernment to ground it and root it in Scripture.

But instead, Paul brings that together in power and in love.

Notice what sits between 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14, the two texts that Paul writes in that letter to Corinth dealing with the gifts of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention 1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 13, what is the theme of that chapter?

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Love.

Love is the theme of chapter 13.

It sits between teaching on the gifts and teaching on the gifts.

Chapter 13, the chapter centered on love.

Because gifts without love is just noise.

But love empowered by the Spirit becomes witness.

So Paul says, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1, immediately after completing his narrative on love, follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 14:1

So as I draw to a conclusion for what I want to share with you this morning, I'm reminded of a quote from Tyler Staten in his book, who wrote of the Holy Spirit, and I'll kind of summarize it to say that what we think of as the supernatural, this work of the Spirit in the world, isn't actually the supernatural at all.

Because that's the way God created the world.

When He created it, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were involved in it.

We were meant to dwell together.

So we don't live in supernatural times.

It would be true to say we live in subnatural times because we don't dwell in the immediate presence of God.

Since Adam and Eve hid in the garden, we have not lived in the times as they were purposed.

Pentecost gives us a glimpse of that restored reality.

One day Christ will return and God will dwell fully with his people again.

But until then, he has not left us alone.

So as we close, perhaps today is a moment to respond.

Maybe for the first time.

For some of you here, like many in Jerusalem at Pentecost, they did not know Christ, did not have the assurance of a relationship with God, their forgiveness of sins.

So perhaps this morning is a time to repent and put your trust in Christ.

But maybe for some of you that has been your story once, but it's been a distance since you felt any close connection to God.

Maybe this morning is a time to surrender again.

Maybe this morning is simply time to ask Father, fill me afresh with your Holy Spirit.

So I invite you to respond in three ways this morning.

Reiterating what I said at the beginning.

Open your mind, but do not switch off your discernment.

Open your heart and desire more of God.

Open your hands and receive what God desires to give to you.

I urge you desire his gifts, bear his fruit, and do it all in love.

I'll give you time at the uh after service, invite you just to come and respond to that if you want to receive prayer.

Uh, if you want this morning to put your trust in Christ, if you want somebody just to pray with you as you reaffirm a commitment to him, or if you have a sense of the spirit being speaking to you this morning and you want more of the spirit of work in you, so that that great commission that was given at the end of Matthew and Luke reiterated, where you've been struggling in your own strength to do that, you've just realized that God had a better plan than you struggle.

Rather, you receive the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the comforter, the helper who will walk beside you and empower you for it.

Pentecost was never about believers becoming unusual, but it was about ordinary people becoming empowered by God to live and witness beyond their natural restraint.

That same Holy Spirit of Pentecost was promised by the Father, was given through the Son, has been and is being poured out on the church.

That Holy Spirit is still at work today.

There is no shortage of the power and the person of God in the Holy Spirit.

He has more than enough for all of your desire.

May God bless you, both from his word this morning and in encounter with and through the Holy Spirit.