Pentecost: The Sent Out Ones

In pensions of glory and endless demise,

I'll never adore thee in evidence so bright.

I'll sing with the glittery

On crown, on thy ground,

If ever I love thee,

My Jesus did us now.

Let us pray.

Jesus, we just come to you in this moment,

and I just pray that that just rings true,

that song that we sing, that we truly love you.

And God, I just pray for us, especially those who have been saved for a long time,

that we can truly say, if ever I loved you, it's now.

God, that it's not just something that you've done in the past that warmed our hearts.

It's not just when we went to camp, or a convention, or a revival service,

but God, in this moment right now, in going forward,

tomorrow the next day, that truly we can say, we love you.

And God, we can respond in love to you because we know how much we are loved.

God, you call us into relationship with you.

You call us into life with you.

You call us into goodness.

You have so many good things planned for us and on behalf of us,

and we just say thank you for that.

And I pray that everything that goes on here,

in the service, everything that goes on, and everything as our church,

it will be all for just showing our love of you, Jesus.

We want to honor you.

We want to glorify you.

We want to build up your name.

We want to build up this church for you.

God, because of how good you are,

in every moment of every day, we can have people who are willing to testify

in a service, after a service, when they're gathering with people

for lunch today, or tomorrow, or for coffee, whatever it is,

that you will move Holy Spirit in our hearts so that we will be quick

to talk about your love that you have given to us,

and how we just simply love you in return.

So, Holy Spirit, we just simply ask for you to come.

God, be with all those who are not able to be with us today,

whether they're sick, whether they're at the hospital, on vacation,

whatever it might be, God, we pray that you will be near to them

to know that they are missed and valued by their church.

God, may they just also sense your spirit as well,

that you are God, who the beauty of Pentecost is,

that you are not confined to one place at one time,

but God, you are all places.

And right now, wherever believers are gathered, part of Graham Chapel,

but just as the church as a whole,

as churches all over our country and world are meeting,

we pray, Holy Spirit, that you will do something great this morning,

through your power and for your glory.

And so, God, we just humble ourselves before you

and use us in any way that you can to lift up and build up

your kingdom in your name.

And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

You may be seated.

Well, good morning.

So glad that we are able to be here to worship the Lord this morning.

So today is Pentecost.

It's Memorial Day weekend as well as Pentecost.

And so we're going to talk about Pentecost a little bit this morning

and understanding the importance and significance of it.

One thing that's interesting about Pentecost this year is,

depending on when theologians and scholars look at

when the actual year Jesus died and rose from the dead,

there's a little bit of disagreements on if they think it was 30 AD or 33 AD.

But if Jesus died and rose in the year 33 AD,

then the first Pentecost would have taken place on May 24th, which is today.

And so as we are celebrating Pentecost today and remembering

the coming of the Holy Spirit, it has potentially been exactly

1,993 years since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And it's really important to talk about the Holy Spirit,

who the Holy Spirit is, all that he does in our lives.

And we're going to come back and read a little bit

of the passages about the Holy Spirit and about Pentecost all those years ago.

But the reason why, spoilers, Pentecost is so important is

because up until that moment in world history, church history,

the Holy Spirit, the third person of God, the Holy Spirit only came

in certain places at certain times.

But in Acts chapter 2, that all changed and the Holy Spirit came

Acts 2 · chapter mention

to all believers and unleashed himself to all people

so that Christians not just in one place at one time,

but all Christians everywhere can be filled with the Spirit

to do the good things that God has called us to do.

And so it's a really significant change that takes place

in how God was operating that took place there.

So we're going to look at a couple things that go along with that.

Today we're talking about the sent out ones.

And so I want to talk about what that means

and how the Holy Spirit makes that happen.

First thing I want to talk about, let's talk about the 12.

The 12 disciples, the 12 apostles,

are those the same thing or different things?

Same thing.

So it's really important.

I never really noticed this, how it happens.

In the beginning chapters of the Gospels,

when Jesus is talking, he talks a lot about his disciples.

Sometimes there's more than 12, sometimes there's 12,

but he refers to them as the disciples.

And then something changes, and all of a sudden,

in Matthew chapter 10, they're started to be referred to

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

as not the 12 disciples, but the 12 apostles.

And there's a really significant part of what's going on in that.

So let's read a passage from actually before Matthew chapter 9,

Matthew 9:35–38

verses 35 to 38.

And so this is Jesus as he's doing all this teaching and miracles.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages,

teaching in their synagogues,

proclaiming the good news of the kingdom,

and healing every disease and sickness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them

because they were harassed and helpless,

like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples,

the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,

to send out workers into his harvest field.

And we'll pause there.

So that is the end of Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

That's how it ends.

And so Jesus is looking out in the world,

the beautiful world that we live in

that's full of great things and full of sinful things.

And he's saying the harvest is plentiful.

There are a ton of people that don't know God,

that haven't received salvation through Jesus.

And so he's saying, disciples, you need to be praying.

You need to be praying, praying, praying,

that God will send workers out into the harvest

because they're ready for it.

The question is, are we going to be willing to go out

and to teach them and show them the love of God?

And so he's saying, pray for this.

And again, he's telling that to his disciples.

It says in that verse of verse 37,

then he said to his disciples.

And so that word disciple,

it's a word we don't really use it much

outside of church world,

like tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon

or night, whenever.

If you're at work or whatever,

you're probably not going to use the word

disciple in a casual conversation.

It's probably not going to happen.

And that's okay.

But let's make sure we're all on the same wavelength

about what that word means.

A disciple is just a student or apprentice.

And when I think about it,

I think more of the apprentice side of things

and the student side of things

because, thank goodness, it is summer.

So all of you students don't have school right now,

so you don't have to be a student in this moment.

But in today's world, when we think about student,

well, back in my day, when we were students,

we would open these things called books.

And then we'd get our paper out

and these things called pens

and we would take notes on what the teacher was saying.

But we know that's not how they do it anymore.

You all got your Chromebooks and stuff like that.

But student, often we think about

as someone who's just sitting there at a desk

waiting to hear something

and then maybe to take a quiz or test on it.

And so when Jesus has his disciples,

that's not what we're talking about.

They were not students who were sitting there in a classroom

just taking notes on what he's saying

and ready to take a test.

That's not what it was.

It was more he invited them into his life.

They would go and they would go the places he would go.

They would hear what he was saying.

Hopefully they were paying attention.

And they were, at least Matthew was,

because he thought to write it all down.

Matthew and John, two of the 12 were paying attention.

But that's what we see.

They were not just listening,

but they were invited into the ministry

that Jesus was doing.

And so he would show them

and then they reach this point

where they stop being students in the moment,

but they go out and do what God has entrusted them.

So he had his merry gang of disciples.

He empowered them, laughed with them.

He did life with them.

And it was more than just sitting in a classroom.

He really apprenticed them

so that they could end up becoming leaders

in the church going forward.

So that's the end of chapter 9.

Excuse me.

Sometimes, at least for me when I'm reading the Bible,

you know, when Matthew first wrote the book of Matthew,

did he have all those nice chapters

and verses in there when he wrote it?

No, he didn't.

Those were added later.

And all those nice, convenient section titles,

those were added later.

So they were not in the original thing that Matthew wrote.

And so when Matthew wrote it,

what we read as Matthew chapter 9 verse 38,

Matthew 9:38

we kind of mentally pause there

and then we reset our minds

when we look up Matthew chapter 10 verse 1.

Matthew 10:1

Matthew didn't write it that way, though.

And so the verses that we read

in Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 and 2

Matthew 1:1

and the building verses

directly come off of those verses in chapter 9.

And so we don't want to turn off our minds

and switch from chapter 9 to chapter 10.

We want to keep reading what God has revealed to us.

And so at the end of chapter 9,

what we're reading is,

he is talking to his disciples and says,

pray for workers of the harvest, okay?

That's what they're supposed to do.

The very next verse, Matthew chapter 10,

Matthew 10:1

verse 1 and 2 will read,

Jesus called his 12 disciples,

so those very people he had just told to be praying,

he called them to him

and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits

and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the 12 apostles.

So there's this very significant change

that happens in the wording

from the beginning of verse 1 into verse 2

and going back to Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Prior to Matthew chapter 10 verse 2,

Matthew 10:2

the word apostle is never used.

They're always referred to as disciples.

And the same thing is true in a parallel passage

in Luke and Mark.

They're referred to as disciples

until this one moment

when all of a sudden they're called apostles.

And the reason they're called apostles,

it's just really the technical definition

of what the word is, right?

The word apostle simply means sent out one.

So a disciple is like a student or an apprentice.

An apostle is one that is sent out.

And so in these verses,

Jesus says, pray for workers of the harvest,

and then guess who's the answer to that prayer?

Those same people that were just praying, right?

And so they're praying for workers,

and then Jesus says, okay, you know what?

You've been praying, you've been listening.

Now you're not just going to sit there anymore

and hear what I have to say.

I am now sending you out as an apostle

to do the things that I've been teaching you, right?

And that's the beauty of what God is.

God doesn't want us just to sit all the time.

He wants to use us in great ways in this world.

And so, yes, the word apostle

does mean some of these specific 12 people,

but that word is used more broadly

than just 12 people in the New Testament.

So those 12 people are referred to as apostles.

Judas is referred to as an apostle.

He dies.

He gets replaced by Matthias.

Paul is referred to as apostle.

Barnabas is referred to as apostle.

James, the brother of Jesus,

who is not one of the other Jameses,

is referred to as an apostle.

Silas, Timothy, Epaphroditus,

and then depending on your interpretation

of Romans chapter 16 verse 7,

Romans 16:7

Andronicus and Junia are also referred to as apostles.

And so there are way more than 12 people

who are referred to as apostles in the Bible.

And again, the reason I find that really significant,

and I want to communicate that to you this morning,

is because there is this moment

when they go from being disciples,

learners, hearers,

to ones who are then apostles sent out.

And so that needs to happen

in all of our life as Christians as well.

Like, we should never outgrow learning.

It doesn't matter what career you're in.

It doesn't matter what profession you're in.

We should always be learners.

Like, if you look at some of the best athletes in the world,

they continue to learn.

They're coachable people.

And so they learn things.

But they're not just sitting and learning.

They're going and doing what has been taught them

and what has been told to them.

And so as Christians,

our sole purpose is not just to sit and be a disciple.

The main goal is not to come to church,

not to sit in church or go to Bible study

or listen to Christian podcasts.

Those are all very good things.

But God wants to take us from disciples

and turn us into apostles

who go out on mission for Him, right?

We must reach this point

where we're going out and telling people.

And it's really important to do that

because it happens all the time in all these different realms.

Like, I've got a three-year-old son and a two-year-old son.

If I were to give them some baseball lessons

and some of these young baseball players teach them,

and they just sat there.

All they did was take notes on what they were saying

and practice all the time.

At some point, I'd be like,

Daniel, Asher, I paid for you to get better at baseball.

You need to go and do what they're saying, right?

Go play the sport.

Go do something with this knowledge that you have.

The same thing is true in our faith.

We have to go and act out the faith

that God has given us

to do the things that He's called us to.

And it could be in sports.

It could be in music.

Like, if someone had piano lessons

and you learn to play the piano beautifully,

at some point, you got to go play the piano for people, right?

I'm not saying you got to play the piano

in front of a large crowd,

at least family and friends.

Use the skills that you are learning

to be a blessing to other people.

And that is so true in our faith.

In the American church,

you know, we've got all kinds of problems

in the American church.

I think one of the problems

that we have in the American church

is that we're really good at consuming God's word, right?

We preach it on Sundays.

Come to Bible study on Wednesdays.

We consume the word of God.

But to some extent,

the American church has become spiritually obese.

We sit there and we consume,

we consume, we consume, we consume.

But we never work out our faith

that God has called us to.

Because at some point,

it's not just about learning.

It's about doing,

having that faith in God

to do the things that He's called us to.

And so we have so many people

that will come on Sundays,

Wednesdays, all over our country,

but they don't actually do the things

that the Bible teaches us to do, right?

That makes sense?

And so it's good for us.

Like, we all need to eat.

You need to eat physically.

I need to eat physically.

But we also need to work out

and to use those calories for good use.

Spiritually, the same thing is true.

Go consume the word.

Go home, read the Bible.

Listen to a good Christian podcast,

things like that.

But at some point,

we have to not just consume it,

but to use those calories,

those spiritual calories

that God is giving us

to make ourselves healthier

as well as other people

in a spiritual sense.

And you might be thinking,

well, I just don't know enough.

And you might not know a ton,

but that's okay.

One of the things that,

well, let's read another verse.

Matthew 28, verse 19.

Matthew 28:19

If you've not heard of this verse before,

it's called the Great Commission.

It's one of these last things

that Jesus says

before He ascends into heaven.

So Jesus has already died,

He's already rose from the dead,

and then He's about to ascend to heaven.

So He gives them one last mission,

the disciples and the apostles,

before He goes.

Matthew, chapter 28, verse 19.

Matthew 28:19

Therefore, go.

It's command.

It's not like a,

therefore, sit.

Therefore, go and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.

This is essential for all believers.

And this is a command to go

to the other side of the world.

It's a command to go

to the other side of the country,

the other side of the state,

the other side of the town,

the other side of the road.

Like, we are supposed to go

to other people who we don't know

or maybe we do know

to tell them about Jesus,

to help them become disciples

and to know who He is.

It's an expectation for all of us.

This is not just a command for pastors,

this is not just a command for missionaries,

but all of us need to have

this seriousness, this mentality

to go out as apostles

to help people see that.

And again, you might be thinking,

I'm not worthy,

I'm not knowledgeable,

I'm not skilled enough.

And the truth is, you'd be right in that.

Because I'm not knowledgeable enough,

I'm not skilled enough.

Pastor James isn't knowledgeable

or skilled enough.

We all have holes in our understanding,

we all have holes in our faith.

But God does not call the equipped,

He equips the called.

God is looking more

for willing hearts,

people who are willing

to be servants

and humble themselves before Him

than He is looking for

the most talented people

on the planet.

Read the Old Testament.

The Old Testament gives

so much hope for us

because God takes

a bunch of nobodies

and does a lot of really good things

through a bunch of nobodies.

So that quote,

God does not call the equipped,

but equips the called.

If it's up there,

I don't know what it is.

It's not original to me saying that.

There's a bunch of people

who've said that over the years.

I tried to look up

who first said it

to give credit to the person

because it's made an impact on my life.

Best the internet can tell,

the first person to say that

was Smith Wigglesworth,

which I think is the best name

I've ever heard in my life.

Smith Wigglesworth.

I just think about, you know,

you hear some of these names

and how do people get their last names?

It's like, oh, what's your last,

what do you do for a living?

I drive a cart.

Carter, what do you do?

I'm a blacksmith.

Smith, what do you do?

I wiggle around

and can't stop moving my body.

Wigglesworth, like,

how do you get that name?

I really want more information

on that, but I don't have it.

But the quote itself,

God does not call the equipped,

he equips the called,

is essential for all of us

because none of us

have all the knowledge

or abilities to do the things

that God has called us to do, right?

But He will give us

what we need in the moment.

You have everything you need

to do what God has called you to do, right?

Not to say, again,

we should learn more.

We should become more knowledgeable.

We should seek to be more holy.

But you have everything in this moment

that God needs you to have

to do the things

He has called you to do.

And when you need more

giftings and abilities,

God will give it to you.

He has and will give you

everything you need.

He cares more about humility

than prideful boldness.

And again,

if you don't think you're good enough,

welcome to the club.

Like, read about Moses

in the Old Testament.

He is like,

God has to drag him

to go do what He wants him to do.

Moses is like,

I can't speak.

Are you sure I'm the right person?

Moses gives every excuse in the book.

But God says,

nope, you're the man for the job.

And God does great things

through Moses.

We also have,

when I think about this,

we need to have the heart and attitude

like the prophet Isaiah

from the Old Testament.

Isaiah chapter 6,

Isaiah 6:5–8

verses 5 through 8.

Woe to me, I cried.

This is Isaiah talking.

I am ruined.

For I am a man of unclean lips,

and I live among a people of unclean lips.

My eyes have seen the King,

the Lord Almighty.

Then one of the seraphim angels

flew to me with a live coal in his hands,

which he had taken

with tongs from the altar.

With it, he touched my mouth and said,

see, this has touched your lips.

Your guilt is taken away

and your sin atoned for.

And this verse really stands out to me,

and I think it should stand out to us all.

Then I heard a voice,

the Lord,

voice of the Lord saying,

whom shall I send,

and who will go for us?

And I said, here I am, send me.

This is the same concept

that we read about

in the book of Matthew

that we talked about earlier.

The harvest is plentiful,

the workers are few.

God is looking to send people out

into the harvest field.

God is looking to send people

out to the nations.

The question is,

are we going to have

an attitude say,

I'm not good enough,

or are we going to say,

here I am, send me.

I'm a willing person,

I'm a willing spirit,

ready to do the things

that you have called me to do?

Because in this moment,

we start off with Isaiah saying,

woe to me,

I'm a man of unclean lips.

And then he is purified, right?

He is purified by God

to then go do what

God calls him to do.

The same thing is true for us, right?

Woe to us.

We are sinful people.

Like if it's not for the cross

of Jesus Christ in his blood shed,

it would be a poor day for us

come eternity.

But thankfully,

Jesus has purified us

through his blood.

And so now we can hear

this conversation that God is saying,

whom shall I send?

People need to hear.

Who am I going to send out?

And the question is,

are we going to be like Isaiah

signing up,

here I am, send me.

Send me wherever that is.

That can be across the street.

It can be across the globe.

But all of us need to be willing

to be the people to go

where God has called us to go.

He wants to set us apart

just like Isaiah was set apart for him.

And God can purify you.

We all go through difficulties.

We all have temptations.

We all have sins in our life.

The truth is God can purify you.

You do not have to live in sin.

You can be set free from the power

of sin in your life

through submission to Jesus

and by receiving that blood

that he gives you.

It might not necessarily be overnight,

but God can deliver you from that.

You don't have to live

in that guilt and shame of sin.

You can live in the freedom

that God desires for you to have

going forward.

Here I am, send me.

And the truth is,

there's a lot of people

that need to hear about Christ.

Globally, don't get us started.

You can go talk to Greg Edmonds

in the back.

He'll get you going about that.

Four in ten people around the globe

don't know a Christian, I believe.

Not that they aren't Christians.

They don't know a Christian.

That's a huge part of the world

that doesn't even have access

to the gospel.

So we absolutely, hopefully,

there are people in this room

saying, here I am, send me,

willing to go overseas

to declare God's goodness to the globe.

Right?

Hopefully that's the case.

But we all at least

need to go across the street.

We at least need to go

across town to tell people.

In our world, ten years ago,

which isn't that long

to old people like me,

ten years ago, not that long ago,

in our good old country,

the US of A,

71% of people identified as Christians.

Ten years ago.

Today, that number is down

from 71% to 62%.

That's pretty low.

62% is not a high percentage.

You just think about

Chesney High School

had their graduation.

Let's say there was

a thousand people

that showed up to graduation,

which was probably more than that,

but for numbers' sake,

a thousand people showed up

to that graduation.

62%, that would mean

380 of those people

would not profess to be Christians.

That is a large group of people

in our country

that do not claim Christ,

do not claim to follow Jesus.

Right?

That's a lot.

Yeah, it's an F.

That's an F.

We're not doing great

in terms of that.

And the number is going down,

not going up.

We have a lot of work

to do in that regard.

And let's be honest,

if 62% of people

profess to be Christians,

not everyone who says

they follow Jesus

is actually following Jesus.

And so that number is lower

than that statistic,

I can say confidently.

And we can look at,

that's the country statistic,

South Carolina,

we're doing a little bit better.

We're actually,

in terms of percentage

of Christians,

the second highest state

in terms of percentage

of Christians,

but it's still below 70%

in our country.

One reason why I always

continue to work

with school ministries

to help teach the Bible

through the middle school

is because of this.

So many people,

there's hundreds of people

in the middle school,

about 200 sign up

to be a part of

school ministries.

And so we get to teach them

about who God is

and we give a salvation

message twice a year.

Every year when people sign up

to be a part of this program,

one of the lines to sign up

is what church are you part of?

And there's a huge number

of them who put

no church affiliation,

none.

They put,

I've been looking for a church

but haven't found one.

So many people right here

in our backyard

don't know Christ.

And then every year,

I'm never,

the first couple of years

I was surprised,

but then it makes total sense.

When we see people

in release time

give their life to the Lord,

profess salvation,

we try to follow up

with the local churches,

those pastors,

we're like,

hey, this kid got saved.

You can disciple them in that.

So many times,

they have no church affiliation.

The reason why they gave

their life to the Lord

is because they'd never heard

the gospel before,

right here in Chesney,

South Carolina, right?

And this statistic,

these statistics we look at,

there's such a need to say,

here I am, send me.

In Spartanburg County,

there's 380,000 people

in our county.

This is talking about

the work that we have

to do as Christians.

There's about 600 churches

in Spartanburg County.

That means to reach

every person,

to have every person

regularly attending church,

there would need to be

over 600 people

in every single church

in Spartanburg County

to reach everybody.

There aren't that many churches

with that many people.

And if you look at the statistics

for Chesney, South Carolina,

it's the exact same.

They're in the zip code

29323.

There's about 16,000 people

and there's about 20 to 25

churches in Chesney.

And so that would mean

every church needs

to have 600 plus people

to reach everyone.

We either need a lot more churches

or we need a lot bigger churches

because we need to reach people

through salvation.

We want everyone to be saved.

And the reason why

we want everyone to be saved

is because God wants

everyone to be saved.

And so we need to have

this attitude and mentality

of here I am,

send me,

send me to the people

at my work,

send me to the people

that my kids are playing

ball with,

send me to the people

at the grocery store,

whatever it is,

send me with a heart

and willingness to go

and show people

and tell people

that Jesus is real,

that he really died on the cross.

And this is where

Pentecost comes into play.

Because again,

I don't have enough

skills and abilities.

You don't have enough

skills and abilities.

That is why the Holy Spirit,

he is so important

in coming into your life

and my life

to give us the gifts

and abilities to reach people.

I'm going to read a couple

more verses from

Matthew chapter 10,

Matthew 10:18–20

verses 18 to 20.

On my account,

so these apostles

that he's sending out,

this is who he's talking to.

On my account,

you will be brought before

governors and kings

as witnesses to them

and to the Gentiles.

But when they arrest you,

do not worry about

what to say

or how to say it.

At that time,

you will be given

what to say

for it will not be you speaking,

but the spirit of your father

speaking through you.

You don't have all the answers?

I don't have the answers.

But the truth is,

God will directly intervene

through the Holy Spirit

and these conversations

that you have.

If you are willing

to humble yourself

before going to have

a conversation with someone,

whatever it is,

God will speak to you

in that, right?

He will give you the words

that you need

in that moment to share.

And when we're talking

about this,

this doesn't mean,

the here I am, send me,

does not mean you ever

have to preach a sermon.

You don't.

The vast majority of you

will never preach a sermon

and that's okay.

You can still be part

of the Great Commission.

You can still be part of the

here I am, send me.

You can still be part

of being a sent out one

and apostle of Jesus

because you're having

conversations with people, right?

That's what matters

more than anything else.

We don't need thousands

of people in a room.

We need thousands of people

going out of a room

to tell people about Christ.

That is so much more important

to have that.

And again,

God will give you the words.

If you pause and pray,

God will give you

the words in that moment.

I think about one time,

this is before I was

at Graham Chapel.

I was preaching at a church

and that morning,

I was going over my notes

for the last time

and I felt God say,

yeah, you're not going to preach

that this morning.

And I was like,

this is the most

nerve wracking thing

I've ever had you tell me

in my life.

God, what do you mean I'm not

going to preach the sermon

I worked on?

He said you're not.

And so he just put

a couple of verses on my mind

and said,

I want you to preach

on this instead.

And so in the next like

45 minutes getting ready

for the sermon,

I am like freaking out.

I am terrified.

I'm like, I'm going to end

like after five minutes

of talking,

I'm going to say the dumbest things

I've ever said in my life.

And do I think it was

the greatest sermon

I've ever given?

No, I don't.

But after the service,

someone came up to me

and he said,

I feel like you're preaching

directly to me.

And I didn't say it,

but I was like,

well, I probably was.

The Lord gave me a message.

I don't know if anyone else

was impacted by it,

but the Lord gave me

the words in that moment

for that person

and what they needed to hear

to encourage them

and challenge them in their faith.

That can happen in a sermon.

It can happen in a conversation.

I think about just

Christine's grandma.

One time we're talking on the phone

and it was a difficult moment.

Christine's grandma,

she has a direct access

to Holy Spirit.

So if you ever need anything,

talk to Christine,

get her grandma's number.

There's just a special

connection there.

And then Christine's grandma

started praying for Christine

and it was just like

the most encouraging thing

that's ever happened

and how the Holy Spirit

just really built up

and encouraged Christine

in that moment.

And so be willing

just to allow God

to speak through you.

Right?

You need to think about that.

And again,

as we have these conversations

with people,

they don't have to happen

in church

and usually they're not going

to happen in church.

If you think about

the New Testament,

a lot of the great stories

we read,

a lot of the great miracles,

a lot of the great teachings,

guess where they don't usually

happen?

In church.

In the synagogues.

Some of them do,

but a lot of the good stories

aren't actually happening

in the religious location,

in the religious building.

It is out in the community.

The Sermon on the Mount.

It was on a mountain,

not in a church building.

And so God can and wants

to use us

to have conversations

with people

everywhere we go.

So Jesus at some point,

when he first has his disciples,

he says, come and see.

He invites them into his life,

because ministry is more

than just words or programs.

Jesus invites the disciples

into his life,

come and see,

and then he switches from

come and see to go,

like go and tell.

It becomes this thing

where Jesus sends them out

and that should be something

that takes place

in all of our lives.

And we can be confident

that we can accomplish

Jesus' mission

because of the Holy Spirit.

So I want to read

a little bit about

the Day of Pentecost

all those years ago,

1,993 years ago

to the day probably.

Acts chapter 2

Acts 2:1–4

verses 1 to 4.

When the Day of Pentecost

came,

they were all together

in one place.

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.

Right away,

they receive the Spirit

and start speaking

the Gospel to people in need.

Right away,

God gives them the ability

to do that.

They immediately start

preaching the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit is the third

powerful person of the Trinity

and the Holy Spirit comes

to transform us

and change us

to accomplish the work

that Jesus gives us.

So in youth ministry world,

dealing with so many

youth over the years,

sometimes I feel like

we mislead people about

who the Holy Spirit is,

what the Holy Spirit

accomplishes.

I think about, you know,

we just mentioned youth camps

coming up.

Youth camp is my favorite

week of the year.

It's the most fun week

of the year.

It's the most spiritually

rewarding week of the year.

But sometimes the way

we talk about it,

it's like the Holy Spirit

only shows up at youth camp.

And that's not true.

But there are times

when we're in services

whether it could be

a Sunday morning service,

it could be a camp service,

a youth convention,

whatever it is,

these powerful services,

and we think,

oh, the Holy Spirit

showed up in the moment.

Which is true,

but the main purpose

of the Holy Spirit

is not to show up in a moment.

The main purpose

of the Holy Spirit

is to show up in our lives

and equip us to go, right?

I think about three years ago,

there was a revival

at Asbury University.

It started off

as a simple worship service.

They had chapel that day.

The speaker came up,

the speaker preached.

I find this funny.

The preacher left the stage,

immediately called his wife

and said,

that's one of the worst sermons

I've ever preached in my life.

He's like,

I did not do good in that.

But the service didn't end

for two weeks.

The service continued to go.

Worship team continued to play.

Other people started coming.

God did something

in that moment

at Asbury University

in which one simple

chapel worship service

turned into an over two week event

in which case

people continue to see and sense

and feel the Holy Spirit.

And so it's referred to

as the Asbury Revival.

I want to challenge us though

in the way we think about revival.

Revival is not just getting people,

a lot of people in a room

for a moment.

True revival takes place

not when we gather,

but when we go, right?

That's the more important part

of what happens

because we can get

a lot of people in a room.

I mean,

anyone ever been to a Coldplay concert

and felt chills

at a Coldplay concert?

Anyone ever been to Death Valley

or to Williams Bryce

and you felt like this emotion

stirring within you

at a sporting event?

We can feel these things

at non-spiritual events.

And so the goal isn't

this emotional connection

to the Holy Spirit

because who knows what it could be.

It could be something you ate for lunch.

But the true thing

is when God comes into us

and transforms us.

And yes, that will absolutely

be an emotional response

that we have to God, right?

We will absolutely have

this emotional response to God.

But that's not the goal.

The goal is a transformed life.

The goal is to be holy.

The goal is to become sent out ones

to go and tell people

about who Jesus is

and all that he has done.

Acts 2, verses 40-41.

Acts 2:40–41

With many other words,

he warned them

and he pleaded with them.

This is Peter talking.

Peter gives the sermon.

So Peter is warning them,

save yourself

from this corrupt generation.

Those who accepted his message

were baptized

and about 3,000 were added

to their number that day.

And this is why Pentecost is looked at

as the birthday of the church.

At the beginning of that day,

there were 120 people

still following Jesus.

Despite all the miracles,

despite all the teachings,

despite all those wonderful things

we read in the gospel,

only 120 people

were still following Jesus.

Then after this day,

over 3,000 people

were following Jesus.

And it says 3,000

were added to the number that day.

You can look at the book of Acts.

A regular thing that happens

from this moment forward is,

and their number was added to daily.

Pentecost wasn't important

just because it was a day.

Pentecost was important

is because it impacted lives

daily going forward.

Each day,

people were encountering God.

Each day,

new people were getting saved.

It wasn't just a moment,

but it became a lifestyle

and a way of going forward, right?

Pentecost was not significant

because of how long the service was.

Pentecost was not significant

because of how many people gathered.

Pentecost is significant

because the Holy Spirit came

and the disciples went

from sitting and listening

to becoming apostles

who were willing to go.

I'm going to ask Hailey

to come back up in a second.

One thing that I want to do

anytime, like thinking about this,

Pentecost, the Holy Spirit coming,

two things that I want to say about that

as we get ready

to wrap up here in a second.

One, when Jesus sends them out,

He does not send them out alone.

Because in our faith,

the goal is never to be alone.

The goal is always to be

with other believers.

And so Jesus sent them out

in groups of two.

And so church is not,

it's not the solo act

where you go out

to do all these things on your own

because it's all for Jesus anyway.

And so it is super important

for us to build camaraderie,

fellowship, trust,

love for one another

here at church.

And so that throughout the week,

as we are going

and sharing the gospel,

as we are going out

on mission as apostles,

then you have brothers

and sisters in Christ

who are encouraging you

to remind you of the good things

that God is doing in your life

and through you,

as well as to challenge you,

hey, who are you reaching out to this week?

Who are you ministering to this week?

Who are you talking to this week

about Jesus and His love?

We need that in our life.

The other thing that we really need

is a focus on prayer.

So when you just look at Pentecost,

Jesus dies.

Jesus three days later

rises from the dead.

And for 40 days,

Jesus went around showing

that He is risen,

teaching people, encouraging people.

But then He ascended.

Right?

So He ascends into Heaven.

Pentecost doesn't happen

for another 10 days after that.

I 100% believe one reason

why Pentecost was so significant

in any great movement

that ever has happened

and ever will happen in our faith

is going to happen because of prayer.

Those 120 people

were gathered together

and praying for 10 days.

How often do we do that?

How often do we pray for five minutes?

And I'm including myself in this week.

I do not pray near as much as I should.

Like, the fact that I work here

and don't come to the altar

during the week as much as I do,

it's shame on me for that.

But in Christianity,

so often we look to do the things,

but before we ever do,

we need to pray.

And so I'm going to have a moment.

Haley is just going to strum on the guitar

for, and I don't know how long.

Probably not 10 days.

I don't anticipate being here for 10 days.

Maybe 10 seconds, maybe a minute,

maybe three minutes.

Who knows how long?

But I just want to have a time

where we all just humble ourselves

before God and just ask him

to purify us like he did Isaiah

and to have a moment

where you get in your heart ready

in whatever way you need to,

whether that's in your seat,

just saying, God, here I am, send me,

or you want to come to an altar

and pray and seek God, whatever it is.

But I just want to have

an extended moment of prayer

where we're all just pausing

and praying and asking for God

to do a great and mighty thing

on Pentecost today

like he did all those years ago.

And again, the goal is not just a moment

of God doing something good,

but transforming our lives

so that we can go and do the good things

that he's called us to.

So just take a moment,

whatever's comfortable posture

for you to pray is,

or maybe you need an uncomfortable posture

to pray, whatever it is,

take a moment,

and then after a time,

I'll wrap us up in prayer.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

. .

God, I pray that we can truly just know You in this moment, that we can know Your goodness,

we can know Your love, we can know Your Word. God, we can know that You are for us.

God, we know that we have fallen short so many times in life, whether that's yesterday, today,

a week ago. God, we sin and we often live in rebellion against You, yet You love us so deeply

and purely. God, that when we come to You to confess our sins, You say our sins are as far as

east is from the west. You do not desire to hold that over us, but You desire to free us from that.

And so I pray that every single person in this room right now will truly grasp and know the

love that You have for them, Jesus. That they will truly know that they are forgiven before You

when we simply come and confess. God, that we can live free of shame and guilt. We can live in

freedom and power of the Holy Spirit. And I pray that for each and every person in here right now

that they can know that, not just in their head, but in their heart. God, it's easy to know things

that You have said. It's easy to know generally how You feel about people. But God, I pray that

in the very essence of who we are, we can know that we are deeply loved and cared for by You.

God, that we can know that You willingly went to the cross to die for us. But God, You continue

to love us today. It's not an act that You did 2,000 years ago, but You continue to love us

and build us up, encourage us, power us, to give us all that we need, to give us breath in our lungs.

I pray that we can all know that. And Jesus, I pray that in this moment that You will place

specific people on our hearts and minds, specific people to have a conversation with,

to call on the phone. And God, maybe that needs to lead to a gospel conversation about who You are

and what You've done. Maybe it needs just to be an encouraging word of the difference and impact

You've made through that person. Whatever it is, God, because God, sometimes we just need to show

people that they are loved before we remind them of who You are. And so place someone on each

person's heart and mind this week that we can share with. God, we want to be a church that

doesn't just come and consume the word of God. God, we want that. I pray for myself and every

person in here that we will know more about You next year than we do this year. But God,

I pray that we will also be a people that are taking Your word, taking the life that You

give us through the Bible and help us to work that out. Help us to do the things that You've

called us to do. Help us to love our enemies. Help us to share the gospel. Help us to be

compassionate like You are compassionate. Help us to be a servant like You were a servant.

God, help us to do the things that You've called us to do. God, help us to do with

the heart of Christ. The more and more we live out Your teachings in the world,

people will notice and see that we are different. And I pray that we can be ready

and willing to share why we are different. So Holy Spirit, we ask that You'll continue

to come. God, we pray that You'll continue to do a great thing right now. God, whatever

that means, whatever that looks like, we ask for You to do a great thing right now.

But God, help us to be a church that is ready to be sent out on mission for Jesus,

that we are sent out to help redeem the lost. We are ready to go out and see the dark,

find the light. God, that we can go and be the light that You have called us to be

by being connected to You. And so we come and humble ourselves before You

in our seats, at the altar, wherever it is, God, we just want to humble ourselves before You.

And God, we ask that You will build us up into the beautiful church that You have called us to be.

And so God, as we go, as we leave this building, may this not be the end of a service,

but may it be the beginning of a lifelong service to You.

We give You the rest of this day, we give You the rest of our lives, Jesus.

We pray this in Your name. Amen.