Empowered For The Mission

Isn't it great to be in the house of the Lord even though it's Saturday?

Uh this brings me back to my student ministry days.

Uh we would do D Nals and we would start Friday night and have it Saturday morning, and I absolutely loved those services.

Um and so this has been a special uh time, even though it is not on Sunday.

Um that's just a good reminder that we are to worship the Lord in all seasons and all days.

It's not just Sundays that we gather to worship, but we should be worshiping every day as we follow the Lord.

And so thank you for being here this morning uh with us on this wonderful, beautiful Saturday.

And I think we're gonna have a pretty decent Sunday also.

Um, but when we had to make this call, it had to be early in the week, and we were still being uh told that we were very likely getting ice.

Um, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to get everybody here in time.

And so thank you for uh being patient and also being flexible.

I know we've got many people who would want to be here that are not able to be here because they had obligations already on Saturday morning, and so we know that they're gonna be blessed because they can go and watch the live stream later.

Uh, and so that is a beautiful and wonderful uh ministry that we have that we're able to do.

And so I just want to say thank you to all of you for taking the time to be here with us.

If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to go ahead and turn to the book of Acts.

We're gonna be in Acts chapter two this morning, and we're gonna get there here in just a minute, and we're gonna be talking about this morning empowered for the mission.

We've talked about the need to wait.

We've also talked about how we prepare and how we've been called to prepare to be used by God.

And this morning, what we're going to see is at Pentecost, the Lord fulfilled what he told the disciples, which is that he would send the helper.

Now, years ago, uh we during COVID, we were doing live streams on Saturday.

Uh, my pastor that I was working with at Myrtle Springs, we would go up and we would video to an empty room the service to be posted for Sunday morning.

And so we would get it, and then I would stay up there on Saturday making sure that it uploaded in order for people to be able to still have church during the height in those first early days of COVID when we didn't gather.

And so one particular day we got up there and I started prepping everything and went to turn the computer on and it wouldn't turn on.

Went to turn on the sound system, wouldn't turn on.

I tried to turn everything on and it just would not turn on.

So I started thinking, okay, maybe there's a breaker flipped, went and checked the breakers.

Guess what?

They were all on.

There was no issue there.

Go back, I check all the power strips, making sure that they are turned on, and they are all turned on, but there's no light, there's no power.

So I was absolutely just flamuxed.

I was like, what is going on?

I don't understand.

Well, I started following the chords, and guess what?

Someone had unplugged the whole system from the wall.

When you don't have power, guess what?

You can't turn anything on.

This morning I want to tell you that when you don't have the Holy Spirit filling your life, you have no power to live on mission.

You have no power to live on mission.

It's like being unplugged from an outlet.

You just cannot do what God has called you to do if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit.

And so if you found your place in Acts chapter 2, I'm going to encourage you to say word because we love God's word here at First Baptist.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And would you please stand in the honor of God's word?

Beginning with verse 1.

It says, When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house, where they were sitting in divided tongues, as a fire appeared to them, rested on each one 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 there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and at the sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

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

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Fergia and Pomphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God.

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

But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine.

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 people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

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

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

Let us pray.

Father God, I just want to thank you so much that we have a word from you that tells us how much you love us, that tells us that you are involved in our lives, and that you desire to dwell within us.

Lord, I pray that you would allow this word to impact our hearts, that you would change our lives, and that we would walk out of this room filled with you.

Lord, if there's a single person in this room that's never experienced that saving work that Jesus has done on our behalf, that they would receive that gift today.

Lord, we love you.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

This morning I want to talk to you about being empowered for the mission, and I want to tell you three keys to living that life.

The first is simply this we are to live spirit-filled.

Live spirit-filled.

We see this in the first four verses.

And this is what Luke is telling us as an account of what transpired.

He says, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

Now, for us, and many of us probably are familiar with the three major uh gatherings of the Jews, but just so that we're caught up, I want to walk through some of those for you.

The first is Passover.

Now, you might remember Passover because that was what the disciples were celebrating the night before Jesus was crucified.

The Passover, if you go back to the book of Exodus, we see that it was really earmarked at that moment in Egypt where they took Lamb's blood, marked it across the post, so that the death angel would pass over the households.

And so Jesus is the fulfillment of that Passover promise for all who believe and receive his blood.

Guess what?

Death passes over us because we've been made alive in Christ.

And so the Passover took place.

Jesus celebrates it with the eating of the unleavened bread and with his disciples, and then he dies on the cross and raises from the grave during Passover.

Then the next one took place about 50 days later, which is called Pentecost.

Now, Pentecost is a celebration of the moment of Sinai when God met with Moses and the people of Israel.

And so Sinai's moment is earmarked by Pentecost.

And so when we're sitting here and we're looking at this text, what we're saying is that this is about 50 days later.

So if you think about the timeline, Jesus dies on the cross, he raises from the grave, and then he spends 40 days with the disciples, and then he ascends.

It's about 10 days after the ascension of Christ that Pentecost is being celebrated.

Now, for all of these celebrations, they would travel, Jews would travel from all across the region.

You've got to remember the Jews were dispersed during the Babylonian captivity period, and they have dispersed across the whole region.

So you have Jews, devout men, all across the region and far extending all the way to Rome and into the east and also to the north and south of Jerusalem.

And so they would make the tract to come there to celebrate Pentecost.

And so you have this moment of Passover's already transpired.

Now Pentecost is taking place, and now we're seeing unfold here in the text.

Okay?

So you have the Holy Spirit who is now descending, and this is how Luke describes.

Remember, he hasn't mentioned the Holy Spirit yet.

That comes in verse 4.

But his first descriptor of what transpired when the Holy Spirit came down is that it was a heavenly sound.

So it came from heaven.

It was like a mighty rushing wind.

Some translations uh vary on mighty or a like a strong, a powerful wind.

Basically, he's describing a powerful storm.

You can think about the a hurricane-forced wind and how it is strong, damaging, sudden.

That is what's taking place in this space.

But not only is it a mighty rushing wind, it filled the entire house.

It is not just a limited space, it is filling the entire room, this mighty wind that they're experiencing.

And it says that it looked like divided tongues as a fire.

So can you just imagine for just a moment, put on your spiritual imagination caps, and put yourself in that room.

You're praying, you're gathered, because we know that that's what the disciples were doing each day.

They were dedicating themselves to prayer and seeking the Lord.

And so you have this room packed full of people in an upper room, more than likely.

You're maybe shoulder to shoulder sitting down, praying together, and then all of a sudden you get blown by wind, and then you look, and all you see over all your friends' heads is tongues of fire.

It'd be kind of weird, right?

We'd all be saying, okay, what did they put in our juice, right?

Like, we'd be going, what is going on?

What's happening?

This is weird.

Why am I seeing this?

But they know that the Lord has promised someone to come.

And the Holy Spirit has come.

And as it's divided over each of them, it says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Could you imagine?

In that moment, you've had 40 days with Jesus, and now you've had 10 days, roughly, that you have not had Jesus with you, and you're longing for the helper that he promised.

And now all of a sudden, for the first time, you have to truly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It was sudden and powerful.

It was undeniable.

And here is the Holy Spirit now with them in their presence.

And this is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And they began to speak in other tongues and the Spirit gave them an utterance.

Here's the thing for Christians when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot help but talk about Jesus.

If someone followed you around, would they see that you're filled with the Holy Spirit because you talk about Jesus in all seasons?

Or would they see instead someone just like them?

That's a question that we all need to ask ourselves daily.

Is am I walking with the Holy Spirit?

Have I allowed the Spirit to fill my life today?

Now here's the promise of scripture is that when we pray to receive Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit immediately.

But we can grieve the Holy Spirit by unconfessed sin in our life.

Which means that the Holy Spirit doesn't have permission because we haven't granted permission to the Holy Spirit to use us to the fullest extent that he's capable.

It's not that we have power over the Holy Spirit, it's that the Holy Spirit's not going to enforce himself on us.

We have to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit, to be utilized by the Holy Spirit to the fullest extent of the power of the Holy Spirit and the gifts that he has given.

Are you living a confessed life?

Are you asking every day when you wake up in the morning, Lord, fill me with your spirit so that I can glorify you, Lord, so that I can testify to your greatness, so I can walk encouraged in the faith.

Because that is a daily task.

But it's not just in the morning that we need to be asking that.

It needs to be throughout the day.

It's a continual conversation that we have with the Lord, that we are to be living a spirit-filled life.

We need the wind of the Holy Spirit backing ourselves.

Now we live on the water, right?

We've got water all around us.

And depending on where you go, you might decide a paddle boat or an oar with a boat might be worthwhile.

Let me tell you, that's hard work growing up.

Really, once Catherine and I started dating, her dad had a little paddle boat that we would put in the little pond.

And let me tell you, riding a bicycle around the water, around the lake, and trying to fish, that that's a little too complicated for me.

I'll just be honest.

Like it I don't do two things at once very well, and that's doing two things too many.

Um, I love to fish, don't like to paddle while I'm fishing, though.

I like to relax while I'm fishing.

But here's the thing is that it requires physical labor.

If you put a a row boat in the ocean and you try to go anywhere of significance, let me tell you, that is a workout and a half.

And trying to get back to shore is gonna be a chore.

But if you have a sailboat, it's gonna have some work on the front end getting prepared.

And we prepare our hearts by asking the Lord to move in our life.

But once you have those cells up, guess what?

That wind, as long as it's blowing, is gonna take you where you want to go.

The Holy Spirit is the wind in our sails.

We have to prepare our lives to be used by the Holy Spirit to guide our steps, and we do that simply by surrendering our hearts to the Lord.

Are you living surrendered?

But not only are we to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we also see in this text that we are to love across barriers.

Because our God loves across barriers.

Look at verse 5.

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

Think about this.

It's not happenstance that God has orchestrated Jesus' death and crucifixion, his death and resurrection during Passover when all the people are together.

It's not happenstance that the birth of the church through the Holy Spirit coming and giving them the power and the ability to preach and be on mission is at Pentecost when people have gathered.

It's not happenstance.

God orchestrates all things for the His glory, for His purpose, to have the biggest impact possible.

And so all these people come together, devout men, Jews from all across the region.

And this is the thing is that they're from all over, as we saw in the text.

They're from all different parts of the world.

And I don't know if you know this, but I would imagine you do, is that that region during that time period had many, many languages.

Each of those nations had their own native tongue.

Now, they would have been familiar with more than likely Aramaic and definitely Greek.

But they had a different language that was their native language.

And we know this because of the text.

Notice what it says.

And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

Now, I I want to be very respectful because we have brothers and sisters and family probably that do not necessarily agree with the Baptist theological position on speaking in tongues, but I'm pretty sure that this text, I will say I am very sure, I'm very convinced at least, that this text is very clear that the speaking in tongues in scripture has to deal with hearing in your own native tongue.

So what we see here is that these people, the speaking in tongues that's taking place in the book of Acts, is for the purpose of God's glory, where these Galilean men, because they remember, these are Galileans, these disciples, the text tells us, are not these the Galileans?

How is it that we hear in our native tongue?

The Galileans would have been speaking Aramaic more than likely as their native language.

And so you have these people that are gathered, speaking.

They are preaching the good news and the works of God, and as it's being uttered, God is transforming it in air into the ears of each person that had gathered for the purpose of hearing the good news of the works of God.

Could you imagine?

Imagine being at a World Summit event.

You have translators all over the place, and they're useless because even the translators are hearing in their native language what you are preaching as you testify of the goodness of God.

That's basically what's happening here.

People from all across the region, all across the world have gathered in this one place for Pentecost to worship, and now they're hearing the word of God preached in a way that they did not expect, which was by the preaching in their native language.

God is doing a miracle here in the text in the book of Acts.

It's powerful.

The Holy Spirit moves mightily.

And here's what I'm going to tell you is that while I don't think it's the norm, I do think God is still capable of changing.

Changing language for the purpose of missions when you meet a group of people that you do not know their language, if you are called to teach and preach the gospel to that group.

Because God is still the God of miracles.

And here he is transforming the very words so that people could understand the power of God.

And so as a result of this, what we see is that they were all amazed and perplexed, verse 12, saying to one another, What does this mean?

They're asking a simple question.

Hey, uh I don't understand how this is happening, but it's happening and it's Pentecost.

What does this even mean?

Like someone needs to explain to us what this means.

So they want to hear more, essentially.

But for every person that wants to hear more, you're going to have some that don't.

Look at what it says in verse 13.

But others mocking said they were filled or they are filled with new wine.

So you have one group of people that are going, okay, I really want to know why what this means.

There has to be a reason that this is happening.

This loud ruckus has happened.

We've all been drawn here, and now these men and women are all talking, and we can understand them in the native language that I have.

That's got to mean something.

What's happening?

And the others are like, wow, I don't know what's happened to them, but they've gotten a little uh a little intoxicated.

They drank a little too much.

You don't need to listen to them.

It's funny that you would be hearing something in your own native language and you would come to that conclusion that someone's drunk.

Usually that slurs speech, it doesn't enhance speech.

But that was the excuse that they used to mock.

But it's because God is not a God of barriers, He's breaking down walls.

I don't think it's a happenstance that God chose this because if you go back to the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis, you see that men try to reject God and really they build a tower towards God, and God confuses the language of men because it's not good for one language.

Because they're doing wickedness because of it.

God disperses the language, disperses the people, and now in the book of Acts, with the birth of the church, what is he doing?

He's unifying language, he's redeeming language for the purpose of his glory and praise.

He's breaking down the barriers that were built really out of necessity by God for a season to take the good news now to the world that did not know and believe, so that they could believe.

God is a God that is a unifying God when it's through Jesus.

But there's only unity through Jesus.

Any other path leads to destruction.

And that's the reason why they had to have that intervention.

And so we see in this text not only that God is a God who crosses barriers, and that we should be a church that loves across barriers.

Thirdly, what we see in this text is that we are to lead with the word.

We are to lead with the word.

So you have these people that are asking, what does this mean?

But you also have people that are mocking and saying, hey, they're just filled with new wine.

So this is Peter's response.

It says, but, verse 14, 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 people are not drunk, as you suppose.

This is maybe one of my favorite lines in all scripture.

Not really all of scripture, but one of my favorite lines.

Because it's funny to me.

Now you might not find it as funny, but I do, is simply that he says this.

Listen to what he says.

He says, For these people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

You know what he didn't do?

He didn't go, hey, we don't drink.

You know, we're good Baptists, we don't drink.

That's not what he said.

You know what he said?

He said, it's not late enough.

You know, it's like, really?

Really, Lord?

Or like you put this in here?

You had Peter say that, but Peter did.

He goes, Hey, look, guys, it's not late enough for us to be drunk.

It's not possible.

So let me tell you what's actually happening.

So what he does he say?

He says this.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

So what Peter does is he goes, hey guys, I know that you're kind of making fun of us, but I'll just play along for just a minute.

It's not late enough for us to be drunk, but God is answering and fulfilling prophecy right now.

You see that?

He says, This is what the prophet Joel said.

This is a prophecy fulfillment moment in Scripture.

Look what he says.

He quotes from Joel.

He says, And in the last days it shall be, God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and old men shall dream dreams.

Church, we cannot miss this.

What Peter just said is that we are in the last days.

What Peter says is that this is the fulfillment of what Joel said that ushers in the last days.

Church, we are here for the purpose of testifying to the goodness of God for the glory of God because we are in the last days before God will cast his judgment on the world.

Are you ready for those last days?

Are you serving the Lord faithfully in these last days?

And how we know that it's the last days is he says, the Lord will fill his people with the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit coming is a proof that the last days are present.

That we are not in a season of waiting for the last days because we are the last days.

Now, you might say, okay, what about the book of Revelation?

Well, guess what?

Those are last day events also of the last last days.

But we are in the last days, according to Scripture.

And in the last days it shall be that God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Anyone who believes and confesses Jesus is Lord receives the Spirit of the Lord.

It is a fulfillment of Scripture.

The very fact that you can walk out of this room this morning and say, I know that I have the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, is a testimony to the goodness and the prophecy of God.

You don't have to wonder if you can or cannot.

It is a guarantee.

Verse 18 Even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.

God is not limiting who can share Jesus with people.

Every single person in this room, male and female, have been called for the purpose of being witnesses for the Lord.

So as we talk about reaching one more for Jesus all year long, it is because we all have a responsibility, because we've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to the glory of God and what he has done in our lives through our faith and trust that we have placed in Jesus, in the work of Jesus on the cross and through the resurrection.

Are you a witness for the Lord?

Have you placed your faith in him?

He says, and I shall show, or I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That is a guarantee from Scripture.

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

Have you called upon the name of the Lord?

Have you placed your faith in Jesus?

That is the only way for salvation.

It's the only way that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's the only way to be empowered for the mission, is if you have placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter takes a moment of suddenness of the Holy Spirit coming upon them and turns it into a sermon moment where he testifies of the goodness of the Lord.

And now next week we will dive further into Peter's sermon because it goes a lot longer than just this little text that we're looking at this morning.

But the key fact of it all is in that verse 21, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

If we're real honest, the world doesn't really need the church to have more events.

We have a lot of events.

And all those things are good things, by the way.

I enjoy them.

What the world really needs, though, is for individuals to be serious about taking the word of God to the lost world.

Taking the truth of what God has done in your life by saving you to a loss and dying to the world.

But it requires having a good heart.

When I was growing up, my first vehicle was a YJ95 Jeep Wrangler.

Now, if you don't know what that is, it's the Square Headlight Jeep Wrangler.

It was green and tan.

I love that thing.

But my grandfather was the one that bought it first, and he used it for his Colorado vehicle when he would go to Colorado.

So it had an incredible heater, but it had no air conditioner.

I was in Memphis.

I'll just tell you, I had doors off that thing more than I had them on because it was hot otherwise.

But I loved that vehicle, and it was my, it's my still to this day my favorite vehicle I've ever owned.

And the thing about it was that it was getting older and it needed a new alternator.

It probably needed a new battery at the time too, but it needed a new alternator, and one day it did not crank.

Now, for those that don't know this, I know all of our uh experienced men that have had manuals, you can jump start a uh manual if you get it moving a little bit and you pop the clutch.

Well, the problem was I was not going downhill.

And it was not the lightest vehicle.

I could move it maybe a half of an inch a minute because it was slightly inclined, right?

I couldn't go backwards and pop it very well.

So I tried to figure out a way to get it turned, no success.

So I had to call someone for help because my alternator was bad.

The fact is, is if our heart's bad, we need someone to come and fix our heart first.

We can't just jumpstart it by pushing our lives as hard as we can to be better, to do better, to get better.

There's no pop in the clutch in our life.

We have to have a whole transmission heart change.

So, my question this morning to you is have you had that heart change?

Have you said yes to following Jesus with your life?

But not only have you asked Jesus to save you, but the follow-up for those that have is simply this Are you living a spirit-filled life?

Are you dying to yourself daily so that you can be used by the Holy Spirit to impact the world for Jesus?

With every add bowed and eye closed this morning.