Pentecost Sunday - You Were Not Made To Hide || Acts 2:1-21

Kia ora, and welcome to the St. Francis Church

Sermon Podcast. We're so glad that you've joined

us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would

encounter God's presence, be refreshed in your

faith, and equipped for everyday life with Jesus.

As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow

Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For

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among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and

peace. Help us lift above what life is. Even

for Pentecost, we could do that. But then that's

only manufacturing it for one day. The Holy Spirit

is in us. When you came here, when you leave

here tomorrow, every other day, we don't have

to make one day thing. We just come here to celebrate

of when the Spirit came upon all people. It's

a birthday, and we celebrate a birthday today,

a remembrance. Not a remembrance from just the

past, but a remembrance for right now and for

the future. So we heard that reading, that account

from Acts, and I want to start with what I think

is one of the most, for me, I've picked out as

overlooked detail in this whole story. The door.

Before Pentecost, the disciples were behind a

locked door. After Pentecost, they're in the

streets. 3 ,000 people came to faith in that

single day when Jerusalem was hosting the Feast

of Tabernacles or the booths where hundreds of

thousands of people were coming from all around

the place to celebrate. The most explosive movement

in human history kicks off in Jerusalem and within

a generation is spread across the entire known

world. Same people, same city, completely different

posture for them. What changed? It's just one

thing. They got filled. They were poured into

by the Holy Spirit. So let's go back to the beginning

of Acts 2. We're in that room, okay? Not as many

of them, but 120 followers of Jesus gathered

together waiting, just like he told them to.

And then out of nowhere, or you could say out

of everywhere, wind, fire, languages, nobody

studied, the whole place goes off, and outside

the city stops. Pilgrims have been gathering

over... from over 15 different regions, all hear

their own language being spoken by a bunch of

Galileans who had no business knowing it. Some

people were completely amazed. Some think, well,

we're watching a bunch of guys who've had too

much to drink. And here's the moment I want you

to take notice of. Peter. Peter stands up. Now,

it's good to understand, Who Peter was seven

weeks before this. This is a guy who with a servant

girl pointed at him and said, you're with Jesus.

He looked her in the eye and said, I don't know

what you're talking about. And he did that not

just once, he did that three times. He was so

scared he couldn't even own his own name. That

same Peter, well he stands up, in front of thousands

of people, and he opens his mouth on this day.

Now that's not a personal development. That's

not a confidence workshop that he's been through.

That is what happens when the Holy Spirit fills

a human being. What does he say? Well, he goes

straight to the prophet Joel. 800 years old.

800 years old, this prophecy. And Peter says,

This is it. What you're seeing right now, this

is it. Joel saw it coming 800 years ago, and

you're now experiencing it. Listen to what Joel

wrote. In the last days, God says, I'll pour

out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters

will prophesize. Your young men will see visions.

Your old men, old guys in here, we're going to

include every old person. Okay, we're not sexist

here. Your man will dream dreams. All people,

sons and daughters, young and old. God didn't

set up a hierarchy for this. He didn't say it's

just for the priest. He didn't say that the spirit

goes to the senior leaders of churches and first

and then filters down to everyone else. He said

all people. He said he would pour this out. He

wasn't going to ration it. He wasn't going to

drip it to you. But he says he's going to pour

out his spirit upon all people. And here's a

bit that should stop us in our tracks today.

Pull us up to re -look at it and see it for what

it is. Peter says this is that. The last days.

They started at Pentecost. What Joel said was

coming, which means we are living in them right

now, you and I. This is not just words in Scripture

and a Bible that we may open and read. This is

now the age of the Spirit isn't something coming.

It's already here, which means everything that

happened in Acts 2 is available to us today.

I'm sure we've all got doors that we want to

keep shut. I know I've shared this with you.

This is a big door for me. Many, many years ago

when the Lord knocked on me and said, Tony, I

want you to leave my church. So I opened a little

bit and I saw what that was, so I slammed it

shut. I'm not going there. I'm going to stay

in this comfortable space. I'm going to stay

what I know who I am. You can't get me to do

that. We often forget who we're talking to when

we say that, isn't it? The creator. So I opened

the door and the Lord took it off its hinges.

And every day I need to rely on that spirit that

is in me. So I want you this morning to consider

this question. Does your life look like someone

who's been filled with the same spirit? that

turned a locked room into a world movement? Does

your life look like someone who's been filled

with the same spirit that turned a locked room

into a world movement? Because in reality, I

think a lot of us, and I include myself here,

we've quietly settled for a version of following

Jesus that's just a bit too safe. It's wrapped

up on a Sunday. And be here for an hour and a

half and then do it all again next week. Or a

version that's a bit too manageable. I can move

you around to fit into my schedule, my calendar,

or a bit too much like the locked room before

Pentecost rather than the streets that are after

it. We believe the right things. We show up,

we're good people, but bold? Dangerously, inconveniently,

people noticing something different about you

bold? Think of when you just walk down the street,

do people take notice of you? Do they sense a

presence even without you saying stuff? That's

a different thing, that boldness that the Spirit

gives us. But here's what I want you to hear.

And it's for whatever age we're at. You know,

if you're young and too inexperienced or too

unqualified for the Spirit to use you, Joel said

sons and daughters will prophesy. God is not

waiting for the young ones to have life figured

out before he moves through you. He wants to

move through all of us now. In the middle of

the mess and the figuring out. We pray as older

people for the younger generation to come up,

but when that happens, we start to live in our

comfortable ways. No, you can't have that. That's

disrupting us. The spirit is not like that. See,

your generation is not the future when you pray

for the young people, for the church. You are

the church right now. And if you've been following

Jesus for decades, you know. Joel said, you old

ones will dream dreams. God is not done with

you. Your best days of fruitfulness are not behind

you because the Holy Spirit's in you. It never

ages. The Spirit is not nostalgic. He doesn't

just show up for the young and the energetic.

He shows up for anyone who is still saying, yes,

I'm available. Use me. You see, some of the most

powerful moves of God in history come through

people who've been walking with him long enough

to know exactly who they were trusting. Whoever

you are, the invitation is the same. Be filled.

Stay filled. And then walk out the door. Because

here's the thing about bold disciples. They're

not bold because they're fearless. Peter was

terrified seven weeks before this day. The disciples

were hiding behind a locked door. These are not

naturally courageous people. They're ordinary

people who get filled with an extraordinary God.

And that's the pattern that you see right through

the whole book of Acts. Ordinary people who are

empowered. By the Spirit doing things that had

no natural explanation. And the world turning

upside down as a result of it. And that pattern

was never meant to stop with them. Your lives

are in those pages as well. So what does that

actually look like for you this week? And not

just this week whenever you hear me say things

like that. It's every week. Where are you going

to be bold? Maybe it's a conversation you've

been putting off with a friend or a colleague

or a family member. Maybe it's having that moment

when it's right to tell them what Jesus means

to you. You've been waiting maybe for that perfect

moment to tell and share with them the perfect

words. Stop waiting. The Spirit goes with you.

Because the Spirit is in you. Maybe it's saying

yes to something that you've been quietly saying

no to. Could be serving, leading, stepping up

because you don't feel qualified enough either

in the life of the church or anywhere else. You

weren't supposed to feel qualified. You were

supposed to be filled. To be able to do what

the Lord calls you to do. Or maybe it's just

waking up tomorrow. And deciding that today you're

going to live like the spirit of the living God

actually lives inside you. How would you go about

your day? Because he does. That's not a metaphor.

That's the deal that Christ has given us. I died

on the cross for you so the spirit could be in

you. Peter ends his message with this line, and

it's beautiful, I think, in its simplicity. Everyone

who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will

be saved. Everyone, the bold and the timid, the

sorted and the messy, the ones who have been

following Jesus forever and the ones that are

just starting out. For everyone who calls on

his name. The Spirit is not exclusive. The Holy

Spirit is extravagant and lavish on our lives.

But he does ask one thing of us. Don't stay in

the locked room. I tell you, the longer you stay

in there, the worse it becomes for you. Because

you're not doing what God's called you to do.

And I was thinking of what title could I give

to this to help me think through this. It was,

you know, you were not made to hide. You were

made to be filled and sent. The wind has blown,

the fire has fallen. The only question is for

each one of us in this room is what are you going

to do with it? And this is how I'd like us to

respond today in this space. You've seen, and

in the newsletter and things, the different stations

that are here that have been part of the 24 -7

prayer that are links to every church in this

nation and every church around the world has

been praying 24 -7 since Ascension Day. People

have been in this place during the week and out

at Hillcrest Chapel. Some of you have been in

this place. Praying, seeking and waiting on God.

And something has been happening in all of that.

In the unseen as well. In a moment I want to

invite all of us to move to these stations. Not

to perform anything. Not to have a religious

experience on demand. Just to come as you are.

Before God and say, I want to live. differently.

I want to be filled. I don't want to stay in

the locked room anymore. Whatever that locked

room is in your life. Maybe you want to pray

for boldness for the first time. Maybe you want

to recommit after a season of playing it safe,

keeping it manageable. Or maybe you just want

to sit in the choir and let God meet you where

you actually are. The stations are there for

all of that because the Spirit is here. Because

when you take it, Pentecost isn't a day that

we look back at. It's a reality that we actually

step into. The door is open and the Spirit is

here. And the place we begin before we go anywhere

is right here at this table. Or both of these

tables here. Because the reason the Spirit could

be poured out on all people is because Jesus

was first poured out for all people on the cross.

His body broken. His blood shed. You can't have

Pentecost without the cross. So before you and

I go into our week as people filled with the

Spirit, we come to this table. as people who

remember the cost. And we come thirsty. We come

as we are, honest. We come to Christ. So to help

you move, I'm going to give you some brief instructions.

And the Spirit will move you wherever you need

to go from there. I've already blessed the bread

this morning and the wine. You can come for communion

straight up and then disperse to the stations

or you can go to the stations and come back.

I'll just stay here to administer communion.

Or you can do it here as you pray for families,

friends or neighbours. Or if you go to there

where you pray for our nation and the city of

Hamilton, for the churches in this area. where

you can go into the chapel room, prayer room,

for being abiding in Christ. Move around. Or

for the persecuted church, that's down here.

Grab a chair, move them. Don't just, if there's

two chairs, that's all you can do. The lectern

in the back, there's some of these booklets which

have got all the stations in it. So you can grab

one, or they're on the walls as well. So Lord,

as we come praying, in your presence, hearing

from you, praying for those as you intercede

for us, we come interceding and praying for those

in these stations. Come Holy Spirit, move us

as we are in your presence. Amen.