“Dreams and Visions”
Acts 2:1-21
A young football player, in the last
two minutes of the game, his team down by 3, makes a touchdown.
He runs faster than his legs can carry him, and farther than he ever dreamed of running.
When the game is over, the coach says to him, “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
The kid replies, “I didn’t.
I was picked up and carried by something outside myself.”
That is the experience that people have when they completely outreach and outdo themselves.
Taking a look at our Scripture Lesson for this morning, Peter is the one who stood up and addressed the crowd, and when he began to speak, they all listened.
He spoke with boldness and with power.
If anyone had said to Peter, “I didn’t know you had it in you,” he surely would have said, “I didn’t. It wasn’t me. It was the Spirit of the Lord speaking through me.”
We read that 3,000 people were saved and baptized that day.
When we are living under the power of the Holy Spirit, as the writer Annie Dillard says, “You’d better put on your helmet and strap yourself in, because you are about to be launched into a life you never thought possible—into the most exciting adventure—into a journey beyond your wildest imagination—into the more!”
If we were to be honest with ourselves, I would imagine that many of us can relate to Peter…at least the old Peter…the pre-Pentecost Peter.
Peter was just an ordinary man when Jesus called him.
He probably had already given up on making much of a difference in this world.
He was uneducated.
He would continue in the family business.
In the whole scheme of things, he probably didn’t feel very important.
But then, he and his brother Andrew were casting a net into the lake, when Jesus came upon them.
“Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of [people].”
At once, Peter and his brother left their nets and followed Jesus.
And they followed Him and followed Him and followed Him…
…for three spectacular years.
Peter was positive that he would never betray Jesus….
…not after all he had seen!
“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you,” Peter told Jesus a few hours before He was arrested.
But Peter’s confidence in himself was shattered just a few more hours later when he denied even knowing Christ three times!
A few days before Pentecost, Peter was present when the Resurrected Jesus said, “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.”
Sometimes a Christian will hear the words: “Your ministry has changed my life.”
And that Christian will think to herself or himself: “Really?
How?
I didn’t do it.
It wasn’t me!!!”
And it really wasn’t.
It was the Spirit of the Lord using him or her as a vessel through which lives are changed, the kingdom of God is increased, and thus the world is made a better place.
A colleague of mine recently got a call from a member of his church, who said he needed to make an appointment to speak with him.
He said he’d take my friend to lunch at a local restaurant.
My colleague became concerned.
The man has a beautiful family, and he hoped nothing was wrong.
There they sat at lunch, and the man said to my friend, “Pastor, I’ve been thinking a lot about a recent sermon of yours entitled: ‘Challenge for Growth.’
Well…as you know, I responded to your challenge, making a commitment to grow in God’s Word by reading and praying with Scripture daily.
So, every morning before work, I get up and read my Bible.
Then I pray with the Scripture passage.
Well, the more I read God’s Word and the more I pray, I feel…I don’t know how to explain it…but I feel God calling me to something more.
I don’t know yet what the more is, but God is definitely calling me to more service, to grow more, to serve God and people more.”
My colleague told me that “A violent and mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blew through that restaurant that day---and the flame of the Holy Spirit ignited souls on fire as much as it did in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.”
When I was first appointed to serve as your pastor the Evangelism Committee, then headed by Jim and Barbara Jackson, started meeting every Wednesday evening--before Bible study.
And what we were doing was “seeking dreams” and “seeking visions” for the ministry of this church.
Each month we would go door to door to the houses surrounding this building—meeting the people, inviting them to worship with us, praying with them and for them.
We would bring gifts such as sweet breads baked by this congregation, homemade cookies, bottles of water…
…one time we even handed out newspapers and cups of coffee.
And in July, Jim Jackson would go to Linda’s Produce and purchase a truck-load of Cantaloupes to give to our neighbors.
The second year I was involved with this, we found ourselves with a truck full of cantaloupes and nobody home.
So, Jim suggested we drive over to, what was then, The Superior Creek Lodge--an extended stay hotel on Mack Smith Road and hand the cantaloupes out there.
When we pulled up, I was shocked to see the number of people pouring out of that hotel—heading toward our truck.
There were so many families with children.
As I got talking with the folks I learned that many of them had been living there for years.
Up until that day, I wasn’t even aware that people lived, long-term, in hotels and motels.
When we got back to the church that afternoon, we said to one another—this is our new mission field!!!
God had given us a Vision!!!
God had provided the Dream.
As we met and discussed what God would have us do with this Vision and Dream Marcy Hall, stood up and spoke.
She said, “I know what I want to do, and I’ll be in charge of it.”
Soon, we had an afterschool tutoring, mentoring, and feeding program—called East Ridge Cares 4 Kids.
It changed the entire atmosphere of this church.
And Lord willing, it changed many, many of the lives of the young children in the program.
The Holy Spirit was moving through this church like it had 2,000 years ago at Pentecost.
We didn’t know what we were doing.
We didn’t know what God’s plans were.
We just made ourselves open and available.
God did the rest.
The same can be said for the East Ridge Community Food Pantry.
None of us have run a food pantry before.
God gave us a vision and a dream.
We went for it.
The Holy Spirit did the rest.
We now feed approximately 600 persons a month.
“Ask, seek, knock and it will be given to you,” Jesus says.
The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians:
“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God has great plans for your life, for my life—for all lives.
All we need do is be available for what God has in mind.
God has promised: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit…
…And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
What is God’s Dream and Vision for you?
What is God calling you to do?
If you think you are not a part of God’s Great plan, you’ve got another thing coming.
Don’t miss it.
Don’t be like the guy in the parable of the talents…
…the guy who buried his talent in the ground because he was afraid, or lazy or wicked or whatever.
Instead, be like Peter.
Again, if anyone had said to Peter, “I didn’t know you had it in you,” he surely would have said, “I didn’t. It wasn’t me.
It was the Spirit of the Lord that gave me the ability.”
This is how the Church began, and 2,000 years later, this is how the Church continues to grow!
Have you experienced Pentecost in your life?
Is the Holy Spirit working through you?
What Visions and Dreams is God laying on your heart?
Share them with the congregation, and with your new pastor—Natalie.
Let the Holy Spirit have His way.
Pentecost is not just something in the long ago past.
It’s not just something for the future.
It is happening now; continuously.
Let’s all be part of it.
It is the only hope for the world.
We are called to be vessels through Whom God’s work is done.
There is nothing more exciting than this.
There is no greater privilege.
Let us pray: We celebrate Your Church, O God, and Your Spirit. Help us here at East Ridge United Methodist Church to be a Spirit-filled congregation reflecting Your glory, now and always.
In Christ’s name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
