Introduction
A few jokes to start us off! What’s the difference between a TV and a newspaper? Ever tried swatting a fly with a TV? What’s the difference between a new husband and a new dog? After a year, the dog is still excited to see you. What’s the difference between a “dead” Christian and a “dry”one? A dead Christian is like a statue that never moves so birds can build their nest. But a dry Christian is like dry wood, it easily catches on fire. Even though they have dry prayers and dry worship all it takes is one spark of the Holy Spirit to set them on fire for God. That is all it took to set the believers left behind after Jesus ascension on fire. For 7 weeks the followers of Jesus had been hibernating. In fear of the Jews, even after the resurrection of Jesus they were still meeting in secret. Then Jesus left them, just like that, ascended before their very eyes. They went back to Jerusalem, the the Upper Room WHAT WAS IT LIKE? Prayed, wrote a job description, prayed some more. Then suddenly, 9am the Day of Pentecost and whoosh the Holy Spirit suddenly and dramatically comes upon them. They find themselves out on the street. Jerusalem is packed and they are having to account for what was happening to them. Pentecost was known by several names: the “Feast of Harvest” (Exodus 23:16), the “Festival (or Feast) of Weeks” (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10), and the “day of the first fruits” (Numbers 28:26). Who knows how many were there in the city that day? Perhaps a million or more. It’s because attendance at Pentecost, was required for all good Jewish men. The whole holiday revolved around coming to God. Sacrifices and offerings were brought to Him. Jews met God in his city, on His terms. This was the ideal opportunity for the message of Jesus to be proclaimed and the church to be launched.
We need to be filled with the Spirit
What is very obvious is that God’s intention was that his people be filled with his Spirit. They were promised power, guidance, presence – that was God’s specific purpose. When you are full of the Spirit it makes a difference. You know when someone is excited about something, they are passionate about it, they are full of “it”. They talk about this “thing”, they are infectious. This is what we see here in Acts, not just at Pentecost. But we now have a people who can’t stop talking about Jesus, they are prepared to suffer, whatever the consequences they are telling others about Jesus. The Spirit’s power is transforming. This took place as it often does when believers were together. There is a need for us to be open to the Spirit, to invite him. Some of us quite simply need to be more filled with the Spirit than we already are. Try this personal checklist:
Acts 2:38 - It is a striking contrast is it not between the scene 7 weeks before. Peter denied even knowing Jesus (how many of us have let God down like that?), the disciples were hiding in fear of the Jews. Yet now they are declaing before crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, the resurrection of Jesus & telling them they were guilty of killing the author of life. It doesn’t seem to have been there in the previous weeks. They seemed a little bemused. Now they are purposeful, men with a mission. We need more of the Spirit today. In a Max Lucado book there is a story of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. "I’m wondering if you can explain something to me," he said. "Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?" "Certainly," she answered. "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off."
“She tapped into the power but did not use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? We, too-with our souls saved but our hearts unchanged - are connected but not altered. Trusting Christ for salvation but resisting transformation. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
For some of us there is a need for us to be transformed again by the work of the Holy Spirit. There needs to be a hunger and thirst for God to refresh us.
We need to get out of the “Upper Room”
We are not a church that has loads of meetings. That is on purpose. We do that we believe that as nice as it is to meet together (that is important which is why we do encourage everyone to be involved on a Sunday morning and in a cell? We need Christians out of the salt cellar, out of the Upper room. The disciples were in the upper room, but they didn’t stay there, they got out onto the streets. Today they would have had a fortnight’s “holy spirit’s “ meetings for them all to soak awhile! Then they would have hosted international conferences on receiving the Holy Spirit, bought a bigger “Upper Room”, write books about it etc. It is comfortable being in the Upper Room as we are today. But there are people who need to hear the message of life. Let’s not forget that heaven and hell are realities.
The Spirit is not given for our personal amusement or just to make us feel good. He is give to enable us, to empower us to live Christ like lives, to bear witness to Jesus. One of the things that is great about next week is that the church is coming together, on the spot where Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake – Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox to bear witness in Oxford that Jesus is the answer. There are thousands of Christians in Oxford who instead of being in their Upper Rooms will be on the streets. Make a point of being there. Don’t make excuses about parking; bring your collapsible chairs etc.
It seems that it is the very influence of the Spirit that leads to questions being asked, misunderstandings being made and an opportunity arising. Does the influence of the Spirit on our lives lead to question being asked of us? Does it make a difference in terms of how we live our lives; are we ready to speak up for Jesus when the opportunity arises? An experience of the Spirit it seems should lead naturally to witness.
Conclusion
Now this is a Pentecostal church. We believe in speaking in tongues, we believe that there is more to the Spirit than what happens at conversion. We believe that we can and should be filled with the Spirit. However what can happen is that when a person speaks in tongues they treat it as some kind of badge and settle for one part of what the Spirit wants to do. Those of us who speak in tongues need to ask ourselves – are we filled with the Spirit in an ongoing way? Now I am not asking do you speak in tongues, I am asking is your life full of the Spirit’s presence? Do you find yourself telling others about what Jesus has done for you? Is the Spirit transforming your life, does that cause others to ask questions of you? Because the Spirit came to do far more than just cause us to speak in tongues (though this is a great blessing and not to be underestimated) – he came to fill us, to thrust us out of the Upper Room into the world telling others. Those of you who don’t speak in tongues – I ask the same question: is your life full of the Spirit’s presence? Do you find yourself telling others about what Jesus has done for you? Is the Spirit transforming your life, does that cause others to ask questions of you? If not you need to be filled with the Spirit.
Sometime back the Associated Press carried this dispatch: "Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the bonnet and discovered that someone had stolen the engine." Is that how you feel?
This Pentecost I quite simply want to encourage a greater hunger and thirst for God. I want us to be filled afresh with God’s Spirit. Some of us perhaps are thinking about our Christian lives and are thinking I could certainly do with being full of the Spirit. It’s time to ask God – not just once, but go on asking and seeking and knocking so that our lives may be refreshed by His presence.
