Sermon Central
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An Encounter With God
Contributed by Thomas Giddens on Jan 20, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: We can have a supernatural encounter with God
An Encounter With God
Text Acts 2:1-4
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Intro:
This passage is very familiar among pentecostals. We like to hear about how the power of God fell on those in the upper room. They had an encounter with God. An encounter is not just a feel good, but it is a life changing experience. When we have an encounter with God we are not the same. So many times we come to church, shake a few hands, sing our little songs, hear out three points and a prayer and go home, not feeling any different when we leave than we did when we came. What we need in the church today is a true life changing encounter with God. One that absolutely changes our life.
Moses had an encounter with God at the burning bush.
Saul had an encounter with God on the road to Damascus.
These are just two examples of life changing encounters found in the word.
The encounter with God that they had in the upper room on the day of Pentecost is the one that I want us to look at today.
The power of God fell and forever changed their lives. This is where the church began.
How many of you want to have this type of encounter with God today?
There are some things that we have to do in order to have this kind of life changing encounter. This type of encounter didn’t happen by chance, it happened because the people were where they were supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to be doing.
The first thing we have to do is...
We Must Prepare
They had been preparing for this encounter since Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise.
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
This type of preparation starts before we ever get to the house of God. We need to have God’s praises on our lips.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We Must Be In Unity
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
They were all there for the same reason, and that reason was to experience God. We must have the attitude of unity to experience God the way we are supposed to. We can’t let our little divisions get in the way. We must put those aside and come together in an attitude of worship and praise to God.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. 3It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.
We Must Not Get Distracted
The Devil will do everything that he can to distract us from worshipping God.
1. We stand to long
2. Someone’s in my seat
3. Where are we going for lunch?
4. Can you believe what they are wearing.
These are all distractions that can hinder us from receiving what God has for us.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
We must lay these things aside and allow God to move the way He wants to!
We Must Open Our Hearts And Worship
Personally I don’t believe that the 120 were just sitting there doing nothing, I believe they were worshipping and praising God.
Worship is where it all starts. This is how we get into God’s presence. The bible says “he inhabits the praises of His people” If we come with an attitude of praise and worship, God will show up in it.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
