We continue in our series ‘Dare to be Different’ and our focus this month is on ‘Different future’.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, it is a day of celebration, a day when we remember how the Holy Spirit came and transformed the lives and the future of the first disciples.
In many ways, Pentecost is the day when the future shape of the church was born.
Our modern celebration of what happened at Pentecost is quite different from why and how people celebrated Pentecost in Bible times. Pentecost was a celebration that took place fifty days after the Passover celebrations at the end of the harvest.
We are a Pentecostal church and today on Pentecost Sunday what we celebrate is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church.
Pentecostal. It’s a word that can mean different things to different people.
The preacher M. Hamilton Stevens wrote this: “For many, a “Pentecostal” is someone that likes lively praise and worship, or someone that speaks in tongues all the time, or a person that speaks of themselves being “holy and sanctified”, and of course there is the person that rolls on the floor and blows bubbles.”
Perhaps you can relate to some part or all of his definition of Pentecostal. Let me give you a more solid definition of Pentecostal from the Bible: A Pentecostal is a person who is Spirit Filled and Spirit Powered and Spirit-Controlled. “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere” (Acts 1:8)
A Pentecostal is Spirit powered.
Jesus said His disciples would receive power after the Holy Spirit comes into their lives.
Power to be an effective witness.
Power to share the truth of who Jesus is.
Power to witness.
Power to preach the Word of GOD.
A Pentecostal is Spirit Controlled.
Think about Phillip for a moment, Philip is a good example of someone who was willing to allow The Holy Spirit to lead him and guide him.
Philip went to Samaria a place that nobody else wanted to go to and God used Philip to start a revival by preaching about Jesus.
A Pentecostal understands the presence of The Holy Spirit is to help us to follow God’s ways and purpose for our lives. To help us live to serve God not ourselves.
A Pentecostal realises that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us to exalt Jesus not us. The Holy Spirit is given to all who trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour so that we can tell others how they can be forgiven, saved and assured of a place in Heaven.
Today as Pentecostal people we remember and we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the fulfilment of the promise Jesus made to His disciples in Luke 24:49, “I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
The Holy Spirit is an important part of the Trinity, but perhaps the least understood.
The concept of a Holy Perfect God we get, the concept of God as Creator makes sense, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, we are comfortable with the concept of Father God
We understand that Jesus was real, He was born, He lived a perfect life, Jesus willingly went to the cross, and even though He was sinless, He died in our place, as payment for the sins of those who trust in Him as their personal Lord and Saviour, and on the third day - Jesus rose triumphant from the grave, His resurrection, the evidence that He was who He said He was, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, Jesus, we are pretty comfortable that we know, what we know we know.
Understanding the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today, that is an area where some of us may feel out of our depth.
I would suggest that as Pentecostal people:
we can know more about the Spirit than we do,
we can draw closer to Him in our everyday lives,
we can sense His presence within us,
we can allow Him to work in us and through us,
we can experience a fresh sense of purpose.
Our desire should be that we would not just know more about the Spirit but that we would experience Him in our lives as we allow Him to work in and through all of us.
Let me encourage you to allow yourself to be inspired, moved and changed by the Holy Spirit.
All of us at times can stifle the work of the Spirit in our own lives, don’t quench the power of the Spirit in your life.
Allow the Spirit to work in your life today.
Allow the fire to burn bright in your life - that your life may be a beacon to others.
Allow the fire of the Spirit to use you to bring truth and life and light to people who need to be in a personal relationship with God.
Today allow the Holy Spirit to make you the person God has called you to be.
If each of us allowed the Spirit to use us this year what a difference we could make - in our families, in our friends lives, in the life of this community.
What a difference we could make in the World if we allowed the Holy Spirit to take control Today!
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life?
Are you willing to allow Him to take control today?
When we allow the Spirit to work amazing things will happen.
When we allow the Spirit to lead us and guide us and control us then others will see an amazing change in us.
The book of Acts shows us clearly what happens when the Spirit moves in power. In Acts 2, is the account of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit empowers, the people are changed and they begin to speak in tongues.
Then Peter, uneducated Peter, fisherman Peter, preaches his first Spirit powered sermon: Acts 2:14-21,
Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike — and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the LORD arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’
Then moving on to Acts 2:32-33, “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honour in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today."
The Holy Spirit changed Peter that day. The Holy Spirit can change you today!
In his sermon, Peter quoted the prophet Joel. It was roughly 800 years earlier the prophet Joel had prophesied about things that would happen in the future.
The book of Joel contains prophecies about Gods judgements and Gods blessings. Joel prophesied about the future, about the end times, and every day, every hour, we draw closer to the fulfilment of God’s plan and purpose.
The last days Joel speaks of are the days before Jesus returns, the last days are today and tomorrow and every day till Christ returns.
And every day till Jesus returns God has promised to pour out His Spirit. God has promised to pour out His Spirit on you today and tomorrow and next week. Does that bring joy to your heart? Does that thrill you?
In Acts 3 the crippled man is healed - then Peter and John preach and many people come to faith in Jesus.
Peter and John are arrested and led before the rulers and elders and priests of the Jerusalem Council.
Acts 4:7-13 tells us that “They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.
Ordinary men.
Ordinary men with no special training.
Ordinary men with no special training - but filled with the Holy Spirit.
Are you an ordinary man? Are you an ordinary woman?
Maybe you don’t like the word ordinary... Are you a normal man or a normal woman?
Normal... perhaps that is the wrong question to ask some of you! Seriously, in the eyes of the world, as much as we might like to think otherwise, there is nothing special about us.
We are ordinary people, but we are loved by an extraordinary God,
Ordinary people who are filled with the Holy Spirit can do extraordinary things for God.
Our God who is the same, yesterday, today and forever wants you to feel the touch of the Spirit on your life today. God wants you to be filled afresh right now. God wants you to be spirit-filled, Spirit-powered and spirit-controlled today.
Are you willing to be changed?
Are you willing to be transformed?
Are you willing to be used for His glory?
Peter was transformed through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, from a coward who denied Christ three times to a Spirit-empowered preacher who saw 3000 saved after his first sermon.
The disciples were bold in their witness.
They stood before the Sanhedrin and witnessed to the ones who wanted to stop them.
They prayed for more boldness.
And their prayer was answered. “They spoke the word of God with boldness.”
They wanted more of the Holy Spirit to be manifest in their lives.
They wanted more. Not so they could be praised.
They wanted more so that God would be glorified.
Do you want more?
Do you want to be filled afresh?
Allow the Holy Spirit access to your life today...
Allow the Spirit access to your emotions today...
Worshipping God involves your head and your heart. It involves your emotions. It involves your joy, your excitement, your worship, your all.
Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you, to fill you, to equip you, to empower you, to lead and control you.
The Holy Spirit brings unity to the people of God. Look at the people around you, think about the Group of churches you are part of, it is God that has brought us together and it is the Holy Spirit that unites us.
It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to love and to know God and to serve Him. Let the Holy Spirit move in your life, do not quench Him, do not ignore Him. Do not put Him off till some time in the future, allow Him to work in you today. Shout out in praise, lift your hands in worship, weep with joy in His presence, rest in His glory.
As I draw to a close, let me ask you:
Do you expect supernatural events?
Do you want to experience signs and wonders today?
Do you want to see the gifts of the Spirit in action?
Then you need to be obedient to the leading of the Spirit in your life. You need to dare to be different. Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do what God has called you to do. Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to be who God has called you to be.
Can you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit challenging you today?
Can you feel the touch of the Holy Spirit changing you today?
Can you sense the power of God working in you today?
In our lives, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that really matters is what happens within us. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you today.
The final thought is this: Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit then and His presence and power in our lives now. The message of Pentecost then, as it is now, is a message of Salvation. The wonderful news that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.
There is nobody beyond redemption, nobody beyond the saving power of Jesus. Friend, whatever you have done, whatever you do, when you come in repentance to Jesus he will forgive, wherever you go, He will go with you, whatever your burdens or cares, He cares for you.
Salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, grace, mercy are freely available to all who come to Christ.
Let me encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you share the Gospel, the truth about Jesus with someone today. The Holy Spirit anoints those who call upon the name of Jesus with power. The Holy Spirit empowers and equips us to communicate.
Don’t keep the love of Jesus to yourself, by the power of the Holy Spirit share it with others.
