June 11, 2000

In the stained glass windows to my right, you will see in the first window a picture of the resurrection of Christ. The second window depicts the ascension of Christ. It was at this point that Jesus uttered his last earthly words (Acts 1:8) “…..you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Sameria, and to the end of the earth.”

Before we move to the third window which depicts the Pentecost story please note that the space between the second window and the third window represents ten days. Ten days from the promise of the Holy Spirit till the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost was one of three major Jewish festivals. It was know as the Festival of Weeks. It was a festival of thanksgiving for the new harvest and for God’s faithfulness.

Today Christians all around the world celebrate Pentecost as that moment when Jesus fulfilled what he had promised (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). It is the day that Christians celebrate the birthday of the Church.

Please open your Bible to Acts 2:1-4 and let’s experience this story.

Verse 1: “They were all together in one place”…about 120 followers together. They were together physically as well as spiritually. Together in their commitment, love and loyalty, prayer, praise and worship. There was a spiritual unity among the 120 followers of Jesus. That my friends is the secret of the vitality and life in our Church. We gather for worship. We come from different communities, states, counties, backgrounds to this place and here we worship God together and we have our lives grounded again. That is what happened at Pentecost. “They were all together in one place”.

Verse 2: “And suddenly,” not slowly or gradually, but suddenly, “a sound came from Heaven like the rush of a mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting.” Have you ever been startled by a sudden noise? Have you ever been out for a quiet dinner in a restaurant only to have someone drop a tray or platter? Do you remember that startling sound? One fall afternoon when I was in the ninth grade I decided to go rabbit hunting. I got my trusty Mossberg & Son 410 shotgun, bolt action, three shells in the clip and one in the chamber. I don’t know if you have ever heard a covey of quail take off from a sitting position or not but at that point in my young life I never had. When a covey of quail leap into flight at the same time, it is a horrible, frightening sound. There I was, deep in the woods, alone, being very quiet. I topped a hill. Just on the other side was a large covey of quail, actually it was a whole heard. They launched into flight, flapping their wings. It scared me so bad that I dropped my gun and took off for home. I took up fishing after that. At Pentecost the disciples heard a sudden noise. They did not run from the Holy Spirit, instead, they ran with the Holy Spirit.

People wondered what it all meant, but the followers of Jesus all knew that the Hebrew word for wind was the same word for breath or spirit. They were well versed in the Old Testament writings, Old Testament writings like Ezekiel’s vision that we read earlier, where Ezekiel was carried by the Spirit out into a valley of dry bones. It was there that Ezekiel learned that it is The Spirit or breath of God that gives life to scattered-hopeless-dried up-defeated old bones.

Ezekiel stood looking out across that valley full of dry bones where a mighty army had fallen, decayed and now was just a heap of dry bones.

God said to Ezekiel, “Can those bones live again”?

Ezekiel said, “O Lord God, only you know”.

God said, “Preach to those dry bones and tell them that I will fasten tendons and flesh and skin upon you and put breath into you and you shall live”.

So, Ezekiel preached and as he did there was a noise and a shaking and a rustling and the bones began to come together. Toe bones and foot, ankle, leg, knee, hip, back, shoulder, neck and head. “ Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem dry bones. Hear the word of the Lord”.

Then tendons and muscle, flesh and skin was attached to those old dry bones but still there was no life.

God said, “Ezekiel, preach to the wind and bid the wind to come and breathe into those dead bodies, that they may come to life”.

Ezekiel preached and the breath came and the bodies rose up to their feet and began to move like a mighty army. Then God explained to Ezekiel the purpose of the vision. The dry bones represent the whole house of Israel, and the wind represents the Spirit of God. God then made a promise; “I will put my Spirit in them and they shall live”.

God’s motivation is Love. God was not condemning Israel but wanted them to look at their condition. God wanted to give them hope in the midst of their hopelessness. God wanted to lift them out of their graves of disappointment, discouragement and indifference and let them know that resurrection is possible.

The real miracle here is the resurrection of a community, a body of believers, and it is the Spirit that gives us that kind of life.

Verse 3: “And there appeared unto them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each of them”. The followers of Jesus who were gathered at Pentecost knew about the wind (breath). They also knew about fire. Fire was the symbol of the presence of God. Those followers knew about Moses and the burning bush. They knew about the pillar of fire that led Israel out of bondage. They knew about the fire on the mountain when God gave the Ten Commandments. They knew about the fire in the Tabernacle and Temple in the Holy of Holies. Now, fire came again on all 120 followers. No one was skipped. 120 lukewarm followers were ignited with the flame and excitement of the Spirit. Their commitment and courage became contagious.

Verse 4: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”. Notice the word “ALL”, it means everyone. Notice the word “Filled”, it means that God did not hold back.

In this verse we have a picture of God’s goal for our lives. God, through the Holy Spirit, wants to take up residence in our lives. Think for a moment. We are going to be filled with something. We just do not like emptiness. Some spirit is going to fill us. It may be the spirit of fear, resentment, greed, lust, guilt, or despair. There are thousands of unholy spirits that can possess us, confuse, defeat or destroy us. There is only one Holy Spirit.

In the making of the movie Ben Hur there was a scene in which Charleton Heston, who played the part of Ben Hur, was to be in a chariot race. He practiced for weeks and found it extremely difficult just to keep the horse drawn chariot on the track. The day before the big race scene he went to see the director of the movie, Cecil B. De Mille to express his frustration.

“Mr. De Mille,” he said, “I have practiced for weeks with the chariot. I think I can keep it on the track but I am just not good enough to win the race”. Mr. De Mille looked up from his desk and said, “Heston, you just stay in the race, I will make sure you win”.

Sometimes we may feel defeated, frustrated or inadequate. The Spirit empowers us to stay in there and win. We hear words today like “Burnout” or “Institutional exhaustion” but the Spirit empowers. We hear people talking about being tired, drained and weary, but the Spirit empowers.

At Pentecost the followers of Jesus were empowered and then they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Please, let us not get so caught up in the manifestation of speaking in tongues and miss the purpose of speaking in tongues.

The purpose was for the communicating of the Gospel so that people would be converted, brought into the Church (body of believers), trained for ministry and sent out to serve. The Holy Spirit is still doing that today.

Those 120 followers ran out into the streets and began communicating the Gospel in different languages. How did all those people from many countries hear the Gospel in their own language? I can’t explain it, except to say, The Holy Spirit did it.

Once an elderly man and his wife were sitting on the porch watching as people went by. Just as the sun had gone down the woman got up, went inside and came out with a sweater and put it around her husband’s shoulders.

They sat there for a few more moments and then the man said, “Honey, was I cold or are we going somewhere?”

With the followers of Jesus at Pentecost, they were not cold. They had experienced the fire, and yes, they were going somewhere. They were on their way from Worship to Service, to share the Good News with all.

The results of their experience that day…3000 people received Jesus into their lives.