A new Pentecost

These are the summary speaking notes - not the full text.

ACTS 2:1-41
Pentecost is a feast day to celebrate the harvest. Feast of weeks.
50 days after Passover, after the start of the Barley Harvest.
Became a celebration of the giving of the law at Sinai – which followed 50 days after the sacrifice of the atonement lamb.

A NEW PENTECOST
Old covenant - described by the law – documented in the 10 commandments 50 days after the atonement lamb.
New covenant – described by grace – demonstrated by the giving of, not law but life, through Holy Spirit, 50 days later.

My story – when I was 13, listening to David Bowie (1^st time round), Elton John (Crocodile Rock) and Stevie Wonder (You are the sunshine of my life), I had been a Christian for several years and I was puzzled by the hot topic of speaking in tongues. I read a few books (Nine O Clock in the Morning, Bennett), decided that this was OK and in the privacy of my bedroom, opened my mouth and started speaking in another language. Have done ever since.
Weird? Possibly, but consistent with scripture and meaningful in my experience. Part of my prayer life. More importantly, I learnt about the person of the Holy Spirit working in my life.

2:1-3
When God arrives in a special way we find it often has 3 components:
1.     Silence – waiting (1:4)
2.     Sound of wind – not actual wind but sounded like, scary, disturbing, not what we expect?
3.     Sight of fire – not actual fire but looks like, he shows us something, looks dangerous, not what we expect

Contrast the before and after:
Before – a church and a group of people doing nothing, despite their experience and testimony, nothing was happening, inside, afraid, away from the world

2:4
Filled with the Holy Spirit – comma – speaking in other languages. The Holy Spirit is more than just a linguist. The speaking in other languages is an evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit but not the only work of the Holy Spirit.

2:5-12
Cf Babel – when men all spoke the same language but God came and confused their understanding. Here they all speak different languages but God enables them to hear.
A: when we seek to make a name for ourselves we end up at Babel. When we seek to make a name for Jesus we end up at Pentecost. The battle is not about us and our empire but around the King. We flock to His standard and fight for Him.

2:14-21
Peter recognises what’s happening.
He has remembered the prophecy of Joel and he has remembered that Jesus said, “I will send the counsellor, comforter” (John 14), he has remembered what Jesus had said just 10 days before, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8) and he thinks, “This is it, this is it! The new covenant!”
The disciples have been praising God in other languages, telling of the “wonders of God”.
Peter explains this - what God has done.

Important starting point of the good news that we share – unlike any other religion our message does not start with what you have to do to get right with God – that’s the way of the law, the old way.

2:22-24, 36
Kerygma - The core dogma of the Christian faith (Peter’s first sermon, documented within a generation).
When someone claims to be Christians – ask them, do they start with grace and do they believe this?
1.     Jesus died – unequivocal, everyone knew, Passover symbol of sacrifice
2.     God raised Him – no dissenting voices, destroying the power of death, new life
3.     Jesus is Lord – not the Roman Emperor (god). Dynamite proclamation to the gentiles. Christ – the Messiah, dynamite proclamation to the Jews.
Incendiary statement in the context of recent historical events and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

2:33
God the Father, Jesus the Son, Holy Spirit.
What does being filled with the Holy Spirit mean? Evidence all around of something amazing happening. But what is it?
1.     Not an it – He is a person – the 3^rd person of the trinity
2.     Love of God, the love which flows between the Father and the Son. Love of God – life, light, hope, joy. This furnace of love which flows between them

Romans 5:5
God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
The disciples at Pentecost were baptised in the bottomless, shoreless ocean of God’s love. No wonder they were changed. No wonder they appeared drunk. No wonder they spoke of the wonders of God.

2:37-41
When we repent and believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes and fills us we are opening our hearts and lives to a tsunami of God’s love.
The promise is for us. The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. But we leak and need constant re-filling.

Wayne Grudem
When the disciples received the Holy Spirit they received much greater power than before: as promised by Jesus (Acts 1:8) –  “power for living the Christian life and power for carrying out Christian ministry.”

Being filled with the Spirit of God is to receive the Niagara of His love for us. This is the greatest discovery of all – that you are loved by God.
·         Jesus died for our sins – we are responsible for His death
·         God raised Him from the dead – sin and death have no power over us
·         Jesus is Lord – the King of heaven and earth, the Messiah long promised, bringing salvation
·         He pours out His Holy Spirit, the ocean of His love on us
·         Filled with the Holy Spirit we begin to change to be more like Him and we are empowered to live the lives He calls us to live.

Would you like to follow Jesus and experience this love and power of God in your life?

If you already follow Jesus, would you like a fresh Pentecost in your life?