1. 30 years Jim Ferguson was the youth pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. One time he took a bus load of high school kids on a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort. He was driving up a long, boring stretch of Highway 395. He decided it was time for a little fun. He pulled the choke on the bus & flooded the engine. The bus sputtered to a stop. He told the kids we’ve run out of gas. Time to push the bus to the next town. The kids exited the bus & began to push. Jim shifted into 2nd gear, let out the clutch, the engine started & he drove away leaving the kids behind. He returned several minutes later and was laughing at what he had just pulled off.
2. the church, our church, can be like a big, cumbersome, difficult-to-get-moving bus. We can rally everyone to get behind the church & push it. And we can actually move the church forward a bit – maximum effort but minimum results.
3. but when CAC is moved along by the power of the Holy Spirit, we’d better get on the bus or be left behind.
4. Christ has made it very clear – he wants us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He longs for us to break out of our Christian ghetto and permeate non-Christian culture.
5. for the next several weeks we’re going to camp out in Acts 2. Here we discover what it takes to become salt & light. Today I want to talk about our source of power as Christ-followers – the absolute necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
2:1-13: the day of Pentecost
1. what happened on the day of Pentecost was a divinely planned event. One more step in God’s redemptive plan for the world involving Christ – incarnation + death + resurrection + ascension + Pentecost 50 days later.
2. Pentecost was an Old Testament feast day, 1 of 7 annual feasts in the life of Israel. It came at the end of 7 weeks of grain harvest & was celebrated on the 1st Sabbath after the 7 weeks of harvest – 50 days after the start of the harvest. Pentecost means ’50.’
3. 50 days after Christ was resurrected, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church during the feast of Pentecost.
4. the Holy Spirit is the life-line of God’s presence & power in the church. The Spirit indwells, fills & empowers
the church. For sanctification (spiritual growth) & service (kingdom advancement).5. Pentecost was marked by 3 signs of the Holy Spirit’s coming.
6. 2:2 – sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. In the Scriptures wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. A symbol of power.
7. 2:3 – they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Fire is a symbol of God’s presence. Exodus 19:18 – Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire, to cite one reference.
8. fire illuminates, refines, reveals. The Holy Spirit illuminates, refines & reveals.
9. 2:4 – all of them began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Those filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak in languages they had not learned as a witness to the nations gathered in Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost.
10. they heard the sound of wind. They saw tongues of fire. They spoke in tongues. The Holy Spirit had come!
2:14-36 – Peter’s sermon
1. 2:4 – he was filled with the Spirit
2. he preached from Scripture – Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16, 110, 132.
3. he preached Christ:
® 2:22: his ministry – miracles, wonders & signs
® 2:23: his crucifixion & burial
® 2:24: his resurrection
® 2:33: his ascension
® 2:34: his present ministry
4. Peter’s sermon is a primer on preaching. Preaching must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, be based upon the Bible & ultimately be centered on Jesus Christ!
2:37-47 – results: conviction, conversion, change
1. 2:37 – when the people heard this they were cut to the heart. There was genuine conviction brought about by the Holy Spirit.
2. 2:38,41 – repent and be baptized…those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Holy Spirit-given conviction led to conversions – about 3000 people said ‘yes’ to Jesus & became his followers.
3. 2:42-47 – lives were changed forever. They devoted themselves to...teaching, community, worship, prayer, evangelism, generosity.
they were filled with the Holy Spirit
1. Acts 2 Pentecost is a once-in-time event. It ushered in a new chapter in God’s salvation history - the formation of the church by the indwelling & filling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would now be given to all followers of Christ THOUGH not everyone would experience speaking in other languages.
2. Romans 8:9-11 So Paul can write to the Romans that the Holy Spirit lives in all Christ-followers. When we invite Christ into our lives he comes in the form of the Holy Spirit.
3. what does this mean? We have the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit lives in us. But does the Spirit have us?
4. there are times when he does & times when he doesn’t. When he doesn’t, we live in our own strength, live for ourselves, do our own thing. We try to push the bus or the church or our lives in our own power.
5. but when we are fully surrendered to God, fully submitted to him, the Spirit, then, has us. He is free to fill us. Empower us.
6. Ephesians 5:18 – do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. Be filled is a command in the present tense. We are to be filled over & over again. This is to be an on-going experience. Our way of life.
7. one of AW Tozer’s lesser known books is The Divine Conquest. The last chapter is called The Spirit-Filled Life. Tozer makes 3 points about being filled with the Spirit: 1st you must make sure you want to be. Are you willing to let God take charge of your life? To be obedient in everything? To be fully surrendered?
8. 2nd your desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must trump all other desires in your life. Tozer – the degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. One great hindrance to the Spirit-filled life is the theology of complacency so widely accepted among gospel Christians today.
9. 3rd you must first experience a period of deep anxiety and inward agitation. Tozer – religious contentment is the enemy of the spiritual life. We must want more, hunger for more. We must be bothered by our current spiritual state. Sick of the status quo.
10. Acts 2 Pentecost reminds us of the absolute necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit!
Heather interview
1. what did you learn about the Holy Spirit in high school when the Western Canadian Revival came to your church?
2. can you share a couple of personal stories.
consuming fire song
there must be more than this
o breath of God come breathe within
there must be more than this
Spirit of God we wait for you
fill us anew we pray
fill us anew we pray
consuming fire fan into flame
a passion for your name
Spirit of God would you fall in this place
Lord have your way Lord have your way with us
come like a rushing wind
clothe us with power from on high
now set the captives free
leave us abandoned to your praise
Lord let your glory fall Lord let your glory fall
Music i listened to while sermonizing – delirious?; tony bennett; u2; hillsong united; patty griffin
Books i read & studied while sermonizing – acts by james montgomery boice; the intimate merton by thomas merton; the supremancy of Christ in a postmodern world edi by john piper & justin taylor; acts: brazos theological commentary on the bible by jaroslav pelican; communion with the triune god by john owen; the divine conquest by a.w. tozer
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