Rachel Sanders - June 5, 2022
Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost Sunday 2022 6-5-22 Acts 2 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. … Peter Addresses the Crowd 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Holy Spirit comes to: 1. Baptize "If Luke had his way, we'd all be 'Pentecostal' in some form or another. Darrell Bock wishes that Luke 3:16 was just as well known as John 3:16. In luke 3:16 Jesus is the spirit anointed and spirit dispensing Messiah, who comes to drench his people in the holy spirit, to plunge them into the fiery and holy breath of God, bestowing God's kingly power and kingdom-presence upon them. Prophets like Ezekial & Joel looked forward to a day when YHWH would pour out his spirit in a new and unexpected way; Peter's pentacost sermon announces that the day has come at last..." NT Wright "The Christian life is not meant to be lived dryly or wearily, but to be a life of overflowing water and rushing wind, filled with the presence of God." Jon Tyson & Suzy Silk Holy Spirit comes to: 2. Empower "God's Spirit continues to hover over the chaos of the world's evil and our sin and shapes a new creation and new creatures. Pentecost means that God is not a spectator, in turn amused and alarmed at world history; rather, he is a participant. Pentecost means that the invisible is more important the the visible, at any single moment and at any single event we choose to examine. Pentecost means that everything, especially everything that looks to us like wreckage, is material God is using to make a praising life." Eugene Peterson Holy Spirit comes to: 3. Incarnate 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 1 Cor 6:19 "Many Jews longed for a new event in which the divine glory would fill Israels's Temple once more... The wind and fire of Pentecost answers to this expectation, indicating that now the Temple is a community, not a building. The church, as the spirit filled Temple of God, goes into the world with the fresh wind and fire, living out it's vocation to be a light to the nations, burning ever more brightly. " NT Wright "If I were to define what for me makes up the core Pentecostal identity it is the lived conviction that everything, absolutely everything, in the scriptures is livable. Not just true, but livable. Not just an idea or a cause, but livable in real life. Everything that is revealed in Jesus and the scriptures, the gospel, is there to be lived by ordinary Christians in ordinary times. " Eugene Peterson