Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] All right, I gotta start off something this morning.
[00:00:05] I gotta say, happy birthday, Church.
[00:00:09] I'm not talking about Rediscover. I'm talking about the birth of the church at Pentecost. Can I say it again? Happy birthday, Church.
[00:00:21] What are we celebrating today? We are celebrating the day of Pentecost, a day that was prophesied, a day that has been fulfilled, and a day that we continue to walk out. Today is the day we remember when Jesus said to his disciples, I want you to go and wait in Jerusalem. And when you are waiting, I will send my helper. I will send my Holy Spirit. My Holy Spirit. As Amy said this morning, that will fill us with power, to enable us to be witnesses, to give testimony of his goodness, of his faithfulness, of the good news of God.
[00:01:02] And we get to live that out today as well.
[00:01:05] Church. We haven't seen all that God wants to do on this earth yet, have we?
[00:01:10] How many people feel like we've just seen a little glimpse of his glory? But there is so much more to come.
[00:01:16] You know, as a church and as a movement, we have been consecrating our hearts for the last 18 months, setting our lives aside and saying, God, would you do something in our lives, in our lifetime?
[00:01:29] And it's not just a personal thing. It's something that is community. It is us together. It's not just Rediscover. Church. It is the church of Christ across the globe. And we are hearing and seeing and sensing that God is moving powerfully, not just in this place, but right across the world.
[00:01:52] And we haven't yet seen the curtain brought down on all that God wants to do. There will be a moment where he will say, this is it.
[00:01:59] But for now, he's commissioned us as his disciples to go and preach the good news, to go make disciples, to go lay hands on the sick and see them healed, to see signs and wonders take place. Amen.
[00:02:13] So we're going to go on a journey this morning from Mount Sinai to the birth of the church at Pentecost, right through to the Book of Revelation, where the fire of God continues to burn in us.
[00:02:24] We're going to read from Acts, chapter two, verse one to four. So if you've got your Bibles, please open them. In fact, we're going to read it together, so you may want to follow along with the words on the screen, because I think there's something powerful when together we declare the word of God.
[00:02:39] Right, Are we ready?
[00:02:40] Clear your throats. Here comes Acts 2, 1, 4. Read it with me when the day of Pentecost came. They were all together in one place.
[00:02:53] Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
[00:03:09] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. God, would you bless the reading of your word this morning? Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. That is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. We thank you that your word transforms us. And Father, as we read and as we study and as we learn today about the power of the fire of Pentecost, Lord, would our hearts respond?
[00:03:38] Lord, would we cry out again? God, would you fill me with your power so that I can be a witness to testify of your goodness, of your faithfulness, of your miraculous healing power in my life, so that I would speak of your goodness and share your good news with every person I know. In Jesus name we pray.
[00:03:59] Amen, MAN the first thing I want to talk about this morning is that Pentecost was a feast of fulfillment.
[00:04:07] Pentecost in the Old Testament was a feast of weeks. Shavuot came 50 days or Penti 50 days after Passover. It was a harvest festival, is when the people would bring in a portion, the first fruits of their crops to say, God, I acknowledge that all that I have has come from you, and I bring this to you.
[00:04:29] We do the same. Today we call it tithes and offerings. We bring to God a representation of what we are thankful for. When we say, God, I give you the first of my income, it's us saying, we are thankful for all you have done, all you have given us. It's a sign of praise. It's an extension of our worship as we give to God.
[00:04:51] Now, in the Old Testament, the offering would include bread and wine.
[00:04:57] We've just celebrated the bread and the wine, haven't we?
[00:05:01] That remembrance of the covenant that was made. It would also be seven pure, blameless, faultless lambs would be given as an offering.
[00:05:11] Again, the lamb who was slain before the beginning of the world was offered as a sacrifice as a remembrance of what God has done.
[00:05:23] But Pentecost also became symbolic with the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.
[00:05:27] Exodus, chapter 19, verse 18. It says Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire.
[00:05:35] What's interesting is the giving of the law at Sinai was marked by fire, just like it was in Acts, chapter 2.
[00:05:44] At Sinai, God forms A covenant, people under the law. But at Pentecost, God forms a spirit filled people under grace, where the fulfillment of the law comes through the work of the Spirit in our lives.
[00:05:59] The laws move from being something that's in our head to something that is now, as Jeremiah said, written on our hearts.
[00:06:08] And here's where it gets practical, because every day we can experience Pentecost.
[00:06:14] Friends, if you have confessed that Jesus is Lord, if you believe that Jesus rose from the dead through the power of God and is living today, and you've confessed your sins to God, you have the spirit of God living in you. Don't let anyone tell you anything different than that the Spirit of God lives within you.
[00:06:33] But there's an amazing thing that God continues to do, which is a continual baptism of his fire, of his spirit.
[00:06:43] You know, when you drink a glass of water and it gets empty, I kind of like to fill it up again so I can have another drink.
[00:06:51] How many parents have got children that have made you breakfast in bed before?
[00:06:55] Anyone? Anyone?
[00:06:57] What an experience that is. Number one, the patience and the ability to sit on your hands and just hope that this breakfast makes it from the kitchen to the bed. I remember the first time Rosie, and she's here this morning and I'd love to embarrass you, my darling, I love you. I remember Rosie was just getting confident in the kitchen and so she said, mum, dad, you stay in, you stay in for bed, you stay in bed, I'm going to bring you breakfast in bed. She was going to make us scrambled eggs, her specialty.
[00:07:26] And so in fear and trembling, we sat in bed as we heard the clashing and the smashing. And I don't know if there's any smashing, but the noise was coming from the kitchen. And then we heard the footsteps of Rosie coming down through the corridor into our bedroom.
[00:07:43] And there was slightly burnt toast and maybe slightly undercooked eggs. That was just the first time. She's actually a phenomenal cook now.
[00:07:51] But she also had filled up this glass of juice, probably too much.
[00:07:55] And so as she was walking with this breakfast, the juice splashed out all over the carpet on her way to delivering this food to us.
[00:08:10] And it's such a picture of how God wants us to live.
[00:08:13] Imagine if we are so filled with his presence, so filled with his power, with his spirit, that as we walk, it just spills out of us like Holy Spirit fruit juice.
[00:08:31] Come on. Love, joy, peace. Put that in a glass and walk around with it, let it shake out of us.
[00:08:40] So that when we walk into A place where there's hatred and anger. We splash out a little bit of love, a little bit of it comes out when we walk into those situations at work where everybody's complaining about how England's lost again in whatever sport.
[00:08:56] I didn't say who they lost to.
[00:08:59] We know who that is.
[00:09:02] Or we complain about the weather when we walk into that situation and then we splash out a little bit of joy.
[00:09:09] Then we walk into a place of conflict and we bring peace.
[00:09:15] And when everybody's getting agitated, we bring patience.
[00:09:18] When everyone's angry and wants to get upset with each other, we show self control.
[00:09:25] I believe we can walk with Pentecost every single day. And there is an invitation every day. If you would open your life every day to God and say, God, I'm here again, surrendered to you, will you fill me with your Holy Spirit? Will you fill me with your power? Will you give me every grace and every gift that I need in order to minister to people today?
[00:09:48] I think God wants us to be filled with some Holy Spirit fruit juice so that we can splash it out amongst people.
[00:09:57] The second thing this morning is that in the New Testament we see God's spirit poured out on all people.
[00:10:03] When the day of Pentecost came, verse one, they were all together in one place.
[00:10:09] Holy Spirit does not give himself to a hierarchy of people more important than others. He simply chooses those with surrendered, hungry and open hearts. If that is you, if you are surrendered to God, if you are hungry for more of him, if you are open to whatever he wants it to look like, I know I can sometimes think, God, I would like it to look a particular way.
[00:10:36] Do you know, it's so much better when I don't put that can caveat on it. When I don't say to God, this is what I would like it to look like. If my heart simply says, God, whatever it looks like, amen.
[00:10:49] How many people have got a heart like that this morning?
[00:10:53] I believe God is gonna pour out his spirit on you.
[00:10:58] And maybe some of us will gain that in the next 10, 15 minutes before we invite Holy Spirit to do what he wants to do in our hearts and our lives this morning.
[00:11:09] Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.
[00:11:16] We see three things described in this passage that symbolize God and the work he was doing. Number one is wind.
[00:11:24] Wind. It's a symbol of the Spirit described in John 3. 8 and also in Ezekiel 37, the Lord says, Prophesy to the four winds speaking over this valley of dry bones, and the flesh and the tendons come, but the bodies were not alive. There was no life in the army.
[00:11:46] And God says, prophesy to the four winds. And the spirit breathed life into this dead army and came back to life. As I was praying this week, I really believe that God is wanting to breathe into some of the visions and the dreams that have been dead and buried.
[00:12:04] You've actually thought, this is it. God's done with me. I've had my chance. I missed it. Maybe even through failure, there's a sense where you have disqualified yourself. God is saying, would you let my breath awaken you, revive you, restore you, renew you, so that you would again be able to walk and minister in my power? If that's you this morning, would you respond to God?
[00:12:34] Would you say, God, I'm sorry if I have stepped off my assignment, God, would you fill me again with your power?
[00:12:42] Would you get me back on track doing the things you've asked me to do in Jesus name?
[00:12:50] The second thing we see is fire, the fire of God, representing the presence and the power and the purifying agent of God.
[00:13:02] Moses saw the burning bush in the wilderness.
[00:13:05] He approached it. Who wouldn't? I mean, it was burning, but it wasn't being consumed.
[00:13:11] And as he approached it, God says, don't come any closer. Take your sandals off, because this is holy ground.
[00:13:19] Fire represents the holiness of God.
[00:13:23] In Malachi and in Isaiah, we read of the refiner's fire.
[00:13:29] Now, the refining process of gold is a fascinating thing.
[00:13:33] The gold is heated up by the refiner, and at particular levels, there is impurity that comes out and it raises to the surface and they skim off the impurity.
[00:13:44] And then it's heated again. And there's another level of impurity that rises at a particular heat and it's skimmed off again. And that process continues until you have this pure gold where the refiner could look in the gold and see himself or herself, depending on who's refining. In this instance, we see that God wants to refine us to the point where when he looks at us, he sees himself.
[00:14:10] That's the holiness of God that has transformed our lives.
[00:14:15] The question is, will we allow ourselves to be in the fire?
[00:14:19] Because here's what I know to be true about the fire.
[00:14:22] It hurts.
[00:14:24] It really hurts.
[00:14:26] It hurts my selfishness, it hurts my pride.
[00:14:32] It hurts my longing to be in control.
[00:14:37] And it costs me.
[00:14:39] But that's part of the cost of being a disciple, a follower of Jesus, is that we would Submit and surrender ourselves to the holy fire of God who wants to refine us.
[00:14:52] The third thing we see in this passage is we see tongues, the evidence of tongues given to the people. I love that in the New Testament we so often see a fulfillment and sometimes a reversal of the sin that had overcome a nation.
[00:15:09] So In Genesis chapter 11, we see the Tower of Babel.
[00:15:13] The people of the world gathered together and said, let's build a tower to make a monument for ourselves, to show how great we are, and people will remember us forever.
[00:15:22] God has a conference meeting and says if we let this happen, whatever they purpose in their heart to do will not be withheld from them.
[00:15:31] Now, there's an interesting principle of unity that we read in this.
[00:15:36] Psalm 133 says how good and pleasant it is when people dwell in unity. For there the Lord commands a blessing.
[00:15:44] But we have also seen unity produce incredible evil. You look at the wars that have been fought, the nations that came under the unity of a vision that they thought was for the betterment of the world, but it was evil and destructive and destroyed millions of people.
[00:16:05] But the principle of unity is there. If we would gather together, I love that tonight we get to worship at the cathedral together as the big C church. And I want to encourage us to get out there.
[00:16:18] Don't look at what you think it might be or what the service might look like. But we come together because we love God and we want to be there together.
[00:16:29] We want to lift up his name and we bring who we are and what we carry. And let that be the unique part of our offering that we bring together to the city.
[00:16:38] How many people know that God loves Exeter?
[00:16:41] He wants to do a great work in the city?
[00:16:44] I believe that as we gather and dwell together in unity, God will command a blessing. What might he pour out this morning? What might he pour out this evening as we gather?
[00:16:58] In Genesis 11, God had to break up that work of the Tower of Babel. And so he confused their languages, and they all scattered across the globe.
[00:17:08] I love that in the Book of Acts, God restores those languages.
[00:17:15] He brings those languages back to unity, when all of a sudden they begin to speak in tongues.
[00:17:23] And all of the Jews that were gathered from all the different nations came and they heard the gospel being preached in their language. And they were astounded. They said, how is it possible that these uneducated people are preaching about the good news of Jesus?
[00:17:39] How is that even possible?
[00:17:41] All the nations that have been scattered through language were now united under the gospel message. And God continues to do that.
[00:17:49] Look at the nations that we have in this place.
[00:17:53] Look at the variety of cultures and nations that we celebrate here at Rediscover. It's beautiful. It's powerful.
[00:18:02] We also see the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, which Amy read earlier this morning. I will pour out my spirit on all people.
[00:18:11] No longer just prophets and kings, but all people, sons and daughters. Come on, how many people are a son or a daughter?
[00:18:20] Yeah. And some of you will never, ever raise your hand. Will you ever, like, not even once if I ask?
[00:18:28] Because we're all sons and daughters, right?
[00:18:32] All sons and daughters of the most High, God, young and old, servants and free.
[00:18:37] God said, I will pour out my spirit on all of them.
[00:18:41] There is no junior Holy Spirit, one Spirit for all of us.
[00:18:46] So what does that mean for you and I today? The same spirit that filled those 120 that were gathering there now fills us today.
[00:18:57] There's no limit to what God would do if our hearts would just say, yes, Lord.
[00:19:02] Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
[00:19:05] And the fire did not fall just to create a moment.
[00:19:10] It wasn't for that moment. It was to create a movement. It was to empower the mission, which is the third thought. This morning, the Pentecost launched the mission of the church.
[00:19:21] I Love this. Acts 2, 5, 11. It goes on. Talks about the Jews from every other nation hearing the gospel in their language. And let's remember that Pentecost is not just a personal blessing.
[00:19:33] I think we've missed the mark a little bit sometimes in church when we think it's, for me.
[00:19:39] I don't need church. It's like, but I need you.
[00:19:42] Some people say I don't need to be in church to be a Christian, but I need you.
[00:19:46] Because what you have, the grace you carry.
[00:19:49] I'm not who I'm meant to be if you're not here with me. Do you understand?
[00:19:54] That's why every single one of us should be planted in a local church and be ministering in the grace and the gifts that God has given us. Because I need you and you need me. We need one another.
[00:20:07] So Pentecost wasn't just for me as an individual. As amazing as it is to have my time with God, it's for us.
[00:20:14] It's the church together empowered the body of Christ, functioning the way he wants it to.
[00:20:23] But what we see also is that we go from a first fruits to a global harvest. In the Old Testament, Pentecost spoke of the first fruits of the crops.
[00:20:34] In Acts, the Spirit's outpouring is the first fruits of a global, worldwide harvest.
[00:20:40] Don't you Love that?
[00:20:42] Acts 2:41.
[00:20:44] Peter's preached to all the.
[00:20:46] All the people. And I mean even that in itself. Peter, who not that long ago had denied Christ, said, I'm done, I'm out, I'm going fishing. Jesus comes back and restores and brings him in. And there's Peter standing just a few weeks afterwards, standing there declaring, you crucified the Lord.
[00:21:09] The Bible says they were cut to their heart.
[00:21:12] See, what must we do to be saved?
[00:21:16] The people were crying out, what do we have to do in order to get what you're talking about?
[00:21:23] Peter says, repent and be baptized, every single one of you, and you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:21:34] I don't know where you're at in your journey with God. I don't know whether you have given your life to him, whether you have surrendered yourself to him fully. I don't know whether your relationship with God is in a good place or a bad place.
[00:21:49] But what I do know is that when we come to God and we lay our burdens down, when we come to God and we say, God, I am sorry for the sins I've committed, I. Please forgive me, God will take that obedience. God will take that heart of surrender and he will take our place. And he did through the work of the cross.
[00:22:10] And at the close of the service, if you feel like you need to take your next step in your relationship with God, we will invite you. When we have a time of worship and we sing and we receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Would you come and talk with our team down the front? Have a conversation. Talk about what it means to follow Jesus, to be able to walk through what it means to live a life that would honor him, to surrender our lives and to make him Lord of our lives. It would be an honor to walk with you through that journey today.
[00:22:46] Acts 2:41. About 3,000 were added to their number that day.
[00:22:53] Can you imagine 3,000 being added to our number today?
[00:22:58] So there might be maybe 450, maybe 500 adults in the room here today.
[00:23:03] Can you imagine six, seven, eight times that amount of people were baptized, added and then baptized? That's a great baptism service. Imagine Exmouth beach just lined up with tens and twelve and twenties of people just being baptized.
[00:23:21] How amazing would that be?
[00:23:24] But I wonder if God's finished yet.
[00:23:27] You look around your world, you think of the people that you know. How many haven't yet given their lives to Christ?
[00:23:34] How many yet haven't heard the gospel. How many need to hear the good news of Jesus? I would say there's a few.
[00:23:40] I know a few. Maybe you know a few. I don't think God's finished yet.
[00:23:44] I think the work of Pentecost is still taking place in our lives.
[00:23:50] But if you contrast these 3,000 with Exodus 32:28, with 3,000 died because of their idolatry at the foot of Mount Sinai, you see that God is doing a work of transformation in people's lives.
[00:24:05] The law that would kill now transforms. 2nd Corinthians 3:6. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death, but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
[00:24:24] I want to say those four words again. The Spirit gives life. Come on, let's say it together. The Spirit gives life.
[00:24:34] If you're feeling like you're just walking through on death's door now, maybe some of us physically, we come into the end of our time and our days and our bodies don't feel like they used to when you were 12, 15 or 17.
[00:24:48] But come on. If our Spirit is feeling like it's caught up and stuck and bound up, the Spirit gives life.
[00:24:57] Come on. Would you say, God, I need a fresh touch of your Holy Spirit in my life.
[00:25:09] Pentecost compels us to go.
[00:25:11] We're not called to be spirit filled consumers, but spirit empowered witnesses.
[00:25:17] And the global church began here with fire and the wind and tongues, and it continues through you. We have a vision as a church to reveal the glory of God to the southwest and beyond.
[00:25:29] What does that mean?
[00:25:31] Well, what would it look like if this gathering halved?
[00:25:37] And what I mean by halved is on a Sunday morning, we're not all here, but half of us are there and there and there. Come on. Those of us who've traveled 20, 30, 40 minutes to get here, what if you walked out your door and walked to your community center because that's a church that you planted with a group of other people in your area? Come on. We have a vision that goes beyond just here in Exeter. This is a vision that says we want to see churches, expressions of Pentecost in every single town and village and city in our region.
[00:26:12] In this room, we have dozens of people who could preach the word of God, could lead worship, could host life groups, could disciple others.
[00:26:23] And I wonder whether this Pentecost Sunday we would pray a bold prayer, say, God, would you use me to bring an expression of Pentecost into my community.
[00:26:39] And it might be you starting a life group in your home and inviting people in. It might be taking a bold step and renting a community space and saying, you know what, we're going to preach the gospel once a month, and we're going to see who comes, and we're going to invite people and we're going to begin to bring the power of God.
[00:26:58] Goes quiet all of a sudden, doesn't it?
[00:27:00] Because we're quite comfortable sometimes.
[00:27:03] So we can just sit and we can consume.
[00:27:06] Come on. We have the power of God. We have the gospel message, and we can take it into our community. And I want to encourage you, don't settle for this, as amazing as this is, because I think there's some people that are called to plant yet through our church planting academy, we've been able to drop a seed or plant a seed into a Welsh church planting academy. How amazing is that? In another nation, we are starting to see churches being planted. But we need more people on our church planting academy who put up their hand and say, I want to be a part of this.
[00:27:44] I want to take some bold steps to bring this expression of Pentecost into the community around me.
[00:27:52] And we've got another intake of our church, Church planting academy that's coming up in next couple of months. We're gonna let you know more about that. But maybe it's just jumping on that church planting academy, making a commitment to go through the course and see what God might do as you offer yourself to him.
[00:28:11] But as the team come, we're gonna worship a little more this morning, and we're gonna invite God to move powerfully in our lives.
[00:28:18] I believe we need to carry the flame of Pentecost. We're a part of the biggest story the church, because the last thought this morning I wanted to share is that Pentecost is a glimpse of God's glorious Future. Church.
[00:28:33] Revelation 7, verse 9 to 10.
[00:28:38] In fact, could we all read this together? Are we able to get that up on the screen? Was that there? Amazing. Come on, can we read this together?
[00:28:45] This is a glimpse of what God is doing and will do.
[00:28:52] Let's read it together after this. I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Let's read that again, salvation. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.
[00:29:31] A great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language.
[00:29:37] What began in Jerusalem will culminate in the new Jerusalem.
[00:29:44] Holy Spirit is the down payment of what God is doing.
[00:29:48] How do I know this? Ephesians 1 tells me this, and I close with this this morning.
[00:29:53] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
[00:30:01] When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal. The promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. To the praise of his glory, God will sustain his church until Christ returns.
[00:30:22] Pentecost is not the end of the story.
[00:30:25] It's the ignition of the eternal church destined to worship God before the throne.
[00:30:33] Pentecost is not a one time event.
[00:30:37] It was a one time event that moment. But Pentecost can be daily.
[00:30:42] It's a continual invitation to say, God, I'm ready.
[00:30:48] My heart's open to receive whatever you have.
[00:30:53] That I would be a part of something bigger than myself. That as I gather here on a Sunday, it's not just for me, it's for those around me.
[00:31:05] It's God's power in us, God's presence with us and God's purpose through us.
[00:31:12] At Sinai, the fire was on the mountain.
[00:31:15] At Pentecost, the fire was on every believer.
[00:31:20] And his fire continues to burn in us today.
