Power To Witness | Mike de Vetter | Sunday 24th May [Pentecost Sunday]

[00:00:03] Well, this morning, Happy birthday. [00:00:06] Do you know why we're celebrating Happy Birthday? Because today is the day of Pentecost, the moment when God gave his spirit to his people and said, no longer will you have to go to the Holy of Holies to experience my presence and my power. You will now be able to receive that in your life. [00:00:25] The Resurrection proved that Jesus was alive. The Ascension revealed that Jesus is king. But Pentecost reveals that Jesus wants to pour out his spirit among all people. [00:00:37] Happened 50 days after the resurrection. The word penti is 50. [00:00:43] But we've got to understand that the church was not born out of human strategy. [00:00:47] It wasn't us coming up with good ideas about what we think church should be. [00:00:52] It was born through fire, not human ability, but the power of the Holy Spirit. [00:00:59] And today we don't want to just remember Pentecost. [00:01:02] We want to encounter and encourage and experience Pentecost again. [00:01:10] Acts, chapter one. Let me read the text that we're looking at this morning. [00:01:15] This is Luke, and he's writing, he says, in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God. [00:01:40] On one occasion, while he was eating with him, he gave this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered around him and asked, lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses. [00:02:14] Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. After this, after he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes. And a cloud hid him from their sight. [00:02:26] Let's pray, Father. We thank you, Lord, for this narrative that we read where your disciples, your followers, were asking big questions. [00:02:38] And you simply said, go and wait. [00:02:41] Go and wait, because I'm going to give you someone that will change the way ministry will always be from here on in. [00:02:50] Our ability to know you, to experience you. As Lynn said, not a God that is far off, but a God that is close and near. [00:03:00] We thank you, Holy Spirit, you're with us today. [00:03:04] In Jesus name, Amen. [00:03:08] So Jesus has risen from the dead. [00:03:11] He spends the next 40 days appearing to the disciples. He teaches about the kingdom of God. [00:03:17] The disciples are asking big political questions. [00:03:21] Jesus, is now the time. Are you going to restore the kingdom now? Are you going to overwhelm the oppression of the Roman army? Are you going to do that now? Is this the time of your kingdom? [00:03:34] And Jesus redirects their thinking. See, the disciples were thinking political power, influence. [00:03:42] You know, this moment where Jesus would take over like, almost like a human power would. We now rule and reign. And Jesus says, I need you to be filled with my spirit, because there is a gospel expansion, there is a kingdom mission that I have for you. And he gives them this promise, you will receive power. [00:04:08] And I want to look at this text this morning. And there are some things that come out of this text. And the first is that Pentecost is a promise fulfilled. [00:04:16] Pentecost is a promise fulfilled. This was the moment that God had been preparing the people for the prophets had prophesied for centuries. [00:04:25] Joel 2:28. And afterwards, I will pour out my spirit on how many people? [00:04:31] Old people, your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, on all humanity. [00:04:43] We need to understand this was new for the people. [00:04:46] They weren't used to this. [00:04:48] The spirit would only fall on important people, on the anointed ones, on the priests and on the kings. [00:04:56] Only special people would have the spirit of God come upon them and work in power. [00:05:02] But the prophecy said that there would come a time when it would fall on all people, when God's spirit would be for everyone. [00:05:12] Joel prophesied a day where sons and daughters would prophesy, young and old would encounter God. Ordinary people. [00:05:20] How many ordinary people do we have in this place? [00:05:23] I'm just an ordinary person that can do extraordinary things through the power of God in my life. [00:05:29] Can I get a bit of a show in the room? Because notice there wasn't an age that Joel put between old and young. [00:05:37] How many young people in the room? Come on, you define it. Come on. Give us a shout of you young. [00:05:45] That it? Give us a shout of you young in this place. [00:05:50] Come on. What about the old people? [00:05:52] Come on. Yes, I'm gonna go for old. [00:05:59] Come on. All people. God poured out his spirit and continues to pour out his spirit today. [00:06:06] Pentecost is the fulfillment of that Promise. [00:06:10] And I want to ask a question for all of us today. [00:06:13] Is the promise of Pentecost still a promise or is it actually a reality? [00:06:20] Are we living in Pentecost today? [00:06:23] Are we living with the knowledge and the power and the presence of God through His Spirit in our lives? [00:06:30] When we look at the displays of God's presence through power in the Old Testament, we see the story of Mount Sinai where Moses went up the mountain and God visited with fire. [00:06:44] But only Moses could go up the mountain. [00:06:47] The people were terrified if they even got close to the mountain. They were fearful of death. [00:06:53] Because God is a holy God. He was. He still is a holy God. [00:06:58] This is why His Spirit is a Holy Spirit. [00:07:03] Because he brings holiness through the work and the sanctification of what Christ has done on the cross so we can encounter and experience the holiness of God through His Holy Spirit. [00:07:19] Anyone ever had to visit the headteacher? [00:07:25] It was an exciting experience for some of you. As I look out the room, I know it wasn't how many people had to get the cane a couple of times from the head teacher. Yeah, I would have guessed that. [00:07:37] But the Israelites were approaching God. Like the head teacher. I'm fearful of God, whereas God's desire was that we would be close to him and near to him. [00:07:49] Yes, he is a holy God, but he also says that friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear him. [00:07:56] So we can have friendship with God, but it comes through a holy fear of who he is and the holiness of God. [00:08:05] At Pentecost, what shifted was no longer, did the fire just fall on a mountain or on a specific place? It. The fire of God fell on all people. [00:08:16] All believers were invited into the baptism of His Spirit. The presence of God was no longer contained in a tent and the Holy of Holies are on a special mountain. The Spirit of God was now available for all believers. [00:08:31] That is the same for us today. [00:08:34] The second thing we see is Pentecost is a release of power. [00:08:39] It's a release of power into humanity. [00:08:42] In the Greek, the word is Dunamis or Dunamis. Divine power, supernatural ability, miraculous strength. We later would get the word dynamite out of Dunamis. [00:08:55] That power, that explosive power, the supernatural enablement of God in our lives, that Dunamis power. [00:09:05] There's been a bit of a theme this morning as we've worshiped, isn't there that we're not to do it in our own strength? [00:09:13] Anyone feeling weary, heavy laden, come to me. Jesus says, I'll give you rest. I'll take Your burdens. [00:09:21] I'm not going to lay anything on you that's ill fitting. I'm going to give you a yoke that will allow us to work together in rhythm with him. [00:09:31] But that only happens through the power of God. [00:09:36] I know we kind of know this as Christians and as Pentecostals, we know this. But how many of us still push through in our own strength? [00:09:45] I'm guilty of that. Got to solve this problem, God. Got to make this work, work, work, work, work, work. [00:09:53] Now we're called to work, work hard. [00:09:56] The sweat on our brow is a good thing when we've worked a hard day. [00:10:01] But we don't work away from God. We work with. [00:10:05] And when we are yoked to Jesus, we walk at his pace and his Spirit leads and guides us. Rather than us setting the agenda. [00:10:16] Jesus promised supernatural enablement from heaven. [00:10:19] See, the disciples already believed in Jesus. [00:10:23] So they had seen the proof of the resurrection. And so they were quite happy to speak about it. [00:10:30] But how many people know that that wasn't enough? And Jesus knew that because it wasn't just enough to say that Jesus rose from the dead. They needed the power of God. [00:10:42] How do we know this? Well, Jesus is. Wait. [00:10:45] Because I'm going to give you my spirit without the Holy Spirit. [00:10:51] Let's back up just a few weeks. And Peter in the courtyard denies Jesus Thomas. Even when Jesus had been raised to life, he says, unless I see him, I'm not going to believe. [00:11:05] There was doubt. They hid behind doors because they were fearful of what would happen if they spoke of Jesus. [00:11:12] So there was terror, there was fear before Pentecost. [00:11:18] But after Pentecost, after the Spirit of God, Peter stands up and he preaches. And as he preaches, thousands of people are saved that day. [00:11:30] We see the miracles start to take place through the power of God. As they lay hands on the sick and they're healed. [00:11:37] We see persecution come upon the church. But they didn't run, they didn't hide. Instead, they were so bold in their proclamation of their faith that they were prepared to give their own lives. What changed? [00:11:51] The power of God came upon them. Pentecost brings the power of God. [00:11:56] The third thing we see is Pentecost empowers our witness. [00:12:01] Pentecost, the power of God, empowers our witness. [00:12:06] Now, in the Greek, the word witness is materis. Witnesses who testify boldly to what they have seen. [00:12:15] Anyone have to give witness in a court case before? I had to do it once. It was quite terrifying. 14 years old, I witnessed a car accident, a truck had gone into the back of a car and a girl that we knew was very badly hurt. [00:12:31] And they were test checking or the court case was about the. [00:12:36] The truck company and whether or not there was a fault in the truck. And so they were calling on witnesses who witnessed the crash. And so as a 14 year old, I had to give a testimony, a truthful account of what I saw. [00:12:52] And I'll be honest, I was quite nervous sitting in a courtroom, being grilled by these questions. And I thought I was just going to answer what I saw. And then they asked a different question. It was like, I'm not sure did I really see that or did I see that? Started second guessing myself. [00:13:11] I wonder if the disciples would have been in that place. I never knew him. I don't know who you're talking about. [00:13:19] Aren't you with Jesus? No, no, I swear I don't even know that man. [00:13:24] But the power of the Holy Spirit now in their lives is, yes, right to the point where they would give their lives for it. [00:13:34] See, you cannot separate power from witness. [00:13:39] We are enabled by the power of God to witness. You receive power not to impress or to influence, but you will receive power to be my witness. The early church understood this because they took the Gospel message into pagan temples, into hostile cities. They experienced persecution, they went into prison, they even face death. It's no surprise the word martyrs eventually becomes our word martyr. To be a witness is to give ourselves for Christ. [00:14:13] Stephen, after preaching a word that just destroyed the Pharisees, saying, we you have sent Christ to his death. You crucified Christ. [00:14:28] They couldn't stand it any longer. They picked up stones and they threw them at Stephen and stoned him to death. [00:14:35] He was prepared to give his life for the Gospel because of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit through Pentecost. [00:14:43] Revelation 12:11. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. When we have the power of God in our lives, when we have received the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to give testimony, a witness of what Christ has done. And we will not be fearful of death. [00:15:09] Pentecost power is courage under pressure. [00:15:15] The fourth thing we see in this passage is that Pentecost reversed Babel. [00:15:22] Let me explain. In Genesis chapter 11, the people of the earth, they wanted to build a tower. Let's read it together. Now, the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. [00:15:40] They said, come on, let's build a tower. Let's build a monument where people would look at it and go, look how amazing they are. [00:15:49] As they're building the tower, there's this conversation with God. God in heaven says, come, let's see what they're doing. [00:16:01] Because they are of one unity, nothing they do will be withheld from them. [00:16:10] You know, there's a principle of unity that, for the negative, can do great destruction. We've seen that over the centuries, haven't we? Where nations would rise up with an ideology, a thought. A dictator will say, this is how we will live, and this is how we will treat people. [00:16:30] Nations being destroyed as a wrongful unity comes together. [00:16:38] And so God comes down and he breaks up their language. Listen to this in verse 8. So the Lord scattered them from there all over the Earth. And they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel. Because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole Earth. [00:16:57] And so those languages and those nations had gone out, and they had established nations throughout the world. [00:17:05] But then there's a moment where all the nations have come back in to celebrate. [00:17:13] And as they're worshiping, they hear this voice, these tongues. [00:17:20] They hear the language of God being spoken at Babel, languages divided humanity, right? [00:17:29] The nations were spread out. [00:17:32] At Babel, pride meant that God had to come in and step in. [00:17:37] Whereas at Pentecost, the language is united as God begins to speak through these tongues that were interpreted in the nations that were represented there at Pentecost. [00:17:49] And the gospel ends up reaching every nation. Those people that were saved, where did they go? They went back. They went back out into their nations. [00:18:00] So they heard the message of God, they heard the goodness of God, and then they went back out again. [00:18:07] The miracle of tongues is not confusion. It's an empowerment of mission. [00:18:13] The Spirit announces the gospel, belongs to every people group. [00:18:18] And lastly, maybe Carol Ann can join me on keys. [00:18:23] Pentecost brings unity. [00:18:26] Pentecost brings unity. [00:18:30] Acts 2, 1:4. [00:18:33] When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. [00:18:40] Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house. Where they were sitting. [00:18:47] They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. [00:18:54] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as a spirit enabled them. [00:19:02] Some key language we see here. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all Together in one place. [00:19:10] All together in one place. Not just the apostles, not just the key leaders, all of those. Every single person who was prepared to wait was there notice that Jesus didn't give a time frame. [00:19:28] How many people know that God seldom gives us a time frame of when he's going to do what he's going to do. [00:19:35] On the day of 18th of June, rediscover church, we'll get signal house and we'll be moving in. Wouldn't that be nice if we got that date? [00:19:45] He doesn't always give us a date. Very seldom does he give that. [00:19:48] But he says wait. [00:19:50] He says wait. [00:19:52] And they all waited. [00:19:55] Now again, as I read text, I always wonder how many people didn't wait. [00:19:59] That's a long time to wait. [00:20:02] Waiting, waiting, waiting. [00:20:05] Yeah, I've got other things to do. I think I might go now. Waiting. [00:20:09] I mean, come on, we've been waiting for centuries for God to fulfill his promises. Is this going to be another one? Am I going to have to go another generation and a generation after that where God would finally give his spirit to us. [00:20:21] Will I make it or will I just leave? [00:20:25] But those that waited received power. [00:20:31] Those who waited received power. [00:20:35] God's spirit was poured out on men and women. [00:20:39] The old. [00:20:41] Come on, give us a wave if you're old. [00:20:44] Come on, give us a wave if you're young. [00:20:48] Some of you don't want to identify with any of either old or young. [00:20:56] What I love is that Pentecost shattered spiritual elitism. [00:21:03] You know, there was a time when the most important people could have access to God. [00:21:11] Pentecost is the wall comes down. [00:21:15] You know, Jesus made a way for us to be right with him, with the Father. [00:21:20] He says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [00:21:25] But there was still this understanding that we've got to go through the priests in order to experience that encounter with God. [00:21:34] Pentecost was a moment where for those who were prepared to wait. [00:21:42] Let's just listen to that language again. [00:21:44] Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. [00:21:52] The language is really intentional here. The whole house. [00:21:57] It wasn't just the front of the altar, wasn't in the back room. It wasn't in the Holy of Holies. If you were in their house, you would receive. [00:22:08] They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them again, every single one of us. [00:22:20] God's spirit for each of us to receive. [00:22:25] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. [00:22:28] No one left out. [00:22:30] All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. [00:22:37] Now we need us to understand that if you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior, his spirit is in you. [00:22:48] We receive His Spirit when we receive Christ. [00:22:52] And it's not a but, it's an and. [00:22:55] And he also wants to baptize us with the Spirit not just once, but over and over and over again as something as simple as a prayer that says, come, Holy, Holy Spirit. [00:23:14] An invitation that says, come, I need your power. [00:23:19] I need your presence. [00:23:22] I need refreshing. [00:23:25] I'm not strong enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not holy enough. I'm not perfect enough. Unless I have your power and your presence. [00:23:37] I think it's even easy for us to sit in this room and think, I. I don't think I deserve that. [00:23:43] We're right. It's true, we don't. [00:23:47] But this is the grace of God that says, I want to pour out my spirit on all people. [00:23:54] And I wonder if even right now you could just begin to posture your heart. [00:23:59] You might want to close your eyes in this moment. [00:24:06] And just invite God to come into every part of your life. [00:24:15] I believe there's some dry places that are going to be filled with the water of God, the living water. [00:24:24] Broken hearts are going to be healed today through the power of his spirit. [00:24:31] You might want to even just open up your hands. And as Hannah said, we can't receive anything if we've got our hands full. [00:24:39] And in your leaning forward and opening your hands, would you also release every bit of disappointment, your fear, your anxiety? [00:24:55] Maybe there's a fence that is in your heart. Would you. Would you just release someone of that judgment? [00:25:00] Forgive them in the power of God? [00:25:05] Just receive. [00:25:07] Receive His Spirit. [00:25:10] Say, Holy Spirit, come, Holy Spirit, come. [00:25:27] This passage in Acts says, a mighty rushing wind filled the place. [00:25:33] Tongues of fire rested on them. [00:25:37] You know, wind throughout Scripture symbolizes breath, spirit life, divine movement, the fire of God. [00:25:49] It symbolizes holiness, purification, his power, his presence. [00:25:58] Can I tell you today, if you're troubled by sin, repeated behavior, habits that just keep getting a hold of you, just say, come, Come, Holy Spirit. [00:26:15] Allow his purifying fire to burn up all of those things that just fill our hands and our hearts and our minds, our thoughts. [00:26:28] Would you receive the purifying holy fire of God today? [00:26:35] Holy Spirit, come. [00:26:37] Holy Spirit, come. [00:26:42] Begin to invite him. Holy Spirit, come, Holy Spirit, come. [00:26:50] We live in a world where we need courage, we need boldness. [00:26:56] We need spiritual power and discernment. We need to be able to be a witness. [00:27:03] We cannot disciple nations through human strength alone. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. The fire of God Again. [00:27:13] A fresh and filling. [00:27:15] A fresh boldness. [00:27:19] So, come, come, Holy Spirit. [00:27:32] Thank you, jesus.