Pentecost - Part 2

You will receive power

As we saw last week, after Jesus had risen from the dead, and just before he ascended into Heaven, he told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come. They spent the next ten days praying together.

My church has never prayed all together for ten days. I wonder what it would be like. How long would it take us to run out of things to say? What would we hear God say? In what ways would he change our attitudes? But this we know: when the Jerusalem church prayed all together for ten days, the Holy Spirit came in power:

Acts 2v1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
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. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

It was worth the wait. It was worth setting all other things aside to pray.

And the Holy Spirit didn't just come for the ones who were praying. He also came for the neighbours:

Acts 2v5-12
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs - we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"
Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

When we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, people notice!

But there are always some who just refuse to believe that God is with us:

Acts 2v13
Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

Peter was moved and empowered by the Holy Spirit to explain what was happening:

Acts 14v18
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. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "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. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy..."

Do you and your church want to get the wonderful good news of Jesus out onto the streets of your town? Do you want your neighbours to know the love of Jesus Christ as you do? I do!

We need God's Holy Spirit - we can't do the job without Him.

And we need to pray, consistently, for as long as it takes. We need to wait for the gift God has promised (Acts 1v4) until we are baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1v5) and we receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us (Acts 1v8).