FAITH PRAYS #4 AM
Acts 2:1-13 MESSAGE BIBLE
A Sound Like a Strong Wind
2 1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Even Cretans and Arabs! “They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
Today is Pentecost Sunday, what does that mean? That means it is the day of the year when we celebrate the day of Pentecost when the early church was baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit. Pentecost was 50 days after Passover which is our Easter time.
If you have faith then you will pray. AS Jesus departed the earth physically he left his disciples with one instruction, “stay here in Jerusalem until you are filled with power form the Holy Spirit.” They waited in the upper room, about 120 of them. They began to pray and wait on God. Just think what that must have been like. They experienced the trauma of watching the cruel death of Jesus on the cross, the elation of his resurrection and then 40 days of teaching about the kingdom of God. The bible says nothing about that 40 days of teaching. What did he speak about? We don’t know but this one thing I know it would have been inspiring!!! So they were now in the upper room praying for 10 days.
Could you pray for 10 days? After the roller coast ride of the last six weeks it was probably hard to concentrate. Perhaps it was a time of reflection and considering what the rest of their lives would be like. The next few years were going to be intense, life changing and world changing.
What they didn’t have but they desperately needed was the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes they had spent three and a half years with Jesus, witnessed thousands of miracles and seen the dead raised over and over again, yet Jesus was very clear, “Don’t leave Jerusalem until you are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.” We cannot do Gods will and God’s work if we don’t have God’s power. In fact you were designed to have God’s power resident in you.
Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit was with them and would be in them. This was to take place after the resurrection.
Christianity without being filled with the Holy Spirit is hard work. We are meant to live Spirit filled lives, thoroughly filled and flooded with God himself. If Jesus warned His disciples not to leave without it, and think what kind of preparation they had; then all the more we should need this.
How do I know if I have been filled? It’s an experience. You will know for sure if you have received this power. It’s power!
Can I be filled and not speak in tongues. Yes, tongues is the overflow. It is the one sure sign that you have been filled. If you don’t want tongues, ask yourself why? Sometimes I have met Christians who have a take it or leave it attitude about tongues and often that is because they tried to receive it and nothing happened and so now they are resigned to life without it.
Paul said I speak in tongues more than you all. Seems like it was high value to the greatest apostle of all, so it will be high value for me. Being a Pentecostal isn’t just that I speak with tongues, it is that I have a spirit led life. What are the marks of a spirit led life?
- I love prayer, I talk to God through the day, I converse with the Father with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit.
- I read God’s word and I get more than information. I receive revelation. I see things written in it that lead me in understanding God’s will in my life at this present moment.
- I hear God’s voice in my heart. Being Spirit led is sensing the urging of the Holy Spirit to act and obey Him in certain ways. (Bought lunch for a pastor from Hawaii)
- I have a passion to witness, to share God’s love with others.
- I have a sense of eternity that makes me a pilgrim in the earth because I have a home in heaven
These signs are for being spirit filled not just being a tongue talker. We need to be filled daily. Right through the book of Acts the disciples were filled and filled again with the Holy Spirit.
The kind of Christianity that the disciples lived was fuelled by a world changing faith. It was a nation changing team of people who were not interested in the pleasures of this world but were focussed on the kingdom of God and bringing life and hope to a dying world.
Somehow tongues and being baptised in the Holy Spirit has become an optional extra in the lives of some Australian church goers. It’s like a sunroof for your car, it’s cool and useful, but you don’t need it for effective driving experience. The truth is the baptism of the Holy Spirit is like the engine in the car. People without it are pushing their car everywhere and if there’s a big hill to go up many people just put the brake on and camp there for the rest of their life. Some even roll back to where they started and complain, “This new Christian model car is a lemon man, it’s not what I was told it was going to be!”
You’re a Spirit first not a body first. You’re a Spirit first not a mind first. In this western world we live in many people do not even know a spirit realm exists. The education system we have champions reason and excludes evidence outside the realm of empirical scientific measurable facts. However in 75% of countries around the world where the education system includes a spiritual education, the spirit world is very real people live and die by spiritual realities.
For example in Australia the Coory population live with a awareness of spirit realm. To them the dreamtime is more than a story, they have connection with ancestors. Point the bone works for them. Walkabout is spiritual.
When Jesus sent His disciples out to do the work of ministry He commanded them to Preach, heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out devils. All those tasks require the supernatural power of God. So He gave them the power of the Holy Spirit to equip them. If they needed it then, certainly we need it now. Let’s make our goal this year to be baptised in the Holy Spirit, filled with His power and receive the gift of speaking in tongues. Let’s be determined to seek God for this power so that we can do the work of ministry just as the disciples did.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. If you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit share your story of how that happened and what it felt like.
2. What are the benefits of being baptised in the Holy Spirit? (Acts 1:8)
3. What kind of things do you need power for in your Christina life?
4. What is the value of Tongues? (1 Cor 14:4; Rom 8:26; Jude 20)
5. Why are some Christians content to go without the tongues experience?
craigmanderson 