Power Positioning, Audio
Positioning for the Power
Acts 2
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to
be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Lots of things to focus on
Lots of things to get distracted by
Tongues
Literally means organ in the mouth, but also language
Used many times in NT
In Acts 2, prefaced first with cloven meaning separate, distinct
Doctrinally - Wesleyan church
Do believe in the gift of speaking in tongues
Prayer language
Speaking in tongues with an interpreter
o for the edification of the body
Public speaking in tongues
o not part of our traditions worship service
o is not forbidden
o just not cultivated or practiced regularly
There is a lot more going on in Acts 2 than the arrival of tongues
What we find more completely and accurately in Acts 2 is the arrival
of the Holy Spirit, filling and indwelling the Apostles and the Disciples.
Review:
Great Commandment Jerusalem Holy Week
Feed my Sheet shores of Galilee after Resurrection
Great Commandment Bethany at Ascension
Disciples have been told by Jesus to return to Jerusalem to await the
power that will come from on high.
They are back in Jerusalem meeting again in the Upper Room.
From looking at Acts 1, we learn that there are about 120 of them who are
believers, steadfastly sold out to following Jesus.
Their purpose at this time is not evangelical instead it is obedience
and submission. They are not seeking to grow the church in their own power
or reason, they are simply doing what Jesus has told them to do Go,
Wait.
Important to note that Jesus has also told them to fulfill the Great
Commission at this point. But, they understand that their METHODOLOGY for
fulfilling it will grow out of their EMBRACING the Great Commandment.
If you are loving God with all and that love is pouring out into your
relationships then the METHODOLGY for what He is asking you to do will
be REVEALED as you OBEY how He tells you to love Him.
What does this mean?
If God is asking me to wait, I wait.
If God is asking me to pray, I pray.
If God is asking me to fast, I fast.
If God is asking me to be still, I am still.
By doing these things, I am embracing the Great Commandment and I as do,
the fulfilling of the Great Commission is the natural result.
There are those who are driven by traditional, modern mindsets who are
cringing here.
Boys bucking themselves out of the Punkin seats.
They were not necessarily going to be content on the sidelines
Knew they were not necessarily going to be compliant
Our Western world teaches us that when there is a problem, we problem
solve.
Our modern world teaches us that you have a plan, and you implement it.
Acts teaches us that when you have a problem you wait you pray you
fast you are still and then the power to solve the problem shows up.
And when it does, if you are told to speak, then you speak.
But even then, it is the power speaking through you that does the work.
And when it shows up, if you are told to give or to share or to serve,
then you give and you serve and you share.
But you do those things through the power and not in your own strength
Why did the Holy Spirit show up on the Day of Pentecost in such power and
might?
Obviously, it was part of Gods plan.
Jesus had foretold it.
But, do not miss the point here that those who were in the Upper Room that
day had positioned themselves to receive it.
They believed Jesus
They followed Jesus
They were repentant before Jesus
They sought Jesus
They sold out to Jesus
They obeyed Jesus
They waited
They fasted
They prayed
They believed
They were embracing the Great Commandment
They were not distracted by the work they needed to do
You see, when we know there is a lost world around us, we can get
distracted.
When we know there are people who are in our midst who are sick and dying,
we can get distracted.
We can take our eyes off of the Person of Jesus Christ and start looking
at the problem.
The Disciples had real problems but because of their focusing on Him,
their problems were resolved with the Power of the Holy Spirit
Do not miss this point If God is asking this Body to do something, then
the Power to do it will come from Him to do it. He is not asking us to do
it in our strength.
What is He asking us to do in our strength?
He asks us to seek Him but He promises to be found
He asks us to believe Him but He promises to give us faith
He asks us to pray to Him but He promises to answer
He asks to wait on Him but He promises to never leave us
What is He really asking us to do in our strength?
He is asking us to submit to yield to give it up to Him.
How do I know this?
Look again at example of Peter.
Throughout the NT, we see time and time again where Peter strikes out on
his own.
Jesus asks Peter to do something and Peter argues.
Jesus tells Peter something will happens and Peter argues.
Jesus gives Peter a job and Peter determines to do it his way
Even in John 21, when Jesus restores Peter, he still is questioning Him,
challenging Him and Jesus has to set him straight.
But here, in Acts 2 when the Power of the Holy Spirit shows up, Peter
realizes that the difference and there is never another question in
Peters mind
Throughout the remainder of Acts, there are issues which come up
But for Peter
It is more a revelation of God
o The need to address these things arises
Instead of trying to figure it out on his own
o No more doing it in his own strength
Never a need to know what to do about the Gentiles
o Until there were Holy Spirit filled Gentiles
Later, there is a discrepancy with Paul
o Resolved as they get together, talk, pray and fast
Once the Holy Spirit fills us, we realize the inadequacies of us
You like Hersheys kisses just fine until you taste Godiva chocolate
But, there is a mentioned here in Acts, an initial filling, but also a
constant filling. The Greek says they were filled as they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit.
As a church, there are those of us who have sought being filled.
There are those of us who have been filled.
There are those of us who have no idea what it means to be filled.
As we move ahead as a church, we need to be unified in realizing our need
to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
For us, as a congregation, we are in the Upper Room, waiting for the Holy
Spirit to come.
If your response to that is that there is work to be done my response to
you is that, yes, but there was work for the Disciples to do, too.
If you are afraid that we are going to become caught up in inertia again
if we dont plunge ahead and just start doing my response to you is that
Peter was rebuked over and over again as he just plunged in and started
doing.
If you are thinking, well, just last week we heard what the mission
statement of this church is and now you are saying to wait my response
to you is that Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, even as
they were on the way to Jerusalem to wait and they still waited before
they did anything.
They believed Jesus
They followed Jesus
They were repentant before Jesus
They sought Jesus
They sold out to Jesus
They obeyed Jesus
They waited
They fasted
They prayed
They believed
They were embracing the Great Commandment
They were not distracted by the work they needed to do
You see, Jesus is sending great power to do His work in this place.
There is no doubt.
And, God help us there is no doubt that it will take great power to do
the redemptive work in our families, in this community, in the lives of
these kids and their parents.
But our job is to seek Him to obey Him to worship Him.
Not just so that the Power will come.
We do not seek the blessing we seek the blesser.
We do not seek the power we praise the source of the Power.
We do not seek the results we worship Jesus and results happen
The ROCK begins Wednesday.
Does this sermon mean that we dont do it?
No.
But what it means is that this morning, we lift up the ROCK.
We ask God to make it what He wants it to be.
We tell God that we are waiting for Him to show up at the ROCK
We believe Jesus
We follow Jesus
We are repentant before Jesus
We seek Jesus
We sell out to Jesus
We obey Jesus
We wait
We fast
We pray
We believe
We embrace the Great Commandment
We are not distracted by the work we need to do
As we love Jesus with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and as we
love our neighbor as ourselves, then Jesus sends the Spirit to us and
the power to make disciples shows up.
Next week, well look more at what happens when the Power shows up.
But, for this week, Im asking us to really, sincerely, be diligent.
This altar is open if you need this morning to renew that commitment of
embracing the Great Commandment.
It is open if you need to repent.
It is open if youve been trusting in your strength instead of His.
It is open if you want more faith or more love or more power in your life.
Wait this week. Pray this week. Seek this week. Fast this week.
Lets all be committed to doing that in one accord.
Not so the power will come but because we realize that if the Power
doesnt come, our ability to obey the Great Commission rests in our
strength and that is not enough.
God has to empower us to fill us to refill us.
Without Him, we cannot do what He wants us to do.
Back To Sermons