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May 28, 2023

Pentecost

Pentecost

Passage: Acts 2:1-13

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: That’s the Spirit: Learning to keep in step with Him who indwells

Keywords: holy spirit, amazed, pentecost, cut to the heart, astonished, repent and be baptized, tongues of fire, you and your household, bewildered, mighty rushing wind, speaking in other tongues/languages

Pentecost was the genesis of the church. While it functions as an amazing historical event, what, if anything, does it have to do with the modern church? This unique historical event reveals much about the nature of the Holy Spirit and his work to build bridges between Jesus’ followers and the world.

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Psalm 150

LEADER: Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
ALL: 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

LEADER: 3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

ALL: 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/SCRIPTURE READING/CORPORATE PRAYER: John 4:23-24

LEADER: A reading from John 4. “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God.

CONFESSION OF SIN: Adapted from The Worship Sourcebook

ALL: Almighty God, you poured out your Spirit upon gathered disciples creating bold tongues, open ears, and a new community of faith. We confess that we often ignore the power of your Spirit among us. We do not listen for your word of grace, speak the good news of your love, or live as a people made one in Christ. Have mercy on us, O God. Transform our timid lives by the power of your Spirit and fill us with a burning desire to be your faithful people, doing your will for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

LEADER: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. And if the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through the Spirit, who lives in us. —from Romans 8:1-2, 11, NIV

ALL: Thanks be to God.

BENEDICTION:

LEADER: May the Spirit of truth lead you into all truth, giving you grace to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and to proclaim the wonderful works of God; and the presence of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you always.

ALL: Amen

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 3:2; 13:21-22; 14:21-23; 19:18; 40:38
  • 2 Samuel 22:16
  • Isaiah 4:5 
  • Ezekiel 1:4; 13:13; 37:1-10
  • Luke 1:15
  • John 4:23-24
  • Acts 9:17; 10; 13:52;26:25
  • Romans 8:11
  • 1 Corinthians 12-14
  • Ephesians 5:18

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Read Acts 2:1-13. What surfaced/stuck out to you? 
  2. In Acts 2, the room is filled with a rushing wind and tongues of fire rested on the disciples. What do those often symbolize in the scriptures (c.f. Exodus 13:20-22 and Ezekiel 37:1-10)? How do those other instances help us understand Acts 2? 
  3. Read Genesis 11:1-9. What did God do to confuse the people of Babel? Why did he confuse their language? How is Pentecost something of a reversal of Babel? How does the Spirit empower us to build bridges between others rather than towers for ourselves?
  4. In what ways was Pentecost unique for the first disciples? While it was a unique event, can you name some present-day implications of pentecost? (Hint: Abraham Kuyper compared Pentecost to a one-time turning on of a reservoir for a city)  
  5. Can you think of ancient and/or modern examples of Christians who loved God in both spirit and truth, carrying in themselves both the fire of God’s presence and a deep compassion for others? If so, praise God for them and then ask him to help you do the same. 

QUOTES: 

 

  • Suppose that a city whose citizens for ages have been drinking each from his own cistern proposes to construct a reservoir that will supply every home. When the work is completed the water is allowed to run through the system of mains and pipes into every house…Here we notice two things: the distribution of the water took place but once, which was the formal opening of the waterworks, and could take place but once; while the distribution of the water in the upper city, altho extraordinary; was but an after-effect of the former event. This is a fair illustration of what took place in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Abraham Kuyper

  • When the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to put his faith in Christ, his heart is also filled by the same Holy Spirit with a holy desire wholeheartedly to obey Christ and turn from all sin. Those thus converted to Christ, are, on their confession or profession of faith, admitted into the society of the church and into all the mysteries of the faith. John Owen 

     

  • Indeed, in the triune God is the love behind all love, the life behind all life, the music behind all music, the beauty behind all beauty and the joy behind all joy. Michael Reeves

  • We may have assumed the mind and the heart could be divorced, but as it turns out, they are forever married. They aren’t the problem. They’ve been trying to work together. We’re the ones that have tried to separate them, and so we must cease pulling them apart, take a breath, and just come to God as we are - a mess that cannot be untangled or rightly examined, layer by later, by anyone but Him. Kathryn Maack
  • Indeed, I am aware of the fact that the whole of conversion to God is understood under the term “repentance”, and faith is not the least part of conversion [...] On this account, in my judgment, repentance can thus be well defined: it is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of our flesh and of the old man, and in the vivification of the Spirit. John Calvin
  • [T]he danger which constantly faces both new believers and long-time Christians is the temptation to think of the first conversion as everything and to forget that repentance and faith include a continuing, radical reorientation of the life toward God. Hear what John Murray says: ‘Christ's blood is the laver of initial cleansing but it is also the fountain to which the believer must continuously repair. It is at the cross of Christ that repentance has its beginning; it is at the cross of Christ that it must continue to pour out its heart in the tears of confession and contrition.’ Jack Miller
  • If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead. Tim Keller

 

BOOKS / DOCS

SERMONS

  • Tim Keller’s final address to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City before his death on May 19, 2023.