Believe and Turn - Sermon on Acts 11:19-21 & Numbers 21 4-9

We’re continuing in our sermon series which is an unpacking of the Acts 11 passage by looking into the different key phrases we find in the passage.

This morning I want to pick up on the phrase “Believe and Turn”. It’s a phrase found right near the beginning of the Acts 11 passage – so we’ll start by reading just the first few verses there to see it in context.

“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

May God bless to us the reading of his Holy Word, now and forever.

Let us pray. Father may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and bring you honour and glory. Thank you for your word to us this morning. In Jesus name Amen.

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Believe and turn.

When I first saw this phrase my initial reaction was “I’ll probably pick that one last!” I’m not entirely sure why – I think it has something to with how I associated it with the ‘turn or burn’ sermon style… a frightening sermon where the minister would threaten the congregation with judgement and hell if they didn’t turn and believe.

But then I read the passage again, and again, and suddenly this phrase actually became appealing. I began to see it in a different light altogether. One of the Bible stories that I believe can help us understand this phrase well comes from the Old Testament – Numbers 21

The background to this text is that it takes place during the 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Israelites received the Law at Mount Sinai, travelled to the borders of Canaan where the twelve spies went in and brought back reports – ten of them saying – we cannot do this, its impossible, and only Joshua and Caleb saying, Yes there are giants, but the Lord is on our side – we can do this! 

The people trust the 10 spies over the two and God declares that because of their lack of trust in him, they would wander for 40 years before being able to enter into the land again. God has been providing food in the form of Manna – bread from heaven, and by sending flocks of quail for meat. He’s provided water in miraculous ways, like pouring out of a rock. And yet time and again the people lose faith, complain and begin to look back to Egypt. In the beginning of chapter 21, God has just given them victory over a King who attacked them. And so we begin our reading in verse 4:

“They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then wen anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

Believe and turn.

There are a couple of interesting things to pick up in the passage. Firstly, this is the harshest complaint against the Lord given – “We detest this miserable food.” No bread, no water. And yet time and time again God has provided for them. They have again forgotten that the provision they receive daily is pure grace. They don’t have to harvest wheat and bake bread – they’re in a desert. There is nothing… and yet God provides his Bread to nourish and sustain them. Purely by grace. And they at first battle t trust that it will arrive every day – yet God is proved faithful there. Now they are so used to it arriving that they now despise it. How shallow, how arrogant… and yet how human. Are we not like this? We simply expect our provisions because we believe that we’ve worked or studied or gotten the job we have by our own sweat, and therefore nothing dare threaten it. Because we deserve it. It’s a powerful reminder that all we have, our sweat and blood, our very next breath, our ability to work, the job we have – are gifts, they’re a grace.

The other interesting thing to notice is that God doesn’t do what they ask… Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. God doesn’t take the snakes away. Rather he provides a way to escape the death that follows. And the provision comes through believing Him to provide healing and then turning from wherever they are, and whatever they are doing and gazing upon the snake of bronze, lifted up high to be seen by all. Fast-forward about 1500 years… Jesus applied this well-known event to his own lifting up on the cross. In the conversation he has with Nicodemus, the Pharisee in John 3, He said, “As Moses lifted up the snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Then,” said Jesus, “Everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The symbol of the snake on the pole, while Moses and the Israelites at the time had no idea, was one of the many pointers to Christ, the promised Messiah, and it was a picture of what He would do not only for the Israelites, but for all mankind.

Many times in Scripture, snakes or serpents are indicative of sin. We see the snake In the Garden of Eden – and because of that people may question, how Jesus can equate Himself hanging on the cross with the snake hanging on the pole – and yet while Jesus hung on the cross, he was covered and carrying the sin of the world, the brokenness of humanity from the moment time began until it will end one day – all the filth and evil and despair that goes with it was poured onto him. His physical suffering there, while terrible, was only part of the terrible agony. And so covered by sins, your and mine, he is separated from God. And so a snake is a fitting symbol, because all of our sin hung on that cross with Jesus.

Believe and turn.

Just as the snakes were not taken away, so sin has not been removed from our world yet. We still see the effects of it all around us, and we still see its effects inside us. We don’t have to look far to see brokenness and injustice in our world. We have all been touched by grief, by illness, by the insensitivity of another. And while we are being changed inside, we still struggle and fight sin within. Paul writes in Romans 7,

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

And then beautifully, in the last verse of the chapter – he answers his own question:

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This is belief. I believe that sin does not have the final say. I believe that brokenness does not rule my life. I believe that evil will not win in the world. I believe that I cannot fix this myself. I believe that Jesus has done it for me, and for you, and for the world.

When the men from Cyprus and Cyrene brought the good news to the Greeks in Antioch – this was the good news they brought. Your sins do not need to rule over you, they will no longer bring death. Just as the Israelites could believe in God healing them when looking upon the serpent, we can believe in God saving us too – by looking upon the cross.

And this is what we sing of – In How great Thou Art we sing the words:

And when I think that God his son not sparing,

Sent him to die - I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

The hymn it is well with my soul has this verse:

 My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

This is what we believe.

And because this is what we believe – we turn. Acts 11 says,

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Just as those bitten in the desert, acted in belief and literally would turn from where they were towards the bronze snake to look up at it – so because of their belief in Antioch, because of what we believe, we turn to the Lord.

In Christian lingo we use the word repentance. But it’s important to remember that it is not repentance that saves us, but rather the sign that I believe what I believe. It goes together. The belief in God’s healing resulted in a turning to the snake on the pole, the belief in God’s salvation for us, results in us turning to the cross. Oswald Chambers explains it like this:

“There is a danger to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience that puts me right with God? Never! I am put right with God because prior to all else, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, instantly the stupendous atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God. By the miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus has done. The salvation of God does not stand on human logic; it stands on the sacrificial death of Jesus. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures by the marvellous work of God in Christ Jesus, which is prior to all experience.”

And so the turning is as a result of what we believe, is as a result of what Christ has already done for us.

And so there are two responses from this for us today. If believing and turning is something you have never done, if you have never come to the point where you have recognised that because of your sin and brokenness, you cannot save yourself – then there is the call to salvation, where I can say, Listen – this is what Jesus has done for you and it is a beautiful thing – freely available to everyone, everywhere – it is a gift– believe and turn! Believe that he has done it, turn to Him, and receive his salvation. Turn to Him, talk to Him this morning, admit this to Him, thank Him for the cross and ask Him to live in you and change you, to be your Lord from today onwards.

But many of you here have done that – many of you have been walking with Jesus, loving and serving him as Lord for many many years.

To you I would encourage two things.

Remember what you believe. Be reminded of the horror and the beauty of the cross. Remember that this free gift cost God his very heart – the life of his only Son. Remember that it was done because he loves you. Remember that you didn’t do this – That He did it all.

And then turn…  Because turning is not a once off thing. We turn each Sunday when we come here and pray our prayer of confession, we turn away from the things that have kept us from God and begin again, in fact every time we come to God and confess our sins we are turning to Him.

But I believe that it goes even further than that. Every day we are faced with choices. Every single choice we make turns us towards God or away from Him. CS Lewis talks about this in his book Mere Christianity, where he argues that each choice we make either journeys us towards becoming a more heavenly being, or more hellish. Every moral choice we make is either saying yes to God and to His ways, or No. Either moving us towards Him, or further away. The choice of getting up this morning and coming to church, a time where you could focus on Him and worship… The choice of reaching out in kindness to someone even if it costs us precious time. The choice of telling the truth even when we feel it will count against us. The choice of speaking hopelessness and negativity, or speaking life. Each of these choices is a turning.

Believe and turn.

I pray that this morning the reality of your salvation will be real to you once again… that you will realise as the Israelites did with the snakes, that Jesus is our only hope – and because of that has become our everything. I pray that you remember what it is that you believe and be amazed once again by its beauty. I pray too that you will always choose when confronted by the snake of sin, to turn to the cross, to choose Jesus and His way.

Let us pray.

Good News! - Sermon on Acts 11:19-30

Good morning!

We begin a new series this morning based on our Theme for the year – Back to the Future. Our key text for this theme is Acts 11:19-30, so if you’ll turn there with me in your Bibles...

“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When we arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples each according to his ability decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”

May God bless to us the reading of his Holy Word.

Let us pray. Father may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and bring you honour and glory. Thank you for your word to us this morning. In Jesus name Amen.

This text teaches us about a church that is vibrant and growing. A church where there is evidence of the grace of God. A church where there is solid teaching and encouragement during a difficult time. A church that reached out to others, that was generous and trusted God with their best. And all of this began because some men from Cyprus and Cyrene decided that this news about Jesus was so good, they couldn’t keep it in house any longer – they couldn’t only tell the Jews, and so travelling to Antioch they begin telling this news to the Greeks who live there too and a Church grew – a church so dynamic that they were called Christians. Little Christ’s.

And so we will be unpacking this text, and unpacking phrases within this text over the next few weeks to understand what God was doing among them. We have looked at our four words of Worshipping, Missional, Dynamic and Authentic – and now we are starting to look at the different phrases you see on the banner at the back of the Church – the Banner that reads, Called Christians and Remain true and God’s grace, and Believe and turn…

This morning however I want to focus on the phrase “Good news” that was preached to them. Verse 20 reads:

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

 The word Gospel is also translated as good news – and throughout the New Testament is used around a hundred times.

We hear of Jesus preaching the Good news of the kingdom, at Jesus birth the angels declare Good news of great joy for all people, Mark begins his gospel by saying that he’s writing the gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God. And throughout the epistles we are told that the Good news is about peace through Jesus who is Lord of all, and that the Gospel is the power of God to bring salvation to all.

But what is this Gospel? And why is it good news?

Chuck Colson, a Christian writer and man who did incredible work in the prisons of America, wrote that at a convention he was attending, primarily with others in Christian leadership, he asked the question to the table he was sitting at – What is the Gospel? And was shocked that very few of them could actually articulate it. You will often hear stories of missionaries or evangelists who travel somewhere say by plane, and on the journey strike up a conversation with the business man sitting next to them – and share the gospel… And we all smile and say that is wonderful – but have you stopped to consider – what did he actually say? How did he unpack this gospel for the person sitting beside him?

At Emmanuel we have taught this many times. In 2013 we ran the “Just walk across the room” course, which taught a way to explain the Gospel in simple terms, in the new members course and in confirmation we look at the Gospel according to Joe, a cartoon that many of you will know with God offering a relationship and Joe choosing his own way, but then a cross bridging the gap and allowing Joe to come back into that relationship, we’ve also had many children’s addresses that explain using different coloured cardboard or beads for the Gospel.

In Scripture – Paul unpacks the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 saying:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.

Peter, in his very first sermon preached on Pentecost Sunday – preached the Gospel like this:

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man  accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,^[d]put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

And throughout Acts, whenever you read what the disciples spoke of, they speak of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

And so each Sunday, we stand here, and we preach the Gospel. We speak of the cross and why it was important, we speak of the life of Jesus and how he is God, we speak of the resurrection as the central truth to all we hold onto and believe.

And so the good news is that God – the God Almighty, became one of us, to do what we could not do. He made a way for us to know Him and be in relationship with Him – in spite of our sins, in spite of our brokenness, in spite of the filth of the world… he loves us so much, that he took that on to Himself, and all the punishment that deserves. So that we, believing in Him, recognising Him as Lord, might be free from sins power, and from death.

And there are three elements I want to look at this morning just to emphasise why this is really good news, in fact, why this is the best news you will ever hear. I desperately want this to be real in our lives. It can be so easy to say and hear the right words, words like salvation and eternal life and freedom from sin, and yet never actually equate them to how that practically changes my life or my community. How is my Christianity good news for me… How has this good news that I know, impacted those around me?

Firstly it means that God has not forsaken us.

We have not been abandoned. No one in the world has ever been abandoned. God, who created you, who formed you personally in the womb of your mother, God has been with you and will be with you. If you look at the person next to you, God has been with them too. Always.

Our world is on a downward spiral. There is plenty bad news which tends to only get worse. Our country at the moment in fact is in a state of desperation and our leadership is failing. The world news simply carries stories of war and brokenness and heartache.

Where is God?

God has not abandoned us. God is in the midst of us. God suffers with us. God will make it right.

That is some really good news right there. While it may look hopeless – it is not. While it may look dark, there is always light. While the world throws muck and greed and deceit, we can remember that God was born in the muck of a stable, lived as a refugee because of the greed of a King, and was betrayed by the deceit of a friend.

The good news to tell to a lonely and scared world is that God is here. He has not forsaken us. And he has the power to put things right.

The second thing which builds on this concept, the second piece of good news – is that this does not depend on us. This offer of a new way of living, this offer of hope is not because we’ve earned it, or because we ticked the right boxes.

The Bible clearly tells us that it is while we were sinners that Christ died for us. Most Gospel presentations begin with God creating us for relationship with him, but we rejected him and went our own way, Romans 5:8 reads

“But God, demonstrates his own love for us in this, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In a world that drills the concept into our heads that everything we get is based on merit and work and achievement. You earn respect you don’t just get it. We have sayings like, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’, or ‘You get nothing for nothing in this world’.  

And yet here is a love that is offered freely, a gift, because of who God is, not because of who we are.

And so in this world that is pushing us to perfection and getting it right all the time, and achieving the next thing and striving and getting and rushing and going…

Here, in this place, we say No. That’s not what this is about.

Here it is ok to be broken, to fail, to learn, to stumble, to stop striving and to simply be. Here you are loved. Here you are accepted. Here God does the work when we simply trust Him to do it. This is not about improving your self-esteem. This is not a self-help plan. This is coming to the place of admitting, We can’t do it. We can’t get it right. And that’s why Jesus died. That’s why it’s been done.

Take a moment to realise that nothing you can do (or you have done) will ever make God love you less, on the flip side, nothing you can do will make him love you more. You are loved.

And because we are loved we live differently. Our lives change because of what God does in and through us.

The good news is that God has not forsaken us. The good news is that this love isn’t earned, it’s given.

Finally – the Good news is that we now have purpose and meaning in our lives. Good news is made for sharing. The disciples in Acts 4 when brought before the religious leaders respond by saying:

“For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard”

The men of Cyprus and Cyrene couldn’t keep this good news to themselves – in fact they couldn’t even keep it to the Jews, it was so good it needed to be told. And in doing so it changed an entire community.

The purpose we have, is to live lives of love. To love others enough to tell them Good news. To love others enough to serve them as Jesus did for us. To love others enough to see them as God sees them – and to live as a transformed community.

To finish then, I want to read a quote from John Piper. It just takes us back to the point that all of this is all about Jesus. The Good news is that Jesus came lived, died, and rose again to forgive us and reconcile us back to Him – John Piper simply expands on this and it is, I believe, a beautiful way to end.

"Forgiveness of sins and justification are good news because they remove obstacles to the only lasting, all-satisfying source of joy: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not merely the means of our rescue from damnation; he is the goal of our salvation. If he is not satisfying to be with, there is no salvation. He is not merely the rope that pulls us from the threatening waves; he is the solid beach under our feet, and the air in our lungs, and the beat of our heart, and the warm sun on our skin, and the song in our ears, and the arms of our beloved.

The words Jesus will speak when we come to heaven are: "Enter into the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:21). The prayer he prayed for us ended on this note: "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory" (John 17:24). The glory he wants us to see is the "unsearchable riches of Christ." It is "the immeasurable riches of [God's] grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

The superlatives "unsearchable" and "immeasurable" mean that there will be no end to our discovery and enjoyment. There will be no boredom. Every day will bring forth new and stunning things about Christ which will cause yesterday's wonder to be seen in new light, so that not only will there be new sights of glory everyday, but the accumulated glory will become more glorious with every new revelation.

The gospel is the good news that the everlasting and ever-increasing joy of the never-boring, ever-satisfying Christ is ours freely and eternally by faith in the sin-forgiving death and hope-giving resurrection of Jesus Christ.

May God give you "strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18-19)."

I pray that as you go into your week – remember there is Good good news. Don’t keep it to yourselves.

Let us pray.

"and you will receive power..."Acts 1 & 2, Pentecost Sermon

Acts chapter 2:1-13

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested^[a] on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

May God bless to us this reading of his Holy word.

Let us pray: Father, be with us through the power of your Spirit this morning – may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you – our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

The picture we have here is of the disciples praying together. 52 days ago Jesus was crucified and these guys scattered. One betrayed him. One denied him. The rest fled and hid. None except John even made an appearance at the cross – the moment that the Lord Jesus needs them, needs care and support, the moment he is most lonely – these men abandoned him.

50 days ago… the unthinkable happens. Women who go to anoint his body return running with the news that Jesus is not dead! He is alive. And suddenly he starts appearing among them, he reassures them, he eats some fish, he shows Thomas his scars, he cooks breakfast on the beach and has a beautifully forgiving conversation with Peter, he spends a day walking with a couple to Emmaus and breaks bread with them and for the next 40 days reminds them that this was all part of the plan… Remember back I told you this would happen. Understand now that everything changes. I have conquered death, I have beaten sin – and you do not have to be afraid.

10 days ago… we read in Acts chapter one, that they gather together and ask him about the end of Roman rule, and the hope that the kingdom will be restored to Israel. Jesus must have smiled when he replied that it wasn’t for them to know the timing of everything… But…

But – and here comes the important bit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end to the earth.

And then as he is speaking – he rises through the air and leaves.

I don’t know about you – but I would be thinking to myself – again!!! He’s going again! We thought we had lost him at the crucifixion, we thought he was gone, we grieved and mourned and wondered at the meaning of it all. But then he was back – it’s been wonderful – and now he’s gone again.

He may have told them to not be afraid… but they are. They hide out in an upper room, and they wait, and they pray.

For ten days they hide and they pray.

And they hold onto the truth that if he was able to rise from the dead, then he is able to come through on his promise of the Spirit.

And that’s when Pentecost happens. As they are praying the heavens open and the Spirit arrives – in power and beauty and strength. And suddenly they are no longer afraid. Suddenly we see them bursting out the house and telling everyone they can see – never mind the language… you have to know this news. The promise has come true – and the promise is for everyone.

And the promise is still fulfilled today.

The reading we did from Joel 2 included verses 28 and 29:

^28 [d] “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
²⁹ Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

What made the difference? What did the Spirit do inside these men and women that changed them from hiding, from denying, from bewildered and alone to courageous, certain and faithful? What does this mean for us today?

In Acts chapter 1, Jesus tells them that they will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

This morning I want to explore what this means. Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit in so many of our churches has been regarded in two ways – either he has been largely ignored, or at the other end of the spectrum, he has been relegated to the the spooky and way-out spiritual realm. People start getting nervous at the mention of his name. And yet most of the time, the Spirit works quietly and beautifully among the ordinary things of life, and makes them extraordinary.

In order to look at this power that is promised, we need to clarify a few things about the Spirit first – unfortunately not having heard Doug’s series you may have covered some of these things – in which case see this as a recap!

The Spirit is one of the Trinity – Fully God, equal with the Father and the Son, yet distinct. We see Him working from the beginning of Scripture where at creation he is hovering over the waters – to Revelation where the Spirit and the bride together look forward to the return of Christ. He is a person not an impersonal force – someone with whom we can relate to – there are passages which mention how he speaks to us, how we can grieve him, how he can be insulted or lied to, that he teaches and counsels, that he gives gifts as he chooses and he prays for us. We see Him represented throughout Scripture as fire, as the wind or breath, as a life giving stream and as a companion. Before our story in Pentecost we see the Spirit empowering people for specific moments – to prophesy, or to do beautiful craftsmanship, or to interpret dreams or to lead well. But at Pentecost He is given freely to all.

And each of us here who knows Christ, who entrusted our lives into his care and have resolved to follow Him – each of us here have the Spirit within us. In fact it was His work in our lives that brought us to the point of salvation. 1 Corinthians 12:3 tells us that claiming Jesus as Lord of our lives is possible only through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So he is among us here – he is with us and within us. He took up residence in our hearts when we said Yes to Jesus and He is the same Spirit who took up residence in the hearts of the disciples at Pentecost almost 2000 years ago.

And as Jesus says to us:

You will receive power…. when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

In today’s world we often feel the opposite though. On a global scale we hear about what is happening in Northern Africa – where Christians are being martyred publicly, we hear about the earthquake in Nepal and the thousands who have lost their lives or everything that made life worth living, social media and newspapers bombard our minds with images of hunted rhino, starving families, crime and brutality. And we feel powerless.

Here in South Africa we struggle with a corrupt government, and inefficient departments. We are being load-shed and water-cut. We face massive unemployment and huge anger at the discrepancy between rich and poor. We hear statistics of 5.5million orphans. And we feel powerless.

But it’s even more personal than that. We watch a friend struggling through the pain of cancer, or fight a relationship that is breaking down, we are treated unjustly at work or battle the growing pile of bills that arrive at the end of each month. Perhaps we even appear to have it all together on the outside while inside we cry out with loneliness and confusion. We feel powerless in so many situations.

Where is this power we are promised? Why does the Spirit seem so quiet? Where is the good news?

In the book of John – in chapters 14-16, Jesus talks a great deal about the Spirit, who he is and what he will do – and I encourage you to take some time to read through all three chapters.

But looking through them, firstly we are told that he, the Spirit, gives Life.

14:18-19 reads

“I will not leave you as orphans – I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me anymore but you will see me. Because I live you also will live.” 

The new life that we live in Jesus comes because the Spirit lives in us and it is his life we now live. It is this life that will see us through into eternity. It is this life that is unending and that has a glorious promise attached. The promise that one day we will live to see justice reigning. We will see the evils of cancer and pain and corruption and brokenness thrown down into the pit defeated. A time will come where all will be made right. This is our ultimate hope – that we have nothing to fear because even the worst – even death is not the end but the beginning of all that is true and beautiful and right. The disciples’ courage came from this deep knowledge that the authorities could kill them, burn them, destroy them – but couldn’t touch their souls. Couldn’t take away the truth that they will see Jesus again, that they will see their friends and loved ones again. Death has been swallowed up in victory – it has been swallowed up by life.

The second thing we are told is in verse 26 of chapter 14:

“But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you everything I have said to you.”

The Spirit gives us power to understand and remember and be encouraged by God’s word. Have you ever sat in a sermon and felt as though the minister had looked through your personal diary and was preaching right at you? That’s the Spirit speaking. Or have you found that more often than not your daily devotion seems to be so exactly right for the day you are about to face… or sometimes when you are reading Scripture – something just jumps out at you, or suddenly you see it in a new way? All this is the Spirit speaking. When you are in a difficult spot or struggling with something or speaking to someone and suddenly a verse pops into your mind that you hadn’t thought of in years – All of This, is the power of the Spirit - Him reminding you.

I’m here.

I’m alive.

I’m with you.

I’ve got this.

The very next verse says this

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

One of the most powerful gifts the Spirit gives is peace – in the battles we face, in the fears we fight, in the storms we endure – we are given peace.

Our Emmanuel congregation has a crises prayer sms group – around 100 people have signed up for it and when there is a crises, like Doug’s sister for example – an sms goes out to all 100 people who then and there pray for the situation. What is incredible is that so often we hear testimonies from those who have been prayed for that at that moment, it feels as though someone is putting a warm blanket around their shoulders. At that moment – regardless of the situation – a peace that passes understanding enters their soul.

The Spirit of power does His work.

Peace that defeats fear.

Chapter 15 speaks of fruit – and the Spirit gives us power to bear the fruit of peace – but also of other attributes. Galatians 5:22 tells us that His fruit is

“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control”

We are given the power to love the unlovely, to have joy in the midst of heartache, peace in the fury of war, kindness and gentleness in a world that values arrogance and sarcasm, goodness in spite of evil, faithfulness while surrounded by betrayal and self-control in a society that celebrates self-indulgence. We are different because of the Spirit’s power.

And the end of chapter 15 calls us to testify to this difference – be different and know why you are different. Verse 26 says, “The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father he will testify about me.”

It is this presence, this power in our lives that will testify about Jesus to a world that is so hungry for Him.

Chapter 16:13 reads “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you…” The Spirit will also whisper to us words of guidance and direction. Jesus when talking about being the good shepherd says, “My sheep know my voice.” As we grow in our relationship with Him, the Spirit enables us to hear Him speak and be prompted and directed by His whispers. And this is beautiful – these are the times where you sense the need to call someone, or go visit – and when you do you find that in a mischievous way God has been at work. And sometimes it’s more than this – sometimes we hear of a need and realise that God is saying to us – “Go! I’m sending you” People are hungry – you go feed them. People are outcasts – you go accept them. People are in despair – you go… take my light. People simply need someone to talk to – you go… listen. The Spirits power enables us to hear God’s will for our lives.

The Spirit also gives us the power to pray. In Chapter 16 Jesus also says we can ask for things in His name, and through the Spirit not only will our joy be complete in this, but we will be able to pray with power. Romans 8:26 reads

“the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…”

In those times where we run out of words, in those times where we don’t know what is right or what is best, in those times where we simply cry out to God for Help – we can know that the Spirit is praying for us with the words we don’t even have language for. There is power in prayer because He is praying even when we cannot.

So many times when we speak of the Spirit’s power we think of the prophecy and tongues, or miracles and words of knowledge. And yet the Spirit’s power is real and tangible in so many more ways than that. Yes he still heals today. Yes there is prophecy and tongues and miracles – and what a joy it is to see Him at work like that. But that will need to be another whole sermon.

This morning I want you to realise that His power is a daily provision for you – a gift from God that enables you to live life fully. He lives within us so that when we hear about terrible situations in the world he gives us the ability to pray even when we don’t know what we should be asking for. We can take situations of war and conflict and simply ask for Him to work trusting that the Spirit will continue the conversation with the Father long after we have said Amen.

He lives within us with power when we watch our country struggle and enables us to live with joy even when circumstances are dire and news is negative. He enables us to face uncertainty with courage, he prompts us into actions where He can work through us to change things, He gives gifts of patience and self-control that diffuse situations and bring him glory.

He strengthens us with power to believe in eternity when journeying with our friend with cancer. He gives us wisdom to heal relationships, and trust to believe that he will provide when bills pile up. He gives us peace when our world feels as though it’s collapsing.

This is the power of the Spirit.

And our role is to trust Him. Trust Him that you have new life and therefore nothing to fear. Trust Him to speak to you through His word, and that he will whisper guidance in moments of need. Trust Him to provide peace in the storm and to grow fruits of love and joy and gentleness and self-control in your life. Trust him to use your life as a witness to testify in the lives of others. And trust that he loves you so much, that he is praying for you continuously – and that when we pray, we are simply joining in.

Pentecost is a time where we celebrate the Spirit. Where we recognise Him for who he is and praise him for all He does. Remember Jesus words to us – you will receive power… when the Holy Spirit comes and so you will be my witnesses.

I pray that as you go into your week you may recognise the signs of the Spirit at work in your life. I pray that you will experience his power as you read His word, as you go to work, as you wake up and as you go to sleep – that you will know you are never alone. I pray that you will trust in this power at work in your life – and come to know and love him more because of it.

Let us pray.