2013 Acts #3: an exposition of Acts 2:1-13. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, June 2, 2013.
Intro:
He was a thin, frail man in poor health. He was not much of a public speaker. A man with a brilliant mind no doubt. A first rate scholar. Yet his high, screeching voice was awfully annoying. His eyesight was poor and so when he delivered his sermon he was bent over the pulpit with his face inches from the paper and read the manuscript verbatim. Yet when he preached the atmosphere was electric. The congregation was overwhelmed with a sense of the presence of God. Everywhere he preached the churches were filled to capacity. Hundreds were converted. Entire villages were transformed. Not because of the powerful oratory of Jonathan Edwards but because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon his ministry.
Just over one hundred years later in New York City a layman by the name of Jeremiah Lampfier invited a few business associates to join him in a noontime prayer meeting. A handful attended the first meeting. There was no preaching. There were no “gospel presentations” just prayer. The next week a few more joined them. Within weeks the church was filled at noon with businessmen praying. Soon other churches were opening for prayer at noon. Before long there were prayer meetings in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. Across the country at noon men gathered in churches to pray. A spirit of revival had gripped the nation – not because of great preaching. Not because of persuasive appeals, not even because people prayed – but because God’s Spirit was poured out in abundance upon our nation.
We, as the church, have been given an assignment. We have been told to take the Gospel to the world. We have been called to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, to make disciples of all nations. It is a monumental task. It is an overwhelming assignment. It can only be accomplished by divine means. We are to preach. We are to give a gospel appeal. We are to pray but our task can only be accomplished by the power of God.
It is one of the most recognized passages in all the Scripture, especially in the New Testament. When you mention Acts chapter 2 immediately people think of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Here is what concerns me. We can get so focused on cataloguing the trees we fail to recognize we are looking at a forest! We get so concerned about staking out a position on the gifts manifested at this outpouring that we fail to see the greater message. This morning our text is found in Acts 2:1-13 as we consider a pivotal moment in the history of the church – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Text: Acts 2:1-13
- Luke is writing to his friend Theophilus.
- He wants Theophilus to understand the continuing work of Jesus through His church.
- Acts is volume 2 of his work.
- The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts need to be considered together.
Listen to Luke 24:49 – “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Now remember Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The emphasis of Luke, both in his Gospel and in Acts, is the empowerment of God for the task assigned. I’m convinced that is the real message of Pentecost. Because God has promised to empower his church with extraordinary power; and because the purpose of that empowering was to reach the world with the Gospel; and because that purpose has not been accomplished as of yet – we do not approach our text this morning with a mere academic interest in some distant, unrepeatable event. Rather we come with the prayer and expectation that God will again pour out his Spirit in Pentecostal power.
For Acts chapter 2 serves to remind us that:
Thesis: The ministry of the church demands Pentecostal Power.
There are three things I want us to note from our text this morning.
- The purpose of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power is to produce a great harvest of souls. (Acts 2:1-11, 41)
- This outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a sovereign, extraordinary work of God. (Acts 2:2-4)
- The essence of the outpouring of Holy Spirit is an overwhelming awareness of the presence and the greatness of God. (Acts 2:4,7,11)
Conclusion:
- Our task is great.
- Our assignment is overwhelming.
- It is well beyond our ability – but God has promised his power to accomplish the task.
May God send Pentecostal power to enable us to accomplish our task.