THE SPIRIT COMES ON PENTECOST
We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or be used for a sermon group discussion.
Sermon Title: THE SPIRIT COMES ON PENTECOST
Main Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
If you’re going through this discussion with a community group this week, consider reading the provided scripture to catch everyone up!
Summary:
The church has been together in one accord for 10 days, praising, praying, and seeking the will of God, which was waiting for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Today, we’ll see how after 10 days the Holy Spirit came upon them, birthing the era of the Spirit-empowered church. This is called Pentecost. Christians have called themselves Pentecostal because they (we) seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be powerful witnesses of the gospel. Let’s read…
Notes:
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Acts 2:1-4
Can you imagine how powerful this would have been…I’ve been in prayer meetings where everyone around me is being filled with the Holy Spirit and you can tell because they are praying in tongues…it’s powerful. No wind or fire, but it almost sounds like it.
On the day of Pentecost…Why is this day called Pentecost?
Pentecost means the fiftieth day after the Passover. This was a harvest festival among the Jews. This day was also known as the “Feast of Weeks” (seven weeks) after Passover.
Pentecost was the second great festival of the Jewish year. It was a celebration of harvest when the first fruits of the grain harvest were presented as offerings to God. In a similar way, Pentecost symbolizes for the church the beginning of God’s spiritual harvest of souls in the world. -Fire Bible Study Note, pg. 1695.
The imagery and powerful experience of the Holy Spirit’s arrival
How would you know if the promised gift, the baptism of the Holy Spirit had arrived?
The experience and imagery are reminiscent of Old Testament encounters with God. The sound of a mighty windstorm filled the whole house where they were sitting. What looked like flames or tongues of fire rested on each of them. The sounds of mighty storms and fire are part of God’s glory and presence when Moses met with God or led the Israelites through the wilderness.
The wind and fire are signs for this event only. The constant and recurring sign of the filling and baptism of the Spirit is speaking tongues.
Filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues (languages) as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability…
“Speaking in tongues is a supernatural expression of God’s Spirit. It is a Holy Spirit-inspired way of speaking, praying, or praising God by which a Christian speaks in a language (Greek: glossa) they have never learned. When a person speaks in tongues, it may be an existing spoken human language (Acts 2:6). Or it may be a language unknown on earth (1 Cor. 13:1, where Paul mentions speaking in “languages of…angels”). -Fire Bible Study Note, pg. 1697.
“Speaking in tongues is not merely a matter of human will. The Holy Spirit initiates this manifestation. In full submission to the Spirit (“as the Spirit enabled them”), they speak and act as the Spirit leads them. Such utterances are not ecstatic speech or mere gibberish.” -Full Life Bible Commentary
The historical significance and purpose of this event…
This event marked a dividing line between the Holy Spirit’s occasional presence and temporary empowerment of certain individuals, as seen in the OT, and his continual presence and sustained empowerment now available to all of God’s people. On this day, he filled the believers with His presence and remained with them. -Fire Bible Study Note, pg. 1695.
The correlation between the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus for ministry and the Holy Spirit coming upon the church for ministry.
This is the beginning where the dwelling of God was no longer focused on the temple in Jerusalem but the dwelling place of the Ekklesia, the church, the people of God.
Acts 2:5-13
“Bewildered…completely amazed…How can this be?”
This Pentecostal experience got the attention of outsiders who were nearby and an audience formed. They were bewildered and completely amazed because they were speaking in at least 15 different languages. This was a miracle.
What were they speaking and prophesying in their native tongues? Praise “about the wonderful things God has done!”
With Jews gathered from around the world, this was an incredible opportunity to spread the gospel to the ends of the world.
“What could this mean?”
They understood the meaning of the words but not the purpose of this experience. Because they did not understand the purpose, some concluded that it had no purpose and accused them of being drunk.
Peter steps up…filled with the Holy Spirit…
Acts 2:14-21
“Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles…”
Peter addresses the crowd but is essentially giving a defense or explanation of what’s going on. He gives an apologia, which means a defense, and where we get the practice and study of apologetics, explaining and defending our faith to those who ask (1 Peter 3:15).
“Predicted long ago by the prophet Joel…”
The Spirit leads him to share how this event fulfills the prophecy in Joel 2:28-32.
This serves as evidence and a strong argument for what is taking place. They aren’t drunk, the Holy Spirit has come and filled them and they are prophesying.
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people…”
This Pentecostal experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues confirms they and we are living in the last days.
All people, every believer from any nation. Young and older men. Young and older women. Servants or people of every class.
“They will prophesy…”
In the Bible, to prophesy means to speak for God as His spokesman, “mouth” or to be His “mouthpiece.”
They were prophesying about the wonderful things God has done.
“See visions…dream dreams…”
Further evidence of the works of the Spirit would be dreams and visions. These kinds of experiences were ways of receiving prophetic revelation. Through dreams and visions, the Holy Spirit revealed divine truth to God’s people.
Visions and dreams are interchangeable here so they most likely occur while sleeping. However, there have more and more testimonies coming from the mission fields around the world that people are awake or asleep and seeing what looks like Jesus showing up and speaking to them.
Peter eludes to future signs of the last days in verses 19-20.
We believe these events have yet to occur but will. Bible teachers believe Peter is emphasizing that the Holy Spirit will continue to pour out even during the days when these signs in heaven and on earth occur until the second coming of Jesus. I agree.
“But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved…”
This should be our message until the day we die or Jesus returns…
Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we receive the power and help needed to fulfill this prophetic mission of bearing witness to the gospel!
APPLICATION:
The Mission of Pentecost
We should embrace Pentecost but not forget its purpose.
The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to equip a believer with His power to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. The purpose of Pentecost wasn’t to speak in tongues.
Too often in Christian circles, you’ll hear someone ask… “Have you spoken in tongues yet?” Speaking in tongues isn’t the goal, speaking or praying in tongues is the initial sign of baptism in the Spirit. It serves as an outward sign and gives believers assurance that they have been baptized in the Spirit. Let’s stop putting the cart before the horse. Let’s pursue the Spirit, let Him express His presence, but not forget His mission.
Pentecost in Acts 2 was missional to God and so it should be for us. Pentecost should encourage us to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit but also the mission of the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit fills us to help us share the good news with authority, anointing, and conviction or “convincement” in our delivery. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to demonstrate signs and miracles that help convince the unbeliever. All of this works together to lead unbelievers to saving faith in Christ (Mark 16:15-17).
Speaking in tongues occurs in personal and corporate settings.
Personal experience:
Typically, when someone is first baptized in the Holy Spirit and when someone is receiving fresh fillings. When someone is filled with the Spirit for the first time it is usually never for the congregation to receive a word that needs to be interpreted.
We can pray in tongues in our private prayer life to God when no one is around.
Corporate experience:
God has given the church body the gift of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues (Not everyone has these gifts) to speak a message of encouragement, warning, direction, or even correction from God.
A message in tongues can operate in a church service, small group, or prayer meeting. This message should be interpreted through the gift of interpretation if it’s being spoken out to the congregation (1 Corinthians 12:10).
Speaking in tongues is not only a gift for the church but also a sign to unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22).
In Acts 2:1-4 God gave the church the ability to speak unknown languages to them but known languages to the unbelievers present.
God used the miracle of speaking in different tongues to get the attention of the crowd and Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, ready to speak with courage and authority to share the good news.
Today, we could have a word in tongues and when it is interpreted it could hit an unbeliever (and believers) present in the room and be an exact word they needed to hear. This would be a sign that God hears their prayer or knows what they are going through and is drawing them to truly believe in Him through this experience.
We have recorded events in AG history, even recently, where someone was praying in tongues and a person could understand what it meant in their foreign language, but the person praying has never learned that language. Why? The Holy Spirit gave them this ability…
How is a believer filled with the Holy Spirit?
We need to remember the Holy Spirit is God, a person, not an it. There is definitely a relationship aspect here and we should pursue Him.
In your fellowship time with God, ask God for the Holy Spirit to come and fill you. Make yourself more available to receive from Him. Spend time in prayer and praise to God.
Check your motive. The disciples weren’t checking off a box. They were postured to receive because they wanted to serve and do God’s will. They had given their lives to serve God. I think this is often overlooked and shouldn’t be. Have you surrendered your life to serve and be used by God for His glory?
Discussion:
What did God use in this sermon to speak to your heart or situation?
Why was this Pentecostal experience so significant?
Why should our focus be on the seeking and filling of the Holy Spirit more than speaking in tongues?
How or when does someone be filled with the Holy Spirit?
If you have experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit what was it like?
What other notes did you highlight or write down that you would like to share?
The most important decision you will ever make!
Are you ready to experience salvation and be transformed? We encourage you to process this decision with a strong believer and when you’re ready say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, Amen!
We would love to know if you made the decision to accept this wonderful gift from God. Let us know here.
Pray Together
We hope you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!
