Exeter Temple Message Notes: Pentecost Sunday 24th May 2015
Bible Readings: Acts 2:1-21 (Joel 2:23-32)
Peter explains that the events of the Day of
Pentecost are the fulfillment of Joel 2:23-32
1. The
beginning of the last days
God’s plan to rescue people from sin and to restore
a fallen world is unfolded through history in stages. Stage 1 was the establishment of a people of
God, who were to be a light to the nation, stage 2 was to send a Saviour. By the Day of Pentecost Stages 1 and 2 were
in operation. Now Peter declares it was
time for the final stage, the “last days” to be ushered into history.
Before this last stage the Holy Spirit had been
given to particular people at particular times for particular tasks but in the
last days the promise is as Peter declared in Acts 2:39 for you and your
children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.
The Last Days outpouring
of the Holy Spirit will not be confined to a small group of men....it will cross
all lines of sex and age!
We are still in the time of the Last Days. This means that the promise of Acts 2:39
includes us, you and me. We are the
people who are the sons and daughters, the servants, the men and women to whom
God wants to show the wonders of heaven.
So we do not just
commemorate Pentecost, we are invited to participate in and receive the promise
of what God is doing in these last days.
2. The pouring out of the Spirit
V 17 and v 18 “I will
pour out my Spirit” These verses follow a picture Joel paints about harvest and
rain.
Joel 2:24 “The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will
overflow with new wine and oil.” It is
a picture of harvest. A good harvest
requires rain. In Israel that meant spring (or former) and autumn (or latter
)rains
God will give a harvest,
because the latter rain will come.
Joel 2:23 “Be glad O people of Zion rejoice in the Lord your God because
he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant
showers.”
After referring to
autumn rains producing a harvest Joel talks about the Holy Spirit being poured
out and the harvest would be a people who once again would have a vision, a
knowledge of God and who would turn to him for salvation.
It was easy for Peter to
think about harvest because Pentecost was the first of three Jewish Harvest Festivals. As Peter looks around
him, at people energized and declaring a vision of God sees that it is raining.
The “latter rain” of the Spirit has come!
Some people remained untouched by
what was going on and sneered. For them God was in the law and the prophets,
not in the wind and in the tongues of fire. God was in the Temple, not in the
street outside. God was where they always thought God would be and nowhere
else.
Do we think like that sometimes?
Do we keep God locked up
or assigned to those places where we’ve always known Him to be, our church, our
prayers, our hymns, our narrow thinking and so forth?
3. Pentecost means a universal invitation to salvation (v. 21)
At Pentecost, the believers were given the ability
to speak the gospel in foreign languages so that everyone could understand.
The list of nations
represented links to the continents in the then known world.
It would have been
amazing if fellow human beings bothered enough to speak to them in their own
language but the attention of the believers was upon God. It began to dawn upon the crowd that it was
God himself who was making a point of bothering to speak to them in their own
language.
All of this is brought together when Peter quotes Joel 2.32:
"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved."
It was as if Peter was saying, “God has opened up the communication channels to
you today, now if you, in turn call upon him you will find salvation!”
Here we have once again
the graciousness and wideness of the mercy of God. Whoever, calls upon the name
of the Lord will be saved. That’s good
news and it is the message we are called to proclaim in the power of the
Spirit.
Questions
1. What part of the story of Pentecost appeals to you the most?
What stands out for you in this passage?
2.
Imagine that as you sit together
in a worship service waiting to hear
from God that all of a sudden you heard a sound like the blowing of a violent
wind from heaven and it filled the whole house where you were sitting. Then
imagine that you all saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and
came to rest on each of you. All of you were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled you. What would go
through your mind?After reading this account and imagining your reaction to it, how do you
feel right now about asking God to pour out His Spirit on you? Why?
4.
Not everyone was positive about what was happening. What are some ways
that we can limit the effects of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
5.
What would you say to someone who asked you how they could be filled
with the Spirit?
God bless
Alan and Carol
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