Rom 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15; Acts 2:1-21
Up until this time, there were a total of about 120 followers of Jesus. These were Jews who lived in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had known Jesus, most had seen him after his resurrection, all had heard him teach and seen miracles done by him.
They were aware that in Jesus, God was doing something new and different. The Kingdom of God had come, it was present because of Jesus, forgiveness and new life were available, but only 120 people knew about it. If this was good news for the world, then certainly God wanted more than 120 people to know. If Jesus is good news for the world, then the world needs to know.
These 120 could have formed a secret club and kept quiet. But God wanted something different. God loves all creation, the whole world, every person. God wanted something different than the world these 120 knew. The Holy Spirit became active in their world. They began to speak, we don’t even know what they were saying. The important thing is that the Spirit of God was active in Jerusalem, their world, and the thousands who were gathered for the Jewish Festival from all over the whole world were hearing people speak in language they could understand. There was confusion amongst them, and the best explanation some in the crowd could come up with was that these 120 were drunk. But Peter steps up and points out to them that this amazing thing is God at work. Since they were all Jews, he points out to them the words of the prophet Joel who spoke of an event like this, and that this was certainly the work of God among them.
Although the world each one of us experiences is different than first century Jerusalem, it is the same Holy Spirit at work. God’s mission is the same now as it was then. That all should experience new life in Christ, be forgiven, live in a whole relationship with God and with each other, and all be part of God’s kingdom which will have no end.
Slide 1: Pentecost Questions (title only)
So together, we’re going to live Pentecost today. We’re going to consider three Pentecost questions, the same ones those original disciples did, and see what Pentecost looks like in our world – specifically, your world.
These original disciples knew that God wanted something different in Jerusalem. Certainly good news like they had couldn’t be held to only 120 people. God wanted their world to be different.
Question #1: How would God like your world to be different?
They saw the Spirit active in Jerusalem. There were people speaking in languages that were native to the visitors in Jerusalem. Foreigners could understand these disciples. The Holy Spirit was active in the world as they experienced it.
Question #2: Where do you see the Holy Spirit active in the world you experience?
When there was confusion among the foreign visitors about what was going on, Peter stepped forward and pointed out that this was God’s activity. He used something these Jewish visitors would know, the prophet Joel, and pointed out that this wasn’t a delusion, or alcohol related, but made it clear that this was God’s activity -- so they could see God too.
Question #3: How can you point God out so that others can see God too? We’ll consider this as a community, so we’re going to learn from each other and therefore get a bigger picture of God at work.
We’ll briefly discuss each of these three questions in small groups, you’ll write down the responses (ushers will pass out paper to write on in a few minutes after discussion gets going), turn them in up here afterwards, and we’ll have them posted here next week. Together, we will become more aware of the power of the Spirit of God at work in our world.