You can find the video here: https://www.facebook.com/RichlandNaz/videos/607584639843002/
Hey everybody – Let’s do some more fun things today. Take a selfie while you’re watching the live stream, and post it in the comments.
So – let’s talk some more today about sharing the Good News. We share good news all the time – maybe not THE Good News, but we share things we are excited about. The thing of it is, the Good News is not just for us. God’s Good News, or the Gospel, is putting all of creation to right – including sin, brokenness, and all the ramifications of generational, structural, and historical sin.
We heard part of the story of Pentecost yesterday, but not the whole story. So let’s get the rest of the story.
Acts 2:14-24 (NIV) Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
“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. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 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.
The Holy Spirit, brings not only individual salvation, but a whole new structure to society. If you noticed, the uneducated are now part of the kingdom of God, where all nations are blessed through God’s covenant.
“Now, to their surprise, these pilgrims heard the praises of God in all the tongues of the dispersion being uttered by Galileans of all people! The event was nothing less than a reversal of the curse of Babel” (F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts, rev. ed. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998], 59).
A reversal of the curse of Babel, that got me to thinking, about what does that mean? Well – we remember the story, it’s in Genesis chapter 11. Remember when Adam and Eve were expelled out of the Garden of Eden – they were East of Eden. Then sin goes from disobedience in just one generation to murder, the story of Cain and Abel. Now Cain was sent further East from where Adam & Eve exited the Garden of Eden, and was building a city there. In this city the people decided it would be a great idea to build a tower, to reach the heavens with the purpose to create a name for themselves and make themselves gods. Because of this, God then confuses people so they could not understand what each other was saying so they could not work together.
Fast forward to the day of Pentecost, can you see how this moment, the moment where everyone heard the true message of the Gospel – in their own language? This moment, on this special day, reverses the curse of Babel.
In light of that let me ask you, when and where are you compelled to share good news? We can’t keep good news to ourselves. Now think about this. It’s so common place, it’s so easy to give a great word when we have a good experience at a favorite restaurant. Or seeing a great movie or play, maybe reading a new book. Often times if you love something, you’ll share about it. Go find your favorite restaurant, and look in the Yelp section of the page. You’ll see what people say as a review - both good and bad, but you will see it. Sharing the Gospel should be of such ease and importance as sharing a good review of a restaurant.
And another similarity, we are not unlike those who were building the tower of Babel. We want to be so independent. Our modern tendency is to consider ourselves self-made people. The old saying “God helps those who help themselves,” is not in the Bible. In fact God is not looking for independence. He’s looking for our absolute, complete, utter dependence upon Him for our lives. And how we live this out in our ordinary, everyday lives, is the witness and testimony that others see, and which God works through to make Himself known to others.
So on the day of Pentecost, what was it that signified the Disciple’s dependence upon God? It was their obedience. Simply this, they waited – they obeyed Jesus. He asked them to wait for the Father to give to them this gift, the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now, I’ll admit, it’s easy to be hung up on the details of what happened to bring about the birth the Church that day. My challenge to you today, is to seek God and intentionally pray to experience the comfort, conviction, and power of the Holy Spirit as you commit to the Church and the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.