15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.1
Footnotes
[1]1:14Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verse 15
2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested1 on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
Footnotes
[1]2:3Or And tongues as of fire appeared to them, distributed among them, and rested
15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.1
Footnotes
[1]1:14Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verse 15
2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested1 on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
Footnotes
[1]2:3Or And tongues as of fire appeared to them, distributed among them, and rested
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to John 20, and then Acts one and two. The texts are there in your worship guide, as well. Over the past few weeks, we've looked at the death of Jesus, his resurrection. Last week, we got to celebrate his ascension. And I mentioned that today, we are going to be looking at Pentecost.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now I'm sure for some of you just hearing the words Pentecost, produces a number of emotions in you. Some of you have probably been fired up all week thinking about this. You you brought your holy oil with you, snuck in a tambourine. You you are absolutely fired up and ready. When I was in college, I would sometimes go to this small little country, Pentecostal church, and the pastor there had his own tambourine, and he'd bring it out.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he loved to sing a song called Stomp on the Devil. And, and so the the words went stomp stomp stomp stomp on the Devil. Stomp stomp stomp stomp, and you get the idea. And, and he would just go around with his tambourine just stomp it away. And, and and some of you are probably like, bring it on, ready to stomp on the devil.
Jeffrey Heine:
Some of you else, when you hear the word words Pentecost, honestly you might feel the sense of uneasiness something stupid, like stand up in front of everyone and share their testimony, your testimony, or perhaps stand up and speak in tongues or something like that, or worse yet that he might send you to some third world country that you didn't even know existed until the person next to you prophesied about it. And and so you have all of those kind of crazy emotions in you. And I would say all of those emotions are good. They could be a sign of a holy fear and anticipation before God and his word. And it's needed as we look at a passage like this.
Jeffrey Heine:
We obviously don't have time to go through all the implications of Pentecost. But I do want us to look at the implications, or how it's connected to the ascension. And so if you would read with me, we'll start with the John 20 passage. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?
Jeffrey Heine:
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him. I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father.
Jeffrey Heine:
But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Acts one. We'll just read verses six through nine. So when they had come together, they asked him, teacher, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Jeffrey Heine:
Things as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. In Acts chapter two, verse one. When the day of Pentecost arrived, and they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. Father, I believe that, your people, with your word and your spirit is always enough. It's always proven to be enough. And Lord, we have your people gathered here together.
Jeffrey Heine:
We have just listened to your word. And so we ask it now through your spirit, you would cause these things to come to life. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. Conversation between Mary and Jesus, to be absolutely fascinating.
Jeffrey Heine:
Name, and so then she goes and she clings to him with, you know, a kind of holy desperation there. And Jesus says, stop clinging to me, for I have yet to ascend to the father. But instead, go and tell my brothers that I'm about to ascend. Now why would Jesus tell Mary to stop clinging to him? I actually thought about this the last time we sang the hymn, Come Ye Sinners.
Jeffrey Heine:
You know, the the the song Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy. Has the line, you know, I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms. I was like, not always. I mean, that's that's what Mary was trying to do, and and Jesus was like, uh-uh.
Jeffrey Heine:
No. Why not? Why didn't Jesus embrace Mary here? It wasn't because he was afraid of somebody to touch his resurrected body. I mean, we know right after this, he tells Thomas to to touch him, to come, touch, see.
Jeffrey Heine:
Think it was just the opposite. Jesus here, he's telling her, once you let me go, and I ascend, a way that you cannot even imagine. And not just with you, but I could be with all of those who are following me. You see, while Jesus was here on Earth, he could only be one place at one time. If he was teaching in Capernaum, well, then he couldn't also be teaching in Jerusalem.
Jeffrey Heine:
If he was feeding 5,000 people in Bethsaida, well then he couldn't be with Peter fishing in Galilee. And if he was hugging Mary, well then he couldn't be hugging others. But once Jesus ascended, and then he sent his spirit here. Well then he could be benefits that Mary received from his presence, that can now be multiplied billions of times over. And that's why once Jesus did ascend and he sent his spirit, Christianity began to spread around the entire world.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's no longer doing it like going to one person at a time though and changing them. He's now changing the hearts of all these people all over the globe. He's no longer speaking on a hillside. He is speaking on thousands of hillsides. And at one point, that's what Jesus did to you.
Jeffrey Heine:
He came and he spoke to you. Your heart was opened. You heard him calling and he gave you life. It's interesting how I often hear the same testimony from many of you. You know, when you join the church, you have to write out your testimony, and and I've read through most of those testimonies.
Jeffrey Heine:
And you you get a pattern after a while. This is the most common way, the testimony that we read. And it's that you grew up in church your whole life, and so you would attend church most Sundays, and you would be sitting in the pews. And, and week after week, you sort of would listen to the sermon, but nothing would happen. But then, suddenly one week, during the middle of a so so sermon, you're not even sure what the pastor was really talking about.
Jeffrey Heine:
It was as as if Jesus himself was talking to you and you understood the gospel for the first time. Clicked as Jesus called you to himself. We read that over and over and over. Now, the reason that you felt like Jesus was talking straight to you during that time is because Jesus was talking straight to you. That's what made that one occasion different from all of the other times.
Jeffrey Heine:
You'd actually heard the gospel a thousand times, but you didn't hear the gospel. It wasn't until the spirit opened up your heart that you actually heard the gospel from Jesus, and he changed her heart. Jesus, who began speaking two thousand years ago. He still speaks to us today. This is why Luke, when he writes his sequel to his gospel, which is what we know as the Book of Acts, he begins the Book of Acts with these words.
Jeffrey Heine:
In the first book, o Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day when he was taken up. Now, Luke had already written about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in his gospel, but he says that was just the beginning of all that the Lord was doing. He's still serving. He's still doing miracles. He's still making disciples.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he's doing these things through his church. And that's why there's never going to be a completed biography on Jesus because he will forever continue to be doing new things. Now, as Jesus was ascending, he gave his disciples a mission that we know as the Great Commission. They were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You hear that and, those words just kinda roll over you, don't they?
Jeffrey Heine:
Slow down and actually listen to what Jesus is saying here. Advocates for justice. Or you will be my bible students or my quiet timers. You will be my prayer warriors. All of those things would, of course, been true if Jesus had said that.
Jeffrey Heine:
But those things really do not get to our primary calling. It's you will be my witnesses. That's our primary calling and identity. We are witnesses. Now, a witness is one who testifies to who Jesus is as Lord and savior of this world.
Jeffrey Heine:
Does witnessing just even that word, does it sound a little daunting to you? It should. You should feel daunted. It it our hope is that Jesus, he did not tell us we had to do this alone. This is something that you aren't to do, but it's something that he is going to do through you, and this is where Pentecost comes into play.
Jeffrey Heine:
Before the disciples were to get on with their mission, they are first told to wait for something. Do you know how hard it would have been to wait at this moment? I mean, you're seeing your Lord and Savior literally ascending to this throne. I mean, you're about to have a brave heart rip your shirt open and just take on the world moment, And Jesus says wait. Peter doesn't seem like the waiting type.
Jeffrey Heine:
He seems like a, you know, shoot first aim later kind of guy. And, and not just him, but I'm sure all of the disciples, they were ready to get on with the work. Jesus says, I want you to wait because you are powerless to actually do the task that I'm sending you for. Through your leadership skills? No.
Jeffrey Heine:
Thomas, do you think it's gonna be changed through your, apologetic skills? Or Matthew, through your financial skills? Or Matthew, through your financial skills? Or Matthew, through your financial skills? Or Matthew, through your financial skills?
Jeffrey Heine:
Or Matthew, Or Matthew, through your financial skills? Or James and John, because of your boldness? Simon the zealot, do you think the world's gonna be changed because of all your political connections? The world's not gonna be changed through any of those things. Reason I want to belabor this point, that we're powerless to change the world apart from the Holy Spirit, is because we can often forget this.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I think the more gifted you are, the more prone you are to forget it. Better planning, better finances, better facilities, more programs, better music, better marketing. I'm not saying that those things are not important. But I am saying that those things apart from the spirit cannot save anyone. A program has never saved anyone.
Jeffrey Heine:
Let me ask you, do you think your own salvation was due to good programming? That's how you came to know the Lord is really good pro or somebody gave you the perfect gospel presentation, just everything just aligned perfectly. I mentioned, you know, that most of you, like the testimonies I've heard, a lot of them, you grew up in church, you heard it, and finally the gospel just clicked. But I know some of you in this room, it's a different story. Some of you, don't wanna embarrass you, but you came to know the Lord, or at least one person here, through a puppet show.
Jeffrey Heine:
Someone else here came to know the Lord through a Carmen concert. You should be suspicious of your salvation. Another person here came to know the Lord through a magic show. You know, when you had the the, the jar with the there's like a black liquid in it, and then you poured in the red blood of Jesus and it turned clear. At that moment, gospel made sense.
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean, I grew up in a youth group that would have the power team. Anybody? Power team people come? Yeah. So it's just a bunch of steroid guys who would come in professing Jesus, rip phone books in half and they would say John three sixteen, and you would come to know the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:
Crazy. I mean, we laugh at all these things for good reason. But the reason I mentioned them is I want you to know this, that the Holy Spirit is not limited If you If you need further proof of this, once again, just look at the people whom Jesus felt confident in trusting his gospel to. I mean, as Jesus is ascending, the disciples actually asked Jesus last question they asked him, as he is ascending, so are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? What?
Jeffrey Heine:
I mean, they still don't get it. They they just still don't understand the nature of Jesus's kingdom. He's just spent the last forty days teaching them about it though. Yet, they still think it's political. They still think it's only through Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:
They think all of these things, but Jesus in that moment doesn't stop, come back down and say, I guess I gotta do this thing myself. Come back down and say, I guess I gotta do this thing myself. No. Jesus says it's gonna be just fine. The gospel in the hands of these imperfect flawed people Because my spirit my spirit is not limited at all by their weakness.
Jeffrey Heine:
GK Chesterton, always go to him if you need a good quote. He famously said this, the best argument against Christianity is Christians. The best argument against Christianity is Christians. And probably as you heard that, you thought, yep, gotta agree with that. I mean, when I see those, you know, the people out there who profess to be Christians, I cringe.
Jeffrey Heine:
Yeah. That's the best argument against Christianity. But can I tell you GK Chesterton was wrong? Paul says these words in second Corinthians four seven. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Jeffrey Heine:
In other words, we carry around this treasure in us, this flawed imperfect us. We carried around in here to show that it's not our treasures. That's something we came up with, but to show that it belongs to God. Jesus left his gospel, in the hands of imperfect idiots. So through my spirit, it is enough.
Jeffrey Heine:
If I could edit GK Chesterton's quote, I'd say this. The best argument for Christianity is Idiotic Christians. And how despite our idiocy, the gates of hell have not prevailed against the church and have been advancing for the last two thousand years. Listen. If Jesus's kingdom depended upon us being competent people, then we would have screwed this thing up long, long ago.
Jeffrey Heine:
When I look at the massive failures of the church over the centuries, and I think that despite all of those failures, the kingdom still advances. And I think that despite all of those failures, the kingdom still the kingdom still advances. That just leads me to believe that must be because Jesus is on his All this to say Do not Do not let your weaknesses do not, do not let your weaknesses or your inadequacies keep you from obeying the call to be Jesus' witness. Show that that treasure doesn't belong to you. It's not from you.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's from God. Preached on Pentecost about seven years ago, I think, on Acts two. And, boy, I was struggling through that message. For those of you who who don't know this, I I often struggle a lot with preaching. I'm introverted, I'm dyslexic, And, I no longer have panic attacks when I preach, but it's not the easiest thing in the world for me.
Jeffrey Heine:
And there was this time I I'm preaching on this, and my words were starting to get all jumbled, which happens If you hear the 04:00 service, well, I mean, it's just a it's a jumbled mess by the time I get there. But I couldn't say a certain word. I couldn't say the word still. Still. That was it.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I was having to say it a lot because I was talking about how Jesus was still at work. He was still doing things, and, and I kept saying it like still. Steal. And I sounded like I was from a podunk town in Southern Mississippi. Sorry.
Jeffrey Heine:
If any of y'all are like, he was still doing this and I just I couldn't correct it. And in my mind, I started saying, well, how we actually do spell it? Is it s t I l l? Is it s t e e l? Is it s t e a l?
Jeffrey Heine:
How do you spell steel? And I'm thinking through all of this while I'm still preaching and I can't get it right. And then all of a sudden, I realized a full minutes gone by, I have no idea what I just said. None. People are looking at me, words were coming out of my mouth, but I have literally no idea.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's kinda like when you're driving and you blank out anybody else, and all of a sudden you find yourself at home. Front of a whole group of people and you have no idea what you've just been saying. And so I think at that point I probably just closed things up and said, you know, Jesus wins. Let's pray. And after the service, I just wanted to get the heck out of here.
Jeffrey Heine:
One of you grabbed me and you said, hey, I just want you to know that when you were preaching, it was just like Jesus was talking directly to me. And God just completely just slew me for my arrogance, thinking I was so important. Performance. It doesn't depend on my ability. It's the spirit doing his work.
Jeffrey Heine:
Your life, do this one thing. Try to make much of Jesus, because that's what the spirit of God loves to do. And if you make much of Jesus, the spirit's gonna go like, I want to get all over that. And he will work in your life. After giving his disciples a great commission, Jesus then tells them to go back into Jerusalem and to wait.
Jeffrey Heine:
They wait ten long days. We're not sure why Jesus hadn't wait ten days before he gave them his Spirit. A lot of theories out there. I think he actually wanted to wait for the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a harvest festival.
Jeffrey Heine:
It began after the Exodus in which people would come and they would offer up their first fruits to God. So it was done out of a heart of thankfulness and also in anticipation. If this was the first fruits, they were anticipating many more fruits to come. And I think, like, this was it was a joyful festival. Entire city would have been packed with people from all over the region, not just in Palestine, but the neighboring regions.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I think the Lord said that's the perfect occasion for me to bring in my harvest. Verse two that as they were all together in one place, they're suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. I actually was thinking of this all last night during the storm, as our house is shaking from the wind because that's exactly what's really being described here. This is the language that you would use to describe a tornado or a hurricane. It's this deafening sound of wind that comes crashing into your room.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then apparently, fire comes and then the tongues of fire somehow it rests over each head. It's the scene here is hard to imagine, but I like to think of it this way. It's it's almost like each person is being give given their own personal Mount Sinai experience. And when the fire comes and and the clouds envelop the top of the mountain, but instead of being given the law on tablets of stone, the spirit comes and he writes the law on our hearts. These people, they being then begin to speak in other tongues or languages as the spirit gave them utterance.
Jeffrey Heine:
And they left that room with their, you know, their heads on fire essentially proclaiming the mighty acts of God. Now this is the first time, that the gospel is now being proclaimed. First time here, proclaimed by the disciples here. And it's hard to overstate the importance of this. It is being proclaimed in every language at the same time.
Jeffrey Heine:
The very first gospel presentation was not in Hebrew. It was not in Greek. It was not in Aramaic or Latin. It was in all of the languages at the same time. And what this means the reason this is so important, it means that there is not one nationality, not one ethnic group that can lay claim to Christianity, as if it's just theirs.
Jeffrey Heine:
The Jewish people do not own a more authentic version of Christianity. Africans do not own it. Europeans do not own it. Asians do not own it. At Pentecost, God decided that the very first declaration of his gospel will be spoken in every language at the same moment, meaning his kingdom will include people from every ethnic group and culture.
Jeffrey Heine:
In other words, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Be witnesses and they proclaim that gospel boldly. Do you know what the most common description of the Gospel being preached in acts is? Boldly. Not cleverly.
Jeffrey Heine:
Not strategically. Preaching boldly, empowered by the spirit. And we as this church are commanded to go and to do the same. And the same spirit that empowered them is the same spirit that is now at work in us. Pray with me church.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jesus, we are incapable. We're incapable fulfilling the the calling that you have placed upon us. But that's if we had to do it alone. But you have not commanded us to do it alone. You have given us your spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:
And so I pray that now with boldness, we would go and we would declare your gospel, Knowing that it does not depend on our performance. It doesn't depend on how whether we could do it cleverly or succinctly. It is dependent upon the work of your spirit. So Lord, I ask that you would use every person in this room. Platform for your glory.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.