Pour out your Spirit

May 26, 2013 Act 2:1-21 Romans 8: “Pour out your spirit” Celebration of Pentecost Year C Aldersgate and Pentecost We know that John Wesley is the founder of the United Methodist Church. But especially in the black church we don’t know a whole lot about his life. ….. And many of us have never heard of Aldersgate. Aldersgate date was this past Thursday. WESLEY’S CONVERSION John Wesley become a priest in the Church of England before he had become a Christian. His conversion story is very interesting: Not long after the first Moravian missionaries came from Germany, Wesley had left for the West Indies, Wesley found himself on board a ship with a group of Moravian Christians on 25th January 1736. That day the weather was rough. Three storms had already battered the boat, and a fourth was brewing. Wesley scribbled in his journal, "Storm greater: afraid!" But the Moravians trusted God so simply and so completely that they showed no signs of fear. They even held a service at the height of the storm. In the middle of their singing, a gigantic wave rose over the side of the vessel, splitting the main-sail and covered the ship. Water poured between the decks like water pouring over the Niagara Falls - "as if the great deep had already swallowed us up," Wesley wrote. The English passengers shrieked as the ship lurched and pitched between towering waves. A terrified Wesley clung on for dear life. But the German missionaries didn’t miss a beat. Wesley, awestruck by their composure, later went to the leader and asked, "Weren’t you afraid?" "I thank God, no." "Weren’t your women and children afraid?" "No," replied the man. "Our women and children are not afraid." Wesley was so struck by their faith that he spoke to one of their main leaders, Peter Boehler, when they arrived in London. Wesley wrote in his journal, "Peter Boehler, whom God prepared for me as soon as I came to London, affirmed of true faith in Christ...that it always has two fruits with it: dominion over sin, and constant peace, from a sense of forgiveness. I was quite amazed, and looked upon it as a new Gospel." Peter Boehler went on to share a passage with John Wesley, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:16) He then persuaded Wesley into attending a meeting with Boehler’s Moravian Church one evening. Wesley continued on in his journal: "In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a Society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ; Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." Wesley as we know was the founder of the Methodist Church and became a famous evangelist and social reformer. But he himself was won to Christ by a small group who knew that they were children of God because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. (My thanks to Michael O. Silva Beyond Repentance July 23, 2006 for the story) We don’t get to talk about aldersgate and Pentecost, even though they were similar events. I want to use the aldersgate story as an example of the importance of Pentecost. Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the spirit. Isaiah said that the day would come when God poured out his spirit on his people. Joel predicted that the day would come when the visions of God would be available to any one. Peter was a witness that the day came – when te spirit was available to everyone. And the spirit of God spoke in any language- so that all would have the chance to be saved. To understand the voice of God for themselves. With all that we are up to, I didn’t want us to pass up this chance to stop and take in the lessons of Pentecost. The spirit of the Lord comes upon us as the spirit came upon those on that day which was the birth of the church. Pentecost is not just the culmination of a promise, Pentecost is the mark of the new beginnings. In order for us to truly serve God, we have to make sure that we have the spirit with us. and that we rely on the power of the spirit in all that we do. The poet William Blake wrote a poem about Pentecost. Part of the poem says: Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen. Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named. Unless the Heart catch fire, God will not be loved. Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known. Staff, www.eSermons.com This year as we think about Pentecost, I want us to think about the power of God in us. The outward signs of the spirit are important. Being able to witness to who God is, and to celebrate God in our lives. But before we can have an outward celebration, we have to have an inner realization. Our churches today need to be a spiritual house. Many times our churches have become a social house where as one old preacher said: We traded our upper room into the board room, the fire of the Holy Spirit for a warm heater, our prayer meetings for chicken dinners, and we have become as weak as our tea, cold as our soup, and dead as the chicken we eat. John Wesley had been a Christian his whole life, he never thought of being anything else but a minister, and yet in order for him to continue his work – he needed to have an experience of renewal. John Wesley - Heart Strangely Warmed In May of 1738, John Wesley wrote in his journal: "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate.Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." John Wesley went to a bible study where the Moravians were studying the book of Romans. The same verse that we study today. Chapter 8 reminds us that there is a difference between letting the flesh rule our lives and our decisions, and letting te spirit rule our decisions. Pentecost is the day that the spirit comes into our lives. And take control. Romans 8 says that we have been adopted into the family of God. When we recognize the spirit within us – we become children of God. Where we would make our own decisions, we learn to let God make our decisions, where we rely on or own strength we learn to rely on the power of God. Things start to change, not because we want, because a new spirit of god lives inside of us. QUIET STRENGTH There is a story about a sunken ship that illustrates the quietness of the spirit, but at the same time His Power in our lives. "Several years ago engineers building a new bridge over the East River in New York, discovered that the wrecked hull of a ship, sunk many years before, lay right where the center piers were to be built. Powerful machinery was brought in to remove the ship, but it would not budge. Then one of the engineers had an unusual idea-why not have the tide raise the ship!! Some strong cables were attached to the hull when the tide was low. The other ends were fastened to the barge above. As the tide came in, the barge gradually lifted the sunken ship. It was then towed out into the ocean and sunk at a spot that would not cause future problems." God’s Holy Spirit is like the tide, it comes quietly, it comes in slowly, but it comes to us with enough power so that we might do the job God has called and led each of us to do. SOURCE: Tim Zingale in Pentecost Sunday on www.sermoncentral.com. There is a quiet strength and confidence that makes a difference in the world. When we learn to live as children of God. John Wesley said… “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” ― John Wesley Conviction Conviction is when the Holy Spirit shines His flashlight on a dark area in my heart. --Kent Crockett (Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com ) Therefore, if Christ abides in you, then there is no condemnation, past, present or within. Which leads us to ask the question, how does this affect the way I live today? IV. Well, Wesley gave some practical suggestions… First, we do not live as people with “little faith.” Just as the disciples woke Jesus because of the storm which they faced, we too may face life without fear of condemnation. As the Scripture tells us, “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God alone who justifies. Who is able to condemn?” All the sins that we have committed from our birth to this very hour have been swallowed up by God’s grace. Through our confession, our transgressions gone, they are absent, they are remembered no more. Wesley said, “Away with your fears! God does not call you to fear; God has give you ‘a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.’ Under- stand your calling! Rejoice in God your savior, and give thanks to God your Father through Christ!” “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do let them be afraid.” We can live as a people with great faith. Wesley ended his sermon by saying, “We have nothing to fear. ‘Fear that has to do with punishment’ we have no need of it. When we love the One who loves us, it is enough. More love produces more strength. And it’s when we love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength will be “mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” When we realize that we are children of God, we realize that We have the power of God within us. We can do anything that god calls us to do. Pentecost is the day when our spirits learn to accept the presence of God. What spirit of god do you possess today? a spirit of optimism, of caring, of anxiety, of fear. Romans says that with the spirit of god inside of us, there is nothing to fear. God has taken over, God forgives, God cleanses, God lead our souls from deep within. Finally, when we hear the story of the Pentecost, we focus on the fact that the gospel was spoken in many different languages. – but the point of the story is that God was able to speak in ways that we were able to understand. God spoke to each person in the crowd in an outward way – but the message was intended to be personal – the miracle of Pentecost was not in the speaking it was in the listening. Listening to the message intended just for you. In a language that you understand. They say that as death approaches – those who may have spoke in another language, can only communicate in their native tongue. In all of the new testament, the words of Jesus are recorded in greek, and yet his last words are distinctly Aramaic – the language of his homeland. In death, in prayer, in times of solitude, in times of deep need – the spirit of God comes to us. the spirit speaks to us in ways that only we understand. The spirit calls us home, to ourselves- to who we are and who God intends for us to be. The day our hearts are strangely warmed – is the day we decided to listen. Let that day be today, as God pours out his spirit upon us and our mission. Let us pray…. I went to a conference this past fall. The pastor leading the conference challenged us all on the first day. He convicted us all by asking us three questions. I was sitting in the back near the side so I could see everyone’s body language. The pastor asked, “Those of you who have kids or grandkids, do you love them?” You could see everyone’s heads nodding. Then he asked, “those of you who have kids or grandkids, would you die for them?” There was a slight hesitation but then their heads again were nodding. Then he convicted us. He asked, “Those of you with kids or grandkids, if it would help them to know Jesus more intimately, it it would be beneficial for their faith, would you change the music that you play in church?” You could see everyone’s shoulders slump and see their heads bow. We realized that we have been selfish. We have not always looked out for the interests of others. We haven’t done all that we could to make the church a place for our children and the unchurched people in our community. Pentecost was originally an Old Testament festival, the only festival for which no specific date is given in the Bible, it is called the festival of weeks. Leviticus 23:15 however instructs the people to count 7 weeks from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering.” "The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. From Pentecost to the Haystack meeting in New England and from the days when Robert Morrison landed in China to the martyrdom of John and Betty Stam, prayer has been the source of power and the secret of spiritual triumph." M., Zwemer, Sameul A children’s catechism class was learning the Apostles Creed. Each child had been assigned a sentence to repeat. The first one said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” The second child said, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…” When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence. Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here.” Gordon Brownville's Symbols of the Holy Spirit tells about the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole. On one of his trips, Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird's cage and set it free. Imagine the delight of Amundsen's wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. No doubt she exclaimed, "He's alive! My husband is still alive!" So it was when Jesus ascended. He was gone, but the disciples clung to his promise to send them the Holy Spirit. What joy, then, when the dovelike Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus was alive and victorious at the right of the Father. This continues to be the Spirit's message. A young artist was trying to copy Raphael's "Madonna and Child," one of the most beautiful pictures in all the world. He went to Florence and gazed on it, then got his easel. Sitting down in front of it he began to copy it. As he looked at it his picture became a thing of beauty, too. But suppose that, instead of only copying, the spirit of Raphael could have come upon that young man: what a difference it would have made! When we come to the Lord Jesus He gives us His Holy Spirit to help us live as He would have us live, and the more the Holy Spirit controls our lives, the more like Him we grow. Do come to Him now, if you have never come, and ask Him to give you His Holy Spirit.—Intermediate Young People. Holy Spirit ________________________________________ The Word and the Spirit "If you have the Word without the Spirit, you'll dry up. If you have the Spirit without the Word, you'll blow up. If you have both the Word and the Spirit, you'll grow up." --Derek Prince ________________________________________ Filled with the Holy Spirit You have probably been in a restaurant where the waitress has asked, "Can I warm up your coffee for you?" The cup may be half-full and cold after sitting on the table for a while. When she pours the new coffee in, she refills and warms up the cup. Maybe you are spiritually cold and empty. It doesn't have to stay that way. Quit trying to live in your own power and strength. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit right now. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 93) ________________________________________ Those annoying people The thing that aggravates you may be the Holy Spirit convicting you of an attitude that needs to be changed. (Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com