SERMON NOTES
PENTECOST SUNDAY 5/31/2020
PASTOR ROD DAVISON
OPENING PRAYER: “Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us safely here today.Wherever we are this morning I just pray a special blessing to those who are watching today.Father as we start this service help us to give you all the praise, honor and glory. In Jesus’ sweet name we’ll ask it. Amen.”
SERMON: Our scripture this comes from Acts 1:1-11.
Before we read God’s Word let’s have a word of prayer. “Our gracious Heavenly Father we ask, that as we come into your presence as we read your Word, we know it’s the truth. We know it’s the truth because you promised. And as we open your Word, may we find peace, comfort, hope and joy. In Jesus’ name we’ll ask it. Amen.” Open your Bibles and read Acts 1:1-11.
Jesus gave the Apostles and Disciples instructions as to what they were to do after He left. The Holy Spirit would dwell in each of them and empower them. Today is Pentecost Sunday, and on this day it was 10 days after Jesus had descended to heaven and 50 days since His Resurrection, hence the name Pentecost.
How many of your had to wait for something very important to you personally or your family? Perhaps it was a promotion at work or a new house or car. Whatever it was the waiting was most likely the hardest part of the whole affair. I can remember back to a time just before I turned 16, which was a couple of years ago, I was waiting to get a wonderful little piece of paper called the driver’s permit. I can remember it was well before Christmas and my grandparents were visiting for the holidays and it had rained then it snowed and then it got icy. My grandfather asked me to move his car around to the back of the garage. I jumped at the opportunity, grabbed the keys, got into the car and moved it around the back. When I neared the garage I applied the breaks, hit a patch of ice, and slipped right into the garage door. I was maybe doing 5 mph, but enough to do minor damage to the door, damage I could not repair or hide. I knew when my dad found out I was in big trouble, and guess what, he didn’t disappoint. He looked at the garage door and then looked at me and said, “buddy, (and I was not his buddy at that time), that door just cost you 6 months on your license.” Instead of getting my permit in February on my birthday, I wouldn’t get my permit until June, and he was true to his word. All of my friends were getting their permits and using them and I was stuck using the only mode of transportation I had...a bicycle. Very demeaning, very demeaning. When June finally came I was the first one in line at the DMV office. The wait was over and I could long last cast off the shackles of immobility. I think I may have sung the Hallelujah chorus, I can’t remember for sure. It was a sweet day in the life of yours truly, and I can attest to that very firmly.
All of that might give you an idea of what it was like in Jesus’ inner circle. They waited for what He had promised. The things that He told them about before he left the earth and ascended into heaven. Don’t forget that they were known to authorities, those who were in charge of the temple, and the folks that were in that group were very, very interested in erasing any vestige of remembrance of Jesus and His claim to the throne of Israel. They would have gladly have gotten rid of Peter, James, John, and any of the rest of the followers of Christ. It was a time of great fear, anxiety and waiting for the next foot to fall. They heard what Jesus said about receiving power, but they didn’t quite comprehend how it would manifest itself and what good they would derive from it. So, as the days dragged on, they became more and more anxious and perplexed. And finally on the tenth day after Jesus was caught up into Heaven things started to happening in a great hurry. So we have to picture what it must have been like in that upper room as they waited and what it must have been like as God the Holy Spirit began to come among them. So I want to take us now a little further down the line. (read Acts 2:1-18). Now picture this if you will, here are these people waiting and waiting and waiting and praying to the Lord to show them what was going to happen. And all of a sudden, it begins to happen. The thing that amazed these people, was not only that the Galileans were speaking, and they were seeing all these things taking place, but they were hearing all these men speaking in their own language. Peter would stand up and speak, he gave a wonderful sermon on that day, but he was speaking Galilean which was a very small place within Israel that spoke a particular dialect. So as they were speaking all these people from all over the world that had come for this festival of Pentecost were hearing him speaking in their particular language. Now think about this, they have people coming from all over the world coming for this and they were listening to the Word o God being spoken by people speaking one language and they are alll hearing it in their own language. That must have blown them away. I am sure that if we were there and they were speaking English we would have been amazed too. Peter gets up and begins his sermon. So what were they prophesying? They were telling about Jesus. The one who had been crucified, the one who had risen again, and they one who they had been spending the last 40 days with before He rose into heaven. He was showing them great and wonderful things, and now those things had been passed on to them. Those things they were going to use to turn the world upside down for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s amazing to me that here we are 2000 years later and we are telling the same story, in many different languages, all over the world, and the truth goes out in truth and in Spirit and God is changing lives even in the midst of all the things that are going on in our world today. People are still coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Why? Because God promised. God said it would happen and it happened, and it’s been happening for the last 2000 years.
You and I are in the midst of a world pandemic right now and we are doing things that we never thought we would be doing. But God has a purpose in all of it and God is bringing people to Him who would not necessarily have heard the Gospel if it weren’t for the things that we are doing right now. Our little town of Miramonte isn’t very big. And yet we are reaching to places all over the country and even in places around the world and beyond the United States of America. We praise God for the opportunity to be here with you this morning. Just like Pentecost, the Gospel continues to go on. The Gospel is reaching out to you today. The Gospel is reaching out to others, maybe family members that you have. I don’t know where this message will end up. It’s going to be on our archives for quite a while, but right now in your home today, God is speaking to your heart. God is bringing the message in a language that you can understand, your heart language and saying to you “Come. Find peace, find joy, find hope find something beyond what you have experienced before, because what I have for you is eternal. It never goes away. It lasts forever”. And it’s simply the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. ”For God so love the world that he gave His only begotten Son the whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) That’s what God offers to each one of us this morning, simply by confessing our sins, asking for forgiveness and welcoming Him into our lives. I pray that would be your experience today. And I pray for those of you who already know Jesus that you would be encouraged that God is with you every step of the way. Whatever you are doing today may God richly bless you. But the most important thing that you can do, if you haven’t done it yet, is to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Our prayer is that you will do that and you will tell others the good news too. God bless you and have a wonderful day.
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