Pentecost sermon 2018Sermon Outline

Topic: Pentecost

Main Point: Pentecost is a significant day on God’s calendar

Intended Response: Pentecost is a significant day on our calendar that helps to remind

us to claim the Spirit’s power.

IntroductionAs we read the Bible, we notice that God chose specific days and events to stand out from among the rest. One of these highlight events is a festival called Pentecost. This sermon looks at why this day was important in the past and how it is still important and relevant for us today.

A. WHAT IS PENTECOST The Day of Pentecost has several major themes With all things that relate to God, there is both an inward and an outward

focus.Point One: Pentecost is a day of worship, celebration, social justice, power for mission.

B. THE GOOD GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is so helpful. The Holy Spirit does so many things in our lives when we are open to God. Jesus knows how to fill us with the Holy Spirit at just the right time.

Point Two: The Holy Spirit is a good and timely gift for us all.

C. SETTING A DATE WITH GOD It’s important to mark down significant days. The disciples prepared themselves for this significant day by prayer. Pentecost is a good day to remind ourselves to claim the Spirit’s power.

Point Three: Set a date and time when you will spend time asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

Teaching Illustrations and props:This sermon uses the illustration of using a calendar. You could hang a calendar from the pulpit. You could ask people in your service to bring in their favourite calendar and hold them up.

More resources for this sermon, including PowerPoint slides are available at www.SArmy.org.au

Pentecost sermon 2018Sermon Transcript

Introduction: Good morning everyone, welcome to our Sunday service.

Over December and January, my family and I get a new calendar and begin to plan out the year. Each little square box with the day and date holds significance. I don’t know how you fill out a calendar but for us:

we start by putting in all the birthdays, then, we block out all the public and school holidays, we check our work events and put them in, and then, we mark out our own holidays.

I like to highlight special days in yellow highlighter so they stand out: wedding anniversary, birthdays, Easter and Christmas time, the grand final.

What’s your favourite day?

As we read the Bible, we notice that God chose specific days and events to stand out from among the rest. One of these highlight events is a festival called Pentecost.

Relevance Today, all throughout Christian world we are celebrating Pentecost. But you might be wondering what is Pentecost?

We are going to look at why this day was important in the past and how it is still relevant for us today. We’ll start with the past…

1. WHAT IS PENTECOST

…In the Old Testament, the Day of Pentecost had several themes:

1. The first theme had to do with farmers and harvest time.

When the wheat harvest began, Jewish farmers would offer the first bundle of harvested wheat to the Lord as:

Thanksgiving for His provision. And as a prayer that the rest of the harvest would be gathered in safely.

(You can read up on it in Leviticus 23:15-22).

2. The second theme is others.As with all things that relate to God, there is both an inward and an outward focus.Not only would people worship God personally, they would also worship God by considering helping others.

To ensure this, God had a form of social justice built into Pentecost. During the

harvest, God required the edges of the wheat fields to be left unharvested for the poor, the widows, and the foreigners in the land.

o For us, the day of Pentecost often falls on the Sunday of The Red Shield Appeal. This is such a great opportunity for us as a church to honour God’s heart for the poor, lost, and the marginalised.(Can I encourage all of us to be involved on that day?)

So that’s one reason why Pentecost should be a significant day on our calendar: it reminds us to connect to God and others.

3. The third theme of Pentecost had to do with celebrating.All of Israel would celebrate this day as the day when Moses received the Law at Mt. Sinai.

Jewish tradition holds to the belief that from Passover (what we call Easter) it took 50 days for children of Israel to travel from Egypt to Mt Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments (Exo 19-20).

The name Pentecost comes from the word Pente: meaning fifty.

In the Bible, Pentecost was a massive celebration and God required all Jewish men to journey to the temple in Jerusalem and present their offering to the Lord on that day.

As we move into the New Testament, we see Pentecost has a fourth theme:

4. A fourth theme of Pentecost is power for missionJesus said,

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49).

We need the Holy Spirit to be empowered for Mission. We can’t reveal God’s kingdom without the power and work of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives.

Point 1. Pentecost is a day of worship, celebration, social justice, power for mission.

Transition Now, back to my calendar…

When I see a birthday marked on my calendar, I often sit down and think about the type of gift I am going to give. I think a good gift has two parts:

1) it comes at the right time, and2) it is relevant for the person – and by that I mean it is significant to them.

A small thoughtful gift, given at the right time, to the right person can have a big

impact.

In John 16:26-7 Jesus said this,But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

When I think about Jesus’ words here, it sounds like He is describing a good, relevant and timely gift. For example…

2. THE GOOD GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

…Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is helpful in so many ways:

The Spirit empowers us as God’s people (Zec 4:6), The Spirit guides us (Acts 8:29, Rom 8:14), The Spirit comforts us (Jn 14:26), The Spirit teaches us (Jn 16:13), The Spirit restrains sin in us (Isa 59:19, Jn 16:8), The Spirit speaks to us in prayer, dreams, prophetic words, visions and

through the Bible (Acts 13:2), The Spirit enables us with his gifts and power (Acts 1:8).

The list goes on and on – surely the Holy Spirit deserves the description Jesus used of Him: The Helper (Jn 14:26).

The Holy Spirit does so many things in our lives when we are open to God. Jesus knows how to fill us the Holy Spirit at just the right time and in just the right way.

Some people can tell you the moment they received the Holy Spirit: they may have spoken in tongues or felt God’s presence overwhelm them or have some other notable and tangible experience.

Others cannot point to a moment in time but they can identify the Holy Spirit’s presence as their behaviours have changed, their love for people increased, and He has drawn them into God’s mission.

Others I’ve spoken to talk about how they prayed for God to use them more and now they find themselves in the frontline of mission.

The main thing to remember is we are filled to become a witness of Christ.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can expect to be equipped to live a holy life and be drawn into God’s mission.

We all have different experiences with Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit is no different. In the Scriptures we see a few common traits that occur when people

are filled with the Holy Spirit…

Presence (Gal 5:22-3)The Holy Spirit produces God’s character in us – we often refer to this as holiness. God is holy and when we are filled with His Spirit, we grow in His grace to live holy life. When we have the Spirit of Jesus working in our lives, we too will reflect God’s character – love, peace, gentleness, hope …

Purpose (Matt 28:19)We are drawn into God’s mission – God fills us with power for a purpose: to live like Jesus and spread the gospel.

Presents (1 Cor 12:4, 7-11)We receive gifts of the Holy Spirit – Peter said in Acts 3:33 “…he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” – these gifts equip us for the work God calls us to.

Proclamation (Acts 2:14)We experience a new desire to share God’s word – many people find a new found boldness to share their faith and tell others about Jesus.

Prayer (Acts 2:4, 10:46)New languages of prayer occur.

Praise (Acts 10:46)A new found desire to worship God.

Prophesy (Acts 19:6)An ability to speak God’s intention and encourage others.

Insert personal story of when you experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Point 2. The Holy Spirit is a good and timely gift for us all.

Transition As I just mentioned, when important dates are coming up, I mark them down in advance on my calendar.

Jesus did the same for the disciples…

3. SETTING A DATE WITH GOD

…After Jesus had risen from the grave, He said to the disciples that in a few days time they would receive the Holy Spirit,

(Acts 1:3-5)

During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.

And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Can you imagine being told in advance you were going to have an experience with God in a few days that will change your life forever? What would you do? How would you prepare?

You might: Go on a morning prayer walk, Sit down and read through a gospel in one sitting, Listen to or singing your favourite worship song.

Insert story: I personally prepare myself to hear from God by…

We learn in Acts 1:14 that the disciples waited in prayer – that’s how they prepared. They didn’t know what was going to happen so they did what they could.

Prayer is a very good thing we can do when we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Prayer helps us hear from God and received His direction for our lives.

Every now and then I think it’s vitally important that we pick a date and set some time aside to pray and focus our attention on God. Pentecost is a good date to do this. Each year we can make it a special habit to spend time intentionally seeking God, anticipating that the Holy Spirit will move a fresh in our lives.

It can be a powerful time when we purposefully highlight a day in our own calendar to spend time with God. And this is something we are encouraged to do regularly.

Point 3: Set a date and time when you will spend time asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

CTARECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT

So how do we prepare ourselves to encounter the Holy Spirit in our lives?

1. We need to remain open to God.The Holy Spirit is a good gift. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus (Jn 14:16). God never forces Himself into anyone’s life, the Bible says that we open the door to Him (Rev 3:20) so it’s up to us to be open to God.

2. Pray and expect God to fill you with the Spirit.“So I say to you: Ask and it will given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:9-13).

We need to ask to be filled with the Spirit. The disciples didn’t just wait passively – they organised prayer meetings, they got together and

fellowshipped. We can seek after God in prayer to be filled with His might and power.

If God has been speaking to you today about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to respond.

If you have been filled with the Holy Spirit long ago but desire to experience more of God’s power and be used more by God – Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt 5:6).

I invite all of us here today, to come forward to the Mercy Seat and spend time asking God to fill you right here and now with the Holy Spirit.

Would you join with me in prayer now ….

Prayer Father, we acknowledge here today we need your power, we need your presence, we need your Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, you give the Holy Spirit that we may have new life, and walk in the power of that new life – sharing the gospel and being filled with your love and power.Pour out your Holy Spirit here today. Let us all be filled with the power of the resurrection so that we may live a new life empowered by your Holy Spirit - Amen.

Friends if that’s you, if you would like to be filled in the Holy Spirit today, please come forward and let’s pray together.

Pentecost sermon 2018Scriptures

Jn 16:26-7 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

Acts 1:3-5During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Lk 11:9-13“So I say to you: Ask and it will given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Further StudyExo 19-20, Lev 23:15-22, Isa 59:19, Zec 4:6, Jn 14:26, Jn 16:13, Jn 16:8, Acts 1:8, Acts 13:2,

Acts 8:29, Rom 8:14.