Waiting for Pentecost

God's Spirit where we live...

May 19, 1996

John 17:1-11; Acts 1:1-11

Have you ever come to church on a Sunday saying to yourself 'I really want God to speak to me today?' Have you ever keenly sensed a need for God? Do you have concerns right NOW that you would like God to step in and solve?

Believe me, I have been there. Recently. Maybe even today. And I have been disappointed sometimes. But often as I have listened, almost desperately at times, the sense of God's care has come through. I hope this is a Sunday when God meets you at your point of need.

Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Today is the last week of Eastertide. What can that possibly have to do with your need this morning? How can words that Jesus said to a few women and some fishermen that lived and died nearly 2,000 years ago possibly connect with your life and mine in this high-tech computer age? We have problems their wildest dreams could not imagine.

Believe me— these words do reach into our world today. Trust me—Jesus DOES connect with where we are right now! God wants to speak to your home, to your heartache— to your decisions that need making. Listen to Jesus carefully. Listen with your heart and you will hear what you need.

I. JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU

The last words Jesus spoke to the disciples before he went to trial and the cross were beautiful and wonderful. But then Jesus quit talking to the disciples and started talking to God the Father.

He prayed for himself— and they listened as he spoke of a glory shared in the Godhead before the creation.

Then Jesus prayed for them. His prayer was wonderful. He prayed for their security— that God would KEEP them. He prayed for their JOY, that their lives would never be wasted. He prayed for their UNITY, not just with one another, which is vital, but actually a union with God Himself— that they might have Easter life, resurrection life, eternal life forever.

Then Jesus prayed for you and me. (Verse 20 "I pray not for them alone, but for everyone who WILL believe on me because of their witness.") Because Jesus is God his prayer that last night of earthly ministry was when Jesus prayed for you and me. That WE might be secure, saved, preserved to everlasting life. That WE might have JOY, and our lives count for something. That WE might never be alone, but be in union with God and Christ and the Church. (Is it beginning to "connect" yet?) - Jesus' prayer "connects" with you/me at the point of your/my need! He knows! He cares!

(But Jesus not only prayed for the disciples...)

II. JESUS GAVE DIRECTIONS

The very last words Jesus spoke, not now before the cross, but before finally ascending to the glory he prayed about in the prayer (John 17) were directions for receiving the benefits of the prayer he had prayed some 40 days before. He was very specific about what the disciples were supposed to do.

• (v 5)They were to expect the Holy Spirit as He had promised. They were not supposed to begin working for God on the strength simply of what they had been taught. They were God's people, and He was going to go with them wherever they went or they were not supposed to go.
• (v 7)They were not to worry about times and dates. The details of God's plan are best left in His hands. Our task is to obey as best we know how.
• (v 4)They were to receive the Spirit where they were. They were not to leave Jerusalem until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.

There you have it: the two aspects leading to Pentecost:

1. A PROMISE : Jesus had prayed that it would take place. They were to expect nothing less than God's Presence with them to the end of the age. His prayer is powerful, and reaches even to where we are today.
2. A COMMAND : Jesus had commanded them to receive the Spirit where they lived, and to wait as long as it took for the Spirit to come before they went anywhere.

III. THE PROMISE AND THE COMMAND ARE STILL VALID TODAY

The church of Jesus Christ still has that High Priestly PRAYER, with its PROMISE , and we still have Christ's final COMMAND ringing in our ears to this very day!

• It is a promise of adequacy for our needs. "You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit fills you!" THAT connects!

  Wherever you are on your spiritual journey— the God of heaven loves you and has promised to meet you and help you toward eternal life. "Ho! Everyone that is thirsty in spirit! Ho! Everyone that is weary and sad! Child of the world, are you tired of your bondage! Child of the Kingdom— be filled with the Spirit!"

  If we lack in power, or in a sense of God's Presence— if we need more of God the place to begin is right here with the Promise and the Command. If we want to "become" who we really are— a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people— we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit! That adequacy is for you and me! We've established that (John 17:20.)

• IT IS A COMMAND TO RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT WHERE WE LIVE— before we can begin to tell anyone who Jesus is. We can't tell the world if we can't tell our own family— our children— our wives, our husbands know if we are Spirit-filled! We need God's Spirit in a new way in our homes and families.

  The disciples went back to Jerusalem from the mount of Olivet and did what Jesus told them. They waited for the Spirit to come. They did not know they would wait ten days or ten minutes. But they waited. And while they waited they prayed and talked and talked and prayed.

  They settled some problems. They made up some disagreements. How do I know? because when the Promise finally came the Bible says they (already) WERE IN ONE ACCORD!

• We need God's PRESENCE WITH US more than anything else!

  WE may have to wait expectantly. GOD MAY HAVE TO REVEAL SOME THINGS TO US: Would there have to be some FORGIVING done on your part? Maybe there would have to be some heart-searching done. If we want the Holy Spirit to come we will become sensitive to the things that make Him at home in us— and those things that are not in accord with the spirit of Jesus.

  The Holy Spirit simply is NOT going to fill a Christian who is disobedient to the command of Jesus to expect Him, to wait for Him— to prepare for Him.

IV. A VISION OF A COMMUNITY WHERE GOD'S LOVE HAS COME

Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. The Spirit has come, and we will remember and celebrate again the fact that God is with us.

But what would happen if we prepared like the disciples— if we decided that we would EXPECT God to fill us full of His Spirit, and He did it again next Sunday?

What do you think might happen if we remembered Jesus' prayer and His promise and his commandment in each of our personal lives this week? What if we said "We won't go on without God's Spirit leading the way!"?? "We won't leave home without God!"??

What would happen in your home? What would happen in my own?

We have our set ideas of what a Pentecost visitation of the Holy Spirit is supposed to be like. We think there will be an exciting emotion, and people filling the church seeking God. And wouldn't that be great?

But maybe, just maybe Pentecost could begin when we tell God we want Him to step into our homes, and into our lives and do whatever HE wants to do. God wants to "connect" with every one of us, and he will if we will learn to listen.

Maybe our Pentecost would begin this day we told the Lord that those concerns we brought to church are HIS, and we will do whatever HE says. This is where it just might begin.

Prayer

#324 (STL) Come, Every One Who is Thirsty in Spirit