Sermons

06/08/2025

Pentecost

Text: Acts 2:1-11

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

St Luke says that “When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Pentecost means fiftieth in Greek. Pentecost was the fiftieth day after the Passover. On the fiftieth day after the Passover, the Old Testament Church celebrated receiving the first-fruits of the grain harvest and commemorated the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. But on the Pentecost St Luke tells us about, fifty days after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament observance ended. On that day, the New Testament church began. The Spirit was given and a harvest of souls from all nations brought in. On this Pentecost today, we remember the giving of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel on that first Christian Pentecost. That’s because The Spirit and the Gospel are necessary for the growth of the Church. It was true on that Pentecost, and it’s true for us today.

I

St Luke says, “When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Jesus gave His disciples the charge to preach the Gospel to all nations to build the New Testament Church. But He commanded them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit because they could not undertake this task alone.

But when the Spirit comes, the Church begins. The Spirit announces His presence by a mighty, rushing wind from heaven that fills the whole house. The tongues of fire over the disciples’ heads announce that He has entered their hearts. When the disciples begin to speak foreign languages, the Spirit announces that He has entered their hearts and given them gifts—the outward gift of speaking in other tongues, and the inward spiritual gifts of courage to speak out and wisdom to know what to speak as they begin to declare the wonderful works of God. In response to these things people run together—they heard this great noise. They marvel when they see the tongues of flame and are amazed when they hear the disciples from Galilee speaking in their own languages.  

Through these occurrences, the Spirit shows that the Church cannot exist without His presence. If He had not descended upon the disciples with a great sound, the people would not have dropped what they were doing and come running together. If the Spirit had not filled the hearts of the disciples, they wouldn’t have had the courage, or ability, or conviction to go out and declare the wonderful works of God. But the Spirit does descend. He gives men like Peter, who denied His Lord three times, the courage to confess Jesus crucified. He gives fishermen the wisdom to preach about the great works of God.

Because the Holy Spirit did come with His power to give the gifts necessary to preach, they went out and the Church began. This is always the case. The Church depends on the Spirit. The Spirit is the creator of the Church. He grows the Church and sustains Church. He gives the gifts necessary to preach the Gospel.

If you keep reading in Acts chapter 2, you’ll see that people didn’t join the Church that day because they heard a great noise like a mighty rushing wind. It wasn’t enough that tongues of fire appeared over the disciples nor that they spoke in foreign languages. But when the disciples were led by the Spirit to declare the wonderful works of God, then people believed. Peter would step up in front of this great crowd and preach the first Christian sermon about the wonderful works of God. He would declare the wonderful works of God for all people in Christ. Peter spoke of how Jesus was crucified for sin and raised from the dead by the power of God that people from every nation and tongue might be saved from sin and be reconciled to God. Peter preached the Gospel which declares all the wonderful things God has done for us.. And that day three thousand souls believed and were baptized.

The Church’s existence depends on the Gospel. None of the hearts of all those people from all those far off places would have been changed if the Spirit hadn’t led the disciples and Peter to declare the wonderful works of God. That is because the Spirit uses the Gospel to create faith in people’s hearts. No other message will do. And no other power than the Spirit of God with all His gifts is sufficient to equip believers to declare this message.

II

On Pentecost, the Spirit and the Gospel were necessary for the Church’s growth. It remains the same today. If we do not preach the Gospel, we have nothing to say. If the Spirit is not present in the Church with His gifts, then we have no power to say it. And then the Church would not grow but die.

Think about it. What besides the Gospel does the Church have to say to people from all countries and times and languages? Nothing. No message of vague world peace or harmony has ever appealed. And if the Spirit did not stir up the hearts of the faithful to go and speak to people, who would ever do such a thing and take the risk of going to a foreign country or even just going out and about the neighborhood? But when the Spirit falls upon us with His gifts and leads us to declare the wonderful works of God then the Church does grow—even if that growth is slow or not always that impressive.  

That’s because the Gospel is the only thing we have to offer to everyone, and it’s just what everyone needs. The answer to the suffering, the sadness, the sins, of everyone, everyone, who has ever lived is found in the wonderful works of God in Christ. Christ crucified for our sins, Christ risen for our eternal life, these are the wonderful works of God that free everyone from sin and promise life eternal to all who believe.

The Spirit falls upon the Church because and gives us the gifts necessary to boldly declare the wonderful works of God because He wants the Church to grow. He wants everyone to hear the Gospel and believe it. So, He fills our hearts with courage, wisdom, and a knowledge of the wonderful of works of God that we might declare it to others.

On this day of Pentecost, remember that the Holy Spirit has fallen upon you. He gives you the courage and wisdom and desire to declare the wonderful works of God to those around you. So pray for the courage and wisdom of the Spirit, think of someone in your life who has left the Church or has never heard the Gospel. Declare to them the wonderful works of God. Invite them to come to Church where we speak always of those wonderful works for us. Don’t worry about the outcome. It’s not yours to control. The power to speak comes from the Spirit, and the strength of the message is not in you but in the cross and empty tomb.

What a joy to know that the Church grows and lives not by our powers or efforts but by the Spirit and the Gospel. On this day of Pentecost, we give thanks that we have the Spirit and the Gospel. That means the Church will continue and grow and will not fail.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.