Though we are not in the liturgical calendar
of the church where Pentecost would be, that's
40 days after Easter, we find ourselves in Pentecost
this morning. We find ourselves with the coming
of the Holy Spirit, but we've had to work up
to it, right? As we've looked at the very beginning
of the book of Acts, we all, a lot of you, it
was, again, I would have been that way too, that
we don't think that there's a whole chapter before.
what we consider Pentecost, the coming of the
Holy Spirit, the start of the church. And what
was interesting is some of you over the last
two weeks messaged me or talked to me about this
idea that the Lord said, but you need to wait.
Because we kind of grow up with, you know, and
I've used this example before, you know, this
little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
Way to go, 13 of you, right? And it's hiding
under a bushel. No, I'm going to let it shine,
right? No one's going to. poof it out, not blow
it out. No, poof it out or blow it out, whatever.
Or, you know, all around the... Thank you. Come
on, Munster Church. All around the neighborhood,
I'm going to let... Did your churches not teach
you that? I don't know if they were a true church.
But understanding, some of you are like, I learned
it here. Another rhyme for another time. All
around the neighborhood, I'm going to let it
shine. That we want to take that Jesus, especially
when we either profess him for the first time,
or maybe you grew up in a tradition where you
accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. There's a
whole theological debate where it's actually
the same thing, but that's a whole other rhyme
for another time. Maybe we just want to go. But
it's funny how the church didn't start that way.
The Lord said to Peter, upon you I'm going to
build my church. He says now go out in Matthew
28. He says go out in Acts 1. But then he says
wait. And we've talked about this. Because when
we go on our own strength, our own power, our
own vision, if I'm being honest, we're just going
to mess it up. We have to go with the power of
the parakletos. Greek for advocate, the Holy
Spirit. That is how the church goes. Yet, if
we look at just Class of Silyana, new churches
pop up for things that are not the work of the
Holy Spirit. We've broken off churches because
of language. That's a whole history of this church.
That Munster Church was one of the last churches
to Americanize after World War II. What does
that mean? That we were one of the last churches
To have its main service, because at one point
there was like four or five services at this
church. But we were one of the last ones to Americanize,
meaning our main service was in English. We were
one of the last ones to do it. Our main service
was in Dutch for years and years and years, for
probably even a century it was. Isn't it funny
how language plays? When we're trying to tell,
you know, if you ever go to a foreign country,
this is before you have apps that can just do
it for you. And you don't know the language.
We all speak the language of charades. Think
about it. If you've ever been 20 years ago before
we had those apps and you went to another language,
you either tried to cram, okay, how do you say
train, how do you say food, yet when you don't
know, how do you tell someone that you're hungry
and you want food if language is the barrier?
Just do it. Wow, those are like seven different
ones. Some of you just think it's universal to
eat a cheeseburger. Some of you literally did
this. That was interesting. Some of you are birds.
Like, this meant steal third when I was in college,
right? No, but some of you, and some of you actually
did it in a very nice way. Some of you had a
fork and you were using it. That's very, very
good, right? But it's funny how when you go around
trying to do all of that or you're playing the
game of charades, how frustrated people get.
I'm sure marriages have gone, you know, after
a game night, they've let the sun go down on
their anger because their spouse stinks at charades.
I'm not talking about the Holland owners. But
understand that when there is no language for
things, it gets very, very frustrating. Like,
well, you could just write it down. Not if you
don't know the language. You're welcome -o. That's
not Spanish for you're welcome. Okay? And so
understand that language plays. No wonder they
had to wait for the Holy Spirit. Because what
happens in Pentecost, what happens with what
we're going to read today, can only be done by
God himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We just sang, O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer's praise. And isn't it great
that we see this picture of heaven of all tribes
and tongues will come together to sing, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. But Acts
2 is weird. If we're going to engage in Acts
2, this Pentecost story is strange. Because the
Holy Spirit comes with wind, it comes with fire.
And what an interesting and very unique interaction
these individuals have. And suddenly, the gospel
can be proclaimed around the world with the languages
of the world. It is as if God himself says, you
don't need a thousand tongues, I will give you
the tongue you need. This song of redemption
we just sang is no longer confined to just one
person's language. It is unleashed to the nations.
And you can engage that line very differently.
That the church was unleashed to the nations.
Some of us would go, ooh, that doesn't make me
feel good. Unleashed. That sounds very hard,
very dramatic, almost violent. But let's look
at it a different way. That what was once...
kind of tamed by a language, is now opened. And
those highways and byways of the church now can
run through the entire world. So let's dive in.
We're going to be in Acts chapter 2. We've got
a lot of road ahead of us. The first four verses,
the Spirit comes with wind and fire. So it'll
be in chapter 2, 1 through 4. When the day of
Pentecost arrived, which is part of the religious
festivals, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound
of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire
house where they were sitting, and divided tongues
as a fire appeared to them and rested on each
of them, and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance. All right. So
you're one of the people in the room. Windstorm
inside. Not normal. It's just not. And then all
of a sudden, resting on all of you, and you might
have seen depictions of this, is just this little
spark of fire, and you have been given a tongue
to declare Jesus. It's pretty incredible. I think
it's fascinating that it happened, and it shouldn't
be a surprise to us. God works this way. It's
fascinating that it happened on Pentecost, because
Pentecost was a Jewish festival, a harvest feast.
But God had something else in mind. This wasn't
to uplift the Israelites. It wasn't to uplift
the Jews, which kept language very much to themselves.
Though they were celebrating a harvest feast,
God was planning to harvest the souls that were
going to be impacted by the church. That language
was going to go out. The Spirit's arrival is
marked by wind. The word here is rach, the breath
of God, and fire, a symbol of God's presence.
And we see God's hand all over it. And I think
it's so cool. The disciples are filled with the
Spirit, and they begin to speak in other tongues
as the Spirit gives them utterance. I have no
idea what this would be like. I would liken it
maybe one day you just wake up and can speak
Spanish fluently. It doesn't make any sense.
How many of you have taken Spanish for more than
a year in school? How many of you can speak it
fluently? This happened like that. I'd like to
think I could. Right? If we're talking with people
that speak Spanish, if they go really, really
slow and use really, really basic nouns or verbs
or vocab, I might be able to get there. That's
not what we're talking about. They weren't just
kind of fumbling around in this. All of a sudden,
they had it. That tongue, that language was given
to them. So I think it's very easy to say, this
is a miracle. This is up there with the five
loaves and the two fish. This is not something
you and I can do. The miracles of Jesus are meant
for one person. Jesus. This is a miracle of the
Holy Spirit. We're going to see that in the book
of Acts. And it's the miracle of the ability
to speak all of these languages. So we're going
to be in verse 5. The miracle of languages. Verse
5. Now. There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews,
devout men of every nation under heaven. And
at this sound, the multitude came together and
they were bewildered because each one was hearing
them speak in his own language. And they were
amazed and astonished, all saying, are not all
these who are speaking Galileans? And how is
it that we hear each of us in our own native
language? Parthians and Medes and Amalites and
the residents of Mesopotamia and Judea and Cappadocia
and Pontus and Asia and Philegia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene
and visitors from Rome, both Jews and Prothelites,
Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in
our own language the mighty works of God. Stop
there. we hear them telling in our own language,
or in our own tongues, the mighty works of God.
So right there, weird, amazed, shocked, and all
were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
what does this mean? And right away, others mocked,
saying they are filled with new wine. Translated
in 2025, they're drunk. Thank you. You said it.
I didn't. Is that not how people can engage when
amazing things happen? They try to figure it
out in our own way. But they were amazed. They
were perplexed. Jews from every nation, hear
the gospel. This wasn't debating. This wasn't
just like the history books. This was the gospel,
the good news of a alive Christ, crucified Christ,
died Christ, buried Christ, rose again Christ.
The good news of the gospel. This is not chaos,
though it reads like it. Lean in. This is clarity.
The Holy Spirit is bringing clarity of the gospel.
I don't know about you, but I went back to the
Tower of Babel in my mind when I was looking
through this. Because we see that Tower of Babel,
we did it two years ago. They tried to become
God, trying to reach God. God gives them language
to divide them because they were leaning into
that sin. The Tower of Babel scattered people
by confusion and languages. But Pentecost unites
by declaring the gospel in every language. Everyone
in this account is confronted with the power
of God. And here's the first kind of this way
or that way. Some marvel at it. Others mock.
Which one would you have been? I'm not asking
you to answer. But think about that. You see
this going on. And do you mock it or do you marvel
at it? There are times when God moves in our
life, though we want to marvel, our cynicism,
our skepticism, our sarcasm brings us to mock
because we don't understand. That isn't a reaction
we all can have. When I can't understand it in
my life, I'm just going to kind of logicalize
it out. I'm going to mock it. I'm going to be
cynical about it. Or maybe we've been too hurt
to be able to accept that this is a marvel or
a work of the Lord because it didn't come my
way or it didn't come when I asked, and we tend
to just deny it. Guys, this is the church. This
has been the church's dysfunction, I would say,
for its entire existence. And you may know those
kind of people. You may know people that marvel
at the work of the church. Oh, they're doing
such good things. When I'm there, I just feel
so empowered by the Holy Spirit. But for some
of us, maybe a lot of us, we tend to mock it
because the church doesn't meet our criteria.
Oh, well, they do that, and so no, we're not
going to do that. Oh, they do off -brand Oreos,
so we're not, no, that's not going to be a thing.
Do we do off -brand Oreos? I don't even know.
It doesn't matter. It's clearly not in the book
of Acts, so it doesn't matter. But understand
that we can engage that one of two ways all the
time. Even when God is trying to get a hold of
your heart, you may not be able to overcome your
own cynicism. Then that's really, really hard.
But the point is true. Everyone is confronted
with God's power. Have you been confronted with
God's power in your life? Power to heal? Power
to bring joy, to lift you out of a hard circumstance?
Power to convict? Power to bring about difficult
conversations? Power to step into a ministry
you never thought you'd step into? Maybe God
calling you out of a ministry you thought you
were ready for. Seasons in the church. Do you
marvel at God's work? Do you mock God's work
or I'm going to offer a third? Do you try to
make it on your own? That's the one thing we
don't see in the church, dot, dot, dot, yet.
We will. Oh, we will. How do we know? Because
we know what Revelation says. There are churches
that get spit out of God's mouth. Clearly churches
that were not following the way, not following
the person of Jesus. But I would understand because
I would be there too. A lot of confusion. This
event is going on. People think you're drunk.
People think that it's something of the Lord,
probably everywhere in between. So Peter explains.
It's a good thing Peter was there. It wasn't
a happenstance. This is what Jesus said Peter
was going to do. Peter explains the event. So
let's jump in at verse 14. But Peter, standing
with the eleven, Lifted up his voice and addressed
them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
let this be known to you and give ear to my words.
For these people are not drunk, as you suppose,
since it is only the third hour of the day. I
always find that hilarious. But this is what
was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in
the last days it shall be, God declares, that
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. And your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your
young men shall see visions. Your old men shall
dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female
servants. In those days I will pour out my spirit
and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders
in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will
be turned to darkness. moon to be blood before
the day of the Lord, the great and magnificent
day. And it shall come to pass that everyone
who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. That has been and always will be the main
job of the church. Not to save people, but to
bring them to Jesus. But think about Peter's
journey in the last two months. He sits with
Jesus, what we call the Last Supper. You know,
we see that on Monday, Thursday. You're going
to deny me. Before the cock crows, you will have
denied me three times. We know, Jewish culture,
if a disciple denies a rabbi three times, the
disciple is disowned by the rabbi because they
are, in fact, disowning the rabbi. That relationship
is broken. We see it come to pass. Then we see
in John's Gospel, he is... Brought back to restoration.
Threefold. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Feed
my sheep. If you love me. Peter declares that.
Jesus says, upon you I will build my church.
Forty days. Jesus appears. Then he goes up. Matthew
28. Acts 1. Peter, once fearful, now stands boldly
and preaches. In two months, he goes from denial
to preaching. I find that fascinating. He quotes
Joel, minor prophet. We'll get to that next year.
God promised to pour out his spirit on all flesh.
Sons, daughters, old, young, old, servants, free.
All now will be what? Prophesying, dreaming dreams.
What is he just describing? What I love about
Munster Church, multiple generations. That our
young marrieds should be able to look to the
older marrieds for how life has gone, good, bad,
and let's call a spade a spade, ugly. That our
older kids of faith can get energy from the young
kids of faith. That at one point in this church,
you didn't hear babies cry in the sanctuary.
Now we do, and I love it. And check your heart
if you go, man, bring that kid. No, never let
your heart go. They are praising in their own
way. At a very young age, they know that Pastor
Jim goes too long, and they reject it. And that's
just something they've got to learn. But understand
that this is what Peter is doing. He is giving
context for the church. The Spirit of God, the
church, is not limited by age, not by gender
or status. The church is for all. Right there.
He is giving context. When someone does prophesy,
and I've had it happen in three different worship
services in my 20 -year career, where someone
will stand up and start speaking in tongues.
And just to clarify, it has not happened in a
CRC church. We'd all freak out if it did, let's
be honest. Another rhyme for another time. Twice
there was interpretation. Once there wasn't.
And that person was asked to leave to go meet
with the elders. Because that's what Paul calls
us to do. That if there's tongues, there needs
to be interpretations. And I think Peter gives
a wonderful interpretation of the Spirit. How
do we know? How does he end? Everyone who calls
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. An
interpretation of tongues shall be and always
will be pointing to the glory of Christ. It's
not about your own thing. No one ever prophesied
and said, the Lord told me we should not get
rid of these pews. Thank you. One person laughed.
Three people are offended. Because in this church
it didn't work. And if that's pouring salt and
wounds, I love you so much. You've got to get
over it. Because the church has never been bound
by a building. The church has never been bound
by pews or chairs. The church has never been
bound by organ or guitar. The church has never
been bound by new building, old building. The
church has never been bound by an address. We're
seeing it right here. Never been bound by that.
It's not bound by anything. And it has one direction,
that everyone who calls upon the Lord shall be
saved. So the church better be talking about
it. So what does Pentecost then look like in
Pentecost now, 2025? Oh boy, lock in. The Spirit
empowers ordinary people. Sorry if you think
you're great, but the Spirit empowers ordinary
people. The disciples were fishermen, tax collector,
former doubters. And the Spirit turns them into
bold. Witnesses. Bold witnesses. Today, God doesn't
want us, God doesn't wait for us to be ready.
How do I know? Call an elder, talk to an elder
or a deacon who get that phone call. Someone
that's asked to be on a committee. Someone that's
asked to be on stage for a worship team or a
nursery. What a great opportunity to help love
on the generations of our church than to go help
in nursery. And I know some of you are going
to roll your eyes, but we need that. Right? You
can't have a nursery without people down there.
You can't have a worship team without people
up here. Would you guys enjoy it if we just showed
you two clips every Sunday morning? I'd hate
it. I don't think you'd like it either. We need
the people, the church. Though the church doesn't
need people, the church calls people to be a
part of it. The Holy Spirit does that. Today,
God doesn't wait for us to be ready. He fills
ordinary people with an extraordinary power.
What power is that? To be a witness for Christ.
Second, the gospel is for every language and
culture. At Pentecost, no one had to learn a
new language to hear Jesus. God spoke their heart
language. Super hallmarky. I get it, but I kind
of like it, so I wrote it. Their soul needed
something, and the Lord met that with language.
For us, how can we make the gospel clear in our
communities? Their heart language. What is the
heart of your community? What do they need to
hear? Some of you grew up staunch CRC. Right?
Staunch catechism, seven days a week, or whatever
it was. Right? That you grew up in that. And
there's a part of you that needs some of that.
But God is also softening you to some of that
and go, do not raise those catechisms higher
than the Word of God. Because without the Word
of God, the catechism is nothing. And those traditions
that we hold to, most of them not bad, but some
of them exalt more than Jesus. And some of you
are the opposite. You didn't grow up in the church
at all. God or the church was mocked. They're
just going to try to sell you something. Pastors
are salesmen. That's their mentality. No, there's
a foundation in the Word of God. There's a foundation
found in our catechism. There's foundation looking
at the history of the church. It means something.
How do we know? It's still here. Whether culturally,
generationally, or personally. The church is
for you. That unity, oh, unity. Unity is spirit
made, not man made. About a week and a half ago,
I sent my first draft to our admin council of
the new mission and vision for the church. You're
going to talk more, we're going to talk more
about that in the coming weeks and months. I
did it and wrote it with fear and trembling.
Because I don't want this church unified because
of Jim. Granted, I don't want to go anywhere,
but it can't be about me. And it can never be
about us. It has to be about Jesus. It has to
be about the unity of the church that the Spirit
makes. Notice how humans didn't do anything outside
or just follow the call of the Spirit and step
into what the Spirit was doing. The disciples
were gathered with one accord. Not because they
were alike, but because the Spirit unified them.
So that needs to always be the church. If we
only go to church because we all look alike,
act alike, talk alike, smell alike, all of those
alikes, guys, that's how cults start. The church
needs to be something different. That's why we
have in our vision now, in what we want our philosophy
of ministry to be, we don't want all these other
things in common. Culturally, we want Christ
in common. In a divided world, the church's unity
isn't found in politics or style or preference.
The church is only found in the Spirit's presence.
We see it in the marks of the true church. The
pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration
of the sacrament, and the use of church discipline.
Not because we like beating people with the Bible,
but we want to be about restoration. The church
who... Some of you may not like this, but the
church is a prophetic people. Fourth point. Joel's
prophecy says young and old, men and women, all
will prophecy. They will prophesy. The Spirit
will take them by their soul and lead them into
what the Spirit wants to do in their life. That
doesn't mean everyone preaches sermons, but it
does mean that everyone speaks God's truth. If
all of a sudden you just kind of... Felt a little
bound there? A little tension in your gut? Because
you might be walking out your own truth, not
God's truth. That everything we say, everything
we do, we should be able to tie it back to this,
the Word of God, because we're seeing it literally
on display. The Spirit equips all believers to
witness, not just pastors, elders, deacons, licensed
to exhorters. All of us. Has he called some to
office? Yes. But he has called all of us to be
the priesthood of believers. Whether you're a
therapist, whether you're a nurse, whether you're
a stay -at -home mom or dad, whether you're a
garbage man, whether you're an accountant, we
all, the Spirit, has the power to have you be
prophetic words in your places of employment.
Yet we don't like that. Sometimes it's uncomfortable.
I don't want to do it. But friend, one thing
we see is that the mission of the church has
been and always will be urgent. Peter says the
last days have begun. That means the clock is
ticking, not for panic, but for mission. And
being 20 years in the church, guys, the church
sometimes moves slower than government. To try
to make decisions is hard. to come and find unity
amongst all of us, to do certain things. Big
movements of the church takes everybody. That's
why we don't vote at congregational meetings
about paint colors or carpet type. Because let's
be honest, we'd never agree. And we'd probably
start hating each other in our heart. Can you
believe they wanted red paint? They probably
don't believe in Jesus. That's insane. That is
the church divided, not the church unified. The
church's task is not for comfort or survival,
but for witness. Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved. The mission of the
church is urgent. How do I know? I can ask each
and every one of you. Is there someone in your
life, first or second ring of relationships,
so don't even go to acquaintances, that doesn't
know Jesus? There. The mission is urgent. Because
Jesus could come tomorrow. The illustrations.
That the Holy Spirit uses wind and fire of the
Spirit, the gift of languages and unity across
differences. How much do we need that today?
In today's world, people divide over everything.
But Pentecost gives us a picture that shows the
Spirit builds a community where the dividing
walls fall. And here's the weak wrecker. I need
you all, myself included. Are we the one trying
to put a brick of the wall of division in our
church for one thing or another, a preference
or something that's being done that we think
should be done or whatever? In hearing that we've
kind of stopped our relationship with the new,
are you immediately going, well, what happened?
I need to find this out. And so, because if it's
not to my liking, I'm going to start putting
that brick of division up. Is that the part we
play in the church? To add bricks to the walls
of division? Or are we to step back and go, Holy
Spirit, come like a flood, like a fire. 90 %
of you sang it because it's the third week we've
done it. The other 10, you'll get there. But
understand, is that what we should be about?
The power of Christ, not the power of our preferences.
Because at the end of the day, we sang it, oh,
for a thousand tongues. A song for the nations.
I land the plane here. At Pentecost, the Spirit
took a small, fearful group of believers and
turned them into a choir for the nations. With
wind and fire, he gave them voices to declare
the wonders of God in every language. The gospel
can no longer be confined. It is unleashed. And
church, here's the truth for us today. The Spirit
still does that. He takes ordinary people and
fills them with extraordinary boldness. He takes
scattered voices and unites them into this one
song. He takes a local gathering like ours, and
what does he do? He sends ripples throughout.
And those ripples start to reach farther than
we can ever imagine. So my question for you today.
The question is not whether we have enough voices,
enough power, enough buildings, enough strategy,
enough mission, enough vision. The question is,
are you ready for the Holy Spirit to be loose
among us? Because when he does, the song of salvation
isn't just encapsulated here. There are dozens
of other churches singing the same song of salvation.
It will move through our church, but most importantly,
through our homes, through our neighborhoods,
through our cities, and through the world. How
do we know? Come next Sunday night and see a
little taste of it. That's the vision of Pray
Chicago Southland. Church, we don't need a thousand
tongues. We need one spirit. the Spirit of God.
And when he fills us, the world cannot help but
hear our message. So what is the message you're
singing? What is the message you're speaking?
What is the message you're typing and posting
and sending? Because that's a taste that the
world has of the church. We say it in sports
all the time. The name on the back is not more
important than the name on the front. You all
bear the name Christ follower if you are here
in Christ. If not, if you're just seeking it,
if you're just thinking about it, if this is
a conversation in your life, please come find
me. I'm not teaching catechism today. Please
come find me after service. I would love to teach
you more about this song that a thousand tongues
sang because of the Holy Spirit. Please stand
if you are able, and we will have our closing
prayer together in unison. Come, Holy Spirit,
fill us with your power. Breathe your wind into
our lives. Set our hearts on fire with your presence
and loosen our tongues to sing your praise. Unite
us as one body. Send us to be witnesses in every
place and let your gospel be heard in every heart
language for the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen.