Acts 2:1-21

^{1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine. "
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
    17" 'In the last days, God says,
       I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
   Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
       your young men will see visions,
       your old men will dream dreams.
    18Even on my servants, both men and women,
       I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
       and they will prophesy.
    19I will show wonders in the heaven above
       and signs on the earth below,
       blood and fire and billows of smoke.
    20The sun will be turned to darkness
       and the moon to blood
       before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
    21And everyone who calls
       on the name of the Lord will be saved.'}

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! Oh, before we dig into the Word there are just two words I want to say to you, just two words. And the words are "Thank you." Thank you, each and every one of you, for the month of August, for my vacation. But you know, I think we should call it something different. I think we should call it the Pastor's Retreat, because it certainly was a vacation and a spiritual retreat for me. And I want to thank you, each and every one of you.

It took me about ten to fourteen days to decompress. Maybe it's so for you, too. But then I began to feel new energy surging in me. And I had this thought: it was sort of like all of you in this congregation made a circle around me and all together you were lifting a concrete disk off my back. "Ready? One, two, three, up! Okay, Pastor, go ahead, get a little rest." And I thank you for lifting it and holding it and helping me out.

I want to say a special thank you to all of you who preached, to Arlene for organizing the preaching, to Dr. Bell for organizing and making the music happen, to all who sang, all who attended and to all who supported. I thank you. Can you join me in obeying the Psalm and clapping our hands for all those who made my retreat happen? God bless you.

You've all been so kind with your good wishes, asking where I went and what I did. I spent a bunch of time down at the shore; I got to fly the kite. Dylan let me go to the water park with him. Interesting things happened; I don't know why these things happen to me. We were at the amusement park down at Point Pleasant at one point, and I was just sitting on the bench waiting for Dylan to finish his ride, minding my own business. These women came up to me with their children and said, "Do you work here?"

"No, sorry, I don't."

"We have a complaint about the ride policy anyway. These children are too small to ride the rides and this one is too big."

What am I going to do about it? I don't know! "Well, I can sympathize with your situation. I sure hope it all turns out better."

I had wonderful things happen. I got to meet people from all around the world. I went over to Birmingham , England , to study advanced choral conducting techniques with British choral conductors. It was a great experience.

I met a professor, the head of the choral conducting department at the University of Sweden , who was giving a lecture on intonation. He said, "If you are going up ze scale, what you should do, the secret is to make it a little higher, a little sharper. And if you go down the scale, make it a little less." The choir will understand completely – it was nice to hear it verified.

It was a great summer, and I thank you. I met a man in Birmingham , England , who was an usher at the church service. I don't know why people come up and talk; he just needed to talk and tell me about the pain he was feeling about some explosions that happened in Birmingham . I was able to relate to that, and we had a good talk about it.

It was a wonderful, blessed time, and I got to think about God everyday, in a way that's different from when I have to do the everyday things that a pastor does. And so, for this, I thank you so much.

I want to talk to you today about a subject that I've never talked about before. It occurred to me mid-summer – tell the people about this. I haven't gotten it out of my mind. I would like to explore with you today and for the next few weeks the positive power of the Holy Spirit.

Now I confess to you -- some of you have known me for a very long time – I have never preached a sermon in my life focusing solely on  the Holy Spirit, so I need your help. I need you to pray me through this, okay? But I think it's an important, exciting subject. The other thing is, I'm not going to be able to tell you all there is to know about the Holy Spirit. What I want to do is get you thinking, and set you on a track, and let's be on the track together and figure out what it means to be filled with God's Holy Spirit.

Now I confess, early in my life I didn't think much about the Holy Spirit. Do you think much about the Holy Spirit? We believe in Creator God. We behold His works throughout. And we believe in Jesus Christ and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That's what makes us Christians. But you know, throughout our history, there's the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. One with Father and Son, but how should we think about that Holy Spirit? I never thought about it much; did you?

In the last couple of years, I thought that the Holy Spirit was the same as the spirit of Jesus Christ, here with us. And that's true. But you know what? There's more. I think I have a clue. See what you think of this: the Holy Spirit is the vitality, the energy, and the enthusiasm of God in us. What do you think of that? The Holy Spirit is the vitality, the energy, and the enthusiasm of God dwelling in us.

Let's see how it happens in the Bible. The apostles were gathered together in one place. What's going on? Friends, they were sitting together in a dark room, doors closed and locked, the windows closed, the shades drawn, and the blinds turned dark. They were scared! The Romans got Jesus – when are they coming for us?  They were sad, confused; they lost Jesus on earth. And they were sapped of their energy. They were drained. Hey friends, do you know that song, "Running on Empty"? That's what's going on here. These friends were running on empty, and they were huddled in a circle. They were scared, drained of hope and energy.

Have you ever felt scared, or drained, wondering where the next measure of hope or energy is going to come from? If you ever do, I invite you to keep this story in your pocket.

So there they were. And then, the Bible says, there came a sound like the rush of a mighty wind. [Imagine the wind]. Now what does that mean? Is that good or bad? Is that a happy thing or a scary thing? What is that? The sound of the rushing of the breeze – it's scary. It's a crisis. Something big is happening, and we're not exactly sure what it is. It's what happens when you come to a crossroads in your life, and you're not sure what's going to happen. It's a time when everything just falls to pieces. And the disciples ask, "What is it? What's going on?" Have you been there?

And then what happens? There are tongues of fire that rest over each one. What does that stand for? Light. Illumination. There is brightness in the midst of the rushing wind; in the midst of the crisis, there is brightness. There is the lightbulb that goes on. There is the ‘ah ha!' experience. "Ah ha," said the disciples. "Now we get it." God loves us. It was a light turning on for them. How about for you?

And then, the Bible says, they were all – did you catch that word? – they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, each and every one. Later on, Peter is quoting the prophet Joel, where he says, "Your sons and your daughters" – remember, this was a chauvinistic society, so they went out there proclaiming big! – "Your sons and your daughters, your manservants and your maidservants, your young people and your seniors, shall have wonderful things happen as they are filled with the Holy Spirit."

That's what happened at Pentecost. There was a new rush of vitality. There was a new rush of energy. There was a new rush of enthusiasm in people. And they were so excited, some people thought they were drunk. Yes, it was that extreme.

But wouldn't it be nice to be so excited about something that people mistook us for that? That's what happened to those first disciples. And let me say this: I believe in my heart that it can happen for us, that we can be infused with God's Holy Spirit, maybe not as extremely at first as they were. But do you feel locked in a room with open doors? Do you feel sad or scared or sapped of energy?  Then maybe what you and I need is the Holy Spirit, the vitality and energy and enthusiasm of God working in our lives. We're going to talk about this some more as the weeks go on.

I invite you to tune into this with me. It's God's gift working in us. You may say, "How do I get it? How do I get it, Pastor?" The answer is simple. Open the door and let the Spirit in. in the midst of your closed-up feeling, say, "Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me." Open your heart, and let that fire, that enthusiasm, that energy, that vitality poor into you.

Last thought. My mom and I, back when I was living at home, used to sit at the breakfast table together and read the Daily Word. (You can pick up a copy at church.) [Note: you can also read the Word for Today online at http://www.unityworldhq.org/daily_word.htm]. There is an affirmation sentence at the top for each day. The sentence, on that dark morning, was "I am alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic about life." Well, let me tell you, friends, we were sitting there over our coffee, and it was dark outside as we read "I am alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic about life." It didn't seem too real at first, but as we said it, we found the Spirit flowing into us. So I'm going to ask you to close the sermon with me today by repeating these words with me. Won't you take it to heart?

I am alive. Awake. Alert. Energetic. And enthusiastic about life. Praise God!

I am alive, awake, alert, energetic, and enthusiastic about life. Praise God!

Take it with you into the week, and let the Holy Spirit fill you with the energy of God. God loves you. I do, too. Have a wonderful week. Amen.