Surprises, Signs and Secrets!!€¦ · Weird, strange, impossible but very smooth. The various languages spoken here were to promote equity and unity so as everyone could be on the

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Surprises, Signs and Secrets!!

Introduction: Surprises

Hands up here who likes Surprises. Who doesn’t like surprises?

Who likes Surprise Parties? Keep your hand up if it was your own?

I know kids love Parties but especially Surprise Parties!!

Little Johnny (He’s famous Little Johnny isn’t he) Johnny was the youngest of 5 kids, he asked

his mum who was dressed up all fancy, “Where are you going Mummy?”

"I'm going to a surprise party, Johnny," answered his mum.

"Are we all going, too?" he asked.

"No, dear. You were not invited."

After a few moments' deep thought: "Hey, mum, then don't you think they'd be lots

more surprised if you did take all us kids?"

I know for my husband Dave’s 30 th I didn’t even tell the kids as I knew

they would be so excited they couldn’t contain themselves and certainly

couldn’t keep it a secret. It was an awful 6 weeks before hand, trying

not to lie, but hide it and making up a reason to get him out of the house

on the night!! I am usually pretty good at putt ing my foot in things so I

felt like I was hyper vigilant in ensuring my foot was kept out of it!! I

know a lot of people who have had surprise parties have guessed it was

happening but just went along with it, BUT Dave had absolutely no idea which was

a miracle as we didn’t keep anything from each other!! So on that October night in

1992, he AND the kids got a complete surprise!!! We also gave Amy a Surprise 18 th

Party about 3 months after her birthday and she had no idea either!!!! BUT never

again!!

1/ An Anticipated, Yet Unknown Surprise

Can you try and imagine the disciples after Jesus ascended and they were told to wait and

pray? Actually they didn’t just wait, they made a decision, they replaced Judas with Matthias as

Peter quotes the Psalms, “May another take up his place of leadership”. (as in Acts 1:20)

Actually some commentators say that place may have been meant for Paul, and that they acted

too soon, which would align with Peter’s impetuous nature.

Here are the disciples together again, most likely in The Upper Room,

Praying, sleeping, eating, discussing, debating and trying to guess what

was to come. They had been given some clues, they would receive

power through the Holy Spirit who would advocate and help them and

that then Jesus’ Spirit would be in them but they had no idea when. Can

you imagine the conversations? This day was 50 days after Passover,

10 days after the Ascension and it was the Jewish celebration, the Feast

of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. Their speculating would probably have had this as one of

their most likely dates, so they were all there, the disciples, the women who had travelled with

Jesus and His mother, His brothers and all the believers at that time numbering a gathering of

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around 120. On this day there would have been an air of expectation perhaps a bit like a

Surprise Party, when you know it is going to happen but aren’t sure, what, where or when the

actual celebration will be. This time however you know the answer to the Why!!

How would they have felt? I imagine some would have been afraid, nervous, excited,

impatient, restless, unsure, even doubtful, there would have been an air of

expectation, when the Holy Spirit showed up but it couldn’t have been anything

like they anticipated. It was sudden, no build up just the sound of a

violent wind, no feeling of air blowing on their face just the

sound. And then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire

that separated and then rested on each of them and they

were filled with the Holy Spirit. How would they have felt?

How would you have felt?

Relieved, excited, joyous, overawed, scared, weird. Possibly not much time to over-analyse as

they then began speaking in strange tongues. Now because of the Feast of

Harvest, there were many pilgrims, God fearing Jews from all over, in crowded

Jerusalem at that time, and they heard the various languages being spoken and those voices

must have travelled to them supernaturally for all the people to have hear and to have come.

Then they get there and find they are Galileans.!!

Galileans!!! Unlearned Galileans speaking their languages. Galileans to some, just meant an

outsider, or someone who's not really an old Jew of the traditional sort. Galilee was not just

geographically far from Jerusalem; it was considered spiritually and politically backward too.

Galilee was the most pagan of the Jewish provinces, located as it was at the northernmost tier

of Palestine. Galileans were considered by Judaeans to hold loosely to the law and to be less

biblically pure than those in or near Jerusalem. While passionate, their ignorance in law and

disinterest in study was a never ending source of fuel for Judean snobbery.

I wonder what an equivalent might be to cause such, amazement. Perhaps the Queen talking

like cockney voice of Eliza DooLittle or Homer Simpson speaking eloquent French very suavely

or me talking with David Oddie’s voice imagine that, how would that be? Weird, strange,

impossible but very smooth.

The various languages spoken here were to promote equity and unity so as

everyone could be on the same page, unlike the Tower of Babel which caused

division. Pentecost reverses what happened at Babel; the Holy Spirit brings unity.

A number of people thought they were all drunk!!! Peter had to remind them it was

9am in the morning and they had not been drinking wine!!! Peter then gave an

empowered message quoting from Joel’s prophecy on how God would pour out His

Spirit on all people. It was so powerful that 3000 people heard, believed, were

baptised and filled with the Spirit. Amazing stuff!!! This certainly proved to be the

Feast of Harvest!! Harvest is at the heart of Pentecost.

2/ Signs

Then more and more were added in the days to follow as they lived out their Christian life

together, breaking bed, sharing possessions, praying and praising God. In Acts 2:43 “it says

“everyone was filled with awe at the many signs and wonders performed by the apostles.” There

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is no doubt that the working of miracles—signs and wonders—helped bring people to Christ.

That is what Luke wants us to see and that is surely why the Christians would pray in Acts

4:30 that God would stretch forth his hand to heal and do signs and wonders. It would help bring

people to Christ. Think about it, we get excited when one person comes to know Jesus and so

we should but 3000, get your heads around that!! It is perfectly clear that in New Testament

times, the gospel was authenticated and the church grew through signs, wonders and miracles

of various descriptions and characters. Every chapter bar one in Acts has healings and miracles

being performed. Was this only meant to be true of the early church?

In our John reading, Jesus is sharing with his disciples about how the Father will send another

advocate to help them and that you already know Him for He lives with you and will be in you.

When He comes you will know that v20 you are in me and I AM IN YOU!!! The word here for

both the Holy Spirit and Jesus in these verses in John is ‘paraclete’ and they are

interchangeable. In v16 when Jesus says I will send you another advocate, in the Greek it is

‘another paraclete’ the same as me. The Holy Spirit is sent to continue the work of the Son and

the Spirit of Jesus is in/with/through and One with the Holy Spirit. Jesus ministry, of compassion,

of healing, of miracles is meant to continue through the work

of the Holy Spirit. I am sure Jesus didn’t just mean this truth

for a few short years after he ascended to a small group of

people, it had to be the mandate and the POWER for all

who were to follow Him. Luke’s original manuscripts read as

one volume not 2 separate books, this is how Luke wrote

them. Luke’s Gospel is the work of Jesus here on earth and

Acts is the continuing work of Jesus in us through the Holy

Spirirt. They are meant to be seemless!!

Us Wesleyans hold the Doctrine of Holiness, where we believe Scripture says through the Spirit

we can be transformed and be made holy. It is only through Salvation and then the transforming

work of the Holy Spirit that we can even begin to hope to attain to holy living. This is an ongoing

miracle as our human nature is constantly working against this, always with a propensity to sin.

John Wesley’s conversion at Aldersgate brought according to Tomkins (one of his biographers),

“an extraordinary new power to his evangelistic mission.” Many lives were changed, people

talked about a personal salvation that influenced how they lived. Just attending church now was

not enough one’s faith had to be lived out. Wesley’s emphasis on personal relationship with

Jesus earns him the title of the founding father of evangelicalism. He was passionate and

conservative and liked things to be done in order but his preaching was attracting thousands

across the countryside and “much to his dismay almost” ‘charismatic phenomena’ was occurring

at most of his meetings as he spoke about the saving love of Christ. “Some people would weep

and loudly bemoan their sins, while others would collapse in anguish. Then they would express

great joy, declaring they felt cleansed of their evil.”1 So whilst being a driving force in the

evangelical movement, he also was an early player in the Pentecostal movement although he

never actually sought this.

1 Gonzalez, J.L., The Story of Christianity Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (pg 213)

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He was a reluctant reformer but his message of

transformation and lived out faith offered by a loving God,

caused revival in a population that was obviously

disenchanted with the Church of the day. His absolute

commitment and holy regard for the Lord’s supper, displayed

“a Catholic-like devotion to the sacraments of the Church

[contrasted and yet went hand in hand] with a Pentecostal

welcoming of healings, ecstasies and low Church

spontaneity.”2 Our own John Wesley is the perfect model of

how both our Bible Believing position can go hand in hand

with charismatic phenomena and surely we are wanting to reach a world who are hurting and

disillusioned with the church as he did!!! Perhaps we need to take a step back from the highly

ordered nature of our modern evangelism and ask God to reveal His holiness and power once

again.

Dr. Jerry Vines (FBC Jacksonville) says, “all too often the Average Christian and the Average

Church are Somewhere Bogged Down Between Calvary and Pentecost. They have received

Forgiveness and Pardon from Calvary, but they have

not received Power from Pentecost.

Bethlehem means God With Us.

Calvary means God For Us.

Pentecost means God In Us.”

He goes on to say, “Those statements transformed my

understanding of the person and the work of the Holy

Spirit. I believe that the average Christian is much like

the Ephesian believers when the Apostle Paul came to them in Acts 19:2 and said to them –

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They replied that they didn’t even know

that there was a Holy Spirit.”

I hope that isn’t us. Do you know the Holy Spirit? Are you familiar with His ministry, with the

divine gifts the Father has given you to use through and with His power for His glory? What are

your gifts? Are you exercising them within the body of Christ/ Are you testing and developing

them? They are always God’s gifts and in His Grace He bestows them on us and gives them to

build His kingdom. Where are our Healers, our Prophets, our

Ministers of Mercy, our Intercessors, our Teachers, Our Givers and

our Heavenly hosts and hostess’? They are here. If you don’t know

what your gifts are can I encourage you to find out, develop and

practice them because we as a Church and the Kingdom of God are

missing out on what God can and wants to do through YOU!! And just

a tip often they are what we are passionate about and just love doing, so couple that with God’s

POWER and wait and see.

2 Tomkins, S., John Wesley: A Biography (pg 196)

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3/ Secrets

We are called to have the Fruit of the Spirit, the character of Jesus this is crucial before anything

else. However, when this is accompanied with the Power OF Jesus through the Spirit this is

when history shows that revival occurs. The Spirit’s job and purpose is to reveal Jesus, to point

people to the Son of God, that is why signs and wonders appear. Some people worry that they

take the place of preaching and teaching but in Acts, they almost always accompany the

preaching of the good news and love of Jesus.

In the Colossians reading, it refers to the Message of Jesus being

hidden, like a Mystery or a secret. Who loves a good secret? Who

finds it hard to keep a secret? As I said earlier keeping a Surprise

party a secret is really hard. BUT this secret I assure you is meant

to be told. The secret is that Christ is in you. In the Greek the

word secret means something like “a secret that is designed to be

blabbed, to be shared to be let loose.” Blab away, tell everyone about

your faith, about the secret of knowing Jesus and all that God has done.

DO we do this? When did you last share your faith with someone.? When did you last talk about

the love of Jesus with someone? My friends I don’t reckon we are ever going to see signs,

miracles and wonders if we don’t share the secret, the wonderful but simple message of

Unconditional, grace, mercy and love as demonstrated through Jesus to a hurting world. The

Holy Spirit’s ministry is to reveal the Son, when the Apostles preached the Word and shared

Jesus, miracles, signs and wonders happened.

The words from John and Colossians, talk about Christ being in us. Jesus expects His ministry

to continue through the Holy Spirit but not only does He expect us to do it, He empowers us to

do it. The Holy Spirit in us is not some watered down version of Christ in us, it is fully Him with

the empowerment to continue His ministry. We cannot conjure up the atmosphere for the Spirit

to move. Sometimes I think our worship is just so beautiful and nothing happens, then at other

times I think it has been ordinary and some life changing things have happened for people;

there is no formula. Revival has always happened when God has wanted it too. So what is our

part? To make known God’s love, to bear witness to our salvation and to display the character

of Christ but don’t stop there . . . pray, pray for revival, pray and expect the empowerment of the

Holy Spirit who is in you.

Conclusion: God Surprise Us!!!

Have you ever watched a windsurfer? It's a bit like the skill of a wind surfer,

at times they almost dance across the waves when the wind is blowing and

they are in the right position but they can do nothing when the wind isn’t

blowing. They have to trust the wind but they also have to collaborate with

it.

The wind in the Book of Acts signified the birth of the Church. It empowered

the 120 and by night fall had added at least 3000 to their ranks. From 120 to 3120 in 24 hours

now that’s Church growth. Peter didn’t have time to conduct Church growth seminars as a result

of this wind, He just preached the word and moved in demonstrations of Power and Glory. That’s

how the Church was born and that was the pattern laid down by the Apostles!

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PRAYER:

Oh Lord God, Thank you for Pentecost, for sending your Spirit to continue the ministry of Jesus

in and through us. Please don’t let our cynicism, our skepticism, our spiritual pride, our

overzealous desires and our intellectualism quench, hinder or prevent you from doing your

work in Truth and in Power. Fill us anew with a sense of the privilege and the awesomeness of

this responsibility. May we have the courage and the will to ask you with expectation and

anticipation to surprise us!!! Oh please God use us and surprise us.

In Jesus Mighty Name, AMEN

The Spirit descends on those gathered together in a small room, breaks the doors wide open

and gathers many toward its power. We are reminded that practicing

resurrection is not for ourselves alone, but on behalf of a wider community.

Let’s not forget the words from Ephesians 1:19-20 that the power available

to us and working in us is the same as the mighty, resurrection power He

used to raise Jesus from the dead. This power defeated and annihilated the

power and stronghold of hell itself that would have been fighting with all its

might to keep Jesus in the grave!!! It is not only for those with whom we attend church services,

but beyond to the ones who sit at the furthest margins of society and our awareness. Pentecost

is a story of the courage that comes from breaking established boundaries.

Let’s not limit our vision or the power of the Spirit with our cynicism, our skepticism or our narrow

theological stance but equally not through our feelings of knowledge, certainty, spiritual pride or

intellectualism. Sometimes we fear doubt so much that we allow it to make our thoughts rigid,

we choose certainties and then never make space for the Spirit to break those open or apart. If

we are not amazed, perplexed, overawed or bewildered by the events of Pentecost then

consider releasing the tight grip of your certain thoughts, make space for mystery, for unknowing

and for HOLY SURPRISE!!!!

Paul prays for the Ephesians, who didn’t know about the Holy Spirit in chapter 1 v18. Let’s make

his prayer our prayer and ask that our minds may be opened, that our hearts

may be enlightened and flooded with light and that we may be intelligent and

discerning with our eyes focused and clear. Let’s pray for God to ramp up our

faith so as our faith will see an outworking of God’s Spirit. This is how God has

chosen to minster through His character and His power in us, who are we to

question and say that was for just back then for He is the same, yesterday, today

and forever.

For the first believers and for some of us the events of Pentecost may appear, kooky, weird, scary, unreal, amazing and/or incredible. But be assured God doesn’t do anything that is inconsistent with His Word and His Word is full of miracles, signs and wonders from beginning to end, through the Old and New Testaments and even in our post-modern age we have seen revival. It is always God who gives them and who sends revival. Through his Spirit we need to pursue holy living, blab the good news of Jesus Christ and always, always, always pray with courage and expectation, for GOD TO SURPRISE US.

Ange van der Leeuw

4th June, 2017