COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – THE GIFT OF FIRE TEXT: ACTS 2:14-15, 22-24, 36-37-39, 40-42

INTRODUCTION 1. Have you ever received a gift that you were not sure you knew what to do with it? – purple socks, pink ties, smelly perfumes? 2. Today I want to talk about FIRE.

a. Everyone is fascinated with fire; b. Many boys say they want to be firefighters when they grow up; c. When you hear a fire engine in your neighborhood, chances are you will go outside to catch a glimpse of the fire. d. On a cold winter’s night, people enjoy curling up in front of the fire-place, not just for the warmth, but to watch the fire burning; e. In summer, we love gathering round a campfire and a barbeque.

Fire fascinates all of us. 3. What would you do if someone gave you a gift of fire? To be sure, you would be fascinated by it. BUT, what would it mean? Perhaps, the early disciples wondered too. After all, that was the Lord’s first gift to them on that first Christian Pentecost-FIRE. 4. Let’s recall that event in the upper room near the temple in Jerusalem where the 120 disciples were gathered. a. They had been there for 10 days,

• spending time in prayer, • choosing another disciple to replace Judas, • discussing and recalling their experience with Jesus while He was on earth.

b. Just before He went to heaven, Jesus had told them to go to Jerusalem and not to leave the city until they had received the gift of which He had spoken to them earlier. c. And so, they did. They were gathered there to wait, not quite sure what this gift was all about. 5. Yes, they had heard something about this Holy Spirit. During the meal they had with Jesus the night before He was crucified, Jesus told them that it was necessary for Him to leave them so that he might send them:

o Another COMFORTER o One who would ENCOURAGE them o One who would EXHORT them.

6. They were not sure what Jesus was talking about. And then, a little later, Jesus had told them that this Comforter would be a GUIDE to them – the Spirit would guide them in all truth. Again, they were not sure what’s this all about, but they kept quiet. 7. And then, just before Jesus was taken up to heaven, He told them that they would receive POWER, supernatural power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and that the Holy Spirit would drive them to the ends of the earth with the message of the gospel (Acts 1:8). Again, they did not fully understand. 8. Even today, people do not understand the Holy Spirit: Story of pastor’s children:

• The mother was observing them playing with a baby doll at a construction site next to their home; • The little girl would present the doll to her brother; • He would sprinkle a few drops of water on it then throw it into a deep hole; • The girl would climb down the hole to retrieve the doll and the process would start all over again. • Curious, the mother came out to ask, “What are you doing?” • “We are playing daddy. We are baptizing babies.” • The mother asked for a demonstration. • With great seriousness, the girl presented the doll to her brother who would sprinkle a few drops of water on it while saying, • “In the name of the Father and • the Son and • IN THE HOLE HE GOES.” • (“In the Holy Ghost”).

THE GIFT OF FIRE 1. Suddenly, the group heard a noise. It sounded like a windstorm, a hurricane, a tornado. It was the sound of something powerful. 2. But nothing moved – no buildings destroyed, no doors slammed shut, not even the leaves on the trees rustled. And, as they looked to see what was happening, they noticed that above each head was what appeared to be a FLAME – FIRE that sat there. The FIRE would be Christ’s first gift to His church. The FIRE that was the Holy Spirit. 3. A gift of fire. Not sure whether the disciples knew what to do with the gift. BUT, the disciples did not think of possessing the gift. Instead, they let the gift possess them! 4. His gift of FIRE, the Holy Spirit, was exactly as told to them by Jesus Christ. He is a

• Comforter • Encourager • Exhorter (Challenger)

The Holy Spirit came not only to Comfort and Encourage, but He came to Challenge and to Transform. 5. Look at: a. Peter

• Always impulsive, always speaking and acting before thinking. • He was so brash that he left his fishing business when Jesus said to him and his brother, Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19). • He was brash enough to get out of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus when the other disciples were too afraid (Matthew 14:23-29); • He was so brash that he took a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest who came to arrest Jesus (John 18:10); • Not only was Peter brash, he was also a coward – remember he denied that he had ever known Jesus when confronted three times while Jesus was on trial (Luke 22:54-62). • Yet, this brash and cowardly fisherman was transformed when the Holy Spirit filled him at Pentecost. He stood up and preached God’s mighty deed among the Jews who were there at Pentecost. And, on that day, the church was born with 3000 Jews who confessed and repented and turned their lives to Christ! • Peter was a changed man. The Holy Spirit came upon Him to give him comfort in place of his fear, encouragement in place of his doubts, and challenge in place of his cowardice and silence. • Peter had the fire or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the FIRE had Peter!

b. Augustine

• Since that first Christian Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been transforming lives. • There was that young man from North Africa (Algeria), a brilliant thinker; • He grew up in a Roman colony and, being a brilliant thinker, had his mind set on building a career in Rome. • So, he left Algeria and went to Milan (the customary residence of the Roman Emperor) at the age of 28 and was appointed an Imperial Professor. However, he met with disappointments and his career came to a halt after only 2 years in Milan. 然而，他感到失望，在米兰仅两年，他的事业进入瓶颈期 It was during this time that he did some soul-searching and decided to return to his hometown in Algeria. His soul-searching made him become aware of his sin and his need for a personal relationship with God. – • He too was taken by the FIRE of the Holy Spirit and was transformed into one of the greatest theologians in history. His name was Augustine (Saint Augustine).

c. Martin Luther

• There was another young man in the sixteenth century who became concerned about the direction his church was taking; • At the age of 13, this young man went to university to study law and achieved his master’s degree in record time! • At the age of 21, he was caught in a severe thunderstorm and a bolt of lighting struck the ground near where he was standing. His life took a dramatic turn. He prayed for help and made a vow that he would become a monk if he survived the thunderstorm. • He did survive the thunderstorm and he did fulfill his vow (so, be careful about making promises in desperate situations!) • This young man’s name was Martin Luther. He became a hugely successful monk – he spent much time in prayer and fasting. Frequently, he would go without sleep and sleep in the cold without blanket. He would even use whips to beat himself. • He thought that all these would win him favour with God. In fact, he once commented: “If anyone could have earned heaven by the life of a monk, it was I.” For a long while, Martin Luther struggled with the passage in Romans 1 where Paul wrote: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed [j]from faith to faith; as it is written, “[k]BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:16-17, NASB) • He remarked: “I hated that word, ‘the righteousness of God’, by which I had been taught according to the custom and use of all teachers — that God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.” • The young Luther knew that he could not live by faith because he was not righteous. And, while studying for his doctorate degree in the Bible, he began to see the truth of that passage in Romans 1:16-17 and began to understand that “the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by the gift of God, namely by faith..” - With this understanding, Luther began to realize that salvation came not by the sacraments of the church or by works, but by faith. • Then, the FIRE of the Holy Spirit caught hold of him and led Martin Luther to begin a reformation of the church that has continued to this very day.

d. John Wesley Two hundred years later, the fire took another young man. He saw problems in his own church, the Church of England (Anglican Church).

• And, as expected, he faced fierce opposition from the leadership of the church. • Although he was a priest of the church (equivalent to pastor), he was not allowed to preach in the church. So, he preached outside the church, in open-air meetings! The Holy Spirit became his comforter and he was encouraged as he saw thousands respond to his preaching and he was challenged to fan the flames of revival in England. • The result was what history called the “Great Awakening” and all because that young man, John Wesley, decided to turn his life to Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to keep filling him.

THE FIRE IS HERE TODAY 1. Yes, the Holy Spirit comforts, encourages, challenges and guides. But over and above all that, the Holy Spirit’s fire is POWER! That’s why fire fascinates people – it has the power to do more in minutes! Fire fascinates because fire has such power! a. Peter knew that power. He was only a fisherman, not an orator. Just weeks before he had denied the Lord Jesus, not once, but three times. b. And at Pentecost, Peter faced a hostile and possibly murderous crowd (after all, just 7 weeks ago, they had murdered his leader, Jesus). Yet, Peter stood up to preach. And that preaching had such power that the church was born and grew from 120 to 3000 in one day. That’s POWER! That kind of power is beyond human understanding. But understand it or not, the fire was there that day, and the fire has continued to empower the church through 2000 years! And the fire is here today! Do we want that kind of power in this church? Do you want that kind of power in your life? OR are you afraid?

• Afraid what it might do to your life; • Afraid what it might do to this church; • Afraid that it might call us to give more than we want to give and disrupt our comfortable lives!

If we want that fire and the power for a victorious Christian live, we can have it. We can have it by preparing for it the same way the early disciples did: First, they had a personal relationship with Christ. They had learned to:

• Trust Him • depend on Him • worship Him • follow Him and be • obedient to his commandments.

Second, they lived in an air of expectancy. Jesus had told them to WAIT – one of the most difficult commandments! But they obeyed and they waited with a sense of anticipation. Finally, they prayed – not just for one moment, but they prayed for ten days!

CONCLUSION The Holy Spirit is God’s gift who brings comfort, encouragement, challenge, guidance and, most of all, power. How are we going to treat this gift of the Holy Spirit? Will we simply be fascinated by the Spirit as we watch others set on fire? OR will we pray, “Lord, let the Fire of the Holy Spirit consume us and take control of us.”