Pentecostal People

Sermon Summary:

We are invited into a profound understanding of our identity as Pentecostal people, not in a denominational sense, but as recipients of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence. The message takes us through Acts 2:42-47, revealing how the early church devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. What’s remarkable is how this community embodied four essential relationships: submission to apostolic authority, worship of God, deep love for one another, and a missionary relationship with the world. We discover that we’re not just individuals trying to follow Jesus, but part of a sweeping salvation history that stretches from creation through the fall, God’s covenant with Abraham, the revelation of the law, prophetic hope, the arrival of the Messiah, and culminates in the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This isn’t just ancient history; it’s the story we’re living in right now. We are a colony of heaven planted on earth, perfectly designed by God to fulfill our role in His mission. The Spirit hasn’t left us to our own devices but dwells within us, gifting and empowering us. Just as God’s glory descended on the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple, the Spirit now fills us as the new temple. This transforms everything about how we understand discipleship, knowing God, experiencing God, and serving God in our everyday lives.

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Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

• Eastertide is a seven-week liturgical season from Easter to Pentecost Sunday, focusing on the person and work of the Holy Spirit
• The early church demonstrated healthy relationships: submissive to apostolic teaching, worshipful toward God, loving toward each other, and missionary toward the world
• Flourishing together requires intentional discipleship in three categories: knowing God (salvation), experiencing God (being shepherded and shaped), and serving God (being sent)
• Disciples of Jesus step into a sweeping salvation history that includes creation, fall, covenant with Abraham, revelation through Israel, messianic fulfillment in Jesus, and Spirit empowerment at Pentecost
• Pentecost was a one-time, non-repeatable event marking the gift of the Holy Spirit to the new covenant people of God
• The church is a colony of heaven planted on earth, perfectly designed post-Pentecost to fulfill God’s mission
• Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship is inconceivable and impossible—there can be no life, understanding, fellowship, Christ-like character, or effective witness without the Spirit
• Pentecost reversed the Tower of Babel, demonstrating that the gospel message is for every language and every person
• The glory of God that once descended on the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple now rests upon the church as the new temple
• All believers, regardless of denomination, are Pentecostal people—empowered, gifted, and filled by the Spirit of God

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Scripture References:

Sermon Transcript:

All God’s people said amen, right?

Thank you, Chi Alpha.

Thank you also for that testimony, Blair, about our work in Sierra Leone.

Well, we will turn a page today.

You know that our theme…

For this year is flourishing together and we are learning more about what it means to be transformed on the Jesus way.

That’s our hope this year.

And so we turn the calendar page from the season of Lent and Easter to what the church has referred to as Eastertide.

And our theme for Eastertide this year is shaped by the Spirit.

We, historically at our church, we have not always used the word Eastertide for this season of the year.

We’ve just called it spring.

It is spring.

And the running joke from our Pentecostal and more liturgical brothers and sisters is that Baptists call Pentecost Sunday Easter.

We don’t always mark Pentecost Sunday on our calendar, but it is actually on the liturgical calendar.

And so this year, we’re going to embrace it a little more fully.

Eastertide is this liturgical season that begins on Easter, and then it culminates on Pentecost Sunday, which is the next to last Sunday in May this year.

Originally…

Eastertide was a 40-day commemoration that focused on the 40 days in Jesus’ life between Easter Sunday and the Ascension, which is also not another event that’s on the Baptist church calendar.

We don’t typically refer much to the Ascension.

But over time, in the Western church,

And that’s the church that we’re a part of.

The period was extended to 50 days.

That includes now Pentecost Sunday.

And so when our more liturgical brothers and sisters use the word Eastertide, you can now join in the conversation.

You’re welcome.

So it’s a seven-week journey.

So there will be seven sermons on Sunday morning that will connect us all to this journey.

And we’re going to focus on the person, the work, the role of the Spirit of God and how he is at work among us.

He is present and at work through us, accomplishing the work of the kingdom of God.

Now, along the way, we also are going to provide you with daily Bible readings and devotionals that Kirk Grice has written.

If you haven’t signed up for those, you can go to fbca.org slash Bible readings.

And I would encourage you to sign up.

It’s not too late.

It’s not like you’ve missed out on anything.

Actually, it’s really good.

And what we’re going to do

In these readings, we’re going to walk through the layers, if you will, of teaching about how God is working through us.

So with that said, let’s look at this first sermon in this series.

And we’re going to use Acts 2 today.

Normally…

In the Eastertide season, you save Acts 2 for the end, for Pentecost Sunday.

But we’re going to launch this season with a message from that page in our Bibles.

I’m entitled to Pentecostal People, Acts 2.

And we’re going to look at verses 42 through 47.

So…

This is Luke’s first little summary statement.

He’s prone to do that along the way.

He’ll tell us some things that happened, outline them for us in narrative form, and then occasionally he’ll pause and just give just a brief little snippet of status at this particular point in the history of the church.

That’s what he does here.

So Acts 2 is the story of Pentecost itself, which was a Jewish feast.

But on this particular Jewish feast, the Spirit of God was given.

And it marks a change, if you will, in salvation history.

We’ll talk about that here in just a moment.

But with that said, look at Acts 2, verse 42.

Here’s what now has happened after the Spirit of God has been given.

3,000 people were baptized, added to the church, if you will.

The church was birthed.

Luke says this in verse 42.

They, all of these new believers, devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…

to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and literally the text says, and to the prayers.

It’s plural in Greek.

Verse 43, everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes.

They ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What a beautiful statement about this early church.

These, what I would refer to as Pentecostal people.

I’ve had the opportunity over the last little bit in my study to spend some time with people like John Stott and N.T.

Wright, Craig Keener.

I don’t mean literally.

I mean, well, John Stott’s dead, so it’d be hard for me to spend time with Dr. Stott.

But what I mean is their writings…

their reflections on what took place during this particular period in history and the value of the book of Acts.

And I’ve gained great insight from these scholars who have assisted people like me to really give thought to what was going on.

And Dr. Stott, he talks about this new community that’s referred to here and described in these few verses.

And he says when he looks at that first church,

He says he was intrigued by the relationships that were in place.

He says, for example, they had a certain relationship with the apostles.

It was a submissive relationship because they respected the authority of the apostles.

I would say for me and you, it’s the apostolic witness today that we embrace as our authority.

That’s the teachings of the New Testament.

He said also they are in a great relationship with God.

They were regularly worshiping God.

They were also in a dynamic relationship with each other.

They loved each other, demonstrating that by sharing what they had with each other, caring for each other.

He said they also had a relationship with the rest of the world.

They had a missionary relationship with the rest of the world.

Well, what I would say is just reflecting upon Dr. Stott’s commentary on all of that, that sounds like a really healthy church, doesn’t it?

And so that would be, I think, an example for me and you.

So with that said, let me just remind you of what we are working toward as a church.

The whole idea of flourishing together, following the Jesus way, we’re doing that together.

You heard this testimony from this pastor’s wife in Sierra Leone.

We’re a team.

We do things together.

The whole idea of flourishing as a Christian is not just for us as individuals.

It’s for us to live together in community with one another and flourish together.

And in order to do that, we have to all be engaged in the journey of discipleship.

Both being disciples and making disciples.

And so as I’ve shared with you all, the way I see that playing out is there are at least three categories to me that are worth talking about.

That I believe everybody needs to understand.

And I believe everybody needs them.

And that is knowing God first.

experiencing God and serving God.

Well, that’s the big picture, but let me remind y’all of the insider language for us.

What I mean by knowing God is that you need to be saved.

You need to be forgiven for being a sinner because until that happens, there is no way to really experience God.

You have to know him first.

You’ve got to give yourself to him.

That’s just foundational.

And then what I mean by experiencing God, for us in the insider language, is that you’re being shepherded and you’re being shaped.

Because when we become a part of the family of God, we can’t just stay like we are.

That’s just not how it works.

A journey begins because you and I need to be shepherded.

We need to be allowed the opportunity to be in relationship with God so that he can change us.

He can help us to get past our past.

He can help guide us through the hard times of our lives.

We need a good shepherd our entire lives.

Many of y’all in this room right now and are joining us online, you’ve lived long enough to know you’re going to go through crises in life and you need a good shepherd.

Well, he shepherds us.

But we also need to be shaped because it would be my contention that when you show up into the church as a lost person, you’re out of shape.

Amen?

You got some rough edges.

You got some things that need to be honed, if you will.

And you show up as a lost person, you spent your, and by the way, we all show up as lost people.

Lost people typically are conformed to their own image.

So now here’s what’s got to happen.

I’ve got to be shaped so that I can be conformed to the image of Jesus.

And for some of us, that’s a tall order.

I’m looking at some of y’all.

For some of us…

That’s a tall order to all of a sudden become shaped like Jesus.

Well, it’s a process that’s got to happen.

And then we need to serve God.

It’s not enough to just experience all the blessing.

It’s to be shared.

Well, that’s how we’re sent, if you will.

That’s our insider language.

And when I look at all that, y’all,

That is what I would call intentional discipleship.

And right now, that’s what we’re aimed at across the life of our church.

That’s behind the scenes what we’re discussing.

And it’s all connected to flourishing.

And I believe it’s about being obedient to what God has put before us.

So with that said, here’s our goal.

Our goal is to make disciples.

What’s a disciple?

It’s a person being formed by Jesus as they follow him and accomplish in his mission.

So that’s what we want for you.

We want you to be formed by Jesus so that you can grow and follow him and he can use you in accomplishing his mission.

And we all need it and God’s really good at it.

I mean, think about those early disciples.

Let’s just pick one or two.

Matthew.

Matthew is a Jewish tax collector, right?

Now, I’m trying to imagine a more hated job in Judaism than being a tax collector because you’re collecting taxes for the Romans.

So basically, you’re viewed as almost a traitor.

Does that make sense?

You have so bought in to these pagan rulers, you’re actually helping to keep them afloat.

and you’re a Jew.

Somehow he meets Jesus and he is transformed to become a disciple and he learns how to follow Jesus.

He is shaped by Jesus.

And not only that, he finally gets to the point where he can write this incredible gospel that we know today as Matthew that has this powerful worldview about the role of Jesus and the gospel itself.

I mean, what a transformation in the life of that person.

What about John?

John was a fisherman from a small village in northern Israel and somehow

Jesus takes John and transforms him from being someone who has somewhat of a limited worldview, limited perspective.

And the next thing you know, this is the guy that writes the gospel of John and offers us this cosmic understanding of the gospel.

And then he writes us the book of Revelation.

What up?

What a transformation.

I mean, if you had gone to grammar school with John and then met him later in life, you would have been shocked that this guy became that.

Well, that’s what Jesus does to people.

What about Saul of Tarsus?

He’s a religious zealot misguided.

I’m just here to tell y’all in that era, in any era, misguided religious zealots are dangerous.

He was.

And guess what happened to him?

He meets Jesus and he is transformed into this world Christian, this brilliant theologian.

As a matter of fact, I would challenge all of us, I want you to think about this.

Can you, besides Jesus, can you think of another person, now Jesus of course changed the world, but another person who in their writings and in their influence has had more impact on the history of civilization than Paul.

I’m not sure who it would be.

And so somehow he was completely transformed.

That’s what Jesus does to people.

As a matter of fact, it’s what he’s doing to you.

You may not be the apostle Paul.

You may not be John.

You may not be Matthew, but you are you.

And Jesus is transforming you so that you can be used by him in the accomplishment of his mission because we all have a role to play.

What an exciting offer, right?

that Jesus is making to us.

And so I hope that you and I understand the value, the power, the need for being disciples.

Now, if we’re gonna be disciples of Jesus, I believe that we need to know a few things.

So I’m gonna put this on the screen.

I’m gonna ask us, can we leave it up there for a little while?

Cause I wanna walk y’all through it.

Disciples of Jesus understand that we are stepping into a sweeping grand plan.

I would call it salvation history.

I didn’t come up with that, by the way.

There are a lot of other people that call it that also, okay?

But I want you to think about it.

This is what’s really going on.

This is what you have stepped into and now you’ve become a part of if you’re following Jesus because this is what’s really going on.

Now, you’re not going to learn this by just watching CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and I’m not sure what else that we watch.

You’re not going to learn this by just paying attention to what’s being communicated to us about our entire world situation right now.

And by the way, so much of what’s communicated to us is so biased, I can’t hardly stomach it.

But that’s a whole other conversation.

Here’s what I would say though for Christians.

Put these glasses on, get these lenses as a Christian so that you can really know what’s going on.

First of all, there’s the creation of the world and God and the universe, God’s in charge of that.

And it’s massive.

I don’t know if y’all saw the Easter message from one of the astronauts on Artemis II.

Any of y’all see that?

He said something like, I’m on a spaceship.

But I’m looking at Earth and I realize that’s all it is.

It’s a spaceship, a little bigger than this one, but it’s somehow suspended in this mass.

This mass that we know as the universe and it’s pretty overwhelming.

So God’s created it all.

But for whatever reason, he put human beings on this planet and we fell.

We fell.

We went our own way.

And because of that, the judgment of God came.

Separation.

Sin now is in place.

Death is now a reality.

However, God didn’t end there because you get to Genesis 12 and God called Abram, who eventually become Abraham.

And that call of Abram was not just for Abram and not just for his family, but God told him, he said, I’m going to bless you.

I’m going to bless your family.

And through you, I’m going to bless all the families on earth.

Wow, what a statement, what a gracious word from God.

And through that relationship with Abraham eventually,

A covenantal people appears on earth, Israel.

And God has a special relationship with Israel.

He has a covenant with them.

They are now going to fulfill his purpose on this earth.

And God chooses then to reveal himself to them.

The revelation of God, the law.

things like the Ten Commandments, where God says, this is how you are going to behave.

And the reason you’re going to behave this way is because you belong to me.

Not just because it’s best, not just because it’s right, even though that’s true, but what you’re going to do is you’re going to reflect some of my character in how you live on this earth.

And we’re going to do that through this covenantal relationship.

And I’m going to show you how to do it.

And so God reveals himself to Israel.

And what God reveals to Israel is he has a desire.

And his desire is redemption.

That’s what’s woven into the covenant.

And then he puts a call, a missional call on these people in Exodus 19.

And he says to Israel, you’re going to be for me a holy nation and an entire kingdom of priests.

Amen.

That means you’re going to represent me to the world and the world to me.

That’s the role you’re going to play.

It was a missionary call.

And then in order for Israel to live that out, God had to keep revealing himself.

And so he was personally present with Israel.

through the tabernacle, eventually through the temple.

And then God began to whisper in the ears, if you will, of these key people in the life of Israel, these prophets.

And the prophecy of God, it began to migrate toward the future, a Messiah.

A messianic hope, if you will.

And that messianic hope is connected to everything that God has planned.

The eschatological hope.

God’s guiding all of this toward his desired end.

Because remember, he created everything that is, so it’s his.

It has his signature written across it, and he’s in charge of where it’s going to wind up.

And he has a plan in place.

And he’s given us an opportunity to live in that plan.

And so there’s eschatological hope.

And then the day came when the Messiah finally arrived.

And the messianic fulfillment became a reality.

And when that happened, heaven and earth merged together.

You know, we’re supposed to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it is.

In heaven, there’s supposed to be this merging together.

That’s God’s desire.

Jesus represents that.

Heaven and earth now merge together in the person of Jesus.

There’s messianic fulfillment now.

And the kingdom of God is now on this earth.

And what I would call, and many of us refer to, is inaugurated eschatology.

In other words, that hope, that final end, if you will, now is alive and in action and in force on this earth.

And as Jesus then ascends to the Father to be enthroned in heaven, remember we talked about this last Sunday, where is the Lamb of God right now?

Come on, y’all, where is the Lamb of God right now?

He’s enthroned.

He’s in charge.

He’s at, as N.T.

Wright says, he’s in central headquarters right now.

That’s where he is.

He’s not detached from us.

He’s on his throne.

And guess what he did?

then the Spirit of God was sent.

And the Spirit of God comes at Pentecost.

So now these people, these covenantal people of today’s era, the new covenantal people of God can be empowered, filled, gifted.

It’s like Jesus was the incarnation, if you will, of God in the flesh.

And now the Holy Spirit has come and God is with us one more time in the presence of the Spirit.

And he’s not just with us, he’s in us.

And we now are the manifestation, if you will, of the presence of God on this earth.

Once again, heaven and earth have merged together in these new people called Christians.

And he’s gifted us with his spirit.

He’s not left us to our own devices.

Aren’t you glad?

We’re not just working in our own power.

We’re not just coming up with something to do.

We’re not just imagining what the kingdom of God might be like.

No, we have the spirit of God with us.

And guess what?

That same missional call has been placed inside of us because that’s God’s heart.

And whether we know it or not, or whether anybody wants to acknowledge it or not, or whether anybody in our world believes it or not, what we need to know is this whole thing is moving toward God’s desired end.

And one day the king will return and everybody will know it and it’ll all be consummated for the glory of God.

So if you’re a disciple of Jesus, I’m here to tell you, if you don’t already know it, that’s what’s really going on right now.

And you and I are the harbingers of that message.

That’s what we take to the world, to let the world know this is what’s really going on.

Wow, so, okay.

So y’all still with me?

All right, so let’s get to the sermon.

Okay?

This is what we need to do.

So here’s what God is doing to ensure that all that takes place and He can use us in it.

We’ve got to be shaped by His Spirit.

And praise God He’s given us His Spirit.

So, you know, when I was growing up as a kid, I’ll tell y’all, the Holy Spirit at Weiland Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama made us nervous.

Okay?

Because we didn’t know what he might do.

And so we didn’t even call him the Holy Spirit.

We called him the Holy Ghost.

That’s exactly right.

And you said that with a little bit of sweat on your hands, okay?

Just be careful.

And our pastor was watching.

If one of y’all was to hop one of those pews, you were out.

I’m just telling you that right now.

We were nervous about it.

And I say that a little facetiously, but I think some of y’all know what I mean.

And well, guess what?

We gotta get over that.

So in our core belief statement, which is just a summary of the Baptist faith and message of 1963, which is our core foundational theological confession, I’ve just summarized that with our core beliefs.

Here’s what our core beliefs say about the Holy Spirit.

We believe the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.

He convicts people of sin and draws them to Jesus.

He indwells the life of each believer

He guides us into truth and seals us for eternity.

He gifts each follower of Jesus to be useful in God’s hands in service to the church and world.

He empowers the people of God to face the rigors of life on earth.

And then we have several passages to justify those statements of belief.

So at Pentecost, this particular Pentecost, a one-time thing happened.

What happened here is not repeatable.

It’s not normative.

It’s not something that’s always going to happen.

This is a one-time thing.

The spirit of God was given and the promise of Jesus was fulfilled.

Jesus told his disciples, I’m going to leave you, but it’s to your advantage that I leave.

I’m gonna send to you the comforter, right?

The advocate.

the one who’s called alongside you, the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit will guide you.

And that’s the promise of Jesus.

Pentecost, in that first century, after the resurrection of Jesus and ascension of Jesus, was the fulfillment of that promise.

Now let me read to you what Dr. Stott says about that.

In his commentary on Acts, John Stott says, without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible.

There can be no life without the life giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christ-likeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power.

As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.

And so the Holy Spirit, what a precious gift from God to us.

So let me connect it to the story.

The gift of the Spirit of God is a part of the story of redemption.

Pentecost is a vital part of the saving activity through Jesus Christ.

Pentecost is not an add-on.

You see, God’s engaged in a massive missionary enterprise.

It’s his eternal mission.

It’s the grand plan of redemption.

God is reclaiming and restoring everything that has been lost because of the fall of humanity.

And that includes people.

So what’s the salvation story?

Well, it’s Christmas.

It’s Good Friday, it’s Easter Sunday, it’s Ascension, it’s Pentecost.

God’s saving work, accomplishing his purpose, heaven and earth intersecting.

That’s what it’s all about.

In this new community, Acts 2, 42 through 47, there’s the first example now of this new covenant people of God, sometimes referred to as a colony of heaven planted on earth.

That’s who we are.

We are aliens from another place.

We’ve got two passports.

We’re citizens of this country or whatever country you may be a citizen of, but we’re citizens of a heavenly kingdom and we are called by God to live in that kingdom.

We’re a colony of heaven on earth.

You know, this week we watched the splashdown of Artemis II.

Did y’all watch it?

it felt so old school to me.

You know what I mean?

When they were picking those astronauts up in the helicopter and I was thinking, y’all, this is 2026.

Have we not come up with a better way to get these people?

Y’all know I’m a little afraid of heights.

I’d still be in that boat.

I can tell you right now.

I don’t care if I’ve been to the moon.

I ain’t getting on that little thing and being strung up on a string into a helicopter.

That ain’t going to happen.

So they’d had to knock me out.

But I was so proud of them.

And as I’ve read about it, the idea is at some point we’re going to go back to the moon, maybe to Mars.

And I’ve been reading, maybe even putting a colony of people

On Mars.

Whatever, that’s fine.

I don’t really understand it all, but I’m grateful for the research.

But here’s what I know.

God has put a colony of people on this earth.

And we perfectly fit that.

this earth because we’re humans and we’ve been redeemed and we can actually play the role we’re supposed to play.

Post-Pentecost, we are perfectly designed by God to fulfill this role.

The church is a beautiful thing, y’all.

The gathered people of God bring so much strength and joy to each other.

I’m so grateful for the church, aren’t you?

You know, my oldest grandson,

is at boot camp now in the Navy.

He’s in Great Lakes, Illinois, week six.

I talked to him on the phone yesterday, Connor.

I said, how’s it going?

Terrible, Poppy, it’s terrible.

Awesome.

I think it’s supposed to be, I don’t really know.

But anyway, but he was, he sounded so good, but he’s written us letters.

And he wrote us a letter, and I wanted to tell y’all a little bit about it because he asked me to say something to you.

He tells me that there’s a group of Christians in his group.

And every night, I gave him a little Bible when he left, a little pocket-sized Bible.

And he said, every night when everything is over, they gather in a circle, these Christians.

and they each one read a passage of Scripture that they’ve chosen for that day.

They talk about it, and then they pray with each other, and they sing a worship song, and then when they go back to their bunk, they pick the Scripture for the next day.

And then they come together the next day and pray together and discuss the scripture and sing together.

And he talks about how every night he says these prayers.

And then he says this.

He says, please tell the church that I miss you and that I’m praying for all of you.

You know, my little grandson who grew up here is thinking about y’all because he’s a long way away and he’s realized just how special all this right here is.

And he’s found a little taste of it in Great Lakes, Illinois.

I love the people of God.

I’m so glad that’s what’s happening.

And I’m also glad it’s terrible for him.

I think it’s good for him.

But nevertheless, that’s just me.

So with that said, what is it that happened at Pentecost?

I would say it’s the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

That’s really it, y’all.

That’s the gist of this.

Pentecost marks the gift of the Holy Spirit to the new covenantal people of God.

That’s us, the church.

And now God’s people are enabled to accomplish his mission in this world.

And I want you to hear this.

It’s a new era.

You and I live in a new era because we’re post-Pentecost people.

Do you know, when you go back and read the Old Testament, do you know what’s fascinating to me?

In Exodus 40,

God told Israel to construct the tabernacle.

You remember that story?

And when they get the tabernacle finished, that was gonna be God’s tent.

Once they get it done and they dedicate it, the Bible says in Exodus 40 that the glory of God descended on the tabernacle and they couldn’t even go in it for a while.

Just God’s presence was so powerful.

If you fast forward to the time of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, a more permanent structure, if you will.

And in 2 Chronicles 7, they dedicate the temple and guess what happened?

The spirit of God descended or the glory of God rather descended.

And the Bible says the priests couldn’t even go in the temple for a little while because God’s glory was present.

Y’all remember the story, though.

You know your biblical history.

You know that in 586 BC, the Babylonians invaded Israel and destroyed the temple.

Now, the temple was to be rebuilt, and it was.

You know what’s interesting about that?

In Ezra 6, the new temple was dedicated.

Guess what never happened, at least according to the Bible?

The Bible never says…

that the glory of God descended into the new temple.

That’s interesting, isn’t it?

That’s a fascinating omission in the story of salvation history.

I don’t know if you thought about that much.

But let me tell you what did happen.

In John 1, verse 14, the Bible says the Word became flesh

and he tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory.

It’s almost as if the new temple showed up at Christmas.

John the Baptist said in Matthew 3, verse 11, about Jesus.

He said, he’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Well, after Jesus is ascended…

And we’re a little bit unsure about what’s going to happen next.

Let me read this to you, Acts 2, verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

They spoke in other languages.

This isn’t the gift of tongues we read about in Corinthians.

This is the gift of language.

Here’s what’s now happened.

The glory of God has descended upon the church.

Fire.

wind, spirit, and the global dominion of the enthroned Jesus is on display.

This message is for everybody.

It’s a reversal of the Tower of Babel, where now this is to be proclaimed in every language for every human for the rest of eternity.

And wind, fire, a new temple, a new temple filled with the Spirit, with the presence and the power of God.

That’s who we are.

Next Sunday, I’m going to unpack that a little bit more for you as we think about the new temple.

But guess what we are then, y’all?

Even as Texas Baptists, we are Pentecostal people.

Praise God.

That’s who we really are.

We have been empowered.

We’ve been gifted.

We’ve been filled by the Spirit of God.

And God has gifted us uniquely for this era in salvation history.

And so my challenge to me and my challenge to you, let’s live fully into this era for the glory of God.

May it be so.

Let’s pray together.

Lord, today we pause and reflect upon

where we are in history, realizing that you’re at work in history.

This is your story.

And Lord, we want to play our part.

We want to fill our role.

We want to do what you’ve called us to do.

And I thank you that you haven’t left us to our own devices, but you’ve made available to us yourself through the presence of your spirit.

And so, Lord, we recognize we really are a Pentecostal people.

And I pray that we’ll be shaped into the disciples that you need us to be so that we might play our part in fulfilling your mission in this world.

I pray your blessings on the church in our world today, not just ours, but the church, that we would be focused on our real mission and that we’d refuse to be distracted and drawn aside, pulled away,

but that we would focus on the core calling that you’ve placed on us to be witnesses to Jesus and to live that out in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our families, in our schools, and wherever it is you’ve placed us for your glory.

And we pray that in Jesus’ name, amen.