Let Your Fire Fall - Acts 2:3

Let Your Fire Fall

June 12, 2011 - Pentecost

Acts 2:3

Introduction

• Today is Pentecost Sunday
• 2000 years ago an event happened which turned the religious world on its head
• The disciples were assembled in an upper room, where they had been praying for the coming of the promise
• 10 days before the resurrected Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit
• He told them that when this happened, they would receive power, and that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
• Let's read it
• Acts 1:4-8
• The disciples continued to pray
• They selected a successor to Judas Iscariot, and chose Matthias, so the number of apostles was once again 12
• And they continued to pray

The disciples were together, keeping Pentecost

• Acts 2:1-4
• They were all together in one place
• First of all, it was Pentecost
• This was one of the holydays described in Leviticus 23
• Pentecost is a Greek word which means Count Fifty
• During the days of unleavened bread the Israelites were to bring a wave sheaf offering to the priests, to be offered before God
• This was rougly at the time of Easter
• This wave sheaf was the first stalks of barley to be harvested in the spring harvest
• From the day that they offered this before the Lord, they were to count 7 weeks or fortynine days, and then it says on the day after they finished counting the 7 weeks, in other words the fiftieth day, they were to keep the feast of weeks or Shavuot
• So Pentecost means count fifty, and it always lands on a Sunday
• Pentecost was unique in God's festivals in that it had to be counted out.
• On that day there was an assembly of the church
• So the disciples were all together in one place, observing Pentecost

The disciples were together, praying

• There was unity among them
• One was not thinking, I'm going back to see mom
• Mat 6:33
• Another was not thinking, I don't want to be here with Peter
• Psalm 133
• There was a unity of purpose, they were all praying for the promise to come, the baptism of the Holy Spirit
• Acts 1:14

The disciples were together, obedient to what God had said

• Acts 1:4-5
• Jesus tells them to do something and they did it
• Are we obedient to every word the Lord tells us?
• It was said of Samuel the prophet he let none of the Lord's words fall to the ground - 1 Sam 3:19

Revival

• This last week I have been reading about revival here in the US, starting with Stoddard back in 1672
• I want revival in my own life
• I want revival in this church
• and I want revival in this town
• As I read through this book I noticed a number of things
• Each of these awakeners was sold out, not afraid of consequences, and had a hunger to do what the Lord had laid on their heart
• I am convinced that most all of us have had fire in our bones at some time
• But often we are not obedient to what God says, and we grieve the Holy Spirit
• As we grieve the Holy Spirit, it creates distance between us
• Today we are contending for that fire to return
• We want to return to an obedient walk with God
• We want to do the things we have neglected
• Maybe we are like the church at Ephesus which left its first love
• But we can rebuild what was lost
• Like a marriage
• A marriage can grow cold by not doing the things that make for a vibrant marriage
• But it can also be rebuilt, starting by getting back to the things we did when we were first in love
• So let's turn back to the hunger for God that we had at the beginning, and new life will come into our walk with God