At Gateway Church in Austin, we continued a series looking at the early church in the book of Acts.
What if faith was never meant to be boring, but an adventure? The book of Acts is the story of ordinary people encountering an extraordinary God, and stepping into a life they never expected.
It started with an invitation. To wait. To be filled. To trust God in a new way. And that invitation became an adventure; full of courage, purpose, and impact.
And here’s the best part, that same invitation is still open to you. No matter where you’ve been
or where you’re starting, there’s a place for you in the story.
ACTS: The Invitation… and The Adventure.
Don’t just watch it…step into it.
Digging Deeper:
Message from Gateway North Austin:
Message Audio from Gateway North Austin:
Message Notes:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia 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!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
14 Then 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. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, 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.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
In this series, we are looking at how faith was never meant to be boring, but instead seeing our walk with God as the adventure it is supposed to be. The book of Acts is the story of ordinary people encountering an extraordinary God, and stepping into a life they never expected.
Last week, we looked at how this adventure started with an invitation to wait and to be filled. These followers of Jesus had seen Jesus crucified and then they saw him alive! Jesus asked them to trust Him in a new way. Just before Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father where He reigns over the Kingdom of God even now, Jesus asked those still following Him to wait. There were about 120 of them at the time.
For 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus walked with his disciples and taught them. Once he even appeared to over 500 people at one time! So then the disciples waited. For 10 days they waited, and we discovered something remarkable happened 10 days later – 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus – the Holy Spirit filled them with His power!
And here’s the best part, that same invitation is still open to you. No matter where you’ve been or where you’re starting, there’s a place for you in the story.
Last week, we read Jesus’ words: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
Carlos shared how God often prepares us in the waiting, how power comes from the Spirit, not our effort, and how waiting positions us for purpose.
Today we are looking at how to find that Higher Power!
We are going to discover that the Spirit fills ordinary people for an extraordinary mission.
That surrender unlocks spiritual power.
And that God works through unity, not uniformity
First, let’s look at how…
The Spirit fills ordinary people for an extraordinary mission.
Look again at what happened on the day the Jewish people celebrated the holiday called Pentecost.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
This is a remarkable moment! This is the birth of the Church!
There are so many hyperlinks in this passage. By that I mean, we see remarkable connections with passages from the Old Testament. This is the fulfillment of promises God made for His people.
Let me point out just a few.
For example, have you seen this image before?
This shows all the cross-references in the Bible. There are 63,779 connections throughout the 66 books of the Bible showing how it comes together into one seamless story.
In an MSN article that came out 2 weeks ago called “New Bible analysis uncovers thousands of clues suggesting scripture was written by God,” journalist Stacy Liberatore points out that this image was created in a collaboration between computer scientist Chris Harrison and Lutheran pastor Christoph Römhild.
What this shows us is that the Creator of the Universe through the Holy Spirit over the course of 1500 years inspired 40 different authors from different geographic locations to share His message to humanity. What we discover is the Bible’s intricate themes and prophecies align with stunning accuracy.
For example, the Old Testament contains over 300 prophecies about the Messiah, all fulfilled centuries later in the New Testament through the life of Jesus Christ. Scholars agree-there is nothing else like it. No other book in history comes close to its harmony, consistency, or global impact. Which is why it’s the best-selling book of all time, and why we can trust what the Scriptures say as the Word of God.
Now like we always say, we have to come to the Scriptures with humility and a willingness to understand the context so we can apply what we are reading to our context.
So for example, we read “when the day of Pentecost came” (Acts 2:1) What is Pentecost? Before Acts 2, Pentecost was also known as the “Feast of Weeks” or “Day of First Fruits” and it marked the end of the grain harvest and included offering two loaves of bread. Jewish tradition identifies this day as the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments (Torah) at Mount Sinai, seven weeks after the Jewish people who had been enslaved were freed from Egypt.
So consider this for a moment, the author of Acts, a doctor named Luke is pointing this out on purpose. The Old Testament celebration of Pentecost foreshadowed the New Testament event in Acts 2. In the Old Testament on this date at Sinai, God gave the Law on stone, while on Pentecost in Acts 2, the Spirit arrived to write the law on hearts.
Then we read: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2)
What does this remind you of in the Old Testament?
My first thought was the first time the Holy Spirit is mentioned which is back in Genesis 1 when it says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2)
Luke is pointing out – just as the Spirit was there at the creation of the universe, the Spirit was there at the birth of the Church!
Now look at Acts 2:3 which says: “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:3).
Perhaps this reminded you of how God used to guide the people of Israel through the wilderness after they were freed from slavery. Exodus 13 says: “21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people”.
Can you imagine? The people saw the presence of God! This pillar of fire would guide them! Eventually, God led the people to build a tabernacle where it says: Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle…. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.” (Exodus 40:34, 38)
Later the Temple replaced the tabernacle as the place where God’s presence could be found, but then something remarkable happens! Jesus begins to refer to Himself as God’s Temple – the place where God’s presence resides!
John, one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus, refers to Jesus as the “Word” meaning Jesus was God’s ultimate self-expression. John writes in his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.…. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-5, 14)
This passage sounds alot like Genesis 1 as well! In addition the literal word for word translation of “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” is “God became human and tabernacled among us”
We see that the pillar of fire shows up at Pentecost in Acts 2 and then the fire separates and was now hovering over the head of each person who was there! This is explained multiple times throughout the New Testament – when you choose to follow Jesus and you surrender your life to Him – you are filled with the Spirit of God!
A violent skeptic against followers of Jesus at first, a man named Paul who wrote the letters that make up most of our New Testament describes it this way:
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13b-14)
So what does that mean?
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
One final connection now from Acts 2:4 which says: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:4)
In Acts 2, not only are we seeing the birth of the Church, the new Torah or new covenant now bring written on our hearts, the presence and glory of God coming to live within followers of Jesus through His Spirit, but we are also seeing a reversal of the Tower of Babel.
From Genesis 3-11 we see the fall of humanity. Once humanity chose to go our own way in Genesis 3, humanity continues to devolve into violence and destruction. One of those stories includes how people tried to build their own tower into the presence of God. It was an act of rebellion against God. In essence, humanity was declaring they did not need God to rescue them because they will create their own way into His space. As a result of their arrogance, humanity was separated from each other geographically and linguistically. You can read this story in Genesis 11.
Now in Acts 2, people from different nations are being brought together as the disciples were able to speak in all of the languages of the people!
So what are all of these connections saying to us?
The Spirit empowers ordinary people for an extraordinary mission.
Think about this for a moment. When we come to God with an awareness of our need for his forgiveness and we surrender our life to follow Him, He not only forgives and adopts us into His family, His Spirit comes to dwell within us!! We need to die to self and let His Spirit guide us!
So what is this extraordinary mission?
To love everyone: life by life!
In what is called Jesus’ great commission to those of us who follow Him, just before He ascended to reign at the right hand of the Father, Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
We see we are sent out. Just as we saw last week with Acts 1:8 where we are told by Jesus to be His witnesses where we live, to our neighbors, to others different than us, and to the nations, we are sent out as witnesses – people telling others we have discovered that Jesus is alive!
We are sent out to make disciples of all nations. In other words, we are to love God by loving our neighbor by serving them, praying for them, and when the time is right share with them how they can also know God through Jesus.
Now if I can be honest. I think alot of Western Christianity has been really focused on the idea of making disciples and has interpreted this as helping people who don’t know Jesus come to know Jesus. We’ve seen lots of people choose Jesus and we’ve seen most of them get baptized, but the hardest part and probably the most important part that too many churches and too many Christ-followers miss is “teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you.”
The simplest way to describe this idea is this: a disciple of Jesus learns to hear God’s voice and do what He says.
If you are following Jesus, are you seeking to hear His voice? And then are you willing to do what He is guiding you to do?
That’s what it means to surrender your life to Him.
This is important because…
Surrender unlocks spiritual power.
If you haven’t been doing our reading plan, I highly recommend doing so. As you read through Acts with us during this series, notice the beautiful message Peter shares to the thousands of people who came to Jerusalem for the holiday of Pentecost.
For now, notice how he ends the message and the response:
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:36-41)
When we repent, that means we make a 180-degree turn in direction. We turn away from sin and self-rule to follow Jesus. It’s a complete shift in thinking about who Jesus is and how to live. It is not just feeling sorry, but actively changing direction from our own way and our own understanding towards God.
Here’s the irony: when we finally let go and surrender, we have the power to become the person God created us to be – which is the far better version than we could have ever pulled off ourselves!
We underestimate the power of the Father that we have access to!
Our Grow Pastor at Gateway South Austin is Norman Garcia. Norman and his family live in Dripping Springs where we have so many amazing families who are part of our church family including the Garcias.
He shared a story that makes me laugh every time I tell it, and I have told it so many times!
A few years ago in order to connect more with his teenage son Josiah, Norman started going to the gym.
Well, a teenager named in Dripping Springs posted a video of himself at the same gym lifting 285 lbs. That’s a lot of weight! 1 big plate, 1 medium plate, and 1 small plate. He even used #jesuslovesyou on his post.
It’s Norman Garcia! But he’s got 3 big plates! Only 1% of people on the planet can flat bench press 225 lbs, and Norman is bench pressing 315 lbs on an incline! And he’s wearing the same thing he wears to our staff meeting! He’s even got on loafers like 3 big plates is no big deal!
It gets funnier because then some of the teen’s friends start commenting on the guy in the back instead of on the teen’s accomplishments:
- “How much did Unc have loaded on the bar?” “Mint” “Unreal”
- Then another guy says “Unc in the back loaded 3 plates and sitting like he about to do 3 plates shoulder press”
- And then the absolute best comment of all. Josiah posts: “That’s my dad in the back bro”
- The teen who posted the video says: “Yo actually bro that’s cray bro he is the goat”
Here’s the point: you and I can only do so much in our own strength.
Remember: Our Father is always stronger.
We aren’t capable of carrying the weight of the world on our back!
And we aren’t even asked to do so, so why do we keep trying?!
We can rest in the power of our Father! He can carry us, transform us, and send us out to change the world because His Spirit is within us!!
Remember, we don’t just repent once in our lifetime. We confess our need for Jesus and we turn from our way to His way to begin our relationship with Him, but that is also how we grow in Him! We confess and repent every day and even throughout the day.
Every time we start trying to do things in our own power, in our own understanding, in our own strength, we need to confess and turn back to Him and let Him transform us, equip us, and guide us.
Here’s how we come to a relationship with God through Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
We come to Jesus by grace through faith – in other words because of his love for us and our acknowledgment that we need him.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7)
So we start our relationship by grace through faith and that is how we live for him every day. Aware of his love for you and stepping out in faith – acting on what we sense He wants us to do that day and each moment.
One final application from this passage.
God works through unity, not uniformity
Notice how the early church begins to live after this miraculous moment at Pentecost.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
Remember all the nations represented at Pentecost and all the languages required to communicate with those that were there?! The church was born diverse! Jews from all across the Roman world came to faith in Jesus and soon the message of Jesus would see people in the Middle East, in Europe, in Africa, and in Asia coming to follow Jesus!
You and I are invited to live this way! We are invited into an adventure with God! He has beautiful things in store for you as you trust Him and follow Him. As you die to our old life and let His new life work through you!
You and I are invited into an extended family that cares for each other, prays for each other, helps each other grow, gives to meet each other’s needs, sharing meals, reaching friends and family members, co-workers and neighbors. You are invited into a life where miracles happen! Marriages are healed. Relationships between kids and parents are healed. Friendships that eradicate loneliness. We can see physical and emotional and spiritual healing take place!
You know that has been my experience at Gateway these last 15 years. I have experienced an extended family that has cared for me and my family. I have grown so much! I have witnessed miraculous things!
I want you to experience that!
Recently, God led me to take a Sabbath each week where I close my laptop and stop looking at my phone. I try to go from noon on Friday to noon on Saturday. And it has been amazing! I have had so many amazing times with God during those Sabbath days.
Recently, we were in Houston celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary, and I was reading a book called Multiplier by Dave Ferguson. In that book, he writes: “Inside of you is everything needed to catalyze a movement for great good!”
“The Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9, ESV).
“God’s Spirit dwells in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV).
He reminds us that “You and I were made to multiply.” and “We reproduce who we are and what we do.”
So what are you reproducing at your work? In your home? Among your co-workers? Among your friends?
He uses an acorn as a great analogy that within an acorn is everything needed not only for an oak tree which in itself is extraordinary but in that acorn is the capacity for an entire forest!
It was so inspiring!
Deborah woke up so we got ready for the day and walked to a coffee shop and that’s where I found this acorn. Not just one but hundreds! And they were huge! Just after that amazing moment, we saw this billboard…
Do you believe in good things coming?
While the world is polarizing and fracturing, while there are wars and rumors of wars, the Kingdom of God continues to advance as we love everyone: life by life. Jesus is still on the throne! New life and transformation and movement happens when we follow Him even as there may be chaos all around us!
Then we saw Bible verses written on the dirt and grime of an abandoned building. Christian graffiti – not with paint and not vulgar but a positive message and easy to remove.
Now I have to admit. I took the picture but didn’t go look up the verses until after I felt prompted to tell this story. So last Wednesday morning I looked them up to see if they had any relevance to this message.
The verses from Hebrews 10:22 and Ezekiel 36:24-28 both mentioned being washed clean – I am sure a double meaning was implied. We can be washed clean through confession and repentance just as this window needed to be washed clean.
In the midst of the dirt and grime, there was another verse very relevant to this message, to this series, and to our lives.
Written into the dirt and grime was Acts 2:38 which reads:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Repentance has been a weaponized religious word for far too long!
It’s not a threat! It’s an amazing promise! When we turn to God, when we repent and show the world we have died to our old life through baptism, we are forgiven! We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!
Closing Prayer:
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”
