Scripture texts: Luke 24: 45-49; Acts 1:8; 2:1-13

1. Introduction

A. Luke-Acts Link
B. Background and Context of Pentecost
C. The key to understanding is Acts 1:8
D. Acts chapter 2 has 3 sections

2. Acts 2: 1-4 teaches how to pray in evangelism

A. "PUSH"
B. They Prayed as Convinced Christians
C. They waited and prayed with excitement
D. Filled, Equipped and Sent out of the Upper Room and into the Streets

3. Acts 2: 5-11 calls us to public, multilingual witness through the Church

A. The Gospel is to be heard in every language

B. Praise is our primary language in evangelism

4. Acts 2: 12-13 "Amazed and perplexed they asked, What does this mean?"

A. Watch us reclaim Jesus through non-homophobic sacred literature
B. One Lesbian Activist and a Million Promise Keepers
C. Local Pride Events
D. So what does this mean for us? A Magnificent Lay Movement through the church
E. A Magnificent Christian Calling: Expect amazement, perplexity and criticism!

God never called the world to attend church. God has called the church to go to the world. God is calling convinced Christians to share the Christ story through the guidance, power and help of the Holy Spirit. Truly, we are not prepared until the Holy Spirit empowers us (Acts 1: 5, 8, 14). Pentecost is about evangelism. The early church immediately reached out to outsiders. They made Christ visible, audible and personal in Holy Spirit power. If you are interested in radical Christianity, read the New Testament. The church is mentioned 100 times and they were passionate about evangelism.

The adventure story of the early church is ours today. The early church was a power church of movers and shakers. They turned their known world upside down. The biblical books of Luke-Acts are exciting and inseparable narrative of the beginning of the Christian church. Both are written by Luke to a friend named Theophilus (Lk 1:3; Acts 1:1). Luke’s purpose in writing is simple. Salvation is in Christ. This must be preached to all peoples. In Luke’s gospel he shows how people are confronted by the Word of God through the earthly ministry of Jesus (cf. Lk 5:1; 8: 11, 21; 11:28). In Acts, people continue to be confronted by that same Word through the ministry of the church (cf. Acts 4: 29, 31; 6:2, 4, 7; 8:4, 14, 25; 10:36; 11:1, 19; 12: 24; 13:7, 44, 46, 48, 49; 14:25; 15: 35-36; 16: 6, 32; 17:11, 13; 18:5, 11; 19:10). In Luke’s theology we see the gospel advanced through the drama of the salvation story through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Luke stresses the centrality of Christ.

Pentecost is the birthing of the mission of the early church in accord with the ministry of Jesus. Pentecost was a treasured Jewish festival fifty days after Passover. It was as old as Moses and celebrated a number of things for devout Jews. They celebrated the first fruits of their grain harvest (Exod 23: 16; Lev. 23: 17-22; Num. 28: 26-31). It was also known as the giving of the Mosaic covenant, the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod. 19: 1). It was one of three huge religious festivals in Judaism. First Passover, then Pentecost, and four months later another festival known as the festival of Tabernacles. It had enormous theological significance for the devout Jew. It is significant for Christians. The first Christian Pentecost gives us a 21^st century theology of world mission and evangelism.

Acts 1:8 offers us the key to understanding of the entire book of Acts. Christ makes a promise to the early disciples that they will receive Holy Spirit power from on high. They will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Acts divides into three sections. The 1^st seven chapters are concerned with local outreach in Jerusalem. The spread of the gospel into Samaria and Judea with Gentile inclusion is found in chapters 8-12. Missionary journeys to other countries are in chapters 13-28.

The Holy Spirit outpours on believers in the upper room. Peter preaches a magnificent missionary sermon. Literally thousands respond to the Jesus message and begin a spiritually vibrant life of worship, discipleship and service through the life of the church.

Here’s the situation. Christ’s last words before his Ascension are to wait and pray for the Holy Spirit. For 10 intense days the Christian community waited and gathered in frequent prayer for their promised gift. Matthew Henry’s commentary tells us "they were in one accord." They were praying more than usual. They were prepared for the gift. They realized only God could give them what they desperately needed. They were not going to leave until God gave them what Jesus promised. They held God to the Promised gift. The original disciples were gathered with perhaps as many as 120 others in what must have been a very crowded upper room. They offer us a picture of "contemplative evangelism."

They Prayed Until Something Happened. (PUSH). They expected and were open and attentive to great things from God. And we see them transformed by the Spirit of God, with inward power and new outlook. They teach us how to pray. "Prayer, more prayer, much prayer, very special prayer is our calling in missionary outreach" (Andrew Murray). "Come Holy Spirit, we need you!" (Rev. David North) "Prayer is never unseasonable" (John Donne). When we reach up in prayer, the Spirit helps us reach out with the Gospel.

They had seen the compassionate face of the living Christ that hatred, violence, injustice, betrayal and death could not remove from this world. "To see Christ, is to see God" (Henri Nouwen). They were special witnesses of the resurrected Christ. We too, can be convinced Christians and see the face of Christ through reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

They were obedient to their command to wait (Lk 24: 49; Acts 1:4). It was the Jewish hour of morning prayer. Something strange, miraculous, inscrutable that is mysterious occurs. This is a special event. Religious pilgrims from around the world were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost. God honored the expectant Christian disciples with a dramatic miracle through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit marks the beginning of active missionary work promoting the Kingdom of God (Acts 8: 12; 14:22; 19:8, 20, 25; 28:23, 31).

At certain times in history, God accompanies the Spirit’s working through visible and audible signs. Each sign of the Spirit in Jewish tradition was considered as a sign of God’s presence. The symbolism is this: The wind is a sign of God’s presence as Spirit. The mighty rushing wind is from the Hebrew word Ruah and the Greek word Pneuma. It was a very loud noise and attracted people from the street. This Greek word is used by Jesus in John 3:8.

Fire is an ancient Hebrew symbol which cleanses and judges. God used fire to get Moses’s attention with the burning bush and again at Mount Sinai (Exod. 3: 2-3; 19:18). John the Baptist preached a baptism of God’s fire (Lk 3:16). God is displayed in the form of flames throughout the Old Testament (Gen. 15:17; Exod. 3: 2-6; 13:21-22; 19:18; 40:38 cf. Matt. 3:11; Lk 3:16). The tongues of fire were for each disciple present. The church is now equipped for the task of witness and mission. It’s the fulfillment of prophecy (Isaiah 32:15; Joel 2: 28-32). The last days have arrived. The whole house was filled. They were filled for God’s service.

They began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. From the beginning the Gospel was heard in many languages. No translators were required. "It is the work of the Holy Spirit to join people from diverse racial and social backgrounds into one body - the body of Jesus Christ, which is his Church." All were filled with the Holy Spirit. Certainly each believer is filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (Acts 11:15-16; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor 12:13; Col. 2:12). But this was indeed a special event. This is the beginning of the church. Before it was only anticipated. Now it is here. We, like the early church can also expect special filling at special times in our lives and through church outreach (Acts 4:8, 36; 6:3, 5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9, 52).

3. Acts 2: 5-11 calls us to Public multilingual witness through the Church.

The first gift of the Holy Spirit was divinely inspired speech for the public proclamation of the gospel. We are given a picture of previously timid, now transformed and convinced Christians pulled out of their upper room and into public witness. They had prayed until something happened and now God pushed them out into the streets and gathered a large multicultural crowd of religious pilgrims who had come for the Pentecost festival. They were attracted by the unusual noise and commotion. A crowd gathers about the excited convinced Christians.

The Pentecost crowd represents the entire world. The disciples left their house and were speaking in all the people’s native languages. The Gospel is to be heard in every language. The filling of the Spirit in Acts is revealed in bold, effective proclamation of the gospel and the ability to be a witness (4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9). This has world wide significance. The entire world is to hear the word of God through the ecclesia (Greek word used to describe the Christian church). Ecclesia means the called out ones. The church is a public, called out community sharing the Jesus story to people of all sexual orientations, in every language, culture and country.

Fifteen countries are named and represent a truly multicultural gathering. Three are countries in the ancient Roman empire. Persia/Iran is mentioned and these countries are today’s modern Iraq, Turkey, Egypt and Judea. A rather odd list but one which represented their 1^st century world. This was an extraordinary rendezvous of religious people who all exclaimed in amazement "What is the meaning of all this?" The crowd was amazed and perplexed. How could these uneducated people speak like this? The Holy Spirit filled the apostles with public witness and words of praise and wonder. Truly we see a "divine disturbance." The first words of evangelism were not about repentance, but the wonders of God.

As we approach the 21^st century, Global Missions of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) has seekers in 30 countries and has prioritized languages for gospel translations which affirms and includes all orientations. There is great need for our Christian witness in every city, village and country. Begin growing church planters, missionaries, linguists, spiritual revolutionaries to turn the world upside down. Consider outreaching in internet evangelism. Growing numbers of seekers without churches from more than 30 countries are in conversation with Global Missions at UFMCC. They hunger for Christian materials which affirm all sexual orientations to help them plant churches. They log on to the internet from Bulgaria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Cuba, Columbia, China, Chili, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Uganda, Uruguay, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Global Missions says the most critical languages for translating materials from their unique perspective are: Spanish, French, German, Danish, Tagalog, Afrikaans, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. These are only a few of the world languages but represent a great need for multilingual outreach, church planting, and to intentionally grow pastors, missionaries and full time Christian workers for overseas and local outreach.

Meister Eckhart is credited with saying, "If the only prayer you ever pray is thank you, that is enough." Praise is our primary language in evangelism. Gratitude & praise come with proclamation.

These amazed Spirit filled believers instantly declared the wonders of God in 15 languages in Holy Spirit inspired Speech. They spoke without the need for translators. The first gift of the Spirit for the church was of speech for public proclamation through praise.

People are genuinely curious to learn why we say "God is good all the time!" Then study the rest of Acts 2 for the rest of the gospel message. Peter’s great missionary sermon gives us the basics of the Christian faith. Christ who was crucified is now raised from the dead. In Him is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. Repent and be baptized. Be part of the worshipping community of faith known as the church. Share the hope within you with others. Reach out.

The power of praise transforms and helps others into spiritual rebirth and a joyous life of discipleship. The other day I saw praise power in a dramatic way. I was in a lesbian chat room where several Christian lesbians were present. One said "Praise God!" Several others responded with affirmative comments. One woman asked, "do you really believe it’s possible that God cares about us? I have a hole in my heart that has never been filled. I would like to be a Christian if I knew how." An amazing spiritual conversation followed in the chat room and the woman prayed. She said, "God, I want to be a Christian. I need Jesus in my life. I know I have sins in my life. Will you fill the hole in my heart?" Then the woman typed to all of us, "I need to get off-line now. I want to tell my partner what happened." The next day she emailed the Christian lesbian list and said "Guess what? My partner was thrilled with what happened. She prayed to become a Christian too! Now both of us are!" The list has since helped her find affirming Christian community where she can begin a new life in Christ through the church.

Christ is sending the church to go to the world. We have three calls in Christian Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered evangelism: (1.) To those who visit our churches, (2.) To those who would never consider attending a church of any kind and (3.) To those who come from homophobic Christian churches.

Pentecost began in one local city, spread to the adjoining countries and then intentionally went overseas through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian has a voice, a valid spiritual experience and a witness that someone needs to hear. Evangelism looks like people just like us. Many incorrectly believe sexual minorities cannot be Christians. Only our faith stories will set many free from this mistaken belief. Many others will become Christians when they know one.

Begin in the local city you live in. As a church, also get involved with international outreach.

The Christian life is meant to be lived in community. God’s message is Christ. We are simply the messengers. God’s way is through the church. God’s mission is the world.

Even if some insist we cannot be Christians, we can courteously invite them to "watch us." Watch us live our lives in Christ at home, in our community and in our relationships. Watch us reach out to the poor, the homeless, the marginalized. Watch us share the Christ story to those who persecute and oppress us. Give them Jesus Christ. Jesus was totally non-homophobic. The Gospels and the book of Acts are completely non-homophobic sacred literature many of us need to both reclaim for our own spiritual empowerment and to share with others who hunger and thirst for God.

We are given moments of divine appointments when many gather for various religious and secular events such as the Promise Keeper events and many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Pride gatherings. I’d like to share a picture of what Holy Spirit evangelism can look like through the example of one 19 year old Christian Lesbian Activist. Imagine if only one local church had joined her public witness!

Several years ago approximately one million heterosexual evangelical Christian Promise Keepers (PK’s) visited Washington DC for a day of prayer. The PK’s have done both good and harm. For some, many heterosexual marriages have been saved and abusive, irresponsible behaviors have stopped. Heterosexual men commit to becoming better fathers and husbands. Yet they exclude women and insist sexual minorities must convert their sexual orientation to heterosexuality or remain celibate to become a Christian.

Our young Christian lesbian activist was new to church. She had just read her first gospel and been given her first Bible. She had a profound life changing experience with Christ and eagerly shared her faith with other lesbians. Her friends were astonished that an intelligent, popular peer could identify with an abusive religion that often ridiculed and excluded them. But when the Promise Keepers came to DC, the activists peacefully protested in a legal area. A number of PK’s engaged the young lesbian in conversation. She shared her faith story and experience with Christ in respectful dialogue with pastors, fathers of gay children, seminarians and others. For many of the PK’s, it was the first time any of them learned there are growing numbers of Christian churches for their GLBT children. She also witnessed among the lesbian activists. They too were astonished at the vibrant spirituality their friend had. Stereotypes were broken. Praise was once again the primary language in evangelism. Many were helped.

Someone has said "one plus God is a majority." Imagine what an entire church can do in a local outreach with Pentecost holy boldness.

Pride events are another Pentecost opportunity for Christians among the GLBT communities to reach up and reach out to many who have not experienced God’s heartbeat through friendship withnJesus Christ. If we don’t reach up and then reach out to them, who will? There is a very special calling in our Christian churches to serve as local missionaries among our own people. We are our people’s best missionaries for we love them.

From the very beginning, Christianity has been a magnificent lay movement. The believers shared the centrality of the Jesus story everywhere they went. The early Christians through the church constantly taught and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, rejoiced in obstacles, gossiped the gospel constantly as they scattered in persecution, preaching the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 5:42; 8:4, 12, 25, 35, 40; 10:36; 11:20) . They baptized as they went in the name of the Trinity, approached spiritually seeking people and preached peace in Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. They spoke these words to people they normally would have nothing to do with. They created a spiritual revolution which continues this day.

They shared the story from jails, in martyrdom, in their neighborhood, in existing religious institutions. From the beginning they struggled to include people different from themselves. Sometimes this required reinterpreting ancient, cherished, traditional Levitical religious rules to let outsiders into the Christian faith. They constantly told the story of Jesus in his birth, life, through the centrality of the cross, his death and resurrection. They preached the drama of the gospel, our sin problem and Jesus as the only solution.

Their struggle is ours. How do we communicate a never-changing Christ in an ever changing world? They stayed with the centrality of Christ and the story of Jesus. Theirs was a precise message of the death, burial and resurrection. They were the Easter people. They preached Jesus conquered death. Only Christ bore our sins. Other religions cannot compete. There is simply no other name at which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess as LORD (Philippians 2: 9-11).

Read the book of Acts. God’s way is the church. It is exhausting and discouraging to be alone in the faith. God knows we need others for help, encouragement, teaching, caring and friendships. We need prayers and human kindness. We need accountability with each other. The church is part of God’s love story.

We are blessed with a magnificent Christian calling to bring the Jesus story to every city, village, language, culture both online and off-line to wherever one seeker lives. A church that is not actively evangelizing is missing God’s heartbeat. We are called to "preach the gospel whenever possible, and if necessary use words (St. Francis of Assisi)."

We are to help the Word, who is Christ, be visible, audible and personal in culturally relevant ways to our own kind and others who are different. God is calling us to do all this through the church in multicultural, multilingual, international and local witness with the Christ story. And remember, praise is our primary language in evangelism. Expect the Holy Spirit to be in our evangelism.

Pray boldly and insist on God’s empowerment and blessing in these great endeavors. We are called to do the humanely impossible. We can also expect similar amazement, perplexity and criticism from within and outside the church by religious and secular people. Be grounded in the Holy Spirit and in spiritual community for a great life work. Remember, "Discipleship is joy" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

The other day I read on a daily calendar "Some goals are so worthy, it’s glorious even to fail." Winston Churchill said it very well, "Never, never, never, never give up!"

Reach up to God before reaching out with the Gospel story. And may the blessings of Christ and the joy of the Gospel be yours forever. God bless you.

The author of this material is "Surprised by Joy" (surprisedbyjoy@yahoo.com). "Surprised by Joy" is an ordained UFMCC Christian minister who discovered that God is wonder-full to be with. It is our hope and prayer at soulfoodministry.org that all visitors will experience the tenderloving-kindness of God and receive spiritual food for their journey.