Every year the church celebrates Pentecost, but every year we are also reminded that not everyone knows what the significance of what Pentecost really is. Several times during the past few weeks I have had people ask me when I would be preaching again at church and I told them I was preaching at Pentecost, to which they responded, “what is that?” One of those people was pastor Dave.

The reason we celebrate Pentecost is because it is the birthday of the church and because the church began at Pentecost with God’s sending of the Holy Spirit. But the fact that it’s the birthday of the church struck me hard this year. The other day I was walking through a store when a kid came up to me and said, “You know what mister?” I was like, “I don’t know little guy, you tell me.” And he went on to tell me that it was his birthday that day and that he had turned 7 years old. In fact I have experienced this on several occasions where people announce unashamedly to perfect strangers that it is their birthday.

This year for Pentecost I would like for you to celebrate the memory of Jesus pouring out his Holy Spirit on all believers. It is a special day and it is a day worthy of celebration!

LETS PRAY

Every high school student I know learns this little “cheer” at school that goes like this: “We’ve got the Spirit yes we do, we’ve got the Spirit how ‘bout you?” I don’t want to get this cheer going this morning because it might go back and forth… I was sitting at one of the football games last year when I heard this cheer and it got me thinking, “Why would you need to tell someone you have Spirit and why would you shout it out in unison? Should you not be known to have the Spirit for what you do?”

But this is really what goes on in the book of Acts when I read it. The disciples would enter into an era of “the Spirit” and would be known to have the Spirit as if through their Acts and actions they would be saying “We’ve got the Spirit yes we do, we’ve got the Spirit how ‘bout you?”

As we study Acts this morning, I would like you to keep this in mind. Keep asking yourself today do I have the Spirit? And if I have the Spirit is it known to other people through my Acts?

Acts 1:3-8 (NLT)

 “During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

I have got to say that I really dislike waiting, it’s a drag! I always think about the things I could be doing while I am waiting instead of waiting around wasting time. Waiting implies that the one waiting is not really in charge that you are at someone else’s mercy, following their schedule and their time. But truth be told, most of the time spent waiting is spent in impatience.

I went to Albertson’s 2 weeks back and just wanted to get one item. I went to the queue at the checkout and the person in front of me was taking their time. They had about 20 coupons and they went through every coupon to find the one for the milk, for the bread, for the desert, etc. And so I thought, I will go to the self-checkout – I don’t have time for this. Waiting is taking too long. And so I went over there but all the checkouts were occupied with people with their coupons. It drove me nuts. I tried to get back in line but the line had grown and I was left to the mercy of hanging out waiting and I was shouting in my mind, “Just get me out of here!”

But I find it interesting in Acts that Jesus gives his disciples the command to wait in Jerusalem. Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure they never had coupons back then, so their wait would have been different from mine at Albertsons. After Jesus death and resurrection there was a time of waiting of 40 days until Jesus ascension and then another 10 days between his ascension and Pentecost. The disciples had to do a lot of waiting! I think this is a profound message for us as believers. The disciples had their faith in Jesus restored through his resurrection and through the ascension. They were ready for action. They had prepared for action for 3 years at Jesus’ side, and the time had come for them to fulfill the great commission of

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV):

^“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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

But even though they were ready, and even though they were trained and prepared, and even though they had received the great commission, Jesus still commands them to wait a further 10 days after his ascension.

If I look at the lives of the disciples I see the following things:

-         Knowing Jesus was not enough for them to start their ministry

-         Walking with Christ for 3 years was not enough to start their ministry

-         Being taught by him personally was not enough for them to start their ministry

-         Even being one of his elite 12 disciples was not enough for them to start their ministry

*  Jesus wanted them to wait… so that they could be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit

*  Church, they needed the Holy Spirit to do their ministry for God!

As the scripture in Acts points out, God’s great plan for his church was for his followers to begin by waiting. This is also recorded in Luke 24:46-49 (NIV):

“He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

1.     So was this God’s big plan? (This is my 1^st point)

When I read this passage I think about the disappointment the disciples must have felt. They were probably fired up and ready to go. They were in their starting blocks ready to start the race (as pastor Dave would say). They were prepared for great things and then they are told by Jesus to wait around in the city for the Holy Spirit. His command is to not do anything. No planning, no healing of people, no feeding the poor, no preaching, no bible studies… just wait.

To me this seems illogical. Couldn’t better things be done with the time wasted waiting around? Hadn’t they already waited 3 years with Jesus and then another 40 days after his resurrection till his ascension? Apparently not! There have been times I have felt like the disciples, I have been waiting and telling God, “Lord I want to do something, don’t put me on the bench God!” It’s like I am saying to God during those times, “Put me in coach, put me in coach.” In order to do God’s amazing work, they needed God’s guidance, God’s power, and it needed to be done in God’s time.

2.    Timing is everything (this brings me to my 2^nd point)

There have been instances in my life where looking back and I know I should have waited but because I felt like something needed to be done, I did something because time was wasting. (Time I got hired to come over to MPC) But this is wrong thinking! The disciples did the same thing when told to wait, Peter went about electing a new disciple to replace Judas, and we read about this in Acts 1:26.

The concept of time in this story has always fascinated me. In the Bible there are 2 modes or measurements for time chronos and kairos. These are very important principles to understand about time.

CHRONOS

-         Chronos we can measure. We measure it by minutes, seconds, hours, and days. It is chronological and we can use a watch or a calendar to measure it. Most people live by this form of time and let it navigate their schedules. We buy I-phone’s and Blackberry’s and organizer’s to help us get through the weeks. Some people even buy books on how to manage time or go to conferences. We try to maximize our time and get the most out of a day or a week, or even a lifetime. 

KAIROS

-         Then there is kairos time. This form of time in the Bible we cannot measure. Kairos represents God’s perfect timing. The apostle Paul would say “in the fullness of time”. You could see it as divine time, time that is looked at as an opportune moment – it is how God opens up doors and creates opportunities for us. An example of this would be found in Galatians 4:4 (NIV):

^“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son…”

What we often do as Christians is we ask God, “God, what is your chronos for this situation? What is your chronos for me? For my job Lord? For my health Lord? What is your chronos? But how often do we understand his time in terms of kairos and ask him, “God let your will be done in my life in your kairos?” In your fullness of time Lord. In your perfect timing.

Even though waiting can be hard work, and it can be frustrating, and we will need patience, we need to come to a full realization that God is the one who is in control. What would the disciples have accomplished without the gift of the Holy Spirit?  

Even though it seems like waiting is illogical and that it is a waste of time, it might even feel like the wrong thing to do, and I totally get that and understand that. But God’s word to us today is that even the best of your work, and the greatest initiate you can take, and what you might think is the perfect timing is not a substitute for the empowerment from the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31 (NASB) says:

“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

What the passage in Acts teaches us is that there needs to be time to receive. We have a preconceived notion as Christians that we always need to be busy. As Christians we can’t always be busy, we need to make time to listen to God. Sometimes we need to take time out of our busy schedules to wait… The community in Acts was waiting for something to happen and was listening for a word. They were a waiting community, a community that sought out God’s will and his timing for them.

I would like to demonstrate our concept of time and God’s timing with these boxes. Each box represents an aspect or a unit of our time we spend daily. We might devote a portion of our time to work or school, a portion to friends, a portion to the internet or the television, we probably spend a portion of our time on the phone, some of our time might even be spent on something totally good like the church, at the main service or a Bible study. What ends up happening is we end up establishing these barriers in our lives because we fill our schedules with things to do. Our chronos time keeps us occupied to the extent that we don’t see God who is right in front of us. God could be jumping up and down in front of you trying to gain your attention and you wouldn’t even see him. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10? The Priest and the Levite pass right by the man without stopping to help him. Sometimes we too act like them because of use of time.

Now when I read this passage in Acts and Jesus says to his disciples that they need to wait, I hear him saying that they need to remove the boxes of time from the barrier and place them elsewhere for the time being.

If you really, really need to do something and you feel the urge while you are waiting, you could always pray. In Acts 1:14 we read about the disciples who spent their time during those days of waiting in prayer.

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”

This morning as we sit here in God’s presence I would like for us to take a minute to wait in Moorpark. As a church let us take a moment to listen to God and as we wait let us acknowledge that God is the God who holds time in his hands…

PRAY