Journey to Pentecost

May 22, 2010         Acts 1.12-14

You remember how it felt!  You misbehaved and put into a corner.  You had to wait.  Wait and wait.  It was as though every minute was an hour.   You remember!  Waiting in the doctors office.  Waiting.  It seemed like every minute you are sitting there is an hour.  Waiting.  You’re in a hurry.   It seems like every traffic light in town catches you and as you wait for the red to turn green….it seems like hours.  Oh yeah!  Waiting.  It can be the most miserable moments of your life.

Nearly two thousand years ago one hundred and twenty believers gathered in an upper level over a flat in Jerusalem.  They were told to wait.  Go there and wait.  So they did.  They were told to go and wait on the “promise” from the Father.  This was a big deal to these Jews.  They were accustomed to being in Jerusalem.  It was the feast of Pentecost.  They were supposed to be there.  It was one of three feasts that was mandatory for men to attend.  They typically would bring their families to Pentecost.   So they were in Jerusalem because they were supposed to be there.   It was this waiting thing that they may have been uncomfortable with.  What do you think?  Go and wait on the promise!  Easy right?

Well maybe not!  Waiting in an upper room prayer meeting.  Waiting while down the street tens of thousands of Jews were gathering in the temple to surrender their sacrifices, free will offerings and get on with the temple program.  It was a time of celebrating the wheat harvest.  All of their Jewish relatives were in the temple.  Only a small portion of Jews were gathered in the upper room.  Wonder what those in the temple were thinking about them?  After all this rag tag team of followers were considered different and weird anyway.  Now they were gathered together and they were waiting for some mystical “gift” Jesus had told them about.

Waiting paid off.  As it normally does.  Waiting paid off and this rag tag team would experience the fullness of the Spirit.  They would experience the Holy Spirit in a way that would literally change the world.   Literally impact the world.  Nearly two thousand years ago a little over one hundred and twenty believers left the place of their obedience and would never be the same.  What about us today?

Are you willing to put family and friends on the line to wait for a promise you can’t really personally define until you experience it?  Are you willing to wait for an experience that will redefine who you are as a believer?   Are you willing to wait for an empowering touch of God in your life that you have never experienced before?  Are you willing to surrender your life to the Holy Spirit just as much as you did to Christ for salvation?  Are you willing to surrender the one part of your physical being to the Holy Spirit that we absolutely want to mega control?    You know.  Our tongues.  With it we can set a forest ablaze!  With it we can surrender to the most awesome gift the Father ever gave to the church outside of salvation.

Waiting.  Waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Are you waiting for the Gift?  Are you willing to be part of a rag tag team of believers that are willing to obey the Father?   Waiting.  I challenge you to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Wait for your awesome personal experience with the Holy Spirit.  Waiting isn’t so bad after all.  Right?