"Pentecostal Presbyterians?"

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Preacher: Rev. Ross Purdy
Date: June 4, 2006

In the last days, God said, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people.   Your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.   Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy.   I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below...and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Can you imagine living in those days?   You are living in those days.   The great Apostle Peter declared to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus' death, that the ancient prophecy of Joel had been fulfilled.   We are living in the days of prophecy.   God's Spirit is upon all who seek Him.   Young men, old men, young women, old women, will have strange experiences as the Spirit of God is poured out among all flesh.  

Can you see it?   Are you experiencing it?   Are you aware of the power that is here, right now?   I believe that if you are willing to give your life to Jesus Christ, you will experience things beyond this world.   And, if you can't give your life to Jesus Christ, are you even willing to be willing to give your life to Jesus Christ?

It is the desire of my very heart that this morning, at some point during the service, you will be touched by God in a very powerful way.   I do believe in God's intervention when we allow God to intervene.  

Several years ago I was in a worship service filled with men on a men's retreat.   The Holy Spirit fell on the service and the preacher had to stop preaching.   Believe me when   say this, I will stop preaching if God wants to do something different.   Immediately, a wave of something swept through the place and every man there fell to the ground.   Some began to weep.   Some began to laugh.   I, a devout Presbyterian, left out the door.   I didn't leave because I was embarrassed or afraid.   I left because I couldn't take the power of the presence inside.   As I knelt down by a pine tree in the woods I cried out, "Oh God....what just happened?   Whatever it was, don't let it stop."   I felt it.   I was there.   I didn't have Presbyterian terms to explain it, but it happened.    To this day I remember this incident of one of power being sent down from above.

A few years ago in Nebraska (not that the location is important) a Presbyterian Church handed out balloons on the Day of Pentecost.   Each person was instructed to let their balloon go at some point during the service when the Holy Spirit's power was sensed.   The balloons were supposed to float to the ceiling.   At the end of the service, more than three-quarters of the Presbyterians in that sanctuary were still holding on to their balloons.  

No wonder Presbyterians get a bad rap such as the "frozen chosen".   No wonder traditional religion is shunned by some.   While we stand on tradition, we need to be ready for new things...especially when the Spirit brings them upon us.   Sometimes people come into a service and it looks more like a funeral than a celebration of the One who has risen from the dead.

Let go this morning and let God's Spirit do something powerful.   You might be healed.   You might be so filled with joy that you can't contain your laughter (yes, it's okay to laugh in church).   You might experience the Spirit of God reaching into your cold, dark heart and birthing a new spirit within you.   This is the Day of Pentecost.   Things happen on the Day of Pentecost.  

If these are the days of the prophecy; the last days when God's Spirit has been poured out among the world, then let go.   If you're a young man, let God's Spirit give you dreams.   If you're an old man, let God give you visions.   If you're a young woman, prophesy; burst out with the praises of God!   If you're a old woman, shout out "hallelujah".   Whoever you are let the fire of this day ignite you.   The Holy Spirit fell upon the Church as a mighty wind rushing through.  

Breathe on us, O Spirit of God.   Make us people of Pentecost!

Pentecostal Presbyterians.   Are there such things?   What other kind of Presbyterians are there?   I know that a "Pentecostal" often refers to a charismatic person who comes from a religious tradition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.   People often think of Pentecostals as though who speak in tongues or gather around a certain creed.   That's not what I'm talking about, specifically, this morning.   A Pentecostal is a person who has received the Holy Spirit simply because they believe in Jesus Christ.    If you believe in Jesus Christ, you will receive the Holy Spirit.  

Do you sense God's Spirit moving here this morning?   Do you?   Then let the Spirit so permeate your life that when you leave you are a different person altogether.

Søren Kierkegaard tells a parable of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher. The duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. With these wings there was nowhere the ducks could not go, there was no God-given task the ducks could not accomplish. With those wings they could soar into the presence of God himself. Shouts of "Amen" were quacked throughout the duck congregation.   At the conclusion of the service, the ducks left, commenting on what a wonderful message they had heard, and waddled back home.

We come to church every Sunday and say Hallelujah!   But then we walk out of the doors to return to our lives without any difference.   If what we're doing here isn't inviting God's Spirit to work in our lives, if what we're doing on a Sunday morning when we gather together doesn't make us so radically different week after week, if what happens to us doesn't so transform our lives, then we're not letting go and letting God work in and through us.

I am committed to the worship of God in our midst.   I am committed to receiving all that God has for me.   I don't want just a little.   I want it all.   I want to live as the early Church lived.   I want to know the "more" that Jesus talked about.   The gifts still happen today.   Miracles still take place.   God still changes lives and transforms them into the very image of Jesus Christ.

Never in the history of the world has such a time been more critical for us to experience the power of the Holy Spirit.   There is an all-out war out in the world today against belief.   Yes, people are talking about Jesus and it's a great time for us to have an answer for them.   But they are talking about Jesus in ways to disprove the claims He made.

"Many believe 'Da Vinci Code' Claims to be Credible and True"

"New Book Says Jesus Survived Crucifixion"

"Long-Awaited Medical Study Says Prayers have No Effect on Healing"

"Jesus could have Walked on Ice, Not Water, Scientist Says"

"Traitor or Ally? Gospel Sheds new Light on Judas"

The recent newspaper headlines have influenced society.   In the past three months the papers and media have been filled with silly legends about religion.   While they claim that Christians are ignorant people, never before has the ignorance been so rampant on the side of the accusers.

During the past six months the media claimed that a new gospel, the Gospel of Judas proves that Judas was only betraying Jesus because he was told to.   This is bunk and is not historical.   No one wants to put it in context, though.   New codes are always welcomed.   It doesn't matter if they are filled with loopholes, barely held together by the thread of tangled webs they weave. If they entertain us, we go for them.   They seek to disprove the claims of God, and we like dirt...even if it is God whom were slandering.

I recently read in a newspaper article that Jesus didn't walk on water.   He walked on ice...on the Sea of Galilee...two thousand years ago.   What an incredible man who can balance on an ice cube.   Maybe that's a better miracle than walking on water.   The accusation is that we can't believe the Bible anymore.  

Then I read that studies prove that prayer doesn't work. Funny...the most powerful center for us in this community is prayer.   Jesus says that pray works.   I suppose I must have made up my own miracle stories on the miraculous healings I have experienced through prayer.   I suppose the countless lives that have been changed through prayer, lives that we see all the time walking through these doors at First Presbyterian Church of Burbank are all made up, based on psychological suggestions.   How could we have been so fooled?....unless...unless...these really are the days of Pentecost and there is a powerful deception that has come upon the world.   What do you believe?  

The days for being a Christian are getting harder.   Who are you going to believe?   I challenge you to take hold of this Day of Pentecost.   I challenge you to open your life to the Holy Spirit and receive the power that God wants to give you.  

I promise you that if you submit your life to Jesus Christ you will experience power like you never have.   I believe the more you yield to Jesus Christ, the more power you will experience in your life.   I believe the more you open your life to receive the more you will receive.  

God is building a strong gathering of committed people who don't want to settle for the version of Church that makes its members simply nice people doing good works anymore.   God is building a strong gathering of committed people who won't settle for anything less than being the people of the Pentecost's power.   I want to ask you this: do you see the vision?  

Let me tell you the vision I have.   I am unapologetic about it.   I will not tone it down but will increase its strength day by day.   I am committed to serving a church that is unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   I am committed to living out my gifts among a people whose passion it is to reach every single person in Burbank with the opportunity to give their life to Jesus Christ and experience the power of Pentecost.   I am committed to living in this vision so much that if you don't join me in doing it, I will still go on.   I will still be committed to it.  

It's a simple vision.   It is proclaiming Jesus Christ and making Him known through my words, my actions, my very life as the Holy Spirit gives me the strength.   As I yield to God's Spirit I expect dreams and visions.   I expect miracles and wonders.   Those are the norms of the new life.   Why should you or I be so surprised when unusual things happen?   This is the vision.

"Give your life to this (vision)! Give all the money you can give! Give all the service you can give! Give all the prayers you can give! Give whatever you have to give because for all eternity you will look back over your shoulder and be glad you did!"

"I am giving my life to the fulfillment of this vision.   I would love to have you help me.   But even if you don't, I am going to do what God has called me to do one way or another.   I am going to make this vision happen."     ( Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership )

I am going to be a Pentecostal Presbyterian.   Will you be one with me?   Will you serve with me?   If so, then commit yourself to it as we take communion together.   Come with me as we remember what Jesus Christ has done in giving His life on the cross to make us people of power.

Amen.