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  THE PURPOSE OF PENTECOST
  by Todd Atkinson
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Summary: This sermon on Pentecost Sunday emphasizes the significance of
the church calendar in retelling the story of God's redemption through
Jesus Christ. It delves into the life of Stephen, the first martyr in
the Christian church, showcasing his unwavering faith and fullness of
the Holy Spirit amidst intense opposition and rage. The message
encourages believers to seek a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit in
their daily lives, focusing on heavenly realities and the exaltation of
Jesus, just as Stephen did.

Topics: "Holy Spirit", "Faithfulness in Trials"
Scripture References: Acts 6:5, Acts 7:55, Romans 8:31, Ephesians 5:18, Acts 2:4, Acts 7:59, Acts 7:60, 1 Corinthians 6:19, John 14:16, Acts 2:38

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon on Pentecost Sunday emphasizes the significance of the
church calendar in retelling the story of God's redemption through Jesus
Christ. It delves into the life of Stephen, the first martyr in the
Christian church, showcasing his unwavering faith and fullness of the
Holy Spirit amidst intense opposition and rage. The message encourages
believers to seek a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit in their daily
lives, focusing on heavenly realities and the exaltation of Jesus, just
as Stephen did.

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CONTENT
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Well, good morning everyone out there watching online. What a great
privilege to be able to bring God's Word to you on Pentecost Sunday. One
of the great purposes of the church is the making of disciples, and one
of the greatest tools at our disposal for disciple making is the church
year or the church calendar.

I don't think this should surprise us. In the Old Testament, God
instituted an annual cycle of feasts that retold the story of his
dealings with his people and of his covenant with them. And in a very
similar way, the New Testament tells the great story of God's redemption
through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when the church retells that story every year through the church
calendar, we enter more fully into that story and we become more like
Jesus who is the very focus of that story. And so at Advent, we recall
the birth of our Lord, which made possible our spiritual new birth. At
Epiphany, we are reminded of a mission of our Lord, which has become our
very own mission.

In Lent through Good Friday, we reflect on our Lord laying down his life
for us, and we, in turn, offer ourselves back to him. In the Easter
season, we enter into the Lord's mighty resurrection. Forty days after
the resurrection, we recall the ascension of our Lord to the right hand
of the Father, and our hearts and our minds are lifted to him in
heavenly places.

And at Pentecost, ten days after the ascension, the gift of the Spirit
came from heaven. And here we remember that our Lord lived his earthly
life full of the Spirit. Scripture says that he lived in the power of
the Spirit and that he was led by the Holy Spirit.

At Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit was sent to the church so that
we might become like Jesus in this way and also be full of the Holy
Spirit. So the question I want to put before us today is this. What
difference does this gift of the Spirit make in your daily lives as
Christians? Some of you may have experienced a powerful presence of God
in the service at some time, and you attributed that to the Holy Spirit,
and you were right.

Others may have experienced a gift of the Spirit. Perhaps you received a
word of encouragement for someone or from someone, and you saw that as
the work of the Spirit, and you were right. And perhaps there was an
occasion where you felt a very clear sense of leading or direction from
the Lord, and you attributed that to the leading of the Spirit, and
again, you're right, it was.

But I want for us to consider a story in the early church which might
show us a grander vision of the Holy Spirit. A Spirit that is not just
with us on rare occasion, but a Spirit who is with us daily, a Spirit
who is with us hourly, a Spirit who is with us in the daily affairs of
life. And so this morning we're going to look at the life of Stephen.

The first martyr in the Christian church. We first hear about Stephen in
Acts chapter 6, where he is known by his community as a man full of
faith in the Holy Spirit. Stephen is then made one of the very first
deacons in the early church, and from the moment that the apostles laid
their hands on him and appointed him to this task, the power of the Lord
was flashing through his life.

This deacon, who started with waiting on tables, shortly became an
anointed preacher of the gospel. When Stephen proclaimed Jesus to his
own people, the Jewish people, some no doubt received this message with
joy, but the Bible tells us that others were furious at his preaching.
He went through the Old Testament history, and he showed them that they
had a destructive self-repeating cycle, that when God sent messengers to
his people that they weren't always well received.

And so in his sermon Stephen shows them Acts chapter 7 verse 9, how that
they were jealous of Joseph and sold him to Egypt. Verse 35, how they
rejected Moses. How verse 52, how they persecuted the prophets that God
sent, and in the end how they put Jesus himself to death.

Have you ever tried to help someone see that they have a destructive and
self-repeating cycle at work in their lives? Well, how did that go for
you? My experience has been that if they want to see it, if they're at a
stage of life where they are ready to see it, then they'll be mostly
grateful if the right person says it to them and in the right manner.
But if you're showing them a cycle that they categorically don't want to
see or afraid to see, it can make them very angry. And Acts 7 tells us
that this was the case with Stephen's congregation.

That when he preached to them, it says they were more than angry, they
were enraged. The word here literally means to be sawn through. It's
talking about deep anger at the very deepest level.

It means anger to the point of rage. Scripture also says that they
ground their teeth at him. This means they looked at him like a pack of
animals would look at a prey.

I mean, this is severe anger. Have you ever experienced a really angry
person or been in a really angry situation? Well, it's not my favorite
place to be because really angry people are unpredictable. You don't
know what they'll do and you never know how far they will go.

Really angry people are irrational. They genuinely believe that their
way of seeing things is the only possible way of seeing things. And
really angry people are adversarial.

They don't look for win-wins. The person they're angry with becomes
their enemy and the goal is destruction, whether to destroy a
reputation, to destroy self-esteem, to destroy their future, to destroy
their family. Anger seems to know no bounds.

And our world, sadly, at this present moment is seething with anger.
From violence in the Middle East to the cancel culture of North America,
anger in every form seems to be on the rise. An article I recently came
across said, and I quote, our contemporary culture, our contemporary
moment, excuse me, is a culture of meanness.

A few years before that article, the New York Times published an article
entitled The Culture of Nastiness. A psychological journal I saw this
week used similar language, but they referred to it as a culture of
bullying. I'm not terribly familiar with TV, but I like watching the
news feed each day.

And this last week, Ellen DeGeneres, I hope I'm saying her name, came
up. She's the most popular daytime show in the US. She has recently
retired.

It was a popular show, won 61 Daytime Emmy Awards at its height, had 2.6
million viewers each episode. But she cites that one of her reasons for
retiring is because of this present culture. She says it's a culture now
where people are just mean, where no one can make mistakes, where you
can't learn and grow, which is, as human beings, what we're here to do.

And the word that she used at the end is that she said she felt
destroyed by this culture. What is interesting about Stephen in this
story is that he faced so much anger than Ellen has ever faced, or I've
ever faced, and probably the majority of you have ever faced. And yet he
didn't feel destroyed.

He didn't feel crushed, and he didn't even feel disheartened by it. He's
with a level of anger, of rage that is against him, seething destructive
tendencies directed against him. And yet the Bible says that his face in
the midst of this was like the face of an angel.

And if we were to ask him, Stephen, how could you be so calm? How could
you be so serene? When facing that level of rage, his answer was found
in chapter 7 verse 55. But he, full of the Holy Spirit. Stephen wasn't
even there on the day of Pentecost.

But those who were there on the day of Pentecost received the gift of
the Holy Spirit so fully, and taught their people, the converts that
were to come to Christ after that, they taught them to expect and
believe and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And here's one of those
converts, wasn't there on the day of Pentecost, but he had received the
gift of the Holy Spirit as fully as anybody who was present. Let's
unpack that.

What does it mean that in this setting, full of rage, he was full of the
Holy Spirit? Well, it means that Stephen is facing the very worst in
human nature, but he isn't facing it alone. He's not alone. The Holy
Spirit of God is with him.

And not simply in theory. No, the Holy Spirit is strongly with him in a
way that is making a marked difference in his life. A real difference.

Some of us may experience the Holy Spirit in the service, but we might
go out to life after that. And life might be tough. Life could be
hostile.

Life could be tumultuous. And do we bring the Holy Spirit with us? Do we
experience the Holy Spirit in the midst of that tumult like we did in
the midst of a service? This is precisely why the Holy Spirit was sent.
That the presence of Christ would be with his people day in and day out
and when it matters the most.

And I might add, God is not with Stephen just a little bit. He's not
with him barely. He's with Stephen fully.

That's the word. He is said to be full of the Holy Spirit. The word here
means to be completely occupied by something.

It means to be in a state of abounding. What a testimony. Full of the
Holy Spirit.

And notice how the Holy Spirit was affecting Stephen. He was directing
his attention heavenward. The Bible says and full of the Holy Spirit he
gazed into heaven.

Notice they're in the same verse. There's a relationship between the
first part of that verse and the second part. What we might call a
causal relationship.

The cause is the Holy Spirit. The effect is he gazed into heaven. His
focus was not on the rage.

It wasn't on the opposition. It wasn't on the difficulties. It wasn't on
the tribulation he was facing.

His focus was on heaven and it was the Holy Spirit that was directing
his focus there and that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives
every day. He is present. He is with us and if we will hear him he will
always be directing our attention heavenward to where our Lord is
ascended and exalted.

In fact his attention wasn't even just on heaven but it was into heaven.
Scripture says that he gazed into heaven. He gazed into another reality.

A reality that is over and above our reality. The reality that we know
as heaven. Stephen gazed into heaven as one would look behind a curtain
and it was the Holy Spirit pulling back the curtain for Stephen to see.

This beloved is what the Holy Spirit does. He takes heavenly truth and
he makes it personally true to you because what he saw about Jesus was
true all along. This has been true of Jesus since his ascension but on
this moment the Holy Spirit ministers that truth to Stephen.

He reveals it on a personal level to Stephen. He takes the truth of God
and lets you see it for yourself. Let's you apprehend it.

Let's you assimilate it and make it your own. Nothing could have
encouraged Stephen more in this situation than this vision of his Lord.
And so the Holy Spirit showed him Jesus.

He showed him an ascended Jesus. He showed him a victorious Jesus. He
showed him an enthroned Jesus.

Beloved a church full of the Holy Spirit is always going to be a church
focused on Jesus and especially on his exaltation. A church full of the
Holy Spirit is always going to have a high view of Jesus. A church full
of the Holy Spirit is a church captivated by Jesus.

A church full of the Holy Spirit isn't focused, consumed by the things
of this world. It's not preoccupied by the tribulations of life. A
church full of the Holy Spirit is a church that is preoccupied with
heavenly realities, heavenly truths that make a difference in the midst
of earthly tribulation.

Normally when Jesus is referred to as being at the right hand of the
Father, Jesus is spoken of as sitting there. Sitting at the right hand
of the Father. Yet as the Holy Spirit enables Stephen to gaze into
heaven and see Jesus, in this instance Jesus isn't sitting but he is
standing.

What should we make of all this? Well first of all it's important to
clarify that Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father isn't a
statement about his eternal posture. He doesn't spend all of eternity in
a single fixed position. Stay there.

Stay seated. That's not what's being conveyed by these verses. He's the
God of the universe but you've got to stay seated there.

That's not what's being conveyed. Rather it's a theological statement
that Jesus has completed his work. He has won his victory which makes
the seated position a position of rest and a position of rule.

Kings are seated in thrones. Monarchs are seated from their place of
rule. However there is something interesting happening in this story
because the word stand is used three times.

Chapter 6 verse 9 it is said that the people Stephen is preaching to it
says that they rose up and that word literally means to stand up and in
this instance it means to stand against. They're standing up. They're
standing against what he is saying.

Standing against Stephen. The very next verse it says that they were
trying to withstand. Withstand Stephen's sermon.

Same root in that word. It means to stand against or to resist. So there
are so many forces are literally standing against Stephen and on this
moment when the Holy Spirit lifts his gaze to heaven do you know what he
sees? The ruler of the whole cosmos is standing for him and suddenly all
the people standing against him seem like nothing now.

Now it doesn't count so much because when the God of the universe is
standing up for you then not all the people in the world who stand
against you could prevail over that. Scripture says if God before us who
can be against us and I think that at some level we all believe that but
the Holy Spirit takes that truth and he makes it pop. He brings it home.

He opens Stephen's eyes and let him see that glory is true for himself.
That the Lord of glory was standing up for him. What courage must have
filled his soul.

Oh for a filling of the Holy Spirit for every one of us. Jesus told his
disciples lo I will be with you always and we take it on faith but you
know what the Holy Spirit wants to do? He wants you to enter into that
truth. He wants you to appreciate that promise every day to lay hold of
that lo I will be with you always.

And so so many years ago when I heard stories about revivals amongst
over nations it just absolutely captured me. Nothing wrong with that.
Nothing more I wanted to see than that.

But what I've noticed over the last 35 years is one of the greatest
ministries of the Holy Spirit to me is he has taken the truth of Jesus
and made it mine. I haven't seen a whole nation changed by revival yet
but I've seen this heart changed again and again and again and the truth
that I preach is my truth. Paul who writes the epistles he used this
phrase he calls the gospel my gospel.

Now when he says my gospel he didn't mean it originated with him. It's
the gospel of God given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ but when he said
my gospel because that message was written in his soul. That's what the
Holy Spirit does.

Moves us beyond propositional truth and into the personal appropriation
of truth. Where truth gets in us and owns us and defines us. Eternal
truth becomes personal and intimate.

What a wonderful Holy Spirit. So when I first heard lo I'll be with you
in faith as we ought to but over the years it is a living reality in my
life every day thanks to the Holy Spirit. Oh so many things I'd like to
teach you about the Holy Spirit.

There's a second possible reason that Stephen sees his Lord standing and
that may be to welcome him home. Stephen was cast out of the city and
later stoned to death but he died as he lived um was the first thing
that is ever said about Stephen in scripture. A man full of faith and
full of the Holy Spirit.

He died like that. He died as he lived full of faith full of the Holy
Spirit and focused on his ascended Lord. Therefore his death was in so
many ways like the death of Jesus.

Not a defeat but a victory. So I want to call you today to receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit afresh. To live as your Lord before you lived in
the power of the Spirit.

Being full of the Spirit. Being led by the Spirit and to follow
Stephen's example and in our day to be a church full of faith and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.

Before we start here I'd like to give you a moment to pray. The question
in front of us these days is what is the Holy Spirit wanting to be to us
in this hour? I thank God for all the ways in which you have experienced
the Spirit in the past but I found that the way into more of the Spirit
is not to look back and ask that he would repeat what he used to do for
you as much as to ask him what does he want to do now? What does he want
to be to you now? I thank God for the gifts you've received in the past.
Beautiful life-giving gifts but behold he stands at the door of our
heart and knocks and there are now gifts of the Spirit to receive.

Which will introduce you to new ministries of the Spirit. And new
encounters with you. You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins
are reconciled and at peace with your neighbor and intend to lead the
new life following the commandments of God and walking from henceforth
in his holy ways.

Draw near with faith and make your humble confession to Almighty God.
Right now right in your house please take a moment for private
confession and it may be appropriate today to confess where we have
tried to live on our own steam. Out of our own self-sufficiency where we
haven't lived life leaning upon the Spirit of God.

Take a moment to pray. Now together let us make our confession. Most
merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you in thought word
and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart we have not loved our
neighbors as ourselves we are truly sorry and we humbly repent for the
sake of your Son Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us and forgive us that we
may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your
name. Amen.

Almighty God our heavenly Father who in his great mercy has promised
forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true
faith turn to him have mercy upon you. Pardon and deliver you from all
your sins confirm and strengthen you in all goodness and bring you to
everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you'll receive from
Christ the full absolution of your sins then together we proclaim If
you'll receive from Christ the full absolution of your sins then
together we proclaim Thank you for you Thank you for you O Spirit Your
presence We all go for you We all go for you No one knows No one knows
That you only are That you only are One Our hearts set along these isles
The sea of angels In your presence there is hope For the blessed you
lead In your presence there is peace For the restless In your presence
there is joy For the broken In your presence there is grace For the
fallen In your presence there is hope For the hopeless In your presence
there is peace For the restless In your presence there is joy For the
broken In your presence there is grace For the fallen So open heaven's
door Let your glory fall upon These hearts set along these isles We
desire to see your presence We long for you Your sons and daughters Come
meet with us We will dance, we will sing In the presence of our King We
are free, we belong In the presence of our King We'll shout, we'll pray
We'll shout, we'll pray So open heaven's door Let your glory fall upon
These hearts set along these isles We desire to see your presence I pray
that in the name of your blessed son Jesus Christ I pray that your Holy
Spirit Be poured out upon our people Right now in their living rooms
Their bedrooms, their kitchens I ask that the fire of heaven Would
separate like tongues And it would descend upon everyone Lord I pray
that you would make us Into your very dwelling place A place where the
fire of your presence Burns perpetually day and night Come upon us this
morning Pour out the gift of your spirit That you did at the beginning
That we might have faith as they did Devotion as they That we might be a
witness as they were And that the eyes of our hearts Would be
continually fixed Upon our exalted Savior Lord light the beacons Light
the cathedrals That from them your presence will shine And light up the
darkness Beloved the ascended Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Let
us give thanks to the Lord our God Holy and gracious Father In your
infinite love You made us for yourself And when we had sinned against
you And become subject to evil and death You in your mercy sent your
only Son Into the world for our salvation By the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary He became flesh and dwelt among us In obedience to your will
He stretched out his arms upon the cross And offered himself once for
all That by his suffering and death We might be saved By his
resurrection he broke the bonds of death Trampling hell and Satan under
his feet As our great high priest He ascended to your right hand in
glory That we might come with confidence Before the throne of grace On
the night that he was betrayed Our Lord Jesus Christ took bread And when
he had given thanks He broke it and he gave it to his disciples Saying
take, eat This is my body Which is given for you Do this in remembrance
of me Likewise after supper Jesus took the cup And when he had given
thanks He gave it to them saying Drink this all of you For this is my
blood of the new covenant Which is shed for you and for many For the
forgiveness of sins Whenever you drink this Do this in remembrance of me
We celebrate the memorial of our redemption Oh Father in this sacrifice
Of praise and thanksgiving We offer you these gifts Sanctify them by
your word and Holy Spirit To be for your people the body And the blood
of your son Jesus Christ Sanctify us also That we may worthily receive
this Holy Sacrament And be made one body with him So that he may dwell
in us and we in him In the fullness of time Put all things in subjection
under your Christ And bring us with all your saints Into the fullness of
your heavenly kingdom Where we shall see our Lord face to face All this
we ask through your son Jesus Christ By him and with him and in him In
the unity of the Holy Spirit All honor and glory is yours Almighty
Father Now and forever Christ our Passover Lamb Has been sacrificed Once
for all Upon the cross And so may the blood of the Lamb Atone for all
our sins Known and unknown That we may stand pure And unadulterated in
his sight Amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/4QB4Sg4KSGU.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/todd-atkinson/the-purpose-of-pentecost/
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