The Coming of the Spirit

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?

Parthians and the Medes and the Lamanites and the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phajia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome.

Both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others, mocking, said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy.

And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

And it shall come to pass, that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And one of the highlights of our ministry, our time there, is this church, the way that God has worked to raise up this local church here in New London, the way that he has preserved you and continued to extend his glory and his gospel through you.

So it's a real privilege to be here worshiping our Lord Jesus together, and it's an honor to open up God's word with you and to be teaching today. Now, this fall at Trinity, we've been going through the book of Acts, and this book has been so encouraging to us as we continue to engage in the ministry that the Lord Jesus has for us.

And as Jordan mentioned about, and as I've talked with Mike and heard from him, God is doing such a great work amidst you all. So I thought I would just come and share an encouraging word, words that have been encouraging to us.

I thought I'd just share an encouraging word with you all from the book of Acts. So Acts 2. So as we look at Acts 2, a question kind of arises, I think, as we consider this text.

And the question is this. How is it that a small group of frightened, puzzled, and largely uneducated men and women could so quickly become a force to be reckoned with right across the known world?

How was it? How was it that a small group of men and women could, in a few short years, be said to be turning the world upside down? How?

Well, the answer to that is seen right here in Acts 2. Here, Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and this book that we call the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us how the seemingly unthinkable happened.

He tells us how the church was born and where the church's power in life comes from. And the answer that he gives is the Holy Spirit.

God, the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 is an account of what we now call Pentecost. The day when the ascended Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon the church in fulfillment of Jesus' promise and in the fullness of Jesus' work.

And this day, this day of Pentecost, it was a day from which there was no turning back. This was a historical event in God's plan of redemption that marked, really, a new day. The day the Holy Spirit began his new covenant ministry and began empowering the church for its Christ-given mission.

So, like Jesus' death and resurrection then, Pentecost was this unique event in history. Right? But just like we can learn about Jesus' ongoing significance from his life, death, and resurrection, so we can learn about the Spirit's ongoing significance from this unique event, this day of Pentecost.

Now, why is it important that we come to learn and know and come to behold and worship God the Holy Spirit? That is important. Why? Why spend time thinking about the Holy Spirit?

Well, because according to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is the reason why there's a church at all. You see, without the Holy Spirit, there's no preaching, there's no missions, there's no conversions, there are no Christians, there's no worldwide Christian movement.

Everything that we have and do is of any lasting significance because of God the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we're sort of like a sailboat without wind. Right? You guys are here on the water.

You know about boats. Right? You know the other thing is here about boats. I don't think the boats that some of these guys engineer run by wind, though. Right? You can fix the metaphor later. Right?

You know, the church without the Holy Spirit, it's like a stack of wood without fire. Right? The glorious riches of Christ and his salvation would remain ever removed from us without the Holy Spirit.

The gospel would remain ever foolishness to us without the Holy Spirit. It's all because of God, the Holy Spirit. So if as the church, if as Christians, we're going to look in the right place to learn where the source of our life and growth and mission come from, we have to take into consideration God the Holy Spirit.

So what is Pentecost? What does this day of Pentecost then show us about the Holy Spirit? What does this historical, significant day of Pentecost help us to understand today?

So I want to look at three things that the account of Pentecost helps us understand about the Holy Spirit today. And I think they're listed somewhere, maybe on a kid's sheet. So if you're one of the kids, you've got an inside track to the sermon, I think.

So we're going to look at the Holy Spirit's power. And then we're going to look at the Holy Spirit's work. And then we're going to see what we see here about the Holy Spirit's goal. What's his goal? What's his end? So let's think first about the Holy Spirit's power.

And we see the Holy Spirit's power in verses 1 through 4 of our passage, if you have it open still on your lap, on your Bible, on your phone. Verses 1 through 4, we see the Holy Spirit's power. Luke tells us here that when the day of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were all together in one place.

Now, what actually was the day of Pentecost? Well, Pentecost was actually a Jewish feast. In the Old Testament, it was called the Feast of Weeks.

And it was one of three great annual celebrations that God had commanded his people to hold throughout the year. Isn't that wonderful that we serve a God who tells us to hold festivals to him?

He's a God of joy. So the Feast of Weeks. So the Feast of Weeks was actually a harvest celebration, right? And it took place 50 days after the Passover.

And that's how it eventually came to be called Pentecost. Because the word Pentecost actually comes from the Greek word for 50. So they just started calling it 50, the 50 celebration, right?

So Jews would come to Jerusalem from all over to celebrate this feast, thanking God for his provision, offering to God the first fruits of their labors, asking God to bless the harvest that was to come.

That was Pentecost. That was the Feast of Weeks. Now, interestingly, over time, as God's people continued to celebrate this festival, Pentecost also became associated in Jewish history with, do you know what?

The giving of the law. With the giving of the law. Interesting. Now, why? Why did Pentecost also become associated with the giving of the law? Well, because as you follow the story of the Exodus, you learn that the people of Israel arrived at Sinai about 50 days after the first Passover in Egypt.

Isn't that interesting? So what happens over time is that this annual Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover, Pentecost, was also a time when the Jews of Jesus' day would celebrate the giving of the law.

Okay, so that's Pentecost. So here, at the beginning of Acts chapter 2, here are the disciples of Jesus. They had spent 40 days with Jesus after his resurrection.

They had seen him ascend to heaven just a few weeks earlier, just like a week earlier, right? And they were waiting. They were waiting just as Jesus told them to, waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

And on the day of the Feast of Pentecost, the day when the harvest was celebrated, the day when they remembered how Moses went up, when he ascended on the mountain and came back down with the law, on that day, the ascended Lord Jesus fulfilled his promise.

And the Holy Spirit came. And the Holy Spirit came in power. And on, am I talking loud enough for a while?

Can you guys hear me okay? Did I break something? So the Holy Spirit comes in power on Pentecost.

And here's the great thing. On this Pentecost, there would be an even greater harvest, right? And on this Pentecost, it wouldn't be God's law coming down on tablets of stone, right?

It would be God's own Spirit coming down and filling them, writing his word on their very hearts. And when the Spirit arrives, Luke says, it was like wind and like fire.

It was like a sound of a mighty rushing wind filling a house. And what looks like fire comes down and rests on each one of them. And those images, of course, those are images of power, right?

And they're very fitting images for the power of the Holy Spirit. Because as Jesus himself taught in John 3, talking about the power of the Spirit, the wind blows where it wills. You can see it, right? You can't see it.

You can't see it, but you feel its effect, right? Wind is powerful even though you can't see it, right? And what about fire? Well, fire is something you can feel. You can feel its warmth, but you can't kind of grab it with your hands, right?

So like the wind, God's Spirit is invisible but powerful. And like fire, God the Holy Spirit can't be measured or grasped, but he's powerful. Like storm and like fire, the Spirit of God is powerful.

But you know what? This wind and this fire, they don't just speak of the power of the Holy Spirit. They also tell us something else about the Holy Spirit.

Wind and fire in the Old Testament were images of God's powerful presence, right? It was a pillar of fire by which God led his people through the wilderness.

Do you remember that? And it was a mighty wind by which God caused the valley of dry bones to rise in Ezekiel's vision. So with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, God had come, right?

Which means that the Holy Spirit isn't sort of an impersonal force, right? But the third person of God, the Holy Trinity, awesome in power, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, completely good.

The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. That's how the church would come to summarize the biblical teaching about the Holy Spirit at a council called Nicaea.

Actually, technically it was Constantinople. But that's what we confess in the Nicene Creed. But in the context of the book of Acts, what does this arrival, this powerful presence of the Holy Spirit signify?

He's here. What does it mean? What does his arrival on the day of Pentecost mean? Well, this is what it means. It means that Jesus Christ is indeed on the throne.

Pentecost, in the context of the book of Acts, the day of Pentecost is proof that Jesus is indeed the Lord of heaven and earth. You see, how do we see that?

Well, Jesus promised, right? In Acts chapter 1, Jesus promised that he would ascend to the Father's right hand, and he promised that he would send out the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said he would do that in fulfillment of all that Israel's prophets had spoken of. And on the day of Pentecost, Jesus makes good on his word. Seated at the Father's right hand, Jesus' reign now begins.

You see, when Jesus ascended in his humanity, right? We don't often think about the doctrine of the ascension, do we, right? That's sort of that weird thing that happens in Acts 1 when Jesus ascends to the Father.

But when you see the significance, when Jesus ascends in his resurrected humanity to sit at the Father's right hand, he is at long last forging the broken link between earth and heaven.

Sin had caught us off from God, and Jesus, in his resurrected humanity, forges that link again and sits at the Father's right hand. And now, by sending the Spirit from the Father, heaven is now rushing to earth.

It's as if Jesus broke through the thick veil of sin, and now the life of heaven can come pouring down. You see, the reign of the King has begun in Pentecost.

And now, just as the Spirit kind of hovered over the waters of the original creation in Genesis 1, what happens? The Spirit brings order and beauty and life.

So now the Holy Spirit rushes upon the church to advance the new creation, bringing restoration and beauty and life. So, brothers and sisters, do we appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit?

We acknowledge him, but do we depend on him? Or do we depend more on our own strength, or our own intellect, or our own plans, as Jordan prayed for us earlier?

Instead, I think Pentecost is inviting us to acknowledge, to confess, that whatever strength we have, whatever intellect we have, is a gift from him, and that we should use it in prayerful dependence on him.

Now, you see, I think it's very easy. I think it's very easy to think. It's very easy to think that the trials that you're up against are too big for you.

You think the trials you're up against are too big for you. And you know, Christian, the truth is, they are too big for you. But not for the Holy Spirit who is in you.

Right? Not for the risen Lord who sent his Spirit to dwell in you. Do you remember when God's Spirit filled the tabernacle in the Old Testament? What happened? The priests were unable to stand because God's holiness was so palpable and real and weighty that they had to bow down and they couldn't stand up.

That same Spirit now lives in you, in us, the church. Right? It's not for nothing that the New Testament calls believers, calls the church the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So brothers and sisters, be encouraged. Whatever trials or challenges you're facing today, truly greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. But you know, consider as well that the Holy Spirit works not just in outwardly dramatic ways, like he did on the day of Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit also works in inward and quiet ways.

Right? Sometimes the wind is a storm. Sometimes the wind is a gentle breeze. Right? Sometimes the fire is blazing with heat. Sometimes the fire is warm and comforting. So too the work of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes and batters our hearts. Right? Sometimes he comes and works gently over time. But know this, whether the Holy Spirit decides in his sovereignty to work in you in outwardly dramatic ways or whether he decides to work in inward quiet ways, remember it's the same power.

It's the same fire. It's the same miracle of his personal presence in your life. One way isn't better than the other. The Holy Spirit knows what we need when we need it.

So this is the power of the Holy Spirit. Next thing we see in this passage is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's work. And we see that in verses 5 through 13.

After the Holy Spirit descends in power, the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, begin proclaiming the mighty works of God in other tongues, Luke says.

Right? Now, what does Luke mean by other tongues here? Well, if you look at verse 11 of our text, Luke actually explains it. After he lists all the regions from where the Jews had gathered to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, countries and regions from nearly every part of the known world, Luke reports the crowds as saying this, as saying, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

On that day, the Holy Spirit miraculously enabled the apostles to speak in languages they didn't know so that everyone could hear about the mighty works of God.

And what are the mighty works of God? Well, in the context of Acts, clearly they're the powerful deeds that God had done in and through Jesus Christ. Now, let's consider this scene a little more closely.

What language, here's a quiz, what language did most everyone speak in the first century in Jesus' day? No matter where you were from, no matter what part of the Roman Empire you were in, you could probably speak Greek.

Greek. Interesting. Greek. Why Greek? Well, because hundreds of years earlier, a guy named Alexander the Great went on massive military conquests, right?

And according to Hollywood, he looked a lot like Brad Pitt. But, Alexander the Great, hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, went on these massive military conquests, and Alexander was Greek.

So, no matter where his empire expanded, Greek became the language everyone needed to use to get by. And even after Alexander's empire collapsed, that language remained, kind of the language of commerce, the language that kind of connected everyone together, right?

Now, of course, there was a benefit, right? There was a benefit of having a kind of common Greek language, what came to be called Koine Greek, common Greek, right? It allowed people from different cultures to do interactions and to do transactions pretty well, right?

But in addition to knowing Greek, everyone also had what the crowds call in verse 11, their own tongue, right?

Now, here at Shoreline, I'm guessing most of you probably speak English, right? There's like three of you who are like, I have no idea what this guy is saying. But maybe some of you, maybe for some of you, English is not your native tongue.

Maybe it's not the language of your home, of your heart, of your people. Here's the point. When the ascended Jesus sends his Holy Spirit upon the church and empowers his church to advance his reign, does it spread like the empire of Alexander with sword and with coercion forcing people to speak a different language?

No. God comes into their midst and speaks their language, right? The Spirit's first witness, the church's first proclamation of Jesus as Lord is miraculously, in the native tongue, in the heart language of everyone gathered, no matter where they're from.

And that shows us, friends, the central work of the Holy Spirit. What is the central work of God the Holy Spirit? It's this, to witness to Jesus Christ in all the earth.

The Holy Spirit comes to take the things that Jesus has done and declare them so that everyone can hear and to enable us to actually understand and believe it.

That's what Jesus taught his disciples, right? Do you remember back in John 15, before Jesus' death and resurrection and ascension, Jesus was with his disciples and he said of the Holy Spirit in John 15, 26, he said, when the helper comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Right? The Holy Spirit is the spotlight shining on Jesus for everybody to see. Jesus will go on in that same section of John's Gospel to say, he will glorify me.

He'll make me known. He'll help people to see how beautiful and precious I actually am. So the miracle of tongues on the day of Pentecost was a sign.

It was meant to tell us something, right? What was it meant to tell us? It was to tell us that this work of the Holy Spirit to witness to Jesus Christ, the risen King, was for everyone.

This message is for everyone. Now, of course, technically, on that day of Pentecost, everyone there was Jewish or a convert to Judaism. But as any reader of Acts can see, right, the day of Pentecost points forward to the day in Luke's narrative when the Gentiles, too, would hear the Spirit's testimony in their own tongue and believe.

That's why when Cornelius, who was the first Gentile believer, hears the Gospel from Peter and believes, there's like this mini Pentecost that happens in Acts chapter 8. The Spirit falls on them and they start speaking in other languages that they don't know.

Why? Because God is demonstrating in that moment once and for all that the Gentiles, too, are now included in the one family of God around Jesus the King. You guys have been studying Genesis, right?

Right? Do you remember what God's, okay, quiz time. I didn't tell Mike I was going to do this. What does God promise Abraham in Genesis that his blessing would be for who?

for all nations. Right? For all nations. That's right. And here it is. That is coming true. There wouldn't be two churches, friends.

One for Jews and one for Gentiles. No, there's just, there's just one Lord, the Lord Jesus, and there's one Holy Spirit. So there's one church to the glory of God the Father. One church, one people, but many tongues, many languages, many cultures.

Friends, you see, Jesus has done, the risen Jesus has done what no earthly ruler and no earthly empire can achieve. He has made, through his gospel and his spirit, a united people, united in all their diversity, right?

Not forced into uniformity, but liberated into a symphony of praise. Right? Do you remember what happened in Genesis 11 right before that call to Abraham?

You guys probably talked about this, right? Right? What is the narrative right before Abraham's call? Do you remember what it is? The Tower of Babel.

Yeah! Who said that? Yes! Nice! Yes! Oh, it's taking your credit. Oh, man. The Tower of Babel. What happens in the Tower of Babel? Humans think they can build their way up to God.

God looks down, laughs, right? God has to come down to see the top of their tower. That's how small it is. And he scatters them in different languages, right? In other words, this kind of, this fracturing of the human family is a sign of our pride and our sin, right?

But on Acts 2, King Jesus is saying, I'm mending what's broken, right? The confusion of Babel is now going to be a symphony of praise because of me and my grace.

Now, of course, not everyone that was there on the day of Pentecost heard it as a symphony of praise, right? There were some who mocked them and said, they're full of new wine.

And you know, friends, that is going to be the same for the church of every age. Our spirit-filled witness will face ridicule, so don't be surprised when that comes, right?

But consider at the same time that when the spirit fell in the church and they began praising God for his mighty works, their joy was so overflowing and their speech was so rambunctious with praise and their voices so loud with good news that they actually could be accused of maybe letting go a little bit, right?

Now, I'm not saying we should lose our self-control. We should be filled with the spirit, Paul says, right? Not drunk with wine. And yet, and yet, when the witness of the spirit brings home to your heart the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection, oh, then Christians, we have every reason to be ecstatic.

Don't we? Death is defeated. Sins are forgiven. Eternal life is granted. The God of the universe looks upon you in his son and he calls you beloved.

You have every reason to be overjoyed. So let the world ridicule us. Our king is alive and there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So we've seen the spirit's power that he is God in our midst and we've seen his work witnessing to Jesus and all that Jesus has done and all that Jesus is.

Lastly, let's look at the spirit's goal. Okay, so in verse 14 through 21, Peter stands up and he explains that it's only 9 a.m. so obviously they haven't been drinking.

Kind of clears that up. Instead, Peter, in order to explain what's happening, turns to a passage of scripture to explain what's taking place and that passage is Joel chapter 2.

Joel chapter 2. So Joel chapter 2 foresaw a day when God's spirit wouldn't just fall on a few chosen people amidst God's people, right?

A priest there or a king there. But Joel foresaw a day when the spirit would fall on all of God's people, male and female, young and old, rich and poor. They would all prophesy, that is, they would all speak forth the praises of God.

And when the spirit comes like that, that would be the start, Peter says, of the last days. I can pause there, guys, if we want to do 10.

Am I going in and out? I'm so excited talking about the Holy Spirit, I don't even know what's going on with this text. Thank you. Check.

Yes. Yes. Oh, there we go. Here, Andrew, I'll give this to you. Okay, good. So what is the Holy Spirit's goal? So Peter goes to Joel 2 and says, this is what Joel was talking about.

The spirit's falling on all people and we're all prophesying, which means they're speaking forth the praises of God, right? And then Peter says, when that happens, right, that's going to sign that it's the last days.

The last days. What does that mean? Well, in the Bible, what the last days means is it's like, it's like the final great act of God's plan of redemption. Like the last chapter in God's great story, God's great saving plan.

And so Peter tells the crowds that day that that chapter starting right now, this is that, right? The spirit has come as promised. On the day of Pentecost, this final chapter began.

The spirit's bringing God's saving work to completion. What the father planned from all eternity and what the son accomplished through his finished work, the spirit is now applying by his ministry.

And the conclusion of this great last chapter of God's saving plan will be what verse 20 calls the day of the Lord. That is the day when Jesus, the king returns to judge and to save.

So the period of time, friends, the period of time between Jesus' ascension and Jesus' return, according to the New Testament, those are the last days. We live in the great climactic chapter of God's saving, redeeming plan.

We live in the most exciting period of God's redemptive history. But as the spirit does his goal of testifying to Christ during these last days, right, as he does his work of doing that, what is his end?

What's he shooting at? What's he trying to accomplish? Well, look at how the passage from Joel ends. In verse 21, Peter quotes it, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Friends, the spirit's goal is nothing less than our salvation. That is our total rescue from sin and from all sin's effects.

And what in that saving, rescuing, redeeming work, what is the hallmark, what's the centerpiece of that rescue? Well, later in Peter's sermon, in verse 38 of Acts 2, Peter says that the heart of our salvation is the forgiveness of sins.

To be pardoned, to be pardoned for all your offenses against God, to have God wipe your record clean, to be reconciled to your creator, to know that God, under whose just judgment you once stood, will now, because of Jesus, never bring you into condemnation.

Instead, he will embrace you, not merely as his creature, but embrace you as his daughter, as his son. This is what the work of Christ achieved.

this is what the Holy Spirit testifies to, and what he testifies for, is so that you might be united to Jesus, and have all your sins forgiven.

Right? And what is this thing that the Holy Spirit is telling us? Right? It's telling us that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, eternally one with the Father from all time, equal to the Father in every way, left heaven's glory, and took on human nature, and became a servant.

And he died in your place on a cross for your sin. And he rose on the third day, defeating sin and death, so that everyone who repents and believes in him might have your sins forgiven, and be given eternal life.

And that message is for everyone. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And this forgiven life, this eternal life, it's a life that begins right now.

Now. The Spirit bears witness to Christ so that you might hear, and so that by his work in your heart you might repent and believe and be saved, and the Spirit is proclaiming that same message here this morning.

Call on the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved. And God's salvation isn't just a future reality, it's underway now for everyone who believes in Christ. By the Spirit's power, if you're in Christ, your sins are forgiven now.

And your relationship with God is restored now. And you're united to God's people now. And you're part of his kingdom now. And that means life under the kingship of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, life in these last days, this great final chapter, it cannot be the same as it was before.

At the end of the Joel passage that Peter quotes, there's talk of like cosmic upheaval, right? Wonders in the heavens, signs on the earth, solar eclipses, blood moons, right?

What are we to make of those images of upheaval and tumult, right? Well, on the one hand, when Jesus died and rose again, there were signs in the heavens, right? But you know, often, in the Old Testament prophets, those cosmic metaphors were ways of talking about dramatic change.

As if to say, when God does his mighty saving work, the world is never going to be the same. Right? It'll be like the world as we know it is in labor pains, right?

But through it all, a new creation is coming to birth. So friend, what that means is, is if you take Jesus Christ as your Lord, it will mean a revolution in how you live your life.

You will no longer be in charge. He will. And to surrender to his loving kingship, that may mean dramatic changes as you follow him to your lifestyle, to your goals, to your life plan.

It may at times feel like your world as you knew it was kind of falling apart. but that's not the end of the story. Repentance, that is surrendering your life to Jesus, centering your life on him and on his love for you, that will at times feel destabilizing, risky, disorienting.

The world you used to know is falling away. But the new creation that God's ushering you into is by far and away worth it.

The spirit, friends, is in the business of saving us all the way, forgiving our sins and remaking our whole life, sanctifying you, making you something holy and beautiful just like he is holy and beautiful.

You see, God wants to take your native tongue, the kind of language of your heart and your life, he wants to take that and he wants to make it sing his praise.

Because that's what your native tongue was meant for, right? For too long with our lives, we've kind of just sung the praise of this fallen world with its false gods. But the spirit wants to come and liberate you so that you can sing a new song, right?

And it's a song that only you can sing, the unique song of your life in praise of your creator and redeemer, in praise of your triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Spirit. That's the spirit's goal, to renovate your whole life, to do a saving work in your whole life for his praise.

So friends, that's how. That's how a small group of frightened, puzzled, and in the world's eyes, untrained men and women could so quickly become a force to be reckoned with.

And that's how you and I will continue to turn the world upside down. Not by ourselves, but by God, the Holy Spirit. Let's pray together.