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Do all believers have the Holy Spirit? What is the person, plan, and power of the Spirit? And what was the background of Pentecost? Join me, Pastor Richard, for today's message based upon Acts chapter 2.

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Today's scripture is taken from Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 4, 12 to 18. Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. First one. 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 of 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. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others mockingly said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judy, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give year to my words. Verse 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's 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 son 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 prophesize. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Today we immediately associate Pentecost with the Holy Spirit, right? And uh this began right there in Acts chapter 2, because Luke saw there was this connection between Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But what was the day of Pentecost before that? See, Pentecost was the modern term or the Greek word for the Old Testament festival of weeks. And this was found in Leviticus chapter 23 and in Deuteronomy chapter 16. The festival of weeks, it took place seven weeks from the Sabbath of the Passover plus one day. And so this was 50 days, right? As this was the 50th day from the Sabbath of the Passover, it came to be called Pentecost, which means 50th in Greek. And so to Luke, this was not a coincidence. On this feast day, there would be two loaves of bread and several animal offerings that were required to be sacrificed. And some of these sacrifices, they were reminiscent of the unblemished Passover lamb. And if you read through, you'll note that actually there was no specific day given to celebrate the Feast of Weeks, the Festival of Weeks, without first counting off from the Passover. So you had to observe the Passover to observe as well the festival of weeks. And there's something curious about the instructions, because they are specifically instructed that the two loaves of bread were meant to be baked with leaven, with yeast, with leaven. And as you'll remember, I'm sure from previous sermons, uh, leaven or yeast is associated with corruption. So it's an interesting instruction that was given, right? And so we need to ask how does it all fit together? How is this Pentecost festival of weeks uh connected with the coming of the Holy Spirit? Luke is showing that the festival of weeks or Pentecost, it pointed to this coming. See, the festival of weeks, it took place 50 days after Passover. And we know Jesus was the final Passover sacrifice, fulfilling all the previous Passover sacrifices that had looked towards his coming. And the festival of weeks, it looked back towards the sacrifice of a lamb without blemish. And Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, it describes Jesus as the lamb who had been slain. All right, so this is the looking back. Here it is, the festival of weeks, it includes these two loaves of leavened bread. And the Holy Spirit was poured out on all believers, all believers, all believers, regardless of their nationality, regardless of their gender. It was poured out on all believers. And the two loaves, they can represent both the Jews and the Gentiles. So this festival was, in a sense, looking forward to what would happen 50 days after Jesus Himself was the final Passover sacrifice. It was a placeholder for the coming of the Holy Spirit, waiting for it all things to come at the right time. And if you're going to be taking any notes this morning, we're going to be looking at three key points related to today's passage. We'll be looking at the person of the Holy Spirit, we'll be looking at the plan of the Holy Spirit, and we'll be looking at the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the person of the Holy Spirit, there's a few things for us to note. The Holy Spirit is equal, not subordinate. What does that mean? In the military, insubordination is when you go against your commanding officer. This is called insubordination. You've stepped out of your position in the hierarchy of things. But in the Trinity, in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are equal. There is no subordinate status. And so we don't say that Jesus must, uh God the Son must submit to God the Father. God the Holy Spirit Spirit must submit to God the Son. We don't have any of that. There is equality between them. There is no difference in subordination or hierarchy. However, there's differences in roles and purposes. All right? God the Father orchestrated creation. He orchestrated the plan of salvation. And so he has a certain role. And as we go through scripture, he reveals himself and, in a sense, what his role is. We know that the role of God the Son, Jesus Christ, he came to fulfill this plan of salvation. And we remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed. Meaning, if it's possible, I don't want to go through it. He knew how painful his sacrifice for us would be. And yet he concluded, Yet not my will but yours be done. He was not subordinate to the Father, but they were in perfect unity. They were in perfect unity. And so God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they have different roles, but they are fully united together. And so this is this is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not impersonal, but is a person. Is not some cosmic force, is not something just mystical, but is a person. He is part of the Trinity that we worship as God. And so the final thing: God the Holy Spirit is eternal. He was not created, he has always existed. He was there when creation, the universe, took place. He will not have any end. And so this is the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, the plan of the Holy Spirit or the role of the Holy Spirit is to give life. And we can look up in the Gospel of John chapter 6, verse 63, that he is the giver of life. That is part of his plan. That is part of his role to give life. Just as a vine needs sap. There's no sap, the vine will die. The Holy Spirit is that sap. Or an engine needs petrol. We need the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. And if we try to go through life as a believer without the Holy Spirit, somehow it doesn't work. We need that sap. We need that petrol in the engine. The plan of the Holy Spirit is to give wisdom and understanding. And we see this in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 2. And in a world where there are so many gray areas that we face so often, we need his wisdom, we need his understanding to be able to navigate these gray areas. The role of the Holy Spirit is to help us. And this is from John chapter 14, verse 26, where the Holy Spirit is called the Parakletos. And part of who he is, part of what that name means, is one who will come alongside, one who will help us, one who advocates for us, one who comforts us, one who brings to remembrance things in the right time. And my friends, we need that in our lives. We need that in our lives. We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit is our seal of salvation. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. When I was, I think this would have been when I was a teenager. And I don't know if any of you have had this experience. This was back when we wrote letters. You remember when we actually wrote letters with a pen on a paper and we folded it up, and you need to fold it just right to fit it nicely in the envelope. And someone had bought me this kit to seal the envelope. I had different sticks of wax. They're different colors. I remember one was gold with sparkles in it, and when you drip this wax on to seal where the envelope folded, and then I had a stamp, and I had this big golden bee for my family named Bush, and I'd press that in. And it was the funnest thing for me as a teenager. All right. Did any of you have wax seals? Okay. Maybe one or two hands, very almost embarrassed to be lifted. Yeah. And so this was something that points way back to when orders would be sealed by the king, like the king of Persia and different ones. They had the royal seal. And this thing, when it was there, you knew who it was sent by. And you could see that the seal was not to be opened except by the recipient. The Holy Spirit is our seal of salvation. And especially for some who have grown up in the church and who are maybe still considered young at this time, sometimes there's a struggle to know am I really saved? How do I know I'm saved? Well, the Holy Spirit is our seal of salvation. He's the guarantee, he's that seal and imprint that when we see the Holy Spirit's work in someone's life, we know that God has sealed them. There is a guarantee that when we go to the next life, we will be with the Lord. So the Holy Spirit is our seal of salvation. That's part of his plan, and that is part of his role. And I just want to say everyone who is a believer, everyone who has put their faith in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. Let there be no confusion over this. If you are a believer, you are a follower of Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. Now, when we come to the power of the Holy Spirit, we see that he empowers believers. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, this is what was said. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And while all believers have the Holy Spirit, not all believers are sort of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Alright? It's a difficult concept for some. If you imagine a bottle, you've got a bottle here. There may be water in that bottle. Does that bottle have the water? Yes. Does your life have the Holy Spirit? Yes. If you're a believer, you have the Holy Spirit in your life. And yet there is this filling that can take place to fill up more and more. And this is part of being empowered by the Holy Spirit. And it's not something that just takes place once, it's something that needs to happen again and again. Why do we need to come together on Sundays every week? Didn't we worship last week? Didn't we hear the word? We need to keep being filled with God's truth. And as believers, we need to keep being filled with the Holy Spirit again and again regularly. And so the first empowering of the Holy Spirit, uh, some places you will hear this term uh called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And if you look through the New Testament, what we see in Scripture is this was almost every time accompanied by the gift of speaking in tongues. All right? Anyone feeling uncomfortable here? I'm sure there's a few people. This is what we see in Scripture. Whether we feel comfortable with it or not, there is this thing where people are prayed for for a fresh receiving of the Holy Spirit, for empowerment, and this is what usually takes place. Part of the power of the Holy Spirit is indwelling believers. First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. It says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. Our lives are to be places set apart, a holy place set apart for the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit to dwell. The Holy Spirit, part of the power that we find of the Holy Spirit is He indwells us. When we are in times of trouble, when we are in times of crisis, we don't have to look far. The Holy Spirit indwells us. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. This is why we shouldn't go and play with sin. How far can I go? Is it okay to do this? Is it okay to do that? Well, a little white lie. Well, a little no. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. So we must remain a people holy for him because he indwells us. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in the life of believers. Amen. And I hope, especially all those who regularly go to praise land, you'll know the fruit of the Spirit, right? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are the fruit of the Spirit. This is part of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit is our strength in our weakness. He is strength in our weakness. Romans chapter 8, verse 26 tells us this. And sometimes we we don't even know how to pray. And I don't know about you, I've experienced this at times. When there's been a crisis, when I hear something's happened to someone I care about dearly, sometimes I don't even know what to say. I'm so overwhelmed. And yet the Holy Spirit is able to give strength. He himself intercedes for us through groanings, Scripture says, that are too deep for words. Through him, even though we don't know what to pray, and yet he leads us to pray to the Lord. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts, and we find this in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, uh, beginning in verse 11. And according to scripture, spiritual gifts, it's not a catalog that we browse through. Oh, this looks nice. Uh, just put that into the checkout card. That's not how it works. Amen. We're encouraged to seek spiritual gifts earnestly. And Paul, uh, you can read that Paul urged believers to seek certain spiritual gifts. But scripture tells us clearly we receive spiritual gifts according to the Holy Spirit who gives them. According to the Holy Spirit who gives them. We receive them as he wills. Friends, I I don't know about you. I want to see more of the Holy Spirit at work in power in our lives and in our church. I really want to see. I don't know if any of you are hungry for this. I want to see this happen. I want to see hearts turn towards him, lives where, you know what? Even though it costs us, we are going to stand up for Christ in visible ways. In the workplace, in the marketplace, whatever it may be, we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We are going to stand up for him. I want to see our monthly prayer meeting not be able to fit in Shalom Hall because we are coming together to pray for the move of God. And so I don't know about you, I'm hungry for more work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our church. Now Luke tells us in our passage today, beginning in verse five. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude they 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 our own native language? Parthians and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Pharygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrus. 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. Being filled with the Spirit, the apostles had begun speaking in tongues. And everyone, different language groups, they understood it. It was a multinational crowd, but they understood it each in their own heart language. This was a miracle. It was almost like a reversal of what had happened with the Tower of Babel back in Genesis chapter 11. Suddenly, everyone understood that they were speaking of the mighty works of God. And so church, the Holy Spirit empowers us to share the gospel boldly. I don't know about you. I struggle with sharing boldly. You know, I'm an introvert. I barely like to strike up conversations with people. And to just boldly come out and uh to share about Christ, it doesn't come naturally in that sense. And yet it is the Holy Spirit who is meant to empower us for witness. We don't need eloquence, we just need a willingness to allow him to speak through us. And so wherever God is calling you to witness, and sorry, um, we're not all called to be evangelists, we are all called to be a witness for him. If you're in Christ, you are called to be a witness for him. Until he takes us home, we're called to be witnesses for him. So whether that is at home, it's in the workplace, it's at the coffee shop, wherever it may be, we need to be open for the Holy Spirit's leading and empowering that we can be a witness for him, that there is a God in Ishun, there is a God in Singapore, there is a God alive today who is able to forgive sins and to make a way for us. And so I just want to tell you God, the Holy Spirit both transforms and empowers us. All right, if you remember nothing else today, remember this. God, the Holy Spirit transforms us and empowers us. Would you repeat that with me, please? God, the Holy Spirit both transforms us and empowers us. And I'd like to invite the worship team to come forward at this point. Thank you. Friends, we need both the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our church. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, it didn't come together when individuals were living good lives. It happened. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened when they came together in unity in one accord. And we believe they were there praying together. We believe they were there uh receiving the word of God. And so if we are going to experience more empowering of the Holy Spirit, we need to practice radical unity. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each Christian church, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.