Now, let us once again just look at
what happened.
Acts chapter 2 from verse 1.
When the day of Pentecost had fully come,
they were all with one accord in one
place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the whole house where they were sitting.
It's a long portion, so I'll only touch
on some points.
What was it like at Pentecost?
What was it like with those people when
the Holy Spirit came?
It says they were all in one place.
Even that is a message in itself, the
fact that they were all gathered in one
place.
But they weren't just in one place physically,
but they were there with one accord of
one accord, one heart, one soul.
So, when the day of Pentecost had fully
come, they were all with one accord in
one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the whole house where they were sitting.
God alone knows what our state is like
today, but if the Holy Spirit would have
to speak about our condition today, what would
He say?
Could He say we are in one place
of one accord, one heart, one soul, not
just physically, but body, soul and spirit, that
we are one?
That we are not just physically in one
place, but spiritually in one place.
You have to be in that place God
has appointed, otherwise the Holy Spirit will come
and you will lose out because you are
not there where He wants you to be.
So make sure that you are one soul,
one heart, and in spirit you must be
one with the other children of the Lord.
Now leave that point.
But I would still like to emphasize this
one point, that they were all there with
one accord.
They were all there, everyone, no one was
left out, except of course people like Judas,
who had betrayed the Lord and had gone
out, hung himself and his insides spilt out,
all that dirt that was within him came
out and was exposed.
The disciples knew that the Lord had promised
to send the Holy Spirit and they were
all there, they made sure they didn't want
to miss out on that service.
The disciples knew that the Lord had promised
to send the Holy Spirit and they were
all there, they made sure they didn't miss
out
on
that service.
Today is the Lord's day.
Just look, today is the Lord's day.
When we worship the Lord, we go to
the service and yet there are people that
go, they rather play sports, they would rather
go and visit friends, they go and do
other things.
Their heart isn't drawn to the service, to
the house of the Lord, to worship the
Lord.
Their heart is drawn elsewhere and that shows
that they aren't true disciples of the Lord.
Some have the excuse that they're tired, it's
this or it's that and they look for
excuses, by that showing us that they're not
true disciples of the Lord.
Unless of course there's a genuine reason why
someone cannot come, why he has to be
elsewhere.
But someone who stays away because he doesn't
want to be there, his heart isn't drawn
to it, it shows that person is on
his way to hell.
The Lord had said to them, I will
send you the Holy Spirit and so they
were diligent, they made sure that they were
there, they didn't want to miss out on
this.
Do you see what it's like to be
a true disciple?
Do you see what a person is like
who desires to be filled and the one
who will be filled with the Holy Spirit?
The Bible says we should not neglect the
fellowship.
The one who misses out on that fellowship
of hearing, listening to God's word, he will
miss out on many blessings.
Blessing you receive through listening.
Faith comes through hearing the word of God.
Through ignorance you can be totally ignorant of
the fact that the Lord died for you.
He rose and is sitting at the right
hand of the Father.
You can go through life and you won't
even know it because you would never have
heard it.
But by hearing it, by hearing God's word,
you accept the faith and you accept it
and then it works in your life and
then you receive blessing through it.
Do you realize how important it is to
go to a service?
Because if you don't go, you miss
out on that blessing because you never hear
about things.
And the Lord will say to you, but
didn't you do this or didn't you receive
that?
And then you say, well, I didn't even
know such a thing even existed because you
never went there to hear it.
Now continue.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind.
Last Sunday I already said it wasn't a
windy day, but there was like a mighty
rushing wind in that place.
It was as if there was one.
It was like it.
Like it says in the Bible, the devil
goes around like a roaring lion.
He isn't the lion.
Lion of Judah.
Jesus is the lion.
But he walks around like a lion.
It was a supernatural event and then there
were also those like tongues of fire that
descended upon them upon their heads but it
didn't burn their hair it was like that
burning bush with Moses where the bush was
not consumed but that was the fire of
God that came down upon them and didn't
just rest upon their heads it went into
them and set that fire a light in
their hearts in their lives but they were
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Go on to the next point.
And they spoke in different tongues.
Let's just speak a bit more about the
tongues because this confuses many people.
Someone once came here to Peter Meritsburg, a
preacher.
He was famous and known all over the
world.
Some even called him Mr. Pentecost.
They had a service in the town hall.
When he had spoken he said now I'll
pray for those who want to receive the
Holy Spirit.
Like it happened at Pentecost.
He said he'll pray like that it happens
like at Pentecost just take note of that
like then.
I wasn't there personally but someone told me
and those that were there told me about
it.
One of them was my uncle.
Another was my brother.
One of my brothers.
So they came forward and stood in three
rows in front.
Then he said well now pray for you
that you receive the Holy Spirit like at
Pentecost.
And then he said to the rest of
the congregation of the people present you can
also pray and pray in tongues like they
did at Pentecost.
So he prayed for them.
Now when my uncle came he prayed for
him.
Now my uncle wasn't used to praying in
English so he prayed in German.
And so when he got to my uncle
and my uncle prayed in German and he
heard him praying in German he said that's
right brother just carry on like that you've
got it.
All the time my uncle was just praying
in his own language but he didn't recognize
it he thought he was praying in tongues.
And my uncle was heartbroken.
Disappointed and
so
he went further and he got to one
of the Bible College students from Sweetwaters who
was praying in Zulu and he also said
to him as he was praying in Zulu
he said that's right brother.
And as they all different people were praying
and and in their different tongues there were
some people walking outside some Indians who speak
different languages but none of those walking past
heard them praying in their language or speaking
in their language that they could understand.
Why I say this is because he had
said he will pray so that it happens
like on the day of Pentecost.
On the day of Pentecost the people were
amazed.
And they were amazed and said what is
happening here?
They marveled.
So look are these not all Galileans?
Now how is it that we hear each
one in our own language in which we
were born?
Our own mother tongue.
And they are speaking to us about the
great marvelous acts of God.
So let us not just glibly say it'll
be like the day of Pentecost because on
that day they spoke in different languages which
people could understand.
Their own home languages.
But there are also other tongues.
The tongues of angels.
They are the tongues of men and the
tongues of angels.
And that needs to be interpreted.
So those angelic tongues need to be translated
but on that particular day at Pentecost they
needed no translation.
See the difference.
But there is also another difference.
1st Corinthians 14 verse 2.
It says he who speaks in tongues does
not speak to men but to God.
But on the day of Pentecost the tongues
that were spoken were the tongues, the languages
of the people that were present there that
they could hear the wonderful works of God.
You can say as well the languages of
the people addressed to the people the great
deeds of God.
And they heard them in their own language
where they had come from.
Something once happened in Tugela Feri.
Someone from there let me know and said
please come.
God is at work in a wonderful way.
So I said fine and then I went
with 5 other people.
4 other people.
We were 5 all together.
Now when we got there we got out
and he came towards us with his wife
and he greeted us he greeted us we
greeted him and then when his wife greeted
us she greeted us in tongues.
Speaking in tongues.
It surprised me and I remembered the word
in Corinthians where it says that if someone
speaks in tongues in that way he speaks
to God he doesn't speak to man.
So he speaks to God in those tongues
and then God replies and that needs to
be interpreted.
A praise as well to God.
And then the answer comes through the interpreter
of those tongues.
But now here she was greeting us speaking
to us in these tongues.
So we went into the house.
Remember the Bible also says that you must
be quick to listen slow to speak.
Once we were inside this was a Zulu
family and
as is traditional the men went into the
one room and the women went into another
room.
This woman had a small child and
also had a young girl who was looking
after this child.
Now this girl that was looking after the
small child was someone just from the vicinity
that they had gotten to help.
She was not a Christian.
And then this woman started speaking to these
people also those that were working there in
tongues.
Now they didn't understand those tongues or that
tongue.
And then this girl that was just from
the area there that they'd gotten just to
work there.
She said no you know what she's saying.
Can't you understand?
She's telling you to close the door.
She told the others.
Now this heathen girl was not a Christian.
She was interpreting the tongues.
Now that is a strange thing.
Then the husband came and he said God
is really at work.
And he said you know my wife is
going to the hospital the local hospital and
she's speaking to the patients there in tongues.
It's wonderful he said.
And we said well do the patients understand
what she's saying.
So he said no they don't understand but
it's wonderful isn't it.
Now God gives us different gifts and among
those gifts is wisdom.
That's one gift.
Another gift is discernment and another gift is
faith.
They are different gifts.
It's good that we can discern.
Before we got far we said to her,
we said to the sister, tell us what
is going on.
And she said no I'll tell you the
truth.
She said when I received the Holy Spirit
I did speak in tongues.
But then I went to a meeting after
that and I heard someone else speaking in
tongues too.
And when I heard that person speaking in
tongues I thought that person's tongues are nicer
or better than mine.
And then she said no I don't like
these tongues that I received.
And she prayed and said Lord please I
don't like these tongues.
Give me the same tongues that you gave
that person.
And she received them.
But now she was speaking to everybody she
met in these tongues.
Greeting people in them, speaking to the patients.
And the Bible says when you speak in
those tongues you speak to God you pray
to him.
When we live for the Lord and serve
him we must be upright in the faith
and in spirit and there must be no
sign of jealousy or envy.
But we must You must allow God to
work as He wills, like when the Lord
gives you a child and He gives your
sister a child.
You mustn't say, no Lord, I don't like
my child, I want, her child is better,
I'd rather have one like that.
You must accept that child God has given
you as it is, whether it's got a
long nose or a flat nose, whatever.
Be graceful.
What would you say of a mother that
gets a child with brown or black hair,
and then the sister gets one with white
or blonde hair, and then the mother says,
no, I don't want this child, I don't
even want this child, I want that other
one.
You would say such a mother is like
a murderer.
So on the day of Pentecost, the disciples
had put themselves on the altar, fully, so
saying, Lord, may your will be done in
our lives.
And so God worked in their lives, and
then they started speaking in tongues that God
had given them, in languages which God had
given them.
So when the Holy Spirit works, God has
His way, but if you say, no, I
don't want it this way, I want it
my way, then that's the devil that's at
work.
In Zulu, I even said, it must be
like this, it must not be like that,
those are dangerous things.
Let God have His way, and don't come
with impure motives, they've got to be clean
and holy.
If it's not like that, you'll spoil the
whole thing, you'll dirty the thing.
Needs a clean heart, and holy motives and
desires.
We speak so easily about the Holy Spirit,
being filled with the Holy Spirit, so light
but there are not many people who experience
it, because God realises, He recognises that the
day of Pentecost hasn't fully come yet in
your life.
Do you understand, or am I putting you
to sleep?
Do you still understand?
Now hold on to it, write it into
your hearts and minds, because maybe you can
still meet up with big things, and then
you can be confused if you don't understand.
Now you should never be confused anymore about
tongues.
We should actually hand out a questionnaire now
that you could go home with, and fill
in the answers.
Come back next Sunday and then we'll see
whether you pass the test or not.
It's not confusing.
It's quite clear, and it's wonderful
when the Holy Spirit comes, He works
as He wills.
God wanted the gospel to spread throughout the
world to all the nations, that's why on
the day of Pentecost, He made the disciples
speak in all the different languages that they
would all understand.
They could go back with that message, and
that churches can be founded all over.
That's how the Church of Christ was born.
And it spread throughout the world in a
day.
Now I'll go on to the next point.
I said I'd just touch on some points.
Who was the Holy Spirit for?
The Prophet Joel said that I will pour
out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
Your young men shall see visions.
Your old men shall dream dreams.
On my men's servants and on my maid's
servants I will pour out my Spirit in
those days.
Do you see now, there is no difference
between male and female.
Or between someone who is young and someone
who is old.
Whether it be the husband or the wife.
And there is no difference between them and
even the servants, those that work in the
house or maybe outside.
There is no difference.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is
something for every believer.
God wants to fill us all with His
Spirit that everyone in the whole world can
be helped.
But there where the Holy Spirit worked in
a mighty way, there appeared some who were
mocking, mockers, scoffers.
Something terrible that someone can mock and scoff.
They mocked, they said, oh these people are
full of wine.
What a pity when there are those who
repent, they turn to the Lord.
And at the same time there are others
who miss out on it and they become
mockers.
They say, oh they just speak like that
because they are drunk.
And then Peter got up.
And he said, men how can you speak
like this?
This is but the third hour.
It's nine o'clock in the morning.
No one can be drunk at this time
already.
Are there people among us who mock?
Who mock those who repent and turn to
God and try to serve Him?
I say you are the greatest fools.
You are mad, mad men.
Never mock a person who returns to God
and repents.
Never mock, laugh at someone who serves the
Lord and turns to Him.
Your hell will be seven times worse than
another's.
A person who mocks those who serve the
Lord is someone without brains.
He's a fool.
Just listen to what they said when they
mocked the disciples.
They said, are they full of wine?
No,
they are not full of wine.
Have you ever heard of someone who has
had two wives?
Have you ever heard of someone who has
had too much to drink and is under
the influence?
Have you ever heard such a person speaking
perfect Latin, perfect English, or perfect Hebrew or
one of the other languages, speaking it perfectly?
Have you ever heard such a person speaking
perfect Latin, perfect English, or perfect Hebrew or
one of the other languages, speaking
it perfectly?
If your child had never learned French or
English or can't speak it, and then has
to write a test, and just before they
test, you say, come here my child, and
you give it some alcohol to drink, and
the teacher then comes and tests your child.
Do you think that child will be able
to speak the language perfectly?
There would be no such thing.
That's why a person who mocks is the
greatest fool.
He's lost his senses.
There's something wrong with him.
Never mock a child of the Lord, and
if you've done it, you go and get
that right quickly.
But remember if you are
a
believer, don't expect everyone to speak well of
you.
The Bible even says, beware if everyone speaks
well of you.
So there will be those that will mock,
but woe to those who are the mockers.
Should we leave that and go on to
the next point?
Now when the Holy Spirit has come, how
does he work?
According to our text.
Some will prophesy.
Others will see visions.
Others will dream dreams.
But the most important
of
these is prophecy.
Now prophecy is not what some people understand
it to be, where you go around prophesying.
Here it means that you preach the word
of God.
Preaching salvation, repentance, forgiveness of sin.
And that people through it find eternal life.
Some see visions.
I'm just touching on these points.
Even in the old testament there were those
that saw visions.
Isaiah the prophet
was
caught up and he saw heaven and he
saw that throne high and lifted up.
The chairman flying around calling out, holy, holy,
holy, the Lord of hosts.
Paul also saw a vision.
He was taken up into the third heaven.
He saw paradise.
And John also saw the revelation as we
read it in the bible.
God works as he wills.
He even gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream, spoke to
him through a dream.
This heathen king who was worshipping idols, ruling
almost the whole world.
God spoke to him through a dream and
that is long ago.
Joseph also had dreams.
Joseph also had a dream and he took
Mary and the child and fled to Egypt.
Had he not had that dream and had
he not obeyed, that child would have been
killed.
So God works as he wills but it's
important that God's people are filled with his
spirit, that there may be a great harvest
and that people will keep God's word.
That God will fill his people with his
spirit, that there may be a great harvest.
That the three thousand may be multiplied many
times, that the gospel may fill the earth.
We'll never fill the gospel, take it to
fill the earth if we haven't been filled
with his spirit.
Are you concerned about it?
Is that your prayer day and night saying,
Lord fill me with your spirit, that I
may be filled with it?
And that which quenches the spirit in our
lives, that we will part with it, forsake
it.
Don't take sin lightly.
If someone
has cancer or a disease like that, he
can just sit at home and do nothing
about it, but he can also go to
a doctor and say, doctor please help me
and the doctor can take an eye and
cut it out.
You are prepared to do that just for
a physical cure, how much more for a
spiritual problem?
The Lord said if your eye makes you
stumble, pluck it out.
It's not a small thing to pluck out
your eye.
Someone phoned me and said please pray.
My daughter has a disease in the eye
and they say they have to take out
that eye.
And they said there's something bad behind the
eye as well, but the only way to
save this child's life is to take out
that eye.
It's not an easy thing to get that
eye out.
They're trying to get the best specialist to
do it.
It's quite complicated.
We can have complicated things in our bodies,
but much more complicated in our spiritual bodies,
in our spiritual life.
And you counselors, see to it, don't let
a person come to you and counsel for
weeks and months and years, the same thing.
And you let him come and come.
If you can't deal with it, send him
to a specialist.
He's got to be helped.
In the meantime, this will get worse and
he'll die.
And you've been a stupid doctor.
So when the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one accord and
the Holy Spirit came down and he could
work as he willed.
So you need to allow the Holy Spirit
to work as he wills, not how you
will and how you want it, but how
he wants it.
Otherwise you'll stand in his way.
You'll quench him.
So be a person who has committed himself
to the Lord, surrendered fully, someone who has
experienced Pentecost and who obeys God.
And then be someone who
rejoices at keeping God's word.
And of course, I won't tell you now
to go and drink alcohol and be intoxicated
by Dacha, that you can speak German.
No, because that wouldn't be, you wouldn't speak
the right thing.
Yesterday I was so happy.
A mother came and brought her two sons.
She said the one drinks alcohol and is
a drinker, alcoholic almost.
And the other one always breaks into people's
home, 10 years old.
I said, please help me pray with them.
And I embraced them.
And I said, you've got a wonderful mother
that she does something like this.
I took his hand
and
when I looked at it, I said, just
look here.
And his hand was like the hand of
an old man already.
Sin ages you.
You get old before your time.
Part with the devil.
Be on the Lord's side.
Be in his army.
So Christians be filled with the Holy Spirit
so that others can also be helped.
You can't help others because you aren't filled.
Maybe you're just half filled or a quarter.
You need to be filled that others can
also be helped.
There's still some empty benches here.
Why?
People who aren't filled with the Holy Spirit.
It's a sin if you're not filled with
the Holy Spirit.
That's what God expects from us, that rivers
of living water should flow from your life.
The scripture says, those who aren't too weak,
let us stand and we pray.
Lord, we pray that your word will shine
brightly in our hearts and minds.
That it will enlighten everyone.
That the word in Matthew 4 will go
into fulfillment where it says that those that
were in great darkness have seen a great
light.
Amen.