Essential Fuel for Fulfilling the Mission, Part 2

When the disciples watch their beloved Jesus disappear into the heavens. They were overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear. What will the future hold for the devotees of the gospel how to play the ascension of Jesus made the 12 men feel like they been abandoned and yet the second chapter of describes a miraculous moment when they're in certainty was replaced by amazement, Jesus didn't abandon them. After all, Jesus inhabited their bodies in the form of his spirit titled message essential fuel billing commission again to know how we could crown your son is king. Lord, we realize that is not to be done tangibly but spiritually we crown him as Lord. When we release our will to him when we give up our way for him when we say no to our desire and yes to his we crown him when we break habits of selfishness and wrong attitudes and prejudice and grudges.

When we realize that you have the right to rule and reign over every moment of our everyday family began to enter in to crowning him as king and Lord of our lives. All of this is foreign to everything we learned in school.

Everything we read and hear in the media so helpless our father to filter truth from error so that we walk in obedience. May we find comfort in serving you and enjoy. In saying no to what we want as we please. You and even the details of our lives like giving, releasing what we have earned so that your work might continue, never thinking about what were giving up. But thinking only about what good it will do in the lives of those who would otherwise never hear and never know the Savior. So be our vision.

Lord fill our vision replace our own way with yours as we walk in a new kind of life, including this offering these things we ask in the name of everyone's email to search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll sure to download his searching the Scriptures. Studies by going to Insight world.org/studies Chuck titled his message essential fuel or fulfilling the mission.

Let me give you a word that you're seldom here connected to him, but I think of that word. Often when I think of the mission of the of the disciples. The Holy Spirit became the fuel. The fuel that would like the incentive evangelism. The Holy Spirit became the fuel that would charge them with the courage they needed, and the willingness to go to the state for martyrdom would be their future.

Ultimately, but when the Holy Spirit took charge. They didn't care how they died or if they died they were no longer operating in fear because the fuel of the Holy Spirit changed the better word is transformed their lives. But before I go there I want you to turn to acts chapter 1.

Let's look again at that familiar eight verse where Jesus is at the Mount of olives. This is after he is been crucified after he has been raised from the dead. This is now 40 days after all of that and is about to ascend into the clouds. He says in verse eight, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. There standing there, Jesus is standing before them, and the very next thing that occurs is the ascension, Jesus departs from the earth and the ascension vanishing into the clouds look at it in verse nine. After saying this he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching and they could no longer see him look there still longing for the words in the next verse, verse 10 they sprained it to see him rising into heaven. They knew they would never see him on this earth again so there's training to catch the last glimpse of him, suddenly two angels appear described here is to white robed men who stood among them and look at the words of these man men of Galilee, fire you standing here staring into heaven. Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven. In the same way you saw him go you know what I really believe I believe their grief is so great, they hardly heard those words, their grief is so great it's like those words flew by until they later realized in the presence of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus had in mind. So we read that the apostles verse 12 returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of olives, a distance of about a half-mile. When they arrived they went up to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Now fast forward to the beginning of chapter 2. So were in the upper room. Here the disciples. 11 of them their name forest.

By the way, right here in verse 13 you'll see them.

Name one by one, and there were others that met with them there all hundred and 20 believers altogether in this room. This is where confusion has taken over and all kinds of things have been drawn from the second chapter that were never a part of the original scene because misinterpretation of what it actually is teaching. Let's just let the passage speak for itself. Now, when was it verse one on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a transliterated Greek word Pentecost stops, which means the 50th.

This came 50 days from the first Sunday after Passover. I find three evidences of the supernatural. First, I find an audible evidence they are in the room and there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm virtually every picture I've seen that is been rendered by artist shows people's hair blowing in the drapes blowing illustrating a wind it doesn't say a wind was there. Look at the verse of Scripture.

Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty wind, so it sounded like a windstorm, but there was no wind. Phenomenal supernatural so that audible evidence is the first thing we observed second is a visible evidence of the supernatural. This sound filled the house where they were sitting. Verse three then what looked like the flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. Every artistic rendering of Pentecost shows fire on the people sometime on their tongues. It doesn't say there was a fire.

It says what resembled are what appeared to be tongues of fire settled on them. But there was no heat there is no flame. It's hard to describe what it was Verizon artist I would put my brush down and stop right there. I'm not able to print this. I don't know what that looked like no third, there is an oral evidence, and this is where confusion is really abounded, observed verse four. Everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other your Bible reads tongues and from this has come the whole teaching of tongues that has spread all around the world, but observe what it says they were speaking in 80 gloss ice or heterologous gloss ice other languages not gibberish headed been gibberish tickle tickle tickle tickle vehicle that Thomas sound, you would need a translator. What's that about you would need someone who had the ability to take those those clicks and sounds and guttural noises and put them into words, but there's no translator visited chapter 2 what they spoke for languages they had never learned before.

Some of them spoke Italian. Some of them spoke French. Some of them spoke the language of Mesopotamia.

Some of the spoken Asian languages and bays and we will notice here verse six or verse five. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. And when they heard the loud noise and say they felt the wind. It there was no wind. When they heard the noise. Everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear what their own language being spoken by the believers their own ED DL Alecto their own dialect. We have the words today.

Heart language. It's what you learned on on on on your mother's breast. It's what you learned in your original home is what you learned on the street where you grew up and played with your friend that they heard in their own tong their own language words from people who had never been trained in the language before. Okay, not applause so that you will take it in. I'm there I am. I'm from one of these regions that say Libya and I know a language that a grown up with. II speak that with my friends who came with me from Libya and were all in Jerusalem together suddenly from this room, people who know my tongue my language my heart language in the Galileans impact. If you read further, when they heard the loud noise they came running and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers written verse seven. They were completely amazing.

Every speaking gibberish. There's nothing to be amazed amazing about gibberish, but when they hear their own tong and the Italians here Italian and the French here French and the Asians are the Asian dialect. I want to say in the Texans are texting, lying, but on on. They were completely amazed how can that be, they exclaimed, and then they add these people are all from Galilee wasn't important because Galileans speak Aramaic and speak French.

They were speak the language room.

They were speak the language of the Egyptians.

They speak Aramaic.

That's what Jesus spoke, that was his heart language when he was on this earth, but they were able to hear these men speaking in their own language and and they're all described for us in verse 10 verse 11 and what were they hearing. Look at the end of verse 11 we all hear these people speaking in our own languages says again is Dr. Luke, who records this not record to write this rights in such a way that is almost redundant their own language their own language they spoke their own language.

These men spoke languages so get that don't make you read something else and their's.

They stood there amazed as they hear about the wonderful things God is done they hear about Jesus who died for them and rose from the dead and paid the penalty for their sins, they hear that they never heard something like this before they come to practice their their religion in coming up Passover but they don't know Christ until they hear about him through their own language spoken through the tongue of Galileans formally Aramaic speaking people.

This may be that the event that Andrew and Peter are both speaking language Mesopotamia. How can it be that they speak our language is the language we grew up with that here we are in Jerusalem and these Galileans who know me know. Not the brightest bulbs in the hallway anyway. To start with. And here they are breaking out into and into our articulating the the very terms and and idioms here you go, psyllium that the the of the very words and idioms of the language.

It's it's amazing the curious as to how this can be there perplexing to verse 12.

They stood there amazed and perplexed. What can this mean they asked each other, you got it. Everybody clear on this. I II hope so. It's as if I suddenly began speaking in another actual language and I speak it with with competence I got I got use idioms that are that are familiar to the people who speak that language. The slang that might be a part of Italy. I would use that was interesting is that those who heard them. The cynics verse 13 they ridiculed and said there are a bunch of drunks.

The last time I checked people to get drunk don't speak Italian or French or German know that they speak another language sometime but it's not is not an actual language preventing of, but this is a language so that's a ridiculous response about this whole point of Peter's message as he begins were not drawn is not a clock in the morning. People are drinking as early in the morning. Where were telling you the wonderful works of God.

I think Peter is as amazed as they are that his tongue is conveying a language that he wasn't trained in no I do know of one line of French Cynthia 22. She took French in high school and that's when we dated we've been married three years know I'm teasing that I was to come later, but she she said to meet you need to learn as it was in beaucoup who let you know French, you know what that is. Love you very much.

I probably said it wrong, but when you're in love that matter. If you see it right or not. Everything beaucoup that's the only French I know but if I could break out into into a paragraph of French Nutley. Would you be amazed obviously that I took just enough Spanish to be dangerous and so I remember putting up with it during my years in high school level, and never use it again. But you know I wish I'd really gotten serious about this interesting that when missionaries go to the field and their involvement in an open work in another country that's different from their own.

What I do.

First they go to language school. Why, because that is the key that unlocks connecting with the people that are going to minister to these man could speak those languages with no training. In fact suddenly when the spirit of God came upon them. Not only was there the sound. Not only was there the flame like presence in the shape of Tom's interesting since there are miles in tongues would play a major role in carrying out acts 18 remember what we just read you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, that's my language says it Aramaic speaking person in Judea that's my language in Samaria because of differences there about the ends of the earth.

I need to be equipped with language that God in this text starts the evangelism of the first century. This phenomenon, this miracle of God identifies the coming of the Holy Spirit is our companion, and he continues to empower God's children. To this day you're listening to Insight for living in a message from Chuck Swindoll, titled essential fuel for fulfilling the mission will hear closing comment from Chuck just a moment to learn more about the ministry of insight for living. Please visit us online@insightworld.org that while you're exploring our website. I'll remind you that insight for living produces a wide variety of resources perfectly suited for any occasion. So please take a few minutes to browse through the online store where you find a vast array of books such as the Swindoll study Bible and the complete New Testament commentary series called swindles living insights.

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It insight.org/store will check throughout our study in Matthew's gospel we had occasion to witness the behavior of the legalist. These religious extremists had a dismissive way of shaming people driving them away from God rather than to God when you're right Dave. Anyone who's been verbally dressed down by the legalist knows the ugly feeling of shame that follows it ever been there. I sure have.

Let me paint a picture for you. You made a foolish mistake you're at your lowest moment. You need someone to guide you to safety, but instead the legalist kicks into judge and jury mode drags your most embarrassing flaws in the public view, and then celebrate your failures like a rabid dog with a juicy bone. Satisfying his craving for self validation, slobbering his way to the next victim, and the next and the next, look not to preach a sermon here only to say that Jesus reserved his greatest expressions of anger for the self-righteous Pharisees who preyed upon weakness but with the same intensity and even more Jesus opened his arms to the broken hearted, the marginalized, the lonely and embrace them with grace, my friend more than ever insight for living ministries is determined to serve as a lavish garden for people all around the world who long to smell the aroma of God's matchless grace, a safe place where imperfect, sinful people or forgiven taught the truth and redeemed in this emotionally charged era were shouting matches were commonplace for people feel voiceless and overlooked and even condemned. Would you be among those who give generously so that we can spread the fragrance of God's grace to those desperate for a second chance today our needs it insight for living ministries are urgent as we wrap up another year. Your special year end donation will make all the difference. Please don't delay in your response. Together, let's introduce people to the God who says, as Paul wrote in second Corinthians 12 nine my grace is all you need.

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