“You Never Know How… God will Empower You” Sunday, May 23, 2010 Christian Year: Pentecost Series Title:A.T.S.M. (As the Spirit Moves) Main Text: Acts 2:1-21` Theme: the Holy Spirit came / fell / filled in order to give the disciples POWER TO WITNESS for the salvation of souls. Brief explanation of Scripture Passages: The Holy Spirit came just as Jesus promised, but in a specific way they could never have imagined or expected: with tongues of fire, with tongues of languages, with an explosion of power in a public place. The key result, however, was much more important than the method or the means: people came to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and their lives were changed forever. Summary of Message: Do not focus on the method or means by which God empowers you to share the gospel; focus on being faithful to the task and depend on the Holy Spirit. Recap ATSM: You never know who, you never know when. There was some crazy stuff happenin’ in Jerusalem, the main spiritual city, on that day. Pentecost was a Hebrew celebration, not a Christian one. But it quickly became marked by Christians as the day the Holy Spirit, unmistakably, took control of the situation. Pentecost was 50 days after the Day of Passover. That was the day Jesus shared his last supper with his disciples. Passover was a remembering and a re – enacting of the flight from Egypt with Moses as their leader. The Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Hebrews, but struck at the houses of the Egyptians. It was that next morning that the Hebrews, enslaved for generations, were freed by Pharoah, and they fled to the wilderness. So here they were at Pentecost; the season of harvest to the Jews. In fact it was customary for each family to bring their “basket of Page 2