Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Why would Jesus tell them that? You're going to receive the Holy Spirit. He's going to come upon you and you will receive dunamis power. Why? Well, not so that people are showcased. "Wow, these people are really spirit-filled. Look at those people." What did Jesus tell us about the work of Holy Spirit? He will glorify me.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Meador and the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the marks of a true spirit-filled church is not, "Wow, they've got the Holy Ghost." That's not it. The mark of a true spirit-filled church is that Jesus is glorified.

The role of the Holy Spirit is central in the church's life, fulfilling Jesus's promise as a guide for living a life for him. As Pastor Brett Meador opens today's Word to Acts chapter two, we'll see how the early preaching of Peter gave us understanding that it's the Holy Spirit who is manifested to the body of Christ in order to bring glory to none other than the Lord Jesus.

Brett Meador: We now come to this most important day here in Acts chapter two. It's the day of Pentecost, the first event that ever happened in the church of Jesus Christ. And the church, of course, is not a building, it's the people. There's just 120 people gathered that are going to become the church as the Holy Spirit comes down here in Acts chapter two and comes upon them.

So let's just begin, Acts chapter two, verse one. It says, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." Now, what is Pentecost? Remember, we learned in verse three of chapter one, he was around 40 days. Jesus resurrected, and he was around these people for 40 days. More than 500 people saw him at one time. Then he was ascended into heaven, and then 10 days after that is when the Pentecost happened, if you're trying to get your head around the timeframe of this.

So Jesus was with them, then he ascends into heaven, and 10 days later after he told them, "Now go wait in Jerusalem. Go and wait in Jerusalem." So this whole event happens 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven. Well, so it says there in verse two, "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting." Now, I don't want to purposefully belabor the points here, but I want you to know, what do you picture this rushing mighty wind? It's like they're sitting in there and all of a sudden it was windy outside. "Hey, it's windy outside. Somebody look out the window."

Well, the implication here is maybe that there was a wind even inside the house. You're saying, "What in the world?" But here's what's even weirder when you look up the Greek words for rushing mighty wind. It's way worse than you're picturing because the rushing mighty wind, here's the Greek words. The first word, phero, means to carry away, to literally move you around. Like the wind is so much it can move stuff around. That's the first word, phero.

The mighty is biaios, which is violent, forcible wind. So it's not just a little breeze. No, it's like it's quite a deal. And then the word wind means wind or breath, which is kind of typical. But those first two words are really important. The wind that was violent and forcible enough to move people around perhaps, or at least things around. This might explain why in a minute we're going to see so many people come over and check out what in the world's going on. It was enough of a deal where a bunch of people came. By the thousands they came.

So Jesus referenced this idea of the wind. Maybe this was a clue for them because Jesus already primed the pump there in John 3:8. He said, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou canst tell where it comes from and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit." Jesus connected the dots. The spirit is like the wind. I wonder if they're like, "Oh, is this it?" The wind starts getting really kind of crazy and then suddenly the next thing that's going to happen is the coming of the spirit. So this is a little bit of a precursor to what's going to happen.

Now, don't forget the Hebrew and the Greek words for wind. In the Old Testament and the New, it's linked to the idea of the spirit. The ruach, which is the wind, that's the Hebrew word of the Old Testament, which is also mind, spirit, or spirit of God. So it's all in the same. Spirit of God, wind. Same in the New Testament Greek, pneuma, third person of the Holy Trinity, and it means breath or blast or breeze. So this idea of wind is something that's all through the Bible linked to the Holy Ghost, to say the least.

But in the second part of this, in verse two, it says, "And it filled all the house where they were sitting." So that means it wasn't just windy outside, it was in the house. And what were they all doing in there? Were they flopping around on the floor? I say that jokingly, but no, they were actually sitting, it says there. The Holy Spirit came upon them. It says here what's going to happen, verse three: "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance."

Wow. Do you ever wonder what this looked like? Flames of fire over their heads? It's interesting because fire is somewhat of a type of the spirit, in the power of the spirit. We see that in the Bible. But the Holy Spirit coming upon them here in Acts chapter two is the start of something new God is doing that he told them about. Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." Now, what's the point of all this? Why would Jesus tell them that? "You're going to receive the Holy Spirit. He's going to come upon you and you will receive dunamis power."

Why? Well, not so that the Holy Spirit can be showcased. "Wow, look at the Holy Spirit!" That wasn't it. Not so that the people are showcased. "Wow, these people are really spirit-filled. Look at those people. Let's make a YouTube. Look at us, look at us." Or look at the Holy Ghost. But do you recall, what did Jesus tell us about the work of Holy Spirit? He will glorify me, it says in John 14, in John 15, and in John 16. He shall not speak of himself, the Holy Spirit, but whatsoever he shall hear, things he will speak, he shall glorify me. He will receive of mine.

One of the marks of a true spirit-filled church is not, "Wow, they've got the Holy Ghost." That's not it. The mark of a true spirit-filled church is that Jesus is glorified. The people are drawn to Jesus, not the people, not even the Holy Spirit, but to be drawn to Jesus. To be in a church where the Holy Spirit is truly moving, what you look for is Jesus being exalted. I do believe the Holy Spirit, as you will see, is for today, the manifestations, even speaking in tongues. I believe it's for today.

But it's not for the sake of speaking in tongues. It's for the sake of glorifying Jesus. How important is that? So yes, First Corinthians 14: let all things be done decently and in order. And that's what we're going to explore as we go through the Bible. We're going to see how the spirit moves in the church and how we're to do it decently and in order. So their posture was sitting, not swinging from the chandeliers. I think that's important.

Now, how many of them were filled with the spirit? It says there in verse four, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance." But one of the things that you'll hear from some of our Pentecostal brothers is that everyone has to speak in tongues. That's an unfortunate wrong interpretation of the scripture. But I do believe every Christian will have the spirit in them.

Remember, Jesus said the Holy Spirit is with you and shall be in you. And then he sent the apostles, "Go now and wait for the coming upon." Three relationships: with, before you were saved, the spirit was with you. When you became a Christian, he is in you, Jesus said, and in John 20 he breathed the Holy Spirit in them. And then in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit came upon them. And that's where you start to see the manifestations of the spirit. When we get to First Corinthians 12, we'll go over what are the manifestations of the spirit. And they're these beautiful expressions of what the Holy Spirit does in his church.

Speaking in tongues, now what kind of speaking in tongues? Did you know there's different kinds of speaking in tongues? We're going to go over this as we go through the New Testament. There's a personal use of speaking in tongues and there's more of a public use of speaking in tongues. There's speaking in an unknown tongue and there's speaking in known tongues. What are you talking about? Well, they were there because of Pentecost. That's why all the people were there. But we're going to see what is the purpose of this speaking in tongues. Why is this happening?

Well, we'll see, let's keep reading, verse five. It says, "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven." There was a lot of people, diverse ethnicities. Verse six, "When this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language." Now, can I try to demystify speaking in tongues? I remember when I was a kid I saw the little flame over their head in my mind's eye. But I also saw a cow's tongue flapping around on the floor or something. I'm like, "What is this tongue thing?"

But the word tongues, let's demystify it, it means speaking in another language. It's just that simple. It's not supposed to be heebie-jeebie and something that freaks us all out. It just means speaking in another language. As it turns out, there's an unknown language it can be, but it also can be known. In this case, it's a known language. That's what it says here. These men, now by the way, where did all these men come from? Where were all these people from? They were coming because it was the Feast of Pentecost.

Remember, it was a compulsory feast. All the men who were practicing Jews would have to come to Jerusalem. That's why they were all there. And that's why most people believe this is where Peter's preaching, at the Southern Steps, when he preaches after this event that happens where they think that there was maybe a movement from in the house after the tongues and the wind, and then Peter stepped out to the multitudes. They're all like, "What's going on? What's happening?" We'll see all that.

And it seems that maybe Peter stepped down to the Southern Steps because 3,000 people heard his sermon. So they couldn't have done that in the house. How did they do that? He probably just walked 100 yards away and started preaching right on the Southern Steps. We'll talk more about that, but they were there because of that. What was the noise? Most scholars believe it was the noise of probably the wind, not as much the speaking in tongues. That's an interesting thing. There's reasons for that I'm not going to go into, but you can maybe look at that yourself.

It says they heard the noise. "When this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because they heard them speak in his own language." The word confounded there in verse six is an interesting Greek word, suncheo: bewildered, perplexed, disturbed, even troubled. So they're like, "What in the world's going on? How is this even possible?" They were troubled. How are all these Galilean guys, these apostles, speaking our languages? You say, "Well, maybe they just had the latest app and learning how to speak other languages and they've just been brushing up." No, I love the diversity of what they're going to actually see.

In fact, let's read verse seven. "And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, 'Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes, Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.'"

Wow, what a scene. They're just totally blown away, even troubled by what they're hearing. How is it that these Galileans are all speaking our languages? And there's a long list of languages that were being spoken by the apostles. What was being said by those people? The wonderful works of God. Now, this is a good freebie for you. Anytime tongues are used by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's what you'll be speaking. That's the rule.

Whether you're speaking in an unknown tongue or a tongue known of men or of angels, you're going to be speaking the wonderful works of God. It's speaking praise and giving glory to God. Tongues, this is important, tongues are always God-word. Tongues are never people-word. What do you mean? There's another manifestation of the Holy Spirit and it's a word of prophecy. Does that make you a prophet? No. Prophets were done after John the Baptist in the Old Testament sense of a prophet.

But in the New Testament, a prophet, if you want to call it that, is someone who actually gives a word of prophecy. But prophecy's not foretelling the future or like an Old Testament prophet. It's defined in First Corinthians chapter 14 what a word of prophecy is and a word of tongue. They're different. Let me show you. First Corinthians 14, verse one says, "Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God."

There's a rule. And remember, do all things decently and in order. Yes, speak in tongues, but do it decently and in order. "And for no man understands him." So which version of tongues is this? Is this speaking in a tongue of language, other people, or is it speaking in an unknown tongue? This is an unknown tongue here because this is what Paul is addressing here in First Corinthians 14. "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, unlike Acts chapter two, speaketh not unto men but unto God. For no man understands him. Howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth, that's a word of prophecy, speaketh unto men to edification, exhortation, and comfort."

Now, before we read the rest of this out of First Corinthians, I want to just give you an example of this. I remember when I was a kid, and if you've been to Pentecostal churches or charismatic churches, I remember when I was a kid I learned a bunch of lessons because I remember one guy stood up and spoke a word of tongue. And then our pastor said, "Okay, that was a word of tongues, but in the congregational setting, the rule is that needs to be accompanied with a word of interpretation." That's another manifestation of the spirit.

Well, some guy stood up and said, "Thus saith the Lord, behold I come quickly and something like repent from your sins and his coming draweth nigh." And then the guy sat down. And the pastor said, "Well, that's a wonderful word of prophecy, but that's not the interpretation of the tongue." No, it was done graciously. But the pastor was right. Why? Whatever the message was, it was not directed to God, it was directed to people. That's what a word of prophecy is: a word of edification, exhortation, and comfort. That's how prophecy works. And it's a wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

But a word of tongue, if it's interpreted, it's going to be directed toward God, and it's usually more of glory to God, praise to God, maybe speaking of the mysteries of God, because it even says no man understands him. Howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. So that's kind of an important thing. Another thing, by the way, what if one of you suddenly has an uncontrollable urge right now? So you just jump up and interrupt me. What's the problem with that? It's not decently and in order.

And because I've heard this before, people say, "I couldn't control it. It was the Holy Spirit that came upon me. I couldn't control it." In First Corinthians 14 later in verse 32 and 33, it says, "The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet." That's a King James way of saying it's not out of your control. You have perfect control of all your faculties when you are filled with the spirit, and you can do it or you can not do it. You can even quench the spirit, God forbid. But the spirit will not do it in a place and time that's inappropriate. And that's what the Bible promises.

So speaking in tongues is directed usually praise to God. And in a public setting, interpretation of what was said. And also there's other rules we'll learn in First Corinthians 14 when we get there. You know, two or three at the most, not everybody yelling out at the same time. Each one of the two or three at most should be with an interpretation. That's the way it works in church service settings. There are other ways we'll see it: private use of tongues in your own personal prayer life that we'll study about, and also in smaller groups and stuff. I think that's often the way the Lord moves.

So in the church, when someone speaks in tongues, you do wait for an interpretation. The beautiful thing about going verse by verse through the Bible is we don't skip anything, and we're not going to miss some of these nuances. But in First Corinthians 14, we're seeing an unknown tongue. "But he that prophesieth speak edification, exhortation, and comfort." Let's finish this passage. It goes on, it says, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that you all spoke with tongues, but rather that you prophesied."

In other words, prophecy is a preferred manifestation. "For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret that the church may receive edifying or edification." So the prophesying, which is edification, exhortation, and comfort, that's preferred. Paul would later in First Corinthians 14 say, "I'd rather you speak 10,000 words of understanding rather than," it's better to speak prophecy than it is tongues. He low profiles tongues. And again, this idea of the different kinds of tongues. Remember First Corinthians 13: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." Unknown tongue perhaps, and known tongues, known languages. But if I have not love, I become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

So most of the time in the Bible, we're going to see people speaking in an unknown tongue. But here in Acts chapter two, we see shockingly them speaking in known tongues of other people and nations. Now you say, "Okay Brett, what was the result of them speaking in unknown tongues in Acts chapter two?" Well, this is interesting because we've already learned why are tongues used? Are they to reach the unsaved? No, it's to edify the church and edify even the person who's speaking in tongues, in fact just themselves sometimes will be edified.

What was the result of speaking in tongues in Acts chapter two? I want to stress this because people get this messed up. They think, "Well, if we can speak in tongues and look crazy and wild, then the unbelievers will come in and be saved because they'll see the radical speaking in tongues and stuff like that." Not the way it works. This is the way it works, Acts chapter two. It says in verse 12, "And they were all amazed and were in doubt." Their faith wasn't built, they were in doubt. "Saying one to another, 'What meaneth this?' Others mocking said, 'These men are full of new wine.' Ha, and they've been drinking."

That's the result of the speaking in tongues. Why? Because tongues was for them. Why the tongues? I think it was for the people, the 120 in the house there to realize, "Wow, the Holy Spirit's upon us." And the speaking in tongues was evidence for them to be built up and think, "This is it, man, the Lord is doing a work." But it didn't save souls. It didn't bring in the unbelievers. They all thought, "Man, these guys are getting a little tipsy." Well, this is where now the word of prophecy comes in. It's not Old Testament prophecy, but Peter's going to give a word of edification, exhortation, and comfort.

And he's going to do it with the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is beautiful. And here's Peter stepping up. And you just check this. Does Peter sound like the Peter of the gospels, or do we kind of have a new Peter here? Just note that with me. It says in verse 14, "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, 'Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.'"

Now that's about 9:00 a.m., by the way. "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." Would you mark that? This is really important. As we break down this big sermon that Peter's going to give prophetically, there's a couple things I want you to note that are just good rules for preaching or preachers. And we're all, you know, called to preach the gospel, so we can learn from this. But I love how Peter answers, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," there in verse 16. I've marked that in my Bible because that should be the beginning to every response about questions about Christianity or how the church functions, what churches are supposed to do.

We should be able to say, "It is written," or you know, that's what Jesus said when he was attacked with temptation by Satan. Jesus said, "It is written." Every single time he quote scripture. He didn't say, "Well, I kind of think that." Nope, he didn't say that. He said, "It is written." And Peter's taking a page from Jesus's manual and said, "It is written." But he says specifically, "This is that which was written or spoken by the prophet Joel." At Athey Creek, that's one of the things I'm thankful my pastoral team, our elders, our deacons, that's kind of the way we roll.

If somebody says, "Well, why do you do communion the way you do it at church?" And we can say, "Well, this is that which was spoken by Jesus in Luke chapter 22, or by Paul in First Corinthians chapter 10 about communion and the way it was done." We at Athey, we want to say, "This is that which was spoken by Paul or by Jesus." We want to say scripture, that which was written, that which was spoken. And really that's what we want to do with everything about our faith. If you can't show in the scriptures why you're doing what you're doing, you might have to rethink what you're doing. That's kind of important.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Meador reflecting from today's word the teaching of the apostle Peter regarding the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost of Acts chapter two was in fact a prophecy provided in the Old Testament. And I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment. But first, our teacher Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon.

Each day, Pastor Brett will bring you a verse-by-verse study of God's word. If you've missed any portion of our time today, you'll find all of his messages online at TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com. All right, I have Pastor Brett with me now. Brett, I know you talk about the importance of studying God's word, and I'm sure there's somebody listening who might be thinking, "I really want to study the Bible, but I don't feel like I have the time to do it," or maybe they just don't know where to start. What encouragement can you give to that person?

Brett Meador: Well Kurt, I'd first say don't be intimidated. The Bible is a big book and I think some people would say, "Man, it's too big. I don't know if I can do that." But you don't have to conquer the Bible in a week. In fact, I don't think it was really written in a way where you're supposed to conquer it in a week. It's a book that you can spend the rest of your life studying and reading. And I'd encourage someone who's brand new just to begin in the Gospel of John. It's such a clear, powerful depiction of who Jesus really is.

You can read just for five minutes a day. That's all you need. And even set a timer if you have to, but add a minute or two as you get more comfortable reading the word of God. And before long, you'll look up and realize you're spending real powerful, meaningful time in the word. And when you read, ask the simple questions: What does this teach me about God? What does this scripture show me about myself, or things that I need to fix? Or is there something I need to obey God's word in?

And as you consistently go through the word, it's not about the quantity, it's more of the quality of the time that you spend in the word. Just a little bit of reading the scripture, it's powerful, it's life-changing. And remember, it's not just homework, it's heart-work. The Lord wants to work in your heart, and it's not just information, it's to get to know the Lord personally. So the Lord would invite you to read his word as almost a love letter from him to you. So that's the way I'd encourage people to read it.

Kurt: Thank you, Pastor Brett, for that encouragement and really a great plan to get started reading God's word each day. Well, I want to mention that if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador or Today's Word, just go to TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com. Well, next time Pastor Brett will look at how the Holy Spirit rushed upon the Christians gathered together like a mighty wind. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.