Hearing God Speak

 HEARING GOD SPEAK 

Acts 2: 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (One hundred and twenty in the upper room). And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3Then there appeared flickering tongues of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Crowds of people were drawn to the noise and commotion of the sound of the wind and the loud yelling of the one hundred and twenty disciples speaking with great passion the works of God in foreign languages that they had never spoken before. Jerusalem was crowded on that day with thousands of Jewish visitors from many regions and nations, as well as the local Jewish population. Those crowds were hearing this message of God in their many various languages. The Bible says There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven (vs.6) that ‘heard them speaking in their own language, proclaiming the wonderful works of God’... and it goes on to list seventeen regions and nations.

God wanted to get the attention of the whole world that day – and he sent these amazing signs. The time had arrived for God’s eternal and pre-ordained purpose for humanity to receive the Holy Spirit. The word ‘pente’ means ‘fifty’ and it was fifty days after Jesus had risen from the dead. He had stayed with them for forty days upon the earth and they had to wait another ten days. Jesus had said they had to wait to receive the ‘Promise of The Father’, which was the sending of the Holy Spirit upon mankind. 
This astounding miracle was a reversal of the rebellion of Nimrod the mighty warrior mentioned in Genesis chapter eleven. He was the king of Babylon (the first kingdom mentioned in the Bible) and was responsible for building the Tower of Babel, which was meant to reach the heavens and serve as a symbol of human unity and political power. This was the first political rejection of the one true God, and in response to this prideful act, God confused the languages of the people working on the tower, causing them to speak different languages and preventing them from understanding one another and resulting in the scattering of different nations and cultures across the earth with their own languages. 
Instead of the disunity and political conflict of different nations ruling over the world God had now made available the unity of one voice that would rule in the hearts of all who believed in God through Jesus Christ. 
This was the first time that mankind had heard the voice of The Holy Spirit other than through the Old Testament prophets or through Jesus himself. Humanity was being prepared to hear God speak. This was an astounding sign to the people gathered in Jerusalem that God was at work in their midst. Being able to now hear God speak would change their lives forever. It would change the course of humanity. 

Some people accused the disciples of being drunk but Peter assured them that this was not the case, saying ‘these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (9am). But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel’ And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. (verse 17). It is interesting that Peter says in that verse -  ‘I will pour out OF My Spirit… The word ‘OF’ is added by Peter here as it was not in Joel’s original prophecy and I do not believe it was a mistake. The Holy Spirit was telling us that this outpouring on the day of Pentecost was only a partial fulfilment of what was yet to happen in the last days of history. In Joel’s original prophecy Joel goes on to describe the events of the end of the world, which were obviously not going to happen in those days of the book of acts and are yet to occur. ‘Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.’
Peter then tells everybody there that they too can receive this gift of the Holy Spirit if they change their hearts and minds and be baptised. and that this is for them and for their children and for all those who are afar off (in time and location - that means us!). 
So the book of Acts is still being written!

Peter warns them not to accept the distorted mindset of the current generation, and that is an appeal to us as well as to them. He exhorts them to live for God, with Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Verse 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Three thousand people accepted this truth and became the community of faith and of grace and love. This points to the end of the era of being ‘under the dominion of the Law’ and being transferred into the Kingdom of God which is ‘under the dominion of grace’ (Romans 6:14). This was the beginning of The Church.
When Moses received the Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and came down to give the Law to Israel on the tablets of stone, he saw the people of Israel worshipping the golden calf and celebrating in an orgy of idolatry. God told Moses to command the Levites to go through the camp and slay the offenders, and on that day of giving of the Law three thousand people lost their lives. On the day of Pentecost three thousand people received new life.

Pentecost was the dawning of a new era where people could expect to hear Holy Spirit speaking to them in their own language - to join their hearts and minds to his heart and mind. God is re-kindling that era in the days in which we live. Hearing God speaking to us in our own language not only means that we hear him in our spoken language. It means that we hear the personal and specific word into our hearts that reveals to us what he is doing in our individual life circumstance, in whatever issue that we are grappling with, so that we can find his wisdom and know what to do. Faith comes by hearing the word from God not from watching miracles or seeing signs or even listening. We hear God’s voice and not our own voice. Your spirit was created to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say to you, and the Bible also reminds us that there are personal things that no other person could advise you on or teach you - only God knows you the way you do.
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For he teaches you all things, and he is the Truth… (1John 2:27). He waits for you to ask him, and if we really want to know the truth of what we need to hear we will trust him to give it to us and we will gratefully accept what he says – that is the key to answered prayer. 
The Bible tells us to ask for wisdom and that he will give it to you - in your own language!
James 1:5 If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him… But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you.
As we have communion this morning and wait in his presence for a time, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you regarding any issues that you might need wisdom for. Ask and give thanks and expect to hear – and you will hear something in his time, as you continue to ask.  

There could be a part of you that says no don’t do that - it won’t happen for you. You’ve probably been hearing that part for a long time.  It’s just trying to protect you from getting disappointed. It could be telling you just to worry about the problem for a while longer and work on it yourself until some other problems come along that need more worry than that one. But don’t get mad at that part. Just ask it nicely to step aside for a moment. Tell it that God would like to get a word in.  Then welcome the Holy Spirit to speak to your spirit. That’s what your spirit was created for.