Churches With Heart

Moody First United Methodist Church

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Today the Moody-Leon church celebrates its 125th anniversary. It has a rich history on the banks of the Leon River. While the church was established in 1877, it was in 1905 and 1907 that additional families brought an interesting set of circumstances. Those families settled on the east side of the Leon River and worship was on the west side of the river. I love the story that D. C. has told about worship on days that had a threat of flooding. Many of you know the story. A young man was left by the river with a horse. His job was to monitor the level of the rising water. Once the water reached a given level he was to mount his horse and get to the church as quick as possible to warn folks. Everyone wanted to get back across the river before they were trapped.

Those people took worship seriously. You find some people today that will stay home when there is a threat of a sprinkle. What was it about the Beerwinkles and Fishgrabes that would cause them to go to all that trouble to be in worship. Doesn’t that seem like a crazy thing to do? It would have been a whole lot easier to just stay at home.

And the Winklers…when they first came to this part of Texas. These devote Lutherans were willing to listen to a Methodist circuit rider in order to have a worship service in German. They even decided a German speaking Methodist would work nicely. Doesn’t that seem like a crazy thing to do? Why would they do that?

Then there were those followers of Jesus who had gathered in Jerusalem on Pentecost. All of a sudden there was the wind and the fire. These Jews and proselytes from all sorts of places speaking out and everyone understanding. All, everyone around them, were “amazed and perplexed.” They were saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Some knew the answer right away. It was obvious. These people are drunk on new wine! That’s it. They are simply drunk. They are acting like crazy people. They are doing crazy things.

Now that I think on it. Those who had gathered and were listening to Paul preach were acting a little like those crazy Germans on the banks of the Leon river. What caused them to act so crazy? What ever it was, it was passed on from one generation to the next. It was passed on for 1,877 years, and then it was passed on for another 125 years. What on earth were they exposed to? You thought anthrax and small pox were highly contagious.

It was 1945 when Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged in a Nazi concentration camp. His crime? He took his Christianity seriously. He chose to stand-up against the Nazis and their treatment of Jews. It was just before the Allies freed his camp that the Nazis hanged Bonhoeffer. What a crazy thing for him to do! Why didn’t he back down and save his life? What got into this man? He seems to have been as drunk as all those folks talking in all those languages on that day of Pentecost long ago. What do you suppose got into those folks? What do you suppose got into Bonhoeffer?

What do you suppose got into Martin Luther, John Wesley, Desmond Tutu, the Winklers, the Beerwinkles, the Schmidts, the Fischgrabes, and the Wellmans? What was it that made them act just as crazy as those Jews on that Pentecost day? But…now that I think about it, what has gotten into you?

The answer is right in the text we read this morning. It’s there plain as day. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that got into them.

It’s safe to say, “Spirit filled folks do some crazy things.” As a matter of fact the symptoms of being Spirit filled were later cataloged by Paul. Paul said, “It’s easy to spot a spirit filled person, they act in a crazy way.” Well, maybe Paul didn’t put it quiet that way. He said you can tell by the way they love, by the joy they share, by the peace they bring, the patience they show, the kindness they give, the goodness they have, the faithfulness they exhibit, by their gentle spirits, and by their remarkable self-control. Yes, the symptoms are clear. If a person is infected with the Holy Spirit, they will be acting so weird that some folks might be inclined to say they are drunk.

The prophet Joel said these spirit filled people will prophesy, have visions, and dream dreams. Joel is telling us that spirit filled people are future oriented. The founders of this church were future oriented. John Wesley was future oriented. Those first followers of Jesus were future oriented.

If the prospect of being spirit filled isn’t enough good news, that first Christian Pentecost offers more hope. The scripture says, “…and [they] began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” I’m going to suggest to you today that when we are spirit filled we can do anything as the Spirit gives us ability. We can do unbelievable things for the Lord, not by our own power, but as the Spirit gives us ability.

As Jesus was headed toward Jerusalem for the last time with his disciples, he told them that the time was coming that they would be able to do works equal to those of Jesus. They would even be able to do greater works than Jesus. (John 14:12) How is that possible? As Spirit filled followers, they will do works as the Spirit gives them ability.

My son-in-law and I went to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame last week. One of the displays was about Harvey Penick. Reader’s Digest wrote of the late Harvey Penick: “For 90-year-old golf pro Harvey Penick, success has come late. His first golf book, Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, has sold more than a million copies, which his publisher believes makes it one of the biggest things in the history of sports books.

“In the 1920s Penick bought a red spiral notebook and began jotting down observations about golf. He never showed the book to anyone except his son until 1991, when he shared it with a local writer and asked if he thought it was worth publishing. The man read it and told him yes. He left word with Penick’s wife the next evening that Simon & Schuster had agreed to an advance of $90,000.

“When the writer saw Penick later, the old man seemed troubled. Finally, Penick came clean. With all his medical bills, he said, there was no way he could advance Simon & Schuster that much money. The writer had to explain that Penick would be the one to receive the $90,000.” People often have Penick’s reaction to the fabulous gift of the Holy Spirit. We ask, “What must I do?” God answers, “Just receive.”(1)

1. Eric Hulstrand, Binford, North Dakota. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4.