The Spirit of Pentecost

Series: -- Preacher: Date: May 27, 2012 Scripture Reference: Acts 2:1-18

Have you ever admired something about another church or denomination? I confess that I have! For example: When I visited Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago a few years ago and saw the lake on their campus where they do their baptisms I thought, “I wish Redland had a lake like that on Muncaster Mill Road right between the youth house and the furlough house! Then we could baptize in public for our entire community to see.”

When I heard Carl and Lora Connor talk about their church in Florida—FBC, Leesburg—I confess that I admired all their wonderful ministries. I mean, they have homeless shelters, a thrift store, job-training, a faith-based mentoring program…they do amazing things to minister to people’s physical needs in ways that enable them to share the Gospel message. I wish we could do more of that.

And then—I admit that I admire the way some churches observe the traditional Christian calendar. Most of us Baptists don’t—we don’t celebrate the same high and holy days that other Christians around the world do. About 20 years ago many of us DID take a step in the right direction by celebrating the four Sundays of Advent and these days some of us have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services—but we don’t observe things like Ash Wednesday or Lent…and I for one think that’s a sad thing because by ignoring these special days we miss out on a powerful teaching tool that could be used to remind ourselves and our children of important spiritual truth.

I mention this because today is one of those special days on the church calendar. Today Christians around the world are celebrating PENTECOST SUNDAY…and we’re joining them. In our sermon time we’ll look at the record of the events of this day in the book of Acts—because something truly wonderful happened that day…something that should be celebrated…a pivotal thing that we need to remember if we are to be all we need to be as a local church! Before we get to our text let me remind you of the setting. The Jews celebrated Pentecost in June. For them it was a celebration of when God gave Moses the ten commandments.  So when the Christian version of Pentecost took place, Jerusalem “just happened” to be packed with pilgrims from all over the world…people who had come for this festival.

We also need to remember all the events that led up to Pentecost. For example, following His triumphal resurrection, Jesus had spend 40 precious days with His disciples. Our Risen Lord no doubt used this time to teach them—to prepare them to be His witnesses—to tell the story of His coming—throughout the then known world. Now think about that! Can you imagine how wonderful It must have been to sit at the feet of Jesus those 40 days!? Talk about “admiring” things other believers get to do!!!

Dr. Luke tells us that after Jesus’ ascended to Heaven, one hundred twenty of His followers obeyed His specific instructions and returned to Jerusalem. And—at this point let’s stop to make sure we understand this part of the Pentecost story by dealing with four basic questions.

A. First, exactly WHO were these 120 people meeting in Jerusalem?

Acts 1:13 says that Peter and the rest of the eleven remaining disciples were there and that Jesus’ female followers were present as well, including His mother Mary.  Dr. Luke also tells us that Jesus’ half brothers were part of this group—including James, who eventually led the church in Jerusalem and wrote the epistle that bears his name. You may remember that at first James and his siblings did not believe in Jesus. But—when He rose from the dead they realized that He was indeed the Messiah.

Okay that accounts for about 20 people—what about the other hundred? Who could THESE people have been? I don’t know for sure, but perhaps Nicodemus was there. After all John chapter 3 tells us of the night that he had come to Jesus with questions. John also tells us that Nicodemus knew that Jesus’ miracles could not be explained other than by the power of God. So perhaps Nic put his faith in Jesus after His resurrection. Maybe Joseph of Arimathea was present as well. Remember? He had provided the tomb for Jesus’ body and had apparently paid the funeral expenses. He knew that the actions of the Pharisees in arresting Jesus were wrong so I like to think that he became a disciple of Jesus and that he was present. I feel fairly sure that those disciples who met Jesus on the Emmaus road were there too. After all, Luke 24 tells us that they had returned to Jerusalem and they probably stayed. Mary, Martha and the resurrected Lazarus were probably there as well. I think Zacheus might have been in attendance. Maybe the rest of the 120 were the other people Jesus had healed: the lame, the blind, the lepers—even Malchus—the man whose ear Peter cut off and then Jesus healed.

But understand—all these people—these FIRST followers of Jesus—this very diverse group would be he nucleus of the emerging church. God would use these 120 people to turn the world upside down! Most of the people in this relatively small group were uneducated—but their actions in the next few years prove that LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT. We must remember this principle!

B. Okay-next question. WHERE exactly, were they meeting?

We know that the place was no farther than a Sabbath’s day walk from the Mt. of Olives—about a half mile—which would put it just inside the Eastern gate of the city, not too far from the Temple. Luke also tells us that they were meeting in the UPPER ROOM of a house. Back then it was common for homes to have upper rooms, used for a variety of purposes, and this one must have been part of a large house because it could accommodate 120 people. It was PROBABLY the same upper room where the Last Supper had been celebrated and where Jesus had appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. Some have identified it as the house of John Mark’s mother where Peter came after his miraculous release from prison in Acts 12.

C. This leads to a third question: how long did they meet there? How long did they wait?

Well, that’s not hard to figure because Pentecost was a Jewish feast that was celebrated fifty days after Passover. In fact, that’s what the word “Pentecost” means: “50.” And, since Jesus was taken back to Heaven forty days after the resurrection, which occurred at Passover, that would leave a ten day period in which the disciples waited in Jerusalem.

D. Okay—one more question: WHAT did they do during those ten days of waiting?

In verse 14 Luke tells us one thing they did was PRAY. In fact he says they did this CONSTANTLY—and that makes sense because they would have had a LOT to pray about. For example: I’m sure that in their prayers they praised God for sending Jesus. Perhaps they prayed for His speedy return. I think their prayers were also full of the confession of sin. Surely Peter and the others asked forgiveness for their cowardice the night of Jesus’ arrest. I imagine they asked God for the strength and guidance they would need to fulfill the great commission He had just given them before His ascension. And then foremost in their prayers must have been their request for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in Acts 1 verses 4-5 where He said,  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for THE GIFT My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” I’m sure this was part of their prayer. After all that’s why they had returned to Jerusalem…so I think they were very READY—to the point of LONGING—for this gift. In my mind as the ten days dragged by they realized more and more how much they needed this gift…needed this filling of God’s Spirit.  Remember—during Christ’s earthly ministry they had know His exhilarating presence every day. Even during the forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension they had repeatedly been blessed by His visits. But during these ten days of waiting there were no visits.  Jesus was gone and the disciples  undoubtedly felt empty. I have often wondered how people get through this life without Jesus. I know I would feel terribly lonely—empty—if it weren’t for His presence with me.

In any case during this week and a half the disciples became more aware than ever of the importance of their Savior’s presence.  Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing…” were forever embedded in their consciousness.  So I believe that during these 10 days they earnestly prayed for THE GIFT to be given.

And—one vital fact you and I should take from this is the IMPORTANCE of prayer. The history of the great revivals in the church show that they have always been preceded by times of prayer by Christian people. But there is one more thing that I think happened during those ten days.  They must have spent some of that time MENDING RELATIONSHIPS among the disciples. Commenting on this Lloyd John Oglivie writes, “I have always felt that Pentecost happened not according to a date on a calendar but in response to reconciliation among the disciples. There were deep tensions among them during and after Jesus’ ministry…Until they were together on their knees, fully open to God and each other, the Holy Spirit could not be given.”

But they did more than pray and work for unity. They also STUDIED SCRIPTURE. Presumably this is what Jesus Himself had been doing with them during those 40 days prior to His ascension.

And this makes sense because this is what He did with those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Remember? Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.”  I think before He ascended Jesus reviewed the hundreds of Messianic prophecies in the O.T. After He was taken back to Heaven perhaps Peter and the others said, “Why don’t we study these passages ourselves?!” It’s not a stretch to think this because later when Peter stood up to preach on Pentecost Sunday he referred to these same Old Testament Messianic Scriptures. I believe those 120 believers also studied all the Old Testament had to say about the Holy Spirit—and this would have made sense because Jesus had told them that’s what or rather WHO they were waiting for. Peter’s Pentecost Sunday Sermon referenced some of these texts as well.

And then, their ten-days of Bible study led them to do one other thing: FIND A REPLACEMENT for the traitor, Judas.  They used a common O. T. practice to discern God’s will—they drew lots to select Matthias for the job. By the way, this is the last record of lots being used because in a short time the Holy Spirit came and made His dwelling in all Christians—since then He has been available to guide us in decisions. Well, with all this prayer support and Scripture study and Matthaias’ selection, all was in readiness for the dawning of Pentecost Sunday so let’s read about it. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 2. Follow along as I read verses 1-18.

Acts 2:1 – When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

2 – Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 – They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

4 – All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 – Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

6 – When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

7 – Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?

8 – Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?

9 – Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

10  – Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome

11 – (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

12 –  Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 – Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”

14 – Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

15 – These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

16 – No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 – ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

18 – Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

I want you to try and use your imaginations to picture what it was like on the day of Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit of God descended on those 120 people.

A. First, it was AUDIBLE.

Luke tells us that it was LOUD—not unlike the sound that accompanies the arrival of a tornado or a hurricane. Plus—it came without warning—and it came “from Heaven.”

Sue and I have often biked down the trail that leads to Alexandria and it passes Reagan National. We always stop to watch—or rather LISTEN to the planes take off. They go right overhead. Luke’s description of Pentecost reminds me of this because when the Holy Spirit came it must have sounded like the deep, deafening roar of a Boeing 747 at take off. I mean, the noise coming from above must have shaken the entire city! We do know it was loud enough that thousands of people heard and came running to investigate. Luke tells us these people were “devout”—God-fearing—in other words, they were very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures so they knew that wind often represents the presence of God. This loud sound of a rushing wind would have declared to these people “God is here. God is at work. Let’s go check it out!”

B. The second thing this text tells us about the miracle of Pentecost is that it was VISUAL.

I mean, when those people followed the sound and arrived they SAW something. Verse 3 says that resting above the heads of those 120 disciples were what appeared to be tongues of flame—reminiscent of the fire that did not consume the burning bush that Moses saw. Among the Jews of that day it was a commonly held belief that an appearance like fire often encircled the heads of distinguished teachers of the law. So, to see this aspect of the miracle of Pentecost would have told these devout Jewish men, “Listen to what these people have to say, for they are sure to speak the truth.”

C. Finally on that first Pentecost Sunday, there was what you might call an ORAL miracle.

These 120 disciples—both men and women—began to speak in the exact languages of all the people who had come from nations all over the world to celebrate Pentecost. These uneducated peasants were miraculously able to speak in more languages than you will hear at the Olympics in London this summer. This was indeed a powerful miracle because these Galileans were known for speaking the Aramaic language with a peculiar ACCENT that many considered uncultured and uneducated. Yet on that day those who came heard these men and women speaking in at least twelve different localized languages—and not just the languages—they got the exact dialects and accents right.

This reminds me of our second mission trip to Saltillio, Mexico several years ago. One of our younger team members was trying to use his high school Spanish but he was having some difficulty understanding the people of Saltillio. This was because he was used to Americans speaking Spanish—not Mexicans speaking Spanish.  He was used to people speaking Spanish with an American accent and that’s the way HE spoke it so it was hard for the people in Saltillio to understand and vice versa.

Well, the thousands of devout Jews who came running to see what was going on did not have that problem because these 120 people were able to speak the languages of all these various people groups as if they had lived in those distant lands all their lives.  Charles Swindoll writes “In this way the newborn church made its first infant cry, joyously proclaiming the gospel of Christ in words the whole world could understand.” One of the flaws in certain denominations is that when it comes to Pentecost they focus on the wrong thing. They focus on the wind and the fire and especially the speaking in TONGUES.  But—as amazing as this part of Pentecost Sunday was—it’s wrong to FOCUS on it because to do so is to miss the central MESSAGE of this amazing event.  You see, the truly wonderful thing about all this—the thing that jumps out to me about the first Pentecost—is that this miraculous experience—as wonderful as it was—was a means to an end and not an end in itself.  The significance of Pentecost is what happened as a result of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the speaking in tongues—and that’s what I want us to focus on today.

1. For example—because of Pentecost—the disciples themselves were CHANGED.

Understand—at this time there was a very real sense in which these 120 disciples were wanted by the law.  It took a lot of courage for them to obey Jesus and return to Jerusalem because as His disciples they were associated with a convicted and recently executed criminal—an Enemy of Rome.  I’m sure they would have rather headed for the hills. It is no wonder that they spent these ten days fearfully hiding behind closed doors. The pre-Pentecostal disciples were like a company of soldiers in a hide-out during war, behind enemy lines, surrounded and outnumbered a thousand to one. It was as if they were in an abandoned and damaged castle with sporadic rifle fire rattling on the stones as they huddled together in the darkness. But when the Holy Spirit of God came and dwelt in each of them they threw the doors open and came charging out in public as bold, courageous witnesses. Before, they were like frightened MICE. After they were like LIONS, roaring out the “mighty deeds of God.” (Verse 11) And you know, we should be just as bold and courageous—but the fact is many of us live out the Christian life “behind closed doors” afraid to share our faith for a variety of flawed reasons.  Listen! We have no excuse—we can be just as forthright as those 120 disciples because you see, if we are Christians—each of us has personally experienced Pentecost. The Bible teaches that the moment we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sin and come into our heart and life—HE DOES. At that instant the same Holy Spirit comes to live in us. From that moment on He is always ready and willing to give us not only the opportunity to witness but the courage and the necessary words as well. We can be just as lion-hearted as these men and women were—and we must! As Vance Havner once said,

“We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.”

Another thing—the best proof that a person is a growing Christian…is whether or not they witness—whether or not they share their faith. A flaw in many denominations is their belief that the thing that shows you are not a Christian if you don’t speak in tongues—but that is not what this text says. Nor is it what the Bible teaches. No this text and others like it show that the best indication that an individual has given his or her life to Jesus is whether or not they are a faithful witness of Jesus Christ. Truly Spirit-filled believers don’t draw attention to themselves. Instead they always point people to Jesus. This is what our Lord was getting at in John 15:26 when He said, “When the Counselor comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, He will TESTIFY about ME.”  Henry Martyn once wrote, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” That’s what happened to those people. I mean, the disciples were expecting power to rule—but when Jesus came to live in them they received was power to witness. And this is because the Holy Spirit generates the passion within to carry out Christ’s command.

I remember when I first met Sue. I was home in Delaware for Christmas break from seminary and we went to the movies with a group of other college-aged kids. We fell in love during those few weeks and later when I returned to seminary the first thing I did was tell all my friends and several strangers that I had met the most wonderful girl in the world. That’s the way it is when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. When we meet Him and come to understand all He is—we can’t wait to tell someone else! It’s news too good to keep.

Well, let me ask you—based on this “litmus test” would people be able to say that you are a Spirit-filled Christian—that Jesus Christ lives and rules in your heart and life? I mean, would we ever be accused of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God?

2. And then a second thing that happened as a result of Pentecost is this: the first Christian SERMON was preached.

Peter—the same man who a few weeks earlier had cringed before a lowly servant girl and denied his Lord now boldly delivered the first Christian sermon to thousands of listeners. By the way, this is the first of SEVERAL sermons included in the book Acts. This centrality of sermons in Luke’s history of the church should remind us of the importance of preaching—a fact we see underscored throughout the Bible. For example, in 1st Corinthians 1:17-18 Paul writes, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to PREACH the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  In 1st Cor 9:16 he said, “Woe to me if I do not PREACH the Gospel”  In 2nd Timothy 4:2 he wrote, “PREACH the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.”  In Romans 10:14 he asked, “How can they call on the One they have not believed in And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard…and how can they hear without someone PREACHING it to them?”

And Peter is the guy who started all this preaching—and he did that on Pentecost Sunday! It wasn’t a long sermon—only about 4 minutes—DON’T GET ANY IDEAS—but in this brief sermon Peter presented the basic tenets of the Gospel: That Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, that it was God’s purpose for Him to die on the cross, that He rose from the dead on the third day and that to be saved we must repent of our sins. This is the same basic sermon that Billy Graham and the other great evangelists down through the millennia have preached—and like Peter—when they have preached it people have responded by the thousands. It is just as Jesus promised in John 12:32, “If I be lifted up I’ll draw all men to Me.”

Now, you may think, “That’s very interesting—and it’s great job security for you Mark—but what’s that got to do with me? After all, I’m not a preacher. That’s your job.” Well, if you think that way, you are in error. You see the word “preach” literally means “to proclaim” or “to tell.”  As a Christian, you have the same God-given responsibility to TELL the story of the Gospel that Peter and the others had. In fact, all Christians should study Peter’s Pentecost sermon…because it’s the job of all Christians to deliver it’s content any chance they get. And the fact is, you guys and gals out there in the “pews” get more chances to do so than I do because you have more contact with lost people than I do. I spend all my time with you guys. I preach once a week—but you could deliver the same good news that Peter did at Pentecost several times a day.

In fact, let me just stop here and remind you that this is why we built the ROC. It’s not built primarily to give people a place to play basketball. No…it was built to give Christians like you opportunities to “preach” — chances to talk to people and TELL them about Jesus. Let me take this one more step. We have a ton of unchurched guys coming to open night basketball on Mondays from 8-10PM—and that’s great! But we need more REDLAND faces there. We need people who will come and play bball to get to know lost people…so that through those relationships they can tell them the story of Jesus. We must remember—that place is not really a GYM. It’s a PULPIT—YOUR pulpit!

3. The final thing that happened that first Pentecost Sunday was this: the CHURCH was born!

And what a birth it was! 3,000 men, women, and children became Christians and experienced

NEW BIRTH that day! I was thinking: when there are two children born they’re called twins…then comes triplets, quadruplets, etc. I wonder what you would call 3,000 babies born to the same parent! Can you imagine how proud our Heavenly Father was on that day as the church was born!? And what a wonderful church it was! I mean these 3,000 people got church right!  If you continue to read the book of Acts you’ll see that they studied the Scriptures. They also devoted themselves to PRAYER—knowing they could do nothing without God’s power. William Barclay expressed it this way: “They always spoke to God before they spoke with man; they always went into God before they went out to the world; they could meet the problems of life because they had first met God.”

And they WORSHIPED—not privately—but publically in the temple courts—right under the noses of the same people who had plotted to arrest and crucify Jesus.  Another thing—they experienced amazing FELLOWSHIP. A “sweet, sweet Spirit was in that place!” They shared IN their common experiences of joy and sorrow…and they shared WITH one another material gifts and words of love and encouragement. They were the first to understand what it felt like to literally be ONE in the Spirit! Today Christians from around the world can experience the same caliber of oneness—because no matter what language they speak—no matter where they live—they have the same Holy Spirit dwelling within them—UNITING them in powerful ways.

In Jim Cymbala’s newest book Spirit Rising, he tells about a time when he was eating lunch in a café in New York as he read the New York Times. He came across an article entitled, “Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakastan.”  It told of seven members of a Christian family—including two children—who were brutally murdered by a Muslim mob. It also told of other Christians who were being persecuted in a Pakistan town named Gojra. These  believers were being beaten. Their homes were being burned.  Cymbala confesses that as he read all this, he began to weep and pray right there in that café. He also says he couldn’t get the article out of his mind. For the next few days he thought about those persecuted believers all the time. God’s Spirit in him made him feel burdened for his Christian brothers and sisters living halfway around the world.

Cymbala is pastor of The Brookly Tabernacle and the next Tuesday evening at his church’s weekly prayer gathering he shared the contents of the story. Then he invited his congregation to pray for these persecuted believers in Gojra. When they finished, Craig, a leader in the church, rushed down the center aisle waving his hands to get his pastor’s attention. He said, “Pastor, there’s a woman sitting in the back—she’s from Pakistan.”  Cymbala thought, “A woman from Pakistan in our downtown Brooklyn church on a Tuesday night?”

He said, “Send her up.”  The woman told Pastor Cymbala and his congregation that her husband was a pastor in Pakistan…and that his church members were among the first to go into Gojra to bring help to the believers there.  In fact, she said they were still there. Cymbala writes,

Just imagine, at that very moment, her husband was in the town we were praying for!  He was working with other representatives to bring aid to the families who had lost loved ones and homes. That was the first time this woman ever visited the Brooklyn Tabernacle—the very same night I had spontaneously asked the church to pray for the Christians in Gojra, Pakistan. I shared what she had said with the people in the church. There was an audible gasp and then the room filled with a sense of holy wonder and awe…as people began to spontaneously thank God for this woman, her husband, and their ministry. I was in shock. The church was in shock. The woman was in shock. We had called out to God for some way to comfort and aid those involved in this catastrophe and within minutes we found out the Lord was ahead of us. We took a collection for this pastor and over the next few weeks, through phone calls and e-mails we began a relationship of praying for him in specific ways.

But that’s not all. A few months later on a Saturday night as Cymbala was about to begin one of their weekly worship services he got a cell-phone call from this pastor in Pakistan. The pastor said a mob of Muslims had cornered him, his wife and family on their roof. There were thousands of Muslims surrounding their house with torches in hand chanting, “Death to the Christians!” They threatened to burn the house down beneath them. Cymbala entered the sanctuary, told his people what was going on, and asked them to pray for that pastor and his family. They learned later that in response God sent a downpour in that Pakistani town. It rained so hard the crowd was forced to disperse allowing the pastor and his family to escape. That’s the UNIFYING power of the Holy Spirit—it’s the kind of ONENESS that Jesus prayed for in the garden the night of His arrest. It binds believers on opposite sides of the world together. It binds US together here at Redland! It’s a complete unity that shows the world that we are Christians—loved by God—indwelled by His Spirit.  It’s a caliber of oneness that makes lost people want to know Jesus. God uses SPIRIT-FILLED churches like this to draw people to faith in His Son.  It is no wonder that believers celebrate Pentecost Sunday! Let us pray.

Father God,

I ask that Your Spirit would fall on us here at Redland this morning. Convict us of our need to be the kind of church we read about here in Your book. Give each of us an insatiable hunger for Your Word. Show us the importance of prayer. Open our eyes to each other’s needs….help us to continue to have a sweet fellowship. Make ours a church that inspires AWE in the hearts of all the people who pass by…daily add to Your body here at RBC, those who are being saved. Convict each of us of our need to acknowledge Your Son as our head—following His will in all things. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

As we stand and sing I invite you to come as the Spirit leads. Perhaps you feel drawn to God because of the unity we enjoy here at Redland. You want to be a part of that kind of thing. Come, profess your faith in Jesus! Ask Him into your life—and He’ll COME IN! Today—right now—you can experience the power of Pentecost! You may feel led to join our church—or just want to come to the altar to pray for a co-worker or friend or family member, who doesn’t know Jesus. Come as God leads.

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