Empowered

August 31, 2025
Empowered
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Acts 2:1-41

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. . . the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

Acts 2:17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
"I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence."

Acts 2:29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
'Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.'"

Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 122:1-2, 8-9

LEADER: I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

ALL: Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!

 LEADER: For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”

ALL: For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5

LEADER: For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Can you remember a time when your mother demonstrated great strength–whether physically, relationally, or otherwise? A show of great courage or tenacity? Could you attribute that memorable show of strength to anything in particular? If so, what?
  2. Try to imagine yourself there at the feast of Pentecost. Aside from the wonder of the rush of wind and the tongues of flame, what might you infer from the astonishing phenomenon of God’s mighty works being translated into the foreign tongue of everyone present? 
  3. Refresh your memory. What is Peter claiming the moment just passed is connected to what the prophet Joel had said centuries earlier? And how is what the Psalm attributed to King David related?
  4. Those who first heard this were urged to repent and be baptized. If you have already done so, what do you make of the encouragement we’ve received down through the ages to “remember our baptism” every time we see someone baptized? What would that be for? How would that help?

ILLUSTRATIONS

Aug 31, 2025

QUOTES

Getting kids to church can be a struggle. When they are very young it is hard to get them dressed, shoes and jackets and clean diapers (things are especially hard if you live, as I do, somewhere where there is real winter. Mittens and hats and boots). As kids get older, it becomes about fighting their laziness. “Do we have to go? Why can’t I stay home this week, like so many of my friends?” In response to this I told my kids, “One day people might need to go to Church again, and we have to make sure there is still one for them to go to.” “I’ll get my coat,” my daughter said. 
- Marilyn Simon
 The Church is the one thing that saves a man from the degrading servitude of being a child of his time. 
- G.K. Chesterton
Sometimes I lie awake at night, or I wander in the field behind my house, or I walk down the street in our local town and think I can see it all around me: the grid. The veins and sinews of the Machine that surrounds us and pins us and provides for us and defines us now. I imagine a kind of network of shining lines in the air, glowing like a dewed spiderweb in the morning sun. … I see the Machine, humming gently to itself as it binds us with its offerings … I see it rising and tightening its grip, and I see that none of us can stop it from evolving into whatever it is becoming. 
- Paul Kingsnorth
Wherefore, as often as we fall, we must recall the remembrance of our baptism, and thus fortify our minds, so as to feel certain and secure of the remission of sins. For though, when once administered, it seems to have passed, it is not abolished by subsequent sins. For the purity of Christ was therein offered to us, always is in force, and is not destroyed by any stain: it wipes and washes away all our defilements. 
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
...we must hold boldly and fearlessly to our baptism, and hold it up against all sins and terrors of conscience, and humbly say, ‘I know full well that I have not a single work which is pure, but I am baptized, and through my baptism God, Who cannot lie, has bound Himself in a covenant with me, not to count my sin against me, but to slay it and blot it out’” 
- Martin Luther, Treatise on Baptism

BOOKS / DOCS

  • “The Church is your Mom,” Tish Harrison Warren
  • Devoted to the Church, Sinclair Ferguson
  • Contesting the Body of Christ, Myles Werntz
  • Church: A Guide to the People of God, Brad East
  • C.S. Lewis and the Church, eds. Judith and Brendan Wolfe
  • The Church and its Vocation, Michael W. Goheen
  • “What is Church?” Jason Micheli
  • Life Together, Dietrich Bønhoeffer (tl;dr: start here)
  • Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas
  • From Isolation to Community, Myles Werntz
  • "Maybe the church wasn't so bad after all?"