1 | The Tension of Waiting (Acts and the Acension)

There are moments of waiting that affect the whole world yet are the most personal of things. In 1952, on a holiday in Kenya, a young princess, Elizabeth, was informed of the passing of her Father and her ascension to the throne. What a surreal moment of waiting that became a season of waiting, a lifetime of service that must have been! The news of her Father’s passing while you are some 4000 miles away, and the reality with it that your life will change forever. They are waiting to both mourn and celebrate in a personal capacity and with the nation. To mourn the passing of your Dad, yet celebrate your ascension to the throne. How must that moment have felt when the girl who was never meant to become queen would do so unexpectedly at 25 and remain so for another 70 years until her passing in September 2022? Then, for the first time in a lifetime, all that was normal became new as the nation and a prince experienced a process they had not walked for nearly 100 years. To wait can be tinged with the fullness of our human emotions, often in one season of waiting as two people waited to ascend to a throne and mourn a passing, the nation waiting to mourn and celebrate with them. A collective waiting marked by the tensions of expectation, joy, grief, and hope. Perhaps the perfect example of the waiting we see today.

“Wait” – When was the last time we heard that word with wonder in our minds? Waiting is often such a negative experience for every one of us. It is a season marked by the unknown and the tension that comes with being in between what was and what might come. Yet, there are those moments in life when waiting is something beautiful, where the tension is tinged with Joy, excitement and wonder about what might be. When was the last time you felt that sort of waiting? Today, we find ourselves with the disciples as they wait in a moment that concludes, and the work begins. But 7 days before, they watched Jesus ascend as he concluded his life, minister and perfect work among us. Death had been defeated on the Cross, sin had been destroyed, and life was restored as he was resurrected on the third day. Then, over forty days, he prepared his followers for what was to come and assured them that the work of God would go on. As the moments of the ascension neared, Jesus comforted the disciples to wait with expectation:

While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Father’s Promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” – Acts 1:4-5 CSB

Pentecost marks the end of waiting and the beginning of wonder as the Holy Spirit works in God’s people and through them into the world. Why? because the Church, the body of Christ, would be how God would work in the world and continues to be to this day; in the words of John Howard Yoder, “The church does communicate to the world what God plans to do, because it shows that God is beginning to do it.” Today, we get to consider what God has begun and continues to do to this day.

2 | The God Who Keeps His Promise (Acts 2:1-4)

They have watched Jesus ascend upwards in vindication of all he set out to do. Then, with his words of instruction ringing in their ear, they headed back to Jerusalem from the Hill called the Mount of Olives, back to the upper room, and waited. They waited for the help that Jesus had told them about for years; the one who descended upon Jesus at the Baptism of John would now come upon them in the baptism of power and something new. Yet, theirs was not an inactive waiting. No, as they waited for the work of God, they waited purposefully and actively – “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with his Brothers.” There in the upper room where their lives had changed over and over again in the last 6 weeks, Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James and Simon, and Judas, son of James, waited in fellowship and Prayer for whatever God was going to next with some Mary, Jesus family and lots of the other women who had supported and followed Jesus as faithfully as they. In our waiting for God, we give ourselves to God in Prayer.

2.1 | A Beautiful Waiting

In Acts 1:14, the disciples model Paul’s instruction to the Church to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Paul calls on the Church to this consistency of Prayer because he had seen it modelled in the life of those who had walked with Jesus, and in Acts 1, we get a glimpse of what the Kingdom waiting looks like. What marks our waiting for the work of God in our time and place? Prayer, thanksgiving, hope, joy? Excitement that God might show up in ways we could not expect? Or do we mumble and grumble because we misunderstand who God is and how God works?

The disciples waited, prayed, and acted as Judas, the betrayer, was replaced under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now, they wait not just for the guidance of the Spirit in a moment but for the power of the Spirit through life. Thus, our passage begins without a moment today – the day of Pentecost has come, and without warning, our single waiting that Christ had instructed ends as God moves among them. Imagine that moment as they prayed and waited for days in the upper room without any sense of what would happen, just that something would happen. Imagine how incomprehensible it must have been to experience the work of God in that moment. The words used to help us visualise it barely do justice to the moment. Yet, the point is clear – God is moving in power! God is moving in such a powerful, tangible and potent way that it affects not just the heart of the disciples, nor their persons but the world around them. What Christ had promised, and God had foretold long ago, has now come because God keeps his word and is sovereign.

2.2 | God’s Timing is Perfect

On that Pentecost day, the Jewish people (from every corner of the known world) gather in the city of God to celebrate the end of the Barley Harvest. The moment when the Gospel would go out to the ends of the earth, people gathered from all the corners of the planet to see it begin. It is the undoing of Babel, as God is his sovereign timing and beauty marks at its very inception, who the age of the Church is for, to whom the Kingdom will go – all people. At (Babel), humanity, in its pride, sought to reach God; at Pentecost, humanity was humbled by the Cross and saw God move in power. His presence filled the room, descended as wind and Fire to help us visualise this moment’s significance. Wind and Fire are common biblical symbols for the Spirit of God throughout the Scriptures. The same Greek/Hebrew word used here for Spirit is also used to describe the wind and breath of God that blows through the Valley of dry bones, breathing new life (Ezek 37:1-14). There, God declared: “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live.” At Pentecost, we see the same Promise because truth in the life of the Church, as what was once dead is brought to life and restored: first, by the work of Christ, and now by the Power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist foretold of a Baptism in the Spirit by Wind and Fire (Luke 3:6-17), both of which remove the chaff in Judgement. Pentecost is the moment the Spirit of God comes in power upon the Church to do the work of God in the world, yet, in the fullness of the biblical imagery, it is also the coming of God’s righteous Judgement, the beginning of the end for the curse of sin in the world. Thus, that which rejects the life of the Spirit will one day, like the chaff, feel the effects of the wind and Fire in Judgement. The Spirit promised in Joel 2:28 has arrived in fullness and power:

I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. – Joel 2:27

At Pentecost, God shows his word as he keeps the Promise foretold in Joel. The Spirit of God has come in power; as much as Fire is a symbol of Judgement, it is also a symbol of power. When you think about the Fire of Pentecost, your mind is meant to be drawn to the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-5) and the pillar of Fire in the journey (Exodus 13). God the Holy Spirit comes in power, with the separate of like tongues firing, showing that each person will receive the Holy Spirit by faith and collectively become the dwelling place of God on earth. A living temple is being built, and the foundation is laid in the upper room.

A temple that is still being built today as the Holy Spirit brings to fulfil the purposes of God in every corner of the world through Christ’s body – the Church. A promise that is still being fulfilled today as we, the people of God, move in faith; the same Spirit who empowered the wonder of Pentecost is empowering us as individuals to do the work of God and as a Church in this city to bring about the heart of Pentecost in Belfast in such a time as this. God is sending His Church to reach every part of our city and every person in it, whether they have called Belfast home for a lifetime or just a short time. Whether they prefer orange or green, if they identify as Northern Irish, British, Irish, or International, or if they are wealthy or homeless.

2.3 | The Call to All People

The Holy Spirit moves us in power to all people because the Goodness of Christ and the Call of the Kingdom is to the ends of the earth – every tribe, tongue and nation – and yet sometimes we are not even willing to go to the ends of our city. Church becomes comfortable and a space for people like us rather than a lighthouse to the wanderer and a hospital for the sick and downtrodden. We hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:25-40 and think how lovely and true without realising that this is the ethic of the Kingdom, the way of the Cross and those for whom God came:

35 For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Why? Because those whom society has not raised by either the influence, religion, power or position are those who know their sin and need of a saviour – they are you and me. Thus, the Holy Spirit, who will empower all people who profess faith in Christ regardless of where they have come from, moves God’s people to all people so that the hope of Christ and the beautiful reality of the Kingdom of God can be made real now. Not in any other place, city, or some other church or denomination, but today among and through us. This is our Call, our privilege, and our duty, and if we lose sight of it, then we have turned our sails from the wind of Spirit, taken our eyes off the Cross, and placed them on Earthly things.

3 The Spirit who Empowers All People (Acts 2:5-13)

What a moment this is when something extraordinary happens to ordinary people. Do you realise this? When we set aside this as one of the most critical events in human history and in the scriptures, when we step back from the power, imagery, and majesty of the moment and how excited we get, we see something extraordinary in the ordinary. Think about what Pentecost is; that list of names in Acts 1 waiting in the upper room with the faithful women is not a list of powerful people; they are not the political elite, and they are not of royal bloodline! They are fishermen, tax collectors, zealots – a ragtime bunch of nobodies – to the world; they are still followers of a strange religious teacher who has just been put to death by the Roman state as requested by the Jewish religious leaders. Thus, in the eyes of the world at their time, these men and women were even more insignificant and uninteresting. Yet, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit of God empowers these ordinary people to do and proclaim something extraordinary, something out of this world – The Gospel of Christ.

3.1 | The Time is Right (5-6)

The Spirit has come because the time is right for what God wants to do. Remember, the Lord’s timing is perfect; God is never too early or too late. Thus, as the Spirit has descended on the disciples like tongues of Fire, and they have begun to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled in verse 5, we are taken outside the upper room to see why! Because at this time, “there were God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” staying in the Capital city. The city was ripe to hear the good news of Jesus because there were people in the city from all over the known world who, when they heard it, would leave the city and become evangelists in their own right. They would be so transformed by what they would experience at that moment that they would head back home and say: “Wait until you hear what I say and hear about a man called Jesus.” God always chooses his moment perfectly!  And what we are meant to see in Acts 2:9-11 is not some abstract detail about the demographics of Jerusalem; it is beautiful theology as God gives us a glimpse at the very beginning of what the Church will be and the missiological heartbeat of the Kingdom of God in every time, place, and context that the Holy Spirit moves the Church, the Spirit will do so to all people there. Even the very descending of the Spirit on the disciples has had missiological implications as God has used the commotion to gather the city to their point of “bewilderment” and to hear the overflow of what is going on.

The very tounges that the disciples are speaking are to the ears of those who hear their own. The undoing of Babylon has begun until its fulfilment in the throneroom of God, whenever tribe, tongue and nation will bow before the throne of God. Do you see that? As God begins by gathering one people from every background from the beginning of the Church, we are meant to see the Beauty of diverse unity that the thing that gathers us in Christ and his Church is Grace and Faith in Christ and nothing else! The Beauty of “every tribe, tongue, and nation gather” does not Start in Revelation; it begins in Jersulam and is lived out in every corner of the Church until its fulfilment in Revelation. As in Jerusalem, it should be in our city and at the time today. We must acknowledge that we live in a culturally diverse city and the sadness that often our churches do not reflect or feel comfortable with it.

Pentecost is not simply about speaking in other tongues; it is a challenge to the heart of God’s people to get comfortable with the reality of God’s Kingdom and Church, that he will gather to himself a people from every background united in repentance and Grace. From the wealthy to the poor, from the corners of the earth to people who have never left their home city, from the seats of power to the unemployed, from those of one political persuasion to another – in the Church and our life of faith we must grasp that our unity is only in Christ, and get comfortable with what the Spirit is trying to build among us and through us.

3.2 | Let me Tell You About Jesus(7-9)

As the crowds gather with bewilderment to see what all the fuss is about, their first response is one of shock! “Aren’t all those who are speaking from Galilee?” Quite literally, at that moment, whether through recognising their speech or accent, the crowd realise where these men are from and try to dismiss the reality of what God is doing through them because of it. To the supernatural sound of their own language, as others hear their own, the crowd collective says. There is no way these men are bilingual. As the people gathered in the city struggle to decide what is going on and where both the language and courage have come from – we are meant to be those who see that it is not just supernatural speech; it is Holy Spirit-empowered boldness and courage. The disciples never wanted a platform or stage to talk about Jesus; they were happy in the room, waiting, praying, and hoping. Now, suddenly, they find themselves in front of all who are gathered telling them about Jesus. This moment is a direct fulfilment of Joel 2 as the sons, daughters, servants and all begin to tell of what the Lord has done.

Are you sitting thinking today that God cannot use you? Or looking around and thinking that there are lots of better options? As Humans, we so often fall into the default of doubt – “God uses others and not me.” In a moment, Pentecost should humble us! It is not just about the way of God’s mission or the diversity of God’s people; Pentecost is about the who of God’s Kingdom. Any othering of service in the Kingdom of God by us should be demolished in a moment as we grasp that there is no such thing as a **Spiritless Christian; ** if you are in Christ by faith, then you have been empowered by God to do his work in the ways he has gifted you. Again, the Holy Spirit empowers all believers to witness the good news of Christ in word and deed and bring glory to his name. So perhaps we must prayerfully consider how God might use us in the service of His Kingdom in our time, context, and city. We are not qualified by our status to the work of God; in faith, we, like the disciples, grasp that the natural movement of the Spirit is outwards until the Lord comes again.

3.3 | Amazement and Dismissal: One Gospel and Two Reactions (11-13)

There are some moments in history that I read about and think, “I would love to be there just watching and experiencing.” The first Pentecost is one of those moments for me. We should experience Jerusalem at that time, not just at the moment of Pentecost but also as every culture descended upon the city to celebrate and worship. Was there still tension in the air after the triumphant entry? The arrest of Jesus and his crucifixion, or did the city soon forget what once was its focus? Then, in a moment, God and the disciples of Jesus burst back onto the scene not by their own choice but in power and boldness. The followers of Jesus have been transformed by the work of God in them so that God can work through them! Yet, bewilderment soon gives way to the two default reactions to the work of God – Amazement & dismissal, as that is okay. There will always be two reactions to the work of God, and as workers in his Kingdom, we have to get comfortable with them.

3.3.1 | Amazed and Perplexed

After the list of the nations gathered, we see the first reaction as people trying to comprehend all that has happened and what they have walked into. As they look at these men from Galilee and cannot connect what is happening to their prejudgments about them, we are told that some react with “amazement and perplexity” – they ponder: “What does this mean for us?” And that is the right question to ask today and every day when it comes to the word of God and life with him. If we have entered into the fellowship of believers and into this community of worship without a willingness to ask, “What does this mean for us?” then we have lost sight of what it means to follow and be open to the Holy Spirit. Even if we have been walking with the Lord for a lifetime, we must be willing to ask at every point of our lives as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us: “What does this mean for us?” We must be willing to consider the following: “What does the heart and movement of Pentecost mean for us as a Church, people, and individuals in our context and city today as we seek to serve God and live for him?” And, if we have yet to humble ourselves before God by faith in Christ, we know the answer to that question already! “What it means to us today is that there is nowhere else to turn than to Jesus and nothing else to build our lives upon.

3.3.2 | Amazed and Then Back to Normal (Dismissal)

Yet, as marvellous as this moment is, as supernatural as the evidence seems and as much as we might love God and give thanks for the Gospel, there will always be those whose hearts are too hard and pride too stubborn to see what God is doing among them and through them. As some ponder the significance of the moments others have already found a way to dismiss it:

“They have had too much wine.”

It is also hard to read after the wonder and Beauty of the passage, the simple dismissal, and the mockery. The age-old tactic of avoiding the discomfort of truth. If you don’t want to reckon with what’s happening, just ridicule it. If you can’t explain the supernatural, make it sound ridiculous. That way, you don’t have to change, and we can go on living our lives as if we are God and know what we are made for all because we are too afraid to admit we are lost or trust in something beyond ourselves. That way, our hearts stay untouched. It’s easier to laugh than to listen and easier to be cynical than convicted. That’s what’s happening here in Jerusalem and so often happens on the streets of our city. On this street, people identify with the words of our faith but not the heart. They will say: “Oh, I am a….” but dismiss the need for Jesus or life in the faith. They trust their religion and not his righteousness as they dismiss the life of the Kingdom by telling us: I pay in, I go on important days, My granny went to St Somewhere, I read my bible, I am in this group or that group. They tell us everything but a willingness to respond as the Gospel demands.

So let’s not pretend we’re above this or our city is above this. Dismissial of Christ is dismissial! Dismissal is not just something ‘they’ do — it’s something we all do when God starts to move in ways we didn’t expect or can’t control. When the Holy Spirit prompts us out of comfort and into calling, when He challenges our assumptions or stretches our boundaries, how often do we reach for the same excuse? “That’s not really God…”, “That’s just emotion…”, “That’s not how we do things here…” The problem is never the power of God — it’s our readiness to receive it.

But Church, don’t be discouraged. This has always been the way. When the Gospel is truly proclaimed — with power, clarity, and urgency — it divides. Some will lean in, others will laugh. Some will be cut to the heart; others will harden theirs. But the truth remains: God has come. The Spirit is moving. And the Kingdom is advancing. Our job is not to control the reaction but to be faithful to the message. Let them laugh. Let them mock. But don’t let them distract you from what God has called you to do. Because for every voice of mockery, a thousand people could ask, “What does this mean for me?” and our living out of the faith might be how they find their answer. That’s where the Spirit leads us next.

4 | What Does this Mean for Us Now? (Conclusion)

So perhaps the question that lingers is the same one asked all those years ago: “What does this mean for us?” Pentecost is not just a date from church history or a festival in the Church year to make us feel good. No, it is a reminder that God still keeps His promises, speaks through His people, and sends His Spirit to stir the Church into life. This isn’t about a dramatic moment in Jerusalem long ago; it’s about whether we will be a people willing to wait, receive, and go.

Will we be a church marked by prayerful expectation, ready for God to move even in the unexpected? Will we be a people that welcomes and reflects the beautiful, true, and Gospel diversity of the Kingdom and not the world? Not just across cultures but across classes, backgrounds, and stories to reach every part of our city. Will we be a church that doesn’t chase comfort but chooses calling? That sees the Spirit’s coming not as something to watch but something to walk in?

The Holy Spirit has come — not just to fill the room, but to fill us. So let’s be the kind of Church that doesn’t merely remember Pentecost but lives it — right here on York Street, in North Belfast, and to the very edges of our lives. And next week, as Peter stands up and explains all this means, we’ll hear the Gospel proclaimed in fullness. But today, may the seed be planted in your heart already. May your waiting turn to wonder. May your questions turn to faith. May your heart be open to the God who still speaks.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Do it again.

Do it here.

Do it in us.

Amen.