This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Pentecost Sunday 24 May 2026. The Bible Reading was Acts 2:1-21

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.  

The Significance of Pentecost

Pentecost was a significant time for the Jews, and it was significant in two ways: Agriculturally, it was middle of the three annual Harvest festivals (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles); Historically, it was also the celebration of the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is why Jerusalem was filled, vs5, with: God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

Luke found it hard to describe what happened at that first Pentecost, he can only use pictures and metaphors. He writes vs2-4: Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues … But Luke doesn’t just use the first images that come into his head. These images are often used as images of God’s power and presence in the Old Testament. But what was God saying through these three pictures of Wind, Fire and Tongues?

WIND The Power of the Holy Spirit

In 1:8 Jesus told them: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, to be my witnesses … Wind gives the impression of irresistible power. It often makes a great sound which terrifies people and brings great destruction in its wake. It can’t be seen, but it’s power and influence can be felt. In this event the irresistible power of God was coming down and resting on each of his people.

I wonder if any of you have ever filled your car up with diesel instead of petrol?  I have a friend who did that! I’m not a mechanic but I understand it causes tremendous damage to the engine and is quite a job to put right. The engine has to be drained, flushed out, carburettors changed and so on. 

People are a bit like that. God designed us to work with him as the motivating power in our lives. The power of the Holy Spirit was given so that the disciples could be first-hand witnesses of what Jesus had said and done.

The Christian writer Colin Urquhart talks about the need for both the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He writes:

If we take God’s love without the power, we can only do half the job.

FIRE The Presence and Purity of the Holy Spirit

Vs3: They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. When God first appeared to Moses, He made himself known through a burning bush (Exodus 3:2). Whilst the bush appeared to burn it was not consumed by the fire. When God led the Israelites in the wilderness, he led them by a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13). The tongues of fire at Pentecost symbolised the presence of God.

I believe that all Christians have God’s Empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives – some spiritual gifts may lie dormant for years or they simply haven’t utilised the gifts they’ve been given. It is our responsibility to open the Grace Gift God has given us.

As well as God’s presence, fire is often used to illustrate purity. Precious metals are purified by being heated to such a high temperature that the impurities burn away. Tongues of fire symbolise the way in which the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus purifying our character.

Producing the fruit Paul writes about in Galatians 5:22: the fruit of the Spirit is: love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness; and self-control. It’s not that we become perfect immediately, but a Christian should produce the fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit are natural consequences of His working in our lives.

If we can’t see fruit in our lives, or in the lives of other Christians, then God isn’t doing His work. And that is down to us: our hardness of heart; our disobediences; our unwillingness to change. As John Stott wrote:

As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead. 

TONGUES The Proclamation of the Holy Spirit

Perhaps the most outstanding aspect of this passage is the miracle of tongues. I recognise that some people become uncomfortable when we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that’s quite understandable, because we’re talking about a supernatural God who is able to do supernatural things! Yes, some gifts are extra-ordinary (miracles, prophecy) others are quite ordinary (mercy, helps, administration) but given in service to God they are out of this world – because they are!

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not gifts for gifts sake, but are given, primarily, to enable Christians to testify to Jesus.

It was the gift of tongues that drew the crowd, but it was never meant to be just a sensational phenomenon. It was meant to enable the believers to preach God’s message. Luke names at least fifteen nationalities who were able to hear the praises of God in their own language, vs9-11. This was a sign to show that the disciples had received the Holy Spirit and could be understood.

Galileans, apparently, spoke with a distinctive accent that made it difficult to speak other languages. I know people make fun of my Sunderland twang and pronunciation, but who can understand a Cockney or as they say nowadays a ‘Mockney?’  For example, who can make sense of this: Move your plates of meat up those apples and pears before the trouble and strife comes along!

The gift of tongues was given to let the people know that the Gospel of the Good News of the Kingdom of God was for the whole world. There is, I think, a reversal of the judgment of the ‘Tower of Babel’ at Pentecost. You may remember how, in Genesis 11 men, in their pride, had tried to ascend to heaven to be like God and God’s judgment was to scatter the people over the face of the earth and confuse their language. However, God’s blessing at Pentecost united people together. At Babel, there was confusion in the language, but at Pentecost, people understood what was being said. The Tower of Babel was designed for the praise of men, but Pentecost brought praise to God. The Tower of Babel was an act of rebellion, but Pentecost brought submission to God. 

The Holy Spirit makes all things NEW

The age of the Holy Spirit, which had been promised by the prophets of old, as well as Jesus himself in John 15 and Acts 1, could only come into place once Jesus had ascended into Heaven and taken his place alongside the Father. He promised this in John 14 when he promised to send a counsellor/ comforter and in Acts 1:7, he reminded his disciples: ‘I tell you the truth. It is for your good that I am going away.’

Jesus’ going prepared the way for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in them – he would be with them wherever they went. The work of the Kingdom would be deepened and broadened by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Greater things could be done through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Vs17-18: ‘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. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on the church was the beginning of God making all things new (Isaiah 42:9; Jeremiah 31:31) in the lives of His disciples and giving ordinary people an extraordinary purpose.

Conclusion

A photographer was taking photos of a raging Australian bush fire. Eventually the fire became too intense, so he radioed for a small plane to pick him up and take him over the fire. He was assured that there would be a plane for him at a nearby airstrip, and so he hurried around to the airfield. Sure enough, there on the runway was a small plane exactly as he had been told. He jumped in and said to the pilot, “Take her away.” 

When they were in the air he said to the pilot, “I want you to swing left and go low over the fire.”  A little later he said, “Now I want you to dive down onto the top of the smoke.” The pilot turned to him and said, “Why are you asking me to do this?” The photographer replied, “Because I’m a photographer and I want good photos.” To which the pilot exclaimed, “You mean you’re not my instructor?”  

God doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves; he sends the Holy Spirit comes to be our instructor, our guide, our counsellor, our advocate.

The Spirit-filled life is not a special deluxe version of Christianity or an added-on luxury extra for a chosen few.  It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for his people, and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity of the Christian faith. It is for every one of us – no exceptions. We see this in vs17&18:Sons and daughters, young and old, men and women, slave and free.

When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, they changed from being a fearful group of followers and acquired a dynamic edge to their ministry they’d never experienced before – just as Jesus said they would.  The Holy Spirit enabled and guided their ministry and empowered them to fulfil the commission Jesus had given them. We need the power, presence and purity of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and shape us to be the people God has called us to be.

A Prayer

Holy Spirit, I admit that I need more of you in my life.
Holy Spirit, I admit that I have not always obeyed your voice.
Please forgive me and lift me into your light.
Ever-gracious Holy Spirit come down in your perfect power.
May you flow through my life and take possession of all that I am:
Release your power, presence and purity into my heart and make all things new.
Enable me to be the person you have called me to be.
I pray this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.