Unstoppable: The Book of Acts: Pentecost - Pastor Ben Hodges

Acts 2:1-15 Acts 2 begins, “When the day of Pentecost had fully come…”- Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, a festival commanded in Leviticus 23, celebrated 50 days after Passover.- It marked the wheat harvest—a thanksgiving for God’s provision—and it commemorated the giving of the Law at Sinai.- Jews from every nation under heaven gathered in Jerusalem to remember God's covenant.- On this Pentecost, God wasn’t just giving wheat. He was giving the first fruits of His Spirit.- He wasn’t writing the Law on tablets of stone—but on hearts of flesh.The roots of Pentecost go back to Genesis 11, to a tower called Babel.- After the flood, the people settled in Shinar and said, “Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower… and make a name for ourselves.”- They all spoke one language, and they used their unity—not to glorify God—but to assert independence from Him.- In response, God confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth.- Filled with ‘self,’ human pride led to division.- One language became many. Community became confusion. Unity brokeIn Acts 2, Babel gets redeemed then reversed.- The nations are still scattered. They still speak different tongues.- But suddenly—in a room in Jerusalem—the Holy Spirit comes like fire, and the disciples begin speaking in many languages.- Pentecost reverses Babel.- At Babel, languages scattered people, at Pentecost, languages gather them.- At Babel, humanity tried to climb up to heaven, at Pentecost, heaven came down to us.Acts 2:6, “Each one heard them speaking in his own language.”- This isn’t just a miracle of speech. It’s a miracle of understanding.- “My gospel is not for one tribe or tongue. It’s for every nation.”- Joel 2:28-29 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.- God gave us a new community, united not by race or language or preference or culture or individual priorities, but by the Spirit of Christ.All believers are harvest workers.All believers receive the Spirit not as a personal gift to be leveraged for self; receiving Him means you receive a mission and a calling beyond yourself.- We go to a divided and broken world offering community to those not like us.- We gather others, welcoming them to be a part of us (a Spirit-filled temple).o What Babel scattered, Pentecost gathers.o What Babel confused, Pentecost clarifies.o What Babel broke, Pentecost heals.The goal: every nation and every tongue cries out together, not in confusion, but in praise declaring, “Worthy is the Lamb!”