Sunday (Pentecost) Worship Service June 8, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship Job 33:4
Hymn JBC # 650 Serve the Lord with gladness
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC #262 Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Offering
Special Hymn 1
God’s Wonderful Works in the multiple languages
Special Hymn 2
Scripture Acts 2:32～42
Prayer
Sermon “Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 278 There’s within my heart a melody
Doxology JBC # 679
Benediction
Postlude
Welcome & Announcements

Today we offer the worship service of Pentecost.
Let us listen together to God's message from the Bible about Pentecost, in which the Lord's Holy Spirit was poured out on Christ's disciples.
Today's Bible passage is from the New Testament in the book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 32-42.
Peter, the first disciple of Jesus Christ, is speaking to the people who have gathered.
Peter told them that Jesus Christ is the One sent from God and that He has risen from the dead.
Here are Peter's words in the first verse of today's passage:

　God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
When Peter encountered the risen Jesus Christ, he could not help but share the resurrected Christ with others. And it was the Holy Spirit who prompted him to do so.
Peter himself says that he was poured out with the Holy Spirit. These are the words of today's verse 33.

33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

　Peter is telling about who the Jesus Christ is, and about His death and resurrection, because he has received the promised Holy Spirit.
　And the work of the invisible Holy Spirit was also evident in Peter's figure that passionately talk about Jesus Christ and God.
I sometimes wonder if Jesus showed up and prove Himself that he was resurrected, more people would believe in Jesus.
I am sure there would still be doubters, but I think that evangelism would go much faster if Jesus himself revealed himself to us and spoke his words directly than if we, as people, evangelize.
However, the Bible says that there is sure hope in that faith because it is invisible to our eyes, and that such faith is eternal.

Let me quote 2 biblical passages below:

Romans 8:24～25
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

2 Corinthians 4:18
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

　We live in an invisible but sure hope, an invisible but eternal hope (rather because we cannot see).
We still cannot see Jesus with our eyes or meet Him in person. We know who Jesus is through the Bible.
And we can also know Christ through the example of others who have believed in Him and have been changed in the way they live, and who are actually living out their faith through the way they live.
In this way, Christ is communicated through the life of each believer and also through the work of the church. And it is the Holy Spirit who makes this possible.
Therefore, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we hope to continue to testify that Christ has indeed risen and that we have received hope through the resurrected Christ and are kept alive.

Let us read verse 36 of today’s passage.
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

“Jesus, whom you crucified," is a fierce expression. But we must listen to these words as they are directed to us too today.
Jesus went to the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, it was each one of us who crucified Jesus, and it was “this myself” who crucified Him.
Our church carries the cross on its roof. The cross is a method of capital (death) punishment. The wood of the cross is an instrument of capital punishment.
We have on our roof (the most prominent place) what is an instrument of death penalty. We do this so that we will always remember the fact that we have crucified Christ, the One who is God.
And we will always remember that on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ died for us and gave us new life.

In today's passage, there was the following response from those who had heard such a story of Peter.
　“Brothers, what shall we do?” (v.37)

When people are informed about the true God and what Jesus Christ has done for them, they will think “Now I must not go on like this”
Therefore, they asked Peter “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter answered (verses 38-39)
“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 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (v.38~39)
“Be baptized in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins" means that only in the name of Christ can we be saved and have our sins forgiven.”

And baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, then, not only represents the forgiveness of sins, but also leads to the reception of the Holy Spirit as a gift.
It is also very important to note that the Holy Spirit as a gift is given "to your children and to all who are far away, for all whom God calls.”
Here we are taught that the Christian must continue to speak of the presence of the Risen Lord in every situation.
This is because if the Christian does not speak (testify) about the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, others will not hear about Him.
Unless we give a living testimony of our faith as our own experience of faith, others will not know that Christ is still working and sustaining our lives.
And also because we do not know whom the Lord God is calling to Himself (who would become believers).
Therefore, it is important that we continue to witness and testify of the Lord Jesus Christ through every opportunity we are given.

In today's passage, it says that those who accepted Peter's words were baptized, and about 3,000 people joined them that day.
Three thousand is an impressive number. We would think that such a miracle can’t be today.
But we can have faith in the hope that if the Word of God is spoken with truth, such a great event is not impossible, even today.

Let me read the last verse, v.42, of today's passage.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Here is what the Christian Church continues to value today. Apostles’ teaching means teaching the Word of Jesus Christ, the teaching of God as conveyed in the Bible.
　Teaching does not mean that someone teaches someone else one-way, but that we teach and learn from each other. We are to teach one another and encourage one another in the faith. That is the Body of Christ.
　It is where Jesus Christ, as communicated in the Bible, is communicated vividly. I believe that in such a church where the living Christ is preached and shared, people will surely gather.
In Christ's church, there is mutual fellowship. There is a fellowship of life in which we support one another.
As for mutual fellowship in the church, I realize the importance of this from my own experience as a pastor.
The pastor is the spiritual leader, but he is also the only believer before God.
It is essential for the pastor to be nurtured in spiritual fellowship with the church members in order to continue his ministry of speaking the Word.
Therefore, I am truly thankful that you all have chosen me as your pastor, and that you continue to nurture me in spiritual fellowship with me as a fellow believer (brother).
As a pastor, I too am taught many things by you.
I can also look back on my life of faith before I became a pastor and I can say with certainty that my faith would never have grown if I had not been connected to the church.
Let us cherish the fellowship of each other and the church, which is so important.

The “breaking of bread” refers directly to the Lord's Supper.
Although we cannot see Jesus Christ now, we remember that He offered His body for us through the Lord's Supper.
And by actually partaking of the bread and wine that symbolize the body of Christ, we experience that our lives are still sustained by Christ, and we continue to witness to that faith through the visible ritual.
And the last thing we are told is to pray.
The church is a place where two or three people can pray in the name of Christ, believing together in earnest that their prayers will be heard if they pray together with their hearts.
Prayer is one of the precious gifts given to the Church, and I believe it is safe to say that nothing can deprive us of this gift of prayer.
We want to be a church that can pray with joy, expectation, and strength, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Today we offer a worship service that remembers and celebrates the event of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first fell on Christ's disciples.
Let us join in prayer, with open hearts and minds, and also listening to each other's hearts and voices, that the Holy Spirit will work freely (like the wind) among us, even now.
When we ask and pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us and to our Church in abundance. Let us believe in the Lord's promise and continue to live in faith of hope.