God Sends The Holy Spirit - An Unforgettable Encounter | Acts 2:1-13
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
At the Feast of Pentecost, a sound like a strong wind filled the whole building and spread like wildfire through the disciples’ ranks.
People from all over spoke in different languages as prompted by the Holy Spirit.
Peter preached and 3000 people believed in Jesus and were added to their numbers that day.
Jesus had promised this before he left to ascend back into Heaven: He would send them another advocate - The Holy Spirit - who would teach them all things, give power to be His witnesses, and run the engine of Christian life & faith for believers forevermore.
Today God still gives us His Holy Spirit; it is responsible for some extraordinary personal experiences with God, peace when times are difficult; gifts such as wisdom & discernment; fruit such as love, joy & self-control; even miracles on occasion!
💬 CONVERSATION STREET --
Dan + John discuss:
What stood out ot you from Chris’ talk about the Holy Spirit’s coming?
What is speaking in tongues?
What do you think of the concept that says that the gift of tongues stopped with the first church?
What comforts you about the Holy Spirit?
Have you seen the movie “The Shack”? What do you think about it?
People might say that since the inception of the church, the rate at which the gospel is spreading has diminished. What would you say to that?
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Chris Holcombe: Hi, uh, pleasure to be with you, uh, to talk about the beginning of acts and the, uh, arrival of the Holy Spirit. So let's start by reading from Acts chapter two from the message. Uh, start in the beginning. When the Feast of Pentecost came. They were all together in one place. Without warning. There was a sound, like a strong wind gale force.
No one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages. As the spirit prompted. There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then devout pilgrims from all over the world.
When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them, figure out what was going on and kept saying, aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them in our various mother tongues, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites.
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene. Immigrants from Rome, Jews and proselytes, even Cretans and Arabs. They're speaking our language describing God's mighty works. Their heads were spinning. They couldn't make head or tail of it. They talked back and forth confused what's going on here?
Others joked, they're drunk on cheap wine. Peter spoke up and uh, and said. These people aren't drunk, as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk. It's only nine o'clock in the morning.
What an extraordinary scene. Sounds like madness, doesn't it? But let's paint that scene. Let's, uh, think about what was going on. 120 people all together in a big room. Jesus' circle of disciples drawn into his ministry and teaching over the last two, three years, those who believed, who thought indeed knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the savior of the Jewish people.
And what did that look like for first century Jews in Palestine? That was gonna be someone who released them from the oppression of the Romans who conquered the, the Romans had conquered them in Palestine, and, and the Messiah was gonna set them free.
But then it all went wrong it would seem. Jesus was arrested and he was executed, uh, just a down point as they, all their hopes had been dashed. But, but then three days later, raised from the dead, and they'd seen him down the cross, and yet these same people saw him alive and active amongst them later, and now are in the period where he's disappeared, gone back to heaven. What now?
You can imagine, can't you? This bunch of people. All sitting around in a, in a big room confused. They've had such high hopes and, and now he's gone scared and they killed Jesus. What about us? Just trying to work out what's next? Actually, should I go back and be, get the boat out and start fishing again on, on the sea of Galilee?
But Jesus has said, wait for the Holy Spirit.
So here we are with, with all these people, scared, confused, sad, and, and they think, well, you know, Judas has left us one of the 12 disciples and better replace him, I guess. And, and so we see that in the last chapter where, uh, Judas is replaced by Matthias. And then you can imagine again thinking, oh, well we done that.
Oh, what Now? I guess if they were British, someone would've put the Kettle on. Uh, let's, that's have a cup of tea, shall we? And you can imagine sitting around. Some would've drifted away. Some chatting, chatting on inappropriately. Uh, maybe just sitting around depressed and confused. and then, and then without warning, there was a sound, like a strong wind, gale force, like a wildfire. The Holy Spirit spread through their ranks and they started speaking in different languages.
Peter started preaching and that day 3000 took him at his word and signed up. 3000 people. And everyone will have different reactions to what you've just heard to this story we read in the Bible. I guess some will be thinking, wow, I wish I'd been there. Some will be thinking by golly, that must have been, uh, scary.
Many are probably thinking it's just madness. Impossible. Surely there's a plausible explanation. Maybe they were drunk, although pretty high functioning drunks if they're uh, uh, speaking in different tongues and new languages. Maybe it was mass hysteria or maybe just maybe God breaking into the time space continuum here on earth to do something extraordinary.
And when you look and you dig a little deeper, Jesus had promised this in John. We read, I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the spirit of truth. Later on in that chapter, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, will teach you all these things and Jesus'
final words as recorded, uh, in acts are these, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. And we see here in Acts chapter two, this prophecy being fulfilled. The Holy Spirit is the fuel. that runs the engine of our Christian life, our Christian faith. The, that that turns simple fishermen into bold witnesses that enables people to speak different languages. That causes 3000 people to turn to Jesus in a single day, not drunk. But rather God crashing into the world and the lives of those early disciples as he has done ever since.
But what of today? And, and of course, God still gives us His Holy Spirit, still gives us that fuel that drives our Christian life, drives indeed our whole lives. Reminds us of Jesus' teaching. Is responsible for some of the most extraordinary personal experiences and closeness to God that we ever have. Sometimes at times of ecstasy, sometimes in the deepest, darkest of valleys.
And that same Holy Spirit is with us as as, as Paul says in Romans, as we take our everyday ordinary lives. Our sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life and place it before God. The Holy Spirit is there with us.
It's the Holy Spirit that gives us that peace, that passes understanding when it's really difficult, when our boss is an unreasonable arse. Peace when the workload is just ridiculous. Peace. We read of the gift to the Holy Spirit in Corinthians and wisdom. Wisdom as to how to deal with that tricky HR situation, knowledge, faith, that God has put us where he wants us, faith that we are in the right place, even if it feels different. Discernment for what, what's really going on? Gifts to help us live life in the messy business of life.
We read in Galatians of the Spirit, the fruit of the spirit, and because the Holy Spirit is with us. Not only on a Sunday in church, but on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday where our faith is tested. We show the fruits of the spirit in the same way an apple tree can't help but grow apples, so we, as Spirit filled Christians can't help but show the fruits of the spirit and demonstrate love and joy and peace, forbearance, kindness.
Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And sometimes too, we see those other gifts in the spirit of miracles on occasion, where we pluck up the courage to pray, perhaps for a colleague where we speak in tongues and have those interpreted amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. And I'm not sure what your workplace is like, but my workplace in the NHS needs more of that, more of those Christians filled with the spirit.
More of those Christians who can make a difference, who can show that love, show that compassion. You may not be preaching to 3000 people like Peter did on the day of Pentecost, but you can with the holy spirit transform the culture of where you work, where you live, where you play. So not madness after all, but a gracious God-given resource to help us get up in the morning and live life, the fuel that makes the difference.
And if you'd like some homework. Uh, clearly you may not. However, um, some of it's dead easy, some of it a little less easy. So the dead easy homework is to sit down, uh, with a glass of wine, if that's what you fancy, and to watch the shack. Uh, it's a Hollywood, uh, film available from all the usual channels, which is a great example of some of the ways of, of the Holy Spirit and how he works and how he interacts with us.
The book also is, uh, a great, a great read. And if you want to go deeper, um, get a Bible app if you haven't got one already, and type into the search function, holy Spirit, and see what comes up in the New Testament. I get 88 hits on my, uh, on my Bible app. And look at each of those, read each of those. Dig around deeper to see what the Holy Spirit does in the lives of us as Christians.
And in conclusion, remember, remember that as a Christian, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. He's with you. He will give you wisdom, he'll give you insight. He'll help you be loving, help you be kind, help you be faithful. And whether you like it or not, you are taking him into work with you, you are taking him when you go to the gym. You are taking him when you go to that family reunion.
So not madness after all, but rather pretty much as Jesus said. I paraphrase, I'll send you the Holy Spirit to be alongside you and to help you do life.
Thank you very much.
Matt Edmundson: Coming up, we have Conversation Street. But before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast. What's the story, which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps?
Ian Dowsett: Often our baggage goes all the way back to childhood, uh, some of the upbringing stuff, uh, and even along the way where people just dump on us, and yet God doesn't want that and wants to clear us out of all of that rubbish. Just help us to be freer again. Uh, you know, just imagine all that weight and rubbish being like, you know, stones put into a rucksack and, and it's like, God's taking all those stones. And suddenly, suddenly you, you get to motor in life because you don't have that weight bearing you down.
Dan Orange: Well, we're back. That was, um, that was great, wasn't it?
John Farrington: Cool. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed that. Really enjoyed listening to, to Chris talk about that. I feel like I was writing lots of things down.
Dan Orange: Yes, definitely. I thought I'd just want to jump in and plug the, um, what's the story podcast? Mm-hmm. . Um, I've been working my way through them, so only a few in so far.
Yeah. But they're brilliant. Really good. Just if you've not, um, sort of tuned in or got them on your app or, or listened to any of them, the real life stories of. Matt and I think there's gonna be another, another interviewer as well, coming up, interviewing just people about their lives, what they've, what they've done, how they experienced God.
Yeah. I can't recommend them Enough. Been brilliant.
John Farrington: Ah, yeah. Really good. That is brilliant.
Dan Orange: Yeah, really good. Um, back to the talk. So yeah, John, what, what things sort of jumped out for you?
John Farrington: Hmm. Yeah. Uh, I was, um, while Chris was talking, I was kind of just, uh, wrapping my head around getting, getting to grips with kind of some of the, the passages that refer to the Holy Spirit in the Bible and kind of the different ways the Holy Spirit is, um, I think presented in the Bible and talked about.
Um, the, uh, yeah, and it was just sort of flicking through them and thinking about them while, while Chris was talking. Um, I, I really like the, the bit Chris touched on, um, you know, when, when the disciples were accused of being drunk. Um, and Chris, you know, pointed out they were very high functioning drunks. Thought that, I thought that was great. Great point.
Dan Orange: Yeah. I like that bit where cuz it, it, it says what, but it was only like the, what was it, 11th hour of the day, they didn't have time. I thought, well, fair enough as well. But like you said, I think it's a bit more than that. You know, all these people from all over the world are hearing what they're saying.
Um, yeah, that's some pretty impressive drunkenness if that's..
John Farrington: Absolutely. Yeah. No, totally. I thought it was really, really interesting. Mm-hmm. . Um, yeah. Were there any particular standouts for you?
Dan Orange: I think, um, one of the first things I put down was, was that, that you mentioned, but also I love that when the Holy Spirit comes, so they're there, they receive this gift of tongues, which I think we should, we should talk about.
Um, But it lists all the people that are around that heard Peter's first talk or the countries they'd come from. This wasn't just a, let's do a talk and let's do it just to our native speakers. Let's just do it to our, our culture, our people. This is like, whoa, let's get it out there right from the start to everyone.
Um, it's brilliant, isn't it? I mean, I love that God doesn't. doesn't do things the way as humans would think, oh, this is a, this is a, a planned way to start religion. This is the, let's, let's always do things, mix things up a little bit. Um, yeah.
John Farrington: Yeah. Great. Yeah, absolutely. And even the thing with, um, you know, after they've spoken 3000 followers, join them that day, and it's kind of, yeah, like you're saying that thing of like if I was thinking about it, I'd be like, okay, let's start small, let's like small group people, keep it small for a little while. Let it just grow nice and slow and that, you know, um, but it's like they, they do start small, but then it's like straightaway, you know? Yeah. 3000 people come to faith, um, and believe in through what they're saying and, and through, um, the Holy Spirit at work.
Yeah. In front of them. Um, yeah. No, it's, it's very cool. Um, I think as well as for believers Acts is just an exciting book to read about and read through, isn't it? Yeah. Um, yeah, it's exciting to sort of remind yourself of how the, the early church was formed and, um, there's, there are lots of great, great and interesting stories.
Um, Throughout the book and, and, and seeing, I think you, you almost feel the, um, the excitement and passion for the gospel and, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work. Um, yeah. Yeah. So it's a really great book to look at.
Dan Orange: Yeah, I think so. It's really like inspiring book as well, isn't it? Because we see it some amazing people and what God did in them, which made them amazing, you know, normal people. That made amazing because yeah, because of God, because of the Holy Spirit working in them.
Um, and, and it doesn't just have to be stories from back then. I wonder. Yeah, I've got some, I've heard some great stories about people speaking in tongues. If you, if you come from a church, if you, if you're listening to this and you go to a church and perhaps they don't speak in tongues, you're thinking.
I've heard about that was a little bit crazy. Perhaps you are, you don't go to church and you are coming and listening to us talk and go, what is this? John, what, what is speaking in tongues? Go on and give us a, sorry to put you on the spot.
John Farrington: Well, no. Yes. So I was thinking people have a few, there are a few different interpretations aren't there, of um, , you know, how, how people would look at it, uh, what it means by tongues in the Bible.
Um, so some people, uh, might say that tongues is just referencing, uh, different languages that we use, um, you know, across the world. Um, and, um, and they sort of end there. Um, for me, my interpretation of it would be that it, it can be that, um, that God can supernaturally give you a, a language, um, that others can understand.
But I think it is also, um, a, a heavenly language, um, that, um, goes beyond us understanding and it, it, um, is a way of our spirit being able to communicate with God and to to pray. Um, so there's, there's a couple of passages I was looking at in, um, one Corinthians 14, um, which talks about how, um, the tongues speaks not to man but to God.
Um, and, um, and it talks about how my spirit prays. Even though my spirit prays my mind isn't fruitful. So it's like my mind might not understand necessarily what I'm saying, but my spirit has this sense of, of what it is that I'm communicating, even if I don't have the, the English to express it. Yeah. Um, so yes, those are some thoughts to begin with.
Dan Orange: No, that's a brilliant, um, explanation. . I love that. I know when I speak in tongues often it is that I, I haven't got the English words to say what I want to say to God, and he just gives me those words and I don't understand what they are, but I know they're allowing me to convey that message, convey it of love or pleading, or God help me in this situation.
Help me to pray for someone. I dunno what to pray. I've, I have no stories where people have. . I know, um, a lady, she was in church and she heard this guy speaking in tongues and at the end she walked over and said, I didn't know you speak Welsh. I'm Welsh. And he's like, I don't. You know, he was speaking in tongues.
And she could hear, she could understand because she spoke Welsh and he was speaking Welsh. Um, a great story of someone who, he's, he's diagnosed, gone to be with Jesus, but he was, he often used to go to India and speaking in India and he met a guy on the train and they talked through the whole train journey, um, said goodbye, and he saw him again in church the next day.
And the guy didn't speak English and he didn't speak the dialect of Indian, so God had just given them both. Oh John's, John's gone. Hopefully we'll get him back in a second. Yeah. God had given him Indian or the other guy English and they had a full, full chat.
There we go. Let me have John here. Hold on one second. Technical, technical issues. John's in the green room. Let me see if I can add in, can if I do this? Hey, he's back. Hey,
John Farrington: hey. Sorry Dan.
Dan Orange: That's alright. Did your internet just kick you off or something happened?
John Farrington: Um, it would, it would seem so. I just, I think I froze and then I was gone. Oh ok. But I'm back. Sorry.
Dan Orange: You're back. I was just saying yeah, that, uh, these two guys on a train and, um, when they met each other in church, they didn't speak each, each other's language. So God must have just given them tongues for the journey.
John Farrington: Wow. Yeah. That's remarkable.
Dan Orange: So yeah, it's not just drunkenness, it's, yeah, it's a heavenly language and it can just be something we don't understand. And sometimes it can be something that someone else understands.
Sometimes it could be a, um, it could be a translation in church and it could be a message for the church as well. It's, uh, yeah. Yeah. It's one of those things I think that God gives us and has, has given the church. Mm-hmm. . But yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? It is. Yeah. I suppose it is a miracle, really.
John Farrington: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And the, there was another, um, first I was looking at, uh, where Paul says, doesn't he? Um, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Um, he says, but nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in tongues.
Obviously, there's, there's context behind what he's saying there, but, um, point being, Paul clearly saw it as, um, a great thing to pursue that gifting and to be praying in tongues. Um, but that there, it's, there are certain settings for it as well. Um, yeah. Yeah.
Dan Orange: I think, uh, Anya's just asked an interesting question.
How would you approach the concept that is saying that the gift of tongues has stopped with the first church? Um, I suppose my first thing would be if it stopped, then what am I doing? Or what, you know, what happens in, in church? Is it, is it a falseness? But I've, I've just given you examples. I've seen it to be real.
Um, yeah. I dunno what you would say, John.
John Farrington: Yeah. I guess that would, um, you tie that in, uh, I guess that would probably tie in with the rest of the spiritual gifts. Yeah. Gifts. Yeah. Um, um, , and it's a very, it's a very simplistic answer. But how I've always thought about it is kind of, um, when the curtain was torn in two after what, when, uh, when Jesus died, the spirit was, was given to us, um, across the world.
To me, there's um, No, I don't see a clear indication in scripture that it was just for that time. Um, or it was just for the, um, the time of when the, the Bible was, was written. Um, yeah, I, I don't necessarily see an indication that there was a stopping point. Yeah, I'm,
Dan Orange: yeah, I agree. Jesus said you'll do these things and greater things if you didn't say it would, it would phase out and I to honest, I'm, yeah.
I'm glad it hasn't phased out. You know, we can pray for healings. We can pray for miracles. We can ask, well leads us onto one of the, the points that, um, that John said, not John. Chris, Chris. Chris. I was like, that's not Chris, John Holcombe, that's his son. Um, that Chris said that, um, I've lost my train of thought now.
Where, where was I going that this, um, i, I've, that's totally gone. It'll come back to me..
John Farrington: That's fine. That's all good. Yeah, it was, uh, no, it's a good question though. Mm-hmm. Um, going back to kind of, does, has tongue stopped the spiritual gifting stop, because that certainly is, um, that certainly is also a certain interpretation of, of scriptures as well, isn't it?
Dan Orange: Yeah. Matt's put in the comments. He said, you are Christian, even if you, if you don't speak in tongues. Absolutely. You know this is not yeah. This is not something that says, this is a flavor of Christianity that's sort of more prolific, isn't it, in Pentecostal evangelical churches.
But it's not, um, it's not a, a deal breaker. This is not, this is not, um, something that says, you know, you, you have to speak in tongues. Absolutely not.
John Farrington: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, I would agree with that.
Dan Orange: If we go back to the Holy Spirit, so this is about not just, um, the tongues was a sort of a, an element, a gift of the Holy Spirit, but this was the Holy Spirit coming upon for people in. In the upper room and Peter and then going out and speaking. Um, mm-hmm. Miriam asked a great question. So talking about the, the Holy Spirit and she said, let me, I'm just scrolling up. Lots of, lots of talk today, which is brilliant.
Um, so Miriam asked the question, what comforts you about the Holy Spirit? Um, and her, her answer said for me, it's the joy he brings and the way he helps me to love others, which is a great, great answer.
Um, yeah. Yeah. And I think for me it's, yeah, it's that hope it is that he, they were waiting, the disciples waited and we don't have to, we don't have to live this life without, um, Just, just with God's words and Jesus' teaching. We live this life with the Holy Spirit now. So it's, uh, we have access to God through, through the Holy Spirit.
John Farrington: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I, no, I love that. That's a, that's a, that's a great question. I think, um, for me it makes, just, makes me think the verse. , like, don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. So you may know the peace that surpasses all understanding. Yeah. Um, and it is, yeah, it, um, I think it ties in a bit to just what the nature of the Holy Spirit is like, is that there are certain things that we can compare it to.
Um, or that it is kind of compared to in the, in the Bible, you know, like fire and water. Mm-hmm. , um, or, um, you know, it's like represented as a, a dove, um, in another part. And it's like, it's like all of these things, but it's still outside of our understanding and comprehension. Um, . And so, so when, then, when it talks about like, being able to understand, being able to receive that peace, it's like a, a peace that just, um, yeah, just completely goes beyond my understanding.
Um, yeah. Which is, is like a huge, huge comfort for me in, um, in any situation that I know that I can, um, pray to God and, and receive the spirit's comfort and peace in, in any given, um, scenario. Um, yeah.
Dan Orange: Yeah. And, um, before the Holy Spirit came, he, um, Jesus says, I, I prayed, you know, the comforter will come. Is that's one word for him, isn't it?
Is Here's the comforter, here's that. Yeah. That we can, we can go to, we can cry out to and we can receive, yeah. Help from wisdom from. Yeah.
John Farrington: Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent.
Dan Orange: Yeah. One thing that came up was the, the film, the Shack, which I haven't seen, so have you seen it?
John Farrington: I've not either. I've read the book. Oh, okay.
Um, quite a long time ago now. Yeah. Um, and it is, yeah, it's a very interesting read. It's, it's a very, like, um, a refreshing way, um, to sort of, uh, look at particularly the Holy Spirit and, and I guess how God is, is presented. Um, yeah, it's definitely a very interesting read. Um, I couldn't, couldn't comment on the film. Cause I've not seen it, but, um, But yeah. Maybe I should take Chris up on his, on his homework.
Dan Orange: Yes. Give it a watch. I was thinking, yeah, do that and it's not, doesn't sound like the hardest of homeworks to do. Yeah. Sit down and, um, yeah. Watch a film. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. See what it's about and report back in comments.
People can, um, message in and see what they see if they got any questions about it, about God from. from the film.
John Farrington: Yeah. No, that's good.
Dan Orange: Um, have you got, I'm just gonna look at my, down at my notes here. Yeah. Um, and see what else we've got. So I, the, the first thing I wrote down was about, um, all the different countries and cultures and people getting together.
um, you know, different workers for different lands, refugees, I presume slaves, free people, Romans, all hear this message. It's for, it's for everyone. You know, there isn't, there are no exceptions. And it was, that message came, well, 3000 people, so that 3000 people that heard it and said, yes, I want this, um, I presume there was a lot more that heard, heard that message, which is just, it's phenomenal, isn't it?
What, what God does, what the Holy Spirit in this, um, his power has come for us. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. No one is, no one is left out. So that this message just then fans out across the, across the world.
John Farrington: Hmm. Yeah, no, absolutely. It is very much like, just like an, an explosion, isn't it? Of um, you know, the, the first time that, well, it's, it's the beginning of the, the good news.
Yeah. Um, and it's, it's the first time it's been heard and accessible for people across the world. So it's like, yeah, it is like this immediate explosion. Yeah. Um,
Dan Orange: and, um, uh, Chris says like, like a wildfire. And perhaps that's one of the reasons that the Bible sometimes talks about, you know, tongues of fire or the Holy Spirit being like a fire in that we can catch it and it can be caught and people can be, um, yeah, just come near to this message and yeah, and take that fire and it, and it grows.
Great. The one thing about fire is it doesn't, That if you, if something lights on fire and the thing next to it lights on fire, it's not weakened. is it? That fire isn't a Yeah. A, a weakened version of the, the fire that started it can actually, it actually grows.
John Farrington: Yeah. Mm-hmm. I, I have a question for you. So, so, so, um, so, you know, people might say that since, since then, , um, the growth of the church and the, um, the rate at which the gospel is, is spreading, um, has maybe slowed down or, um, or diminished.
Um, how, how would you kind of respond to that? Yeah, to that sort of,
Dan Orange: um, I, I don't know. I think I'd probably question that cuz I think almost every culture, almost every country, if not has heard this gospel. Mm-hmm. , it's, it's out, it's the most translated the bible. It's the most translated book in the world. I think it's still the most popular book in the world. Um.
I know in sort of perhaps western culture, there's lots and lots of other competing things for our, our time and our, and our soul and our spirit, you know, things that, that want there and out there that can distract us. Um, yeah. One thing I would say is we can, we can add more.. Yeah. Wouldn't that be great?
Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be great to go out into, you know, we're based here in Liverpool, into Liverpool city center and, and see 3000 people's lives changed, you know? Um Yeah. Yeah. That would be amazing. Yeah. Yeah. And that's just part, you know, the underground church is growing in a lot of places, like in, in China, um, in places in the Middle East where christianity is, is pretty much banned or is dangerous. You'll find that the the church is growing even more.
John Farrington: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Dan Orange: Perhaps when you have to, you have to. really do have to bet your life on it. Not your eternal life, just your eternal life, but your life now on it, you go, yeah, you go fully into it, don't you,
John Farrington: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
Dan Orange: yeah, absolutely. Some amazing stories coming outta outta China of what God's God's doing there. Mm. Yeah. Mm. Yeah.
Is there anything else from the talk that you, that you took away that you'd like to expand on?
John Farrington: Um, yeah, I guess, um, Maybe we're just looking at,
Dan Orange: I think John John's Internet's gone again.
We'll just see. He'll, he'll freeze, but he'll probably come back on. Um, yeah, Matt's put in the comments as well, that maybe that's why 25% of the population attended church during lockdown sometimes. And we've got that. We haven't got the time to do everything else when everything else is invading our minds.
We can spend that time thinking, what, what? What is this all about? Cuz God is real. He does transform and change. I mean, that's my testimony.. I know that's John. When, when he is unfrozen that's his testimony too. That's why we do this, because he's Yeah, he's amazing. Well, I think we've got a few technical issues, so we'll probably, um, leave it there for tonight.
Um, people have put in the, in the, um, comments about horrific, um, earthquake that's happened in Turkey and. So, yeah, people keep, please keep John's just coming back in. Keep them in your prayers. That, let's see here, of miracles. We would see miracles a bit. I'm just saying about, um, Syria and Turkey, that we can pray for the miraculous now cuz there's still, still people being trapped, still people being found.
I've read about a young girl who was, um, caught, but was found in her mum's arms, you know, five, six days after, alive. So yeah.
Let's keep, keep them in. In our Prayer.
John Farrington: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I. go. Yeah. The only thing I was just, uh, might have been relevant, but I was just thinking about how, uh, the event that talks about in Acts two and the, the day of Pentecost, the kind of relevance and importance for Yeah.
Versus Christians in the church still today. Um, yeah, the, the, like your, I think you were saying that it's, you know, the Holy Spirit is still at work and mm-hmm. , um, his power is, He's still present and active across the world. Yeah. Um, yeah.
Dan Orange: Yeah, yeah. 2000 years and that power hasn't diminished.
Yeah. I think that message isn't any, isn't any different. Yeah. It's still for us. Um, I'm just trying to find, I'm very poorly not, not linked to here about what's happening next week. So Crowd is on really next week. Um, and I think we might just have to post it on YouTube cuz I'd been very poor and I've not, I've not written down.
I thought I had the link there. Um, as to what's coming up next week. No worries. So still you'll have to, it's just a surprise. You dunno what who is talking. Yes.
John Farrington: I look forward to. Keep your eyes on those comments.
Dan Orange: It's next. Yes. I'm sure if you, if you want get ahead, if you read the next chapter of acts, you pretty much on, on target there.
John Farrington: Yeah, absolutely.
Dan Orange: Yeah. Well, thanks everyone for, for joining us. Thank you, John. Yeah, thank you Dan. Um, so we've gone in and out with, um, different technical issues. Um, but we're we'll back next week. And if you've got any questions, if you've got anything, uh, any Prayer requests, please do, um, email them in and yeah, we'd love to pray for you.
And it's, we're next week, it is Pentecost and it's, Will Sopwith talking about that and, um, yeah, looking forward to that.
John Farrington: Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like you deal with I do have a crying child in the background. Apologies for that.
Dan Orange: Thanks everyone. We'll see you.
John Farrington: Thanks everyone. Have a great night. Bye