Sss.

Sound. Sight. Same language.

The disciples have been living that crazy-intense, life roller coaster with Jesus. Intimate friendship leading to He's murdered leading to He resurrects leading to He blesses them and then begins to ascend and is gone from them again. Yes, intense. Just prior to the ascending He tells them not to leave Jerusalem and to wait for the gift that the Father promised to them. What is this? What will it be?

My heart is so full right now. I can't key strike the fullness of what I am aware of inside of me. This "wait in Jerusalem" moment affects me so much because I am joined into their waiting as I sit here at KCK. When Jesus ascended from these disciples it began the waiting for His return which I and we are currently still waiting in. This connects us to them! This isn't just historical. It's a longing today. The promise that the Father made to them was the filling of the Holy Spirit. Again, I just don't want to record a fact. I want to ponder the weight of the wait. In the Bible book of Joel, the prophet by that name prophesied to a time when the Spirit would be poured out on all people. That was 650 years prior to this moment that the disciples were now living in. 650 years. The weight of the wait. What is happening in me as I try to write is to pull up to 30,000 feet and somehow see a fuller picture of the magnitude of the building crescendo of power that is about to explode into the lives of those that were there...

Andrew, James, John, Peter, Jesus' mom, His brothers and others. The first verses of the Bible says that the Spirit of God was hovering over deep, dark waters. The prophet Joel prophesies that a day will come when the Spirit will be poured out on hearts. And 650 years later it's about to happen. It's about to happen. It's really about to happen. God did it. The weight of the wait. God waited too, somehow.

And it happens. SSS. Sound. Sight. Same language.

Sound. Bible book of Acts, chapter 2. When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place. And they suddenly hear a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. I wonder what it was like? I wonder what they did? Did Peter say, "Shhhhhhh, listen, what is that?". There is within me such a pull towards wanting/needing to explain everything. What was the sound? Why did it happen that way? And we receive these really important words that help to focus me here. It says the sound like the blowing of violent wind CAME FROM HEAVEN. I want to explain things. Well here it is. The sound CAME FROM HEAVEN. GOD MOVED. He didn't have to do anything. He didn't have to create and bring a sound, but HE DID. He moved, He stirred, He acted in the realm of men and women. It says that the sound filled the whole house where they were sitting.

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!! The weight of the wait. What He promised is happening. It's not just hype. It's not empty promises. It's real. He's real. He's doing it.

Sight. "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them." I don't know what this is. I can't explain this to you. I notice when I read something like this that I can go a couple different directions. I'm either intrigued or skeptical and I think it's valuable to notice what my heart response is. God, please help me. I don't want to be skeptical when things happen that I can't explain. I want to be open to your movement, even when it's strange movement. There were tongues of fire resting on each of them!

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!! The weight of the wait. What He promised is happening. It's not just hype. It's not empty promises. It's real. He's real. He's doing it.

Same language. There's a LOT of people in Jerusalem for Pentecost, one of the set traditions that people were in town for. The Holy Spirit fills those gathered in the house waiting and each of them begins to speak in other languages different than their home town tongue. The people visiting for the weekend all of a sudden hear a group of Galileans all speaking in different languages. And the visitors one by one begin to say, "Wait, they're talking in the hometown dialect from where I'm from!" Even subtle differences from the north and south of different nations are being noticed. How is this happening? What is happening? And again, I love the words that we get. This group of Galileans who have been filled with the Holy Spirit of God are speaking all these different languages AS THE SPIRIT ENABLED THEM! That's how it's happening. The Spirit is moving. The Spirit is stirring.

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!! The weight of the wait. What He promised is happening. It's not just hype. It's not empty promises. It's real. He's real. He's doing it.

And I love this part, so, so much. The visitors describe what it is that they are hearing in their own native language.... "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language." The tongues lead to a declaration of the wonders of God. If you are in Christ today, THE TONGUES ARE HERE NOW! Your tongue can declare the wonder of the glory of God in the language of you. And it sounds different than anyone else, to the glory of God.

We're not just miserably living our routine life. Your life is declaring the WONDERS OF GOD!

There's more.