Sermon Title: Into the Unknown: Led by the Wind of God
Text: Acts 2:2–21
Have you ever been pushed into the unknown? Moving into a new community, a new job, a new school not knowing what is waiting ahead. For most people it can be terrifying to step into the unknown. Many questions emerge: will it work? Am I ready? Will I be capable to do it? It can be terrifying to step into the unknown. Many Methodist pastors go through that every year the first Sunday of July. We -and our families- are sent to communities and churches we do not know. It feels like we are being sent into the unknown and all we have to do is trust in God and depend on Him.
In Acts 2, we find the disciples in the Upper room waiting for the promise the risen Christ gave them during one of his visits. Acts 1:4 says, “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized withwater, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” The disciples waited in Jerusalem, unsure how the promise would be fulfilled. Jesus had told them to wait for the Spirit, but they had no idea how or when that Spirit would come, or what it would mean for them and their future. Later they learned that their life would never be the same again.
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting…” (vv. 2–4)
On Pentecost Day, The Holy Spirit did not knock gently at the door where the disciples were staying. It came with power, with surprise, with force, with noise. All this wind and noise, all this fire and power besides shaking the house, also shook the disciples out of their comfort zone. Imagine, they were praying, maybe trying to concentrate, maybe complaining that the streets were getting too noisy with all the people coming from all over the empire and they needed silence to pray. And suddenly the noise, the shaking, the disturbance came from above, from heaven and instead of the peace they expected, what they got was a spiritual propulsion. They were pushed into the unknown.
Early in the beginning Jesus’s disciples learned that The Holy Spirit is not just a blessing to feel, but a power to move.That morning the wind of God blew them out into the streets, into the unknown, into uncharted territory.
After the promise was fulfilled and the Spirit came upon them, they were no longer hidden behind closed doors. The Spirit pushed them outside into public ministry. The Spirit didn’t come so they could sit still where they were; it came to send them out. The book of Acts tells us they began speaking in other languages and people could understand them. This means they were outside where the people were.
“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven… each one heard their own language being spoken.”
The disciples were suddenly – by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit- multilingual evangelists. It is always important to remember, this happened not by their own strength, but by the Spirit’s power. God pushed them to speak other languages and to reach other cultures.
Think about how radical this is: God didn’t tell the world to come up to the upper room. God sent the disciples down into the street. For them the unknown where the Spirit pushed them began right there—in the streets, among strangers, with unfamiliar languages and unpredictable reactions. Because of all this multilingual chaos, some people were amazed. Others mocked saying they were drunk. But the point is, the disciples didn’t control the outcome, they just obeyed the Spirit and stepped into the unknown, into new experiences. And that was the beginning, after, they went to Judea, Samaria and to the rest of the empire. They went into the communities represented in the languages they spoke on Pentecost.
God prepared his people first; he gave them a taste of what was coming. Brothers and sisters, if God calls us to do something, have the assurance that God will empower us to do it. Peter is an example of this. Do you remember Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times out of fear, now by the power of the Spirit, he stands and speaks with courage. He was able to connect what’s happening with the Scripture and explains that this is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy: God’s Spirit is for everyone Peter said. Young and old, Men and women, Servants and free, All nations
According to Luke the writer of Acts the unknown where the Spirit took the disciples was not just a place, it was people to reach. And the Spirit doesn’t discriminate. The Spirit empowers all kinds of people to proclaim God’s message in all kinds of ways.
Peter goes into theological, prophetic, Spirit-filled preaching. And he did it because the wind pushed him there. He wasn’t planning to preach that morning—but when the Spirit came upon him, he stepped into this unknown experience.
Church, God wants to push us into uncharted territory. The Holy Spirit is calling us to do new things, new ministries or the same ministry in a different way, with different people.
Perhaps today, on Pentecost Sunday 2025, God is calling us to explore new ideas and new ministries, ministries for which we may feel unprepared or unqualified. but God says, “Go, and I will teach you, new languages.” I will make you speak the same way I did with Peter.
Pentecost is a reminder: The Spirit does not come to make us comfortable; the Spirit comes to make us courageous. Let us dare to do what God has placed in our hearts, even if we are still afraid.
Conclusion:
Imagine what would have happened if the disciples had stayed in the upper room. Imagine if they had heard the wind, felt the fire, spoken in tongues—and stayed put. Thanks God they didn’t.
They stepped into the unknown.
They walked into the world.
They trusted the Spirit more than their fear.
And because they did—the church was born.
So today, may we hear the wind again.
May we feel the fire again.
And may we go—into the unknown, into uncharted territory—pushed by the Spirit of God into his world to continue making disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world.
Amen.
