Scripture: Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23; Joel 2:28-32; 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Series: Easter
A Pentecost sermon that opens with the image of ‘summit fever’ to frame the Spirit as an empowering burst, then explains Pentecost’s Jewish roots (Shavuot) and its expanded Christian meaning through Azusa Street Pentecostalism. Drawing on Basil of Caesarea’s On the Holy Spirit, the pastor presents the Spirit as the ‘heat’ and ‘light’ by which we feel and see God — raising hearts, enlightening, shifting our loyalties to heaven, and binding the universal church across space and time. Tying the day to Wesley’s Aldersgate experience and David’s election, he insists God does not call the qualified, so hearers, already forgiven and loved, should freely share the light they’ve been given.
Illustrations: summit-fever, fire-trinity-metaphor, azusa-street-revival, basil-on-the-holy-spirit, transparent-substances-sunlight, wesley-aldersgate-heart-warmed, david-runt-of-the-field
May 24, 2026
Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21 John 20:19-23
A Burning Sensation
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Sermon Transcription — Summit Fever: A Pentecost Sermon
Climbing mountains is difficult. Even mountains you walk up have their own challenges, especially if you get to higher elevations. But regardless of the elevation or the terrain, most of us, when going up a mountain, have this sensation called ‘summit fever’ near the top. It is an extra burst of energy that gets us to the summit. Your body pushes you to make it. Your body pushes you to do something amazing.
Today we celebrate Pentecost. Pentecost comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth.” It is the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pentecost was also a Jewish holiday — Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks — which takes place seven weeks after Passover. There are three major Jewish holidays in the Old Testament: Passover, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths, which is near the end of summer. Hanukkah, Yom Kippur, and Rosh Hashanah were all emphasized after the destruction of the temple, and in many ways have replaced Pentecost in the modern Jewish imagination.
But at the time of Jesus, Pentecost was a major festival and a major holiday. That’s why there are a lot of people in Jerusalem — they’ve traveled to be there. It was easier to travel to Jerusalem for Pentecost than it was for Passover, because the seas were milder. This is a major consideration. So the people who had traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost, who were there in the crowds, weren’t necessarily the same people who were there at Passover, because it was harder to travel by sea earlier in the year. Jews in Greece, Sicily, and North Africa may not have made the trip for Passover, but they were able to make it for Pentecost.
The word Pentecost has taken on a lot more meaning in the Christian tradition. We have an entire family of denominations based on Pentecostalism, which started with a Methodist pastor in Los Angeles in the early 1900s, taking over a revival at Azusa Street and spreading into what is now, the second-largest category of Christians in the world.
Pentecost is associated with the Holy Spirit — the fire of God. Next week is Trinity Sunday, but every week is Trinity Sunday for me. So I think it’s helpful to share one of my favorite metaphors of the Trinity: fire. God the Father as the spark. Jesus the Son as the light. And the Holy Spirit as the heat. If you take one away, they all disappear. All metaphors of the Trinity fall apart quickly, as I’ll talk about next week, but I like this one because it makes the Spirit how we feel God.
The Spirit is how we feel God — and feeling God matters. Our subjective experiences matter. They can be fooled and deceived, but they shouldn’t be ignored. So much of our reason — the way we think about God and the world and faith and our lives and our families and all of that — is an attempt to put into words what we are already feeling.
As the Holy Spirit is sent at Pentecost, as Jesus in his resurrected body sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples, they receive the fire of God, the feeling of God. The Spirit is the heat — the feeling. But also, in another way to look at it, the Spirit is the light through which we see, by which we see, by which we can see.
God is not this puppet master far away, pulling the strings, indifferent to our existence. God is the source in whom we live and move and have our being. When Jesus ascended, we were not left alone to face the brokenness of this world.
What does the Spirit do?
I want to answer this question by going back in time a 1500 years. In the 300s, a bishop named Basil published a book on the Holy Spirit. It was written in a very contentious season for the church. The Nicene creed of 325 has one line about the Holy Spirit. One of the major points of contention was around the divinity of Jesus. A group of Christians claimed that Jesus was not totally divine. They were called Arians. After 325, a lot of the debates around Jesus were clarified, but some still continued. One group with authority in the empire, continued to downgrade Jesus to say that he is not similar to God.
Basil the Bishop of Caesarea argued against this position in 364 in a great work called On the Holy Spirit. Even then, we get to the Holy Spirit through Jesus.
Here is what the Spirit does.
The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress. He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself.
The Spirit raises our hearts. The spirit changes where we are. The spirit moves us.
Going on, Basil offers an analogy.
As clear, transparent substances become very bright when sunlight falls on them and shine with a new radiance, so also souls in whom the Spirit dwells, and who are enlightened by the Spirit, become spiritual themselves and a source of grace for others.
The Spirit also changes where our loyalties lie.
…Through the Spirit we become citizens of heaven, we enter into eternal happiness, and abide in God. Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations.
This is what Peter is talking about at Pentecost. This is the fire that is shared. This is the fire that we should not contain, that will not be contained.
Basil’s writing held sway at the Council of Constantinople in 381 which argued against those neo-Arians who separated Jesus from God and the Spirit from God.
The spirit binds the church across the world. This is why we say in the creed one holy Catholic Church, and one communion of saints. It is not a claim about a denomination based out of Rome. Catholic and Latin is a word that means universal; it covers the world. The communion of the Saints is the phrase in the creed that covers all of time, the past, the present, and the future. Both of these clauses are found under the Holy Spirit for those connections of space and time are possible because of the Holy Spirit.
Today in 1738 off a small Street in London, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed. He felt that even he was forgiven and loved by God. The street was called Aldersgate and since that Methodist’s have celebrated this day. I’ve read and stuff a lot about John Wesley in early Methodism. I’m fascinated by that moment in time not because he is particularly interesting or appealing, but because he has not. John Wesley wasn’t an interesting person and he would’ve been a horrible hang. And yet God used him to do great thanks through the spirit. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t call the qualified. Just like with David and his brothers, God doesn’t pick the strongest and most handsome, but the runt in the fields. God doesn’t see us as the world sees us and we don’t need to see ourselves that way either.
When it comes down to it, what the Holy Spirit means to us is that we are not alone. Jesus did not leave us alone. Jesus gave us others in the church. Jesus also gave the spirit, equal with God, to be with us to raise us up otherwise we would stick down in the mud. To shine on us otherwise we couldn’t see where we were going. And to let us shine even when we feel like the most unworthy people imaginable.
That is the power of Pentecost. That is the freedom of Christ. You are forgiven and offered light to share. So share it, give it don’t hide it don’t be embarrassed offer for Jesus because you have already been given. Jesus offer love because you have already been loved.
In the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit amen.