Spirit-Empowered Message | Acts 2:14-36 | May 31, 2026

Teacher: Jay O'Brien

Scarlet City Church - Columbus, OH

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Transcript

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You this good news. In Luke 2, 10. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. Listen carefully. Do you hear this? Listen. This is important. For I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people. Jesus himself in Luke 4, as he is beginning his ministry, he says this, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he's quoting from Isaiah, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed. And lest we think, oh, maybe this is kind of important. Jesus summarizes his ministry this way in Luke 4. Jesus says to them, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do. Do you see the Spirit has a message? And it is absolutely central. And then it begs us to ask the question I mean, who is this message for? A message for whom? Again, looking back at Acts 1.8, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth. It begins local and then will spread to the nations. The angel, when speaking to the shepherds, said this very same thing as well. Do not be afraid, listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to who? To all the people, everyone. The Spirit has a message, and this message is for anyone, anywhere, but especially those who recognize their spiritual poverty and lostness. The Spirit has a message for anyone, anywhere who is spiritually impoverished and lost. And we see this idea come through in Jesus' sermon in Luke 4, when he says, The Spirit is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind to set free those who are oppressed. And then see Jesus' words in Luke 19, verse 10, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And there's a part of us, as maybe good Americans, sensitive to terms and words, where this idea of the lost can maybe strike a nerve for some of us. The lost. It can feel in some ways kind of demeaning or separating. But when you think about it, I mean, to be lost is not a pronouncement, it's not a moral pronouncement. It's not a, you know, the evil and the good. It's merely a state of being. To be lost is in many ways to be human. It is to need direction. And that's why I think in Jesus' ministry and the church as its beginning, the gospel was often received most readily by the poor, by the sick, by outsiders, because their very circumstances in life was a constant reminder of their utter need. In America, we have so much, we surround ourselves with so much that it can be tempting to think that we're good. And yet, at the core of our soul and our being is this haunting feeling that all that we have doesn't satisfy this ultimate soul spiritual hunger. This idea of lostness in the American system is captured really well by an author and poet, David Foster Wallace. In an interview that he does with Salon Magazine about his book Infinite Gest, listen to how he describes his experience and those that he knows. He says there's something particularly sad about it. Something that doesn't have very much to do with physical circumstances or the economy or any of the stuff that gets talked about in the news. It's more like a stomach-level sadness. I see it in myself and my friends in different ways. It manifests itself in a kind of lostness. Whether it's unique to our generation, I really don't know. He continues, the sadness that the book Infinite Just is About and that I was going through was a real American type of sadness. I was white, upper middle class, obscenely well educated, had had way more career success than I could have imagined, hoped for, and was sort of adrift. A lot of my friends were the same way. Some of them were deeply into drugs, others were unbelievable workaholics, some were going to singles bars every night. You could see it play out in 20 different ways, but it's the same thing. I get that, I get the feeling that a lot of us, privileged Americans, as we enter our early 40s, and we could just add 20s or 40s or 50s and on, as we enter our early 30s, have to find a way to put away childish things and confront stuff about spirituality and values. Now there's a part of this, I know for me, that can ring true to some of my experiences. He captures it so well, so well in words that there's this experience in our life, this hunger that we feel for something the world seems to promise to deliver on, but can't ultimately satisfy. There's this lostness. And he says it's expressed in 20 different ways. And whether it's through drug addiction or alcohol abuse or career success, we've seen it play out personally for many of us. It might be in seeking education, if we can just get the degree. We see it in trying to accumulate money. If we can have the right home and possessions and the bank account can hit a certain amount. We feel it in maybe a desire for travel and vacations and experiences or a desire for good food, if we can just do it all, or we feel it and express it through religion. If we can believe the right thing and do the right thing, maybe, maybe we can earn God's love for ourselves. This spiritual hunger and dissatisfaction, this lostness that permeates all of us. And what we know is this isn't just an American phenomenon. We might feel it acutely and uniquely to our circumstance because there's so much that we have. And if there's any culture in the world that can communicate things and possessions and all of this cannot satisfy the soul hunger in our life, it is our very culture and society. But this feeling was what Peter and the early apostles and what the Spirit was sending them to speak into in their very age and time, because spiritual lostness and hunger is a human phenomenon from the very beginning of time. The spirit has a message, and this message for anyone, anywhere, who experiences a soul level, poverty, and lostness. And now we see the spirit's message itself. The Spirit's message is the gospel. Peter begins to proclaim, and he and he says this in verse 22. He says, Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know. This man who is handed over by the predetermined plan and knowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held, excuse me, in its power. And he'll go on to repeat a similar version of this. And in these 19 different sermons, they're basically communicating some of these ideas in different ways, in different contexts. And as we we've as we're reading this, we're reminded where does our mind go to? This isn't new. Peter, in many ways, is summarizing the gospel of Luke, the prelude to the book of Acts that he wrote to this Roman official Theophilus. And all of it is the gospel. It is the Spirit's very message. I mean, after all, how did how is Luke's account of the story of Jesus? What is its title? The gospel. The Ewangelion, the gospel according to Luke. And looking again at the passages that we read in Luke 1.19, when the angel appears, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring to you this good news, that is gospel. The angel to the shepherds. The angel said to them, Do not be afraid, listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news, that is gospel, that brings great joy to all people. Jesus in Luke 4, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news, gospel. Luke 4 43, Jesus said to them, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do. The Spirit has the message, and the message is the gospel, the very good news. And so what is the gospel? What is this good news? And before, for many of you, if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus and just a good Christian, before you just fill in the blank with what you think the gospel is, I want to say something that's somewhat of a common experience here as a pastor at Scarlet City Church. You know, what I'm doing right here and what we do every Sunday when we stand up here and we preach is we're doing what Peter is doing. We're preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Last week, Brian, as he was talking about kind of the challenge of preaching, he had this line, and I and I loved the way he said it. He said, There's a burden that he feels, this is my own words, uh, a burden that he feels because he wants people to experience the love of God personally. And when we're preaching a sermon, there's so much limitations because each of us has a story and a context and circumstances in our very own life, and how might God want to have a message for you personally? And there's an and I feel that burden too, but there's another burden. A burden that when it comes to preaching the gospel, in my experience, and my experience is very, very limited, in my experience, some of the most challenging people to relay the gospel to are American evangelical Christians. Because we make an assumption about what the gospel is. And so there have been people who have said things about our preaching, like, you know, Jay, why don't you preach the gospel? And what they mean by that, what they mean by that is why don't you preach about the status of our nature, that we are sinful people separated from God, and if we pray the sinner's prayer, Jesus will accept us into his kingdom and we'll go to heaven. That is the gospel and the American evangelical experience. And so before we just fill in the blank here, I want to talk about and ask this question: what is the gospel? Every year we do Scarlet City DNA, which is our process of becoming a member here at Scarlet City, and it outlines our core vision and values and convictions. And every time we have to go through this very question, what is the gospel? You see, every cause and culture and way of life has a gospel. It seeks to answer the question of what really ails us. You see, as followers of Jesus, we're not the only ones who experience a sense of lostness in the world, and we seek to address the lostness in various ways. I mentioned and listed a few, but you know, for example, one, the idea of good vacations. You might see it on commercials if you have cable still, you know, the few of us here who may have cable, or when you're watching YouTube videos or on your Instagram feed, but you might get commercials of places to go and visit or cruises to take. Go to Disney World, a place of magic. Do they have something like where dreams come true? Is that what they say? Or did I just make that up? I'm looking at Justin. You've never been to Disney World. So something of that sort. If you go to Disney, you'll be happy. That's their message. And the kids are always perfectly doing what everyone wants, and Mickey's there, like, you know, and there's candy, and it's all free. It's all free. You just show up and they'll let you in. Or maybe it's not Disney World, it's that carnival cruise where people are writing those slides and it just looks amazing. It's like if you go on that cruise, all the problems of life will be left on the shore and on a big boat with thousands of people you don't know. You will find the joy you're looking for. Or go to that all-inclusive resort. Or maybe it's the gospel of career. If you give your life to this company, you will find meaning and satisfaction. And if you work hard enough and move up the ladder, you'll be rewarded. And you will one day have a retirement, we will celebrate you, and it'll all be great because this company is looking after you. That might not be your career experience. Or, of course, the gospel of American politics. We are here to deliver you from the evil empire of the Democrats or the evil empire of the Republicans. And if you give us your vote, and especially if you give us your money, you will find meaning. We will solve the world's problems. We've seen this play out, this gospel, this deliverance, and we see it in American evangelicalism, where the gospel is boiled down to a problem of sin and separating from God. And if you pray the sinner's prayer, God will welcome you into his kingdom and his family, and you will live in heaven for eternity. And you might be sitting here thinking, like, hold on a second, is that not it? That is a part, but is so much more, brothers and sisters. It is so much more. And we could take time, and if I had it, I would explain why American evangelicalism has boiled down the gospel to just faith in Jesus to get you into heaven. And it goes back to some of our history and to the second great awakening that boiled the gospel down to just a decision. And then we filled in the gaps, often mistaking Jesus' whole life and teaching and ministry and kingdom, as we'll get to. And we miss the invitation and calling and the bigger good news and story that God is working out in the world. You see, it's not just a story of personal salvation, it is that and much more. So, what is the gospel? And one final disclaimer. Next week we will be centered on this very idea of repentance and how the Spirit can bring repentance and transformation in our life. And it is both convicting and beautiful and terrifying and good news. And so a brief little commercial on that. But what is the gospel? Again, looking at our passage, looking, I want to turn your attention to Luke 4, verse 43, where Jesus says, I'm Russ, proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do. You see, one uh theologian Scott McKnight puts it well. Sometimes you put things so simply, and it's like, huh. He says, the gospels are the gospel. The gospel of Luke, the gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Matthew and John, they are the good news of the life, teachings, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are the good news. And we see that good news reflected in Peter's sermon. And there's a few things I want to highlight that are repeated throughout. First, Peter is going to draw their attention to the prophet Joel and to the spirit that is ascending on God's people. And this same spirit is connected to Genesis 1 and creation, when the Spirit of God is hovering over the chaos and darkness and is going to bring life. It is why the Apostle Paul often says that those who are in Christ are a new creation. When the Spirit enters your life, God is breathing his very creative life into you. The gospel is a story of creation and new creation. Also, Peter in his sermon, he's going to talk about a king and a kingdom. He draws our attention to King David and then to Jesus being the new king. In fact, he puts it this way, summarizes it this way in verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's the very Christoph, the very Messiah, the very king of God. We see creation, new creation, king and kingdom. And lastly, in summarizing Peter's sermon, we see that the king's death, that through his death and resurrection, there is victory. We see death and resurrection and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as being central elements to the gospel. In fact, the apostle Peter summarizes the gospel this very way in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So what is the gospel? We see here is that the gospel is the good news. The good news of the kingdom of God established through Jesus' victory over death, enacted through the Spirit, awakening people and all creation to the renewal of God and the hope that the King returns, putting a final end to Satan, sin, and death. The gospel is established through Jesus. And established through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. That it is enacted through the Spirit, breathing the very breath and life of God into people and to all of creation. And it will one day be fully realized when the king returns. You might be thinking, that's like a big mouthful. Do we have to memorize that? No. You know, it's all right. You see, the gospel ultimately is the story of God beginning in Genesis, culminating in Revelation when Jesus returns. And as we see in different sermons throughout the book of Acts, they're taking this very idea and they're seeking to apply it in different cities and cultures and people and places. And so if we wanted to shorthand it, like what is the gospel essentially? I would say it's this the gospel is the good news of a good Lord, Jesus Christ. The gospel is ultimately Jesus as Lord in our life and in our world. And the gospels are the gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the story of Jesus. As the angels appeared and proclaiming his coming, good news, gospel for all people. The very longed-for Messiah is coming. And he's not just king of the people of Judea, he's king of the world. Because gospel, the Greek term Evangelion, is actually a Roman political term used to describe who they considered Lord, Caesar, who was labeled the Son of God, the very Lord who was, when he had victory, would send out messengers of the Ewangelion, the good news of Roman victory and the implications that would have on people bringing the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. Jesus and Luke and Paul are taking that idea, that good news, that Ewangelion, and applying it to Jesus, that Jesus, not Caesar, is the Lord. And it is through his kingdom, not Rome's, that we can have true and lasting peace and salvation. When we place our faith in Jesus as king and his work and record on our behalf, is there forgiveness and salvation? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that is one part of the fuller story of God redeeming and renewing all of his creation. What does it feel like when you have a message that you really want to communicate? God has been working and longing to communicate this good news from the dawn of time. And he has now, he is so committed to this gospel, to this message, to this good news being taken to the nations that he gives his very people, his very spirit to empower them to do it. And that invitation of taking that good news and passing it on to others has been entrusted to us. There's one scholar, Mortimore Arias, who talks about the need to preach the gospel to every generation. You see, the church is always one generation from death. And in his book, it's a great book on evangelism and preaching the gospel, announcing the reign of God, he says this. He makes us dreamers, and he wants us to be seduced by his dream and to dream with him. Do you see this? It is not we who dream, but God who dreams in us. You see, scripture is the eyewitness account of the dreams of God, the hopes of God, the love of God. And Jesus, God is so committed to this message and this kingdom that it sends his very son into the world to express God's way and his character and to bring God's kingdom. And when Jesus ascends, he sends his very spirit to the apostles and the church as it's launching to empower them in this kingdom. And that same spirit is at work right now. How does it feel like when you have a message that you really want to communicate? And then what does it look like for us to be open to hear from God? That there is space in our mind and our heart, that the very Spirit present at creation can awaken us, can speak this good news, that we might, as Peter and Paul and the others, experience the very presence of God. Is your mind open to God's dream, to the message of the Spirit, to the good news of the very love and presence and grace of God in your life and in our world? I want to invite us now, if we might take a moment for prayerful reflection. For a moment now, just before we take holy communion together. As has been messaged, the Spirit is present, was present at creation, hovering over the chaos. And God's first move to bring life was to speak. God speaks, and light illuminates the darkness. God speaks, and the heavens and earth are formed. God speaks, and his spoken word brings time and order. And he fills his creation with plants and animals, and God speaks, and people are created in his very image.

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God speaks, and life happens, and God says it is very, very good. That same spirit and that same spoken word longs to bring life for us now. What does God want to say?

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What might the spirit want to say to you now? If you might take just a moment and ask God, what message do you have? What good news do you have for me right now? And then be open to hear. That your good news is truly good. If you're in a spirit of prayer, please feel the freedom to continue right there. But I'm going to invite us now into our communion liturgy, and so if you're ready, you're welcome to read the underlying portions aloud.