Bartlesville First United September 13, 2026 "The Church part 1 - Faith in Training (5)

Acts 2 begins with a world gathered in Jerusalem: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Rome, Libya, Cappadocia, and beyond. The Spirit does not make everybody speak one language. The Spirit honors the many languages and cultures in the room while making one saving word about Jesus intelligible to all of them. Pentecost turns Babel around, not by flattening difference, but by letting diverse people hear good news in a way they can understand.

The church, then, has different stories. The body of Christ is a rich buffet of traditions, with many rooms in the Father’s house. Those rooms can give people a place to gather with like-minded and like-spirited believers, but their walls become a problem when they turn into division, anger, and enmity. The unity of the church rests in the same Spirit and the same risen Lord, not in one worship style, one internal lingo, or one narrow story.

John Wesley’s story carries that Pentecost fire forward. Susanna Wesley called young John “a brand plucked from the burning” after he was rescued from a house fire at Epworth. God’s prevenient grace was already at work before little Jackie could respond. John’s later Aldersgate experience gave him the assurance that Christ had dealt with his sins personally, not merely as a general theological idea. His strangely warmed heart became a living witness to justifying grace.

Wesley’s warm heart did not stay private. Kingswood drew him beyond the familiar pulpit and out among coal miners and common people. His willingness to “submit to be more vile” meant laying down his assumptions about where real ministry could happen. His field preaching and the school he built for miners’ children joined faith of the heart with love put to work through the hands. The Methodist movement sought to spread scriptural holiness across the land, not by starting a denomination, but by renewing the church for its mission.

The cross and flame remembers both Wesley’s fire and Pentecost’s fire. The flame calls the church to rely on the Spirit, because human effort can only do so much. The world remains the parish, near and far, from Bartlesville to Bolivia and Estonia. Drift begins when church people mistake their containers for the gospel itself, nibbling their way lost. Pentecost keeps asking whether the gospel is reaching people beyond familiar borders, even when that movement sounds a little strange.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Different stories, one risen Lord The body of Christ has never been a homogeneous group with one language, culture, or style. Pentecost honors real difference while gathering people around the saving work of Jesus. Christian unity becomes thin when it depends on everybody sounding alike, but it becomes durable when it rests in the Spirit and the risen Lord. [1:06:58]
• 2. The Spirit makes Jesus intelligible The Spirit’s work is not merely to create a powerful moment inside the church. The Spirit makes the good news of Jesus understandable to people near and far, especially those outside familiar church language. Faithfulness requires attention to the words, assumptions, and habits that may make perfect sense inside the room but leave newcomers confused. [56:12]
• 3. Warm hearts need active hands Aldersgate gave Wesley assurance, but Kingswood gave that assurance somewhere to go. Grace that warms the heart also moves toward neglected people, overlooked children, and places where love needs to become visible. The Methodist pattern refuses to separate personal faith from practical mercy. [1:03:28]
• 4. Mission requires leaving familiar spaces Wesley’s field preaching felt improper to a churchman formed by pulpit-centered ministry. Yet the Spirit was already at work among miners five miles from the nearest church. The church finds renewed life when it quits protecting familiar forms and goes where people actually are. [1:02:28]
• 5. Drift begins with small substitutions Churches rarely vote to abandon their mission. They drift when internal lingo, preferred rhythms, and familiar containers quietly become more precious than the gospel they were meant to carry. Pentecost calls the church to ask who still cannot hear, understand, or recognize good news through its present forms. [1:08:34]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [47:18] - What Makes Methodists Different?
• [49:56] - Different Stories in the Father’s House
• [52:44] - Pentecost and the Many Languages
• [55:16] - Babel Reversed Through the Spirit
• [56:37] - The Meaning of the Cross and Flame
• [57:15] - John Wesley, Brand Plucked from Fire
• [59:29] - Aldersgate and a Strangely Warmed Heart
• [1:01:12] - Kingswood and Field Preaching
• [1:03:28] - Scriptural Holiness in Action
• [1:05:41] - The World Is Wesley’s Parish
• [1:06:58] - Diversity on the Church’s Birth Certificate
• [1:08:04] - Pentecost Revisited and Mission Drift
• [1:11:27] - Warm Hearts and Active Hands
• [1:12:42] - Questions for Reaching Beyond the Church

Bible Reading

Acts 2:1-13 [52:44]
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and 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 Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Genesis 11:1-9 [55:02]
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

John 14:2 [50:11]
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

Zephaniah 3:12 [58:26]
“But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD.”

Observation questions

1. In Acts 2, what details show that the crowd in Jerusalem was made up of people from many places, languages, and backgrounds? [53:09]
2. What did the crowd hear in their own languages, and what two different reactions did they have to the Spirit’s work? [54:01]
3. What were the people at Babel trying to accomplish through their city, tower, and shared language? [55:02]
4. What images of fire appear in the passages and in John Wesley’s story: Pentecost’s flames, a brand plucked from the burning, and a strangely warmed heart? [58:26]

Interpretation questions

1. Acts 2 does not erase the crowd’s different languages; it makes the mighty works of God understandable within those languages. What does this suggest about the kind of unity the Holy Spirit creates? [55:16]
2. Babel involved people gathering power and making a name for themselves, while Pentecost centered people on God’s saving work through Jesus. How can a church tell whether its unity is centered on Jesus or on protecting its own preferences and reputation? [01:09:14]
3. Jesus speaks of many rooms in the Father’s house. How can different Christian traditions offer genuine places of belonging while avoiding the division, anger, and enmity that can grow between them? [50:37]
4. Wesley’s assurance at Aldersgate was followed by field preaching and a school for miners’ children at Kingswood. Why is personal assurance of grace incomplete when it does not also lead toward practical love and service? [01:03:16]

Application questions

1. What church words, acronyms, customs, or assumptions feel perfectly normal to longtime church people but may be confusing to a first-time guest? How could this group explain one or two of them in clearer, more welcoming language? [01:13:00]
2. Pentecost asks whether people can actually hear and understand the good news of Jesus. Who in the group’s neighborhood, workplace, school, or family may need the gospel expressed in a way that connects with their real questions and experiences? [01:14:03]
3. Different worship styles, traditions, and stories can become walls when they produce anger or contempt. Where is there a temptation to treat a preferred style or practice as more important than unity in the risen Lord? [01:07:18]
4. Wesley had to leave the familiar pulpit and go where the miners were. What familiar and comfortable spaces might keep this group from noticing people who are not likely to come to church on their own? [01:01:57]
5. A warmed heart is meant to lead to active hands. What is one practical need involving children, families, neighbors, or overlooked people that this group could respond to with visible love in the coming weeks? [01:03:16]
6. Churches can “nibble their way lost” when familiar rhythms and internal habits become more important than the gospel. What small signs of mission drift should the group watch for in its own life together? [01:08:34]
7. The Spirit’s work can sometimes look strange to people who are used to familiar patterns. Is there a faithful step of welcome, service, or outreach that may feel uncomfortable but could help someone else hear good news? [01:10:11]