Hearing the Wonders of God" - May 31 - 11 AM

Devotional

Day 1: Hearing Wonders in Your Native Tongue

The Spirit speaks through familiar accents and cultural cadences, not requiring religious jargon. At Pentecost, Cretans and Arabs heard divine wonders in their mother tongues. God’s truth isn’t quarantined to stained-glass language but meets us in the raw poetry of daily life. The Incarnate Word still translates himself into our workplaces, heartbreaks, and family tables. When we listen for the Spirit’s vernacular, even ordinary moments become sanctuaries of revelation. [40:59]

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” (Acts 2:6-8, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been surprised to hear God’s voice speaking in the “accent” of your daily life—through a friend’s counsel, a child’s question, or an unexpected moment of beauty?

Day 2: David’s Riddle, Our Endless Discovery

Jesus’ question about David’s Lord and son remains an open invitation, not a closed doctrine. The Trinity resists easy explanations, unfolding instead through lived wonder. Like disciples leaning into the paradox of a crucified King, we’re called to dwell in holy perplexity. Every time we think we’ve mapped God’s borders, the Spirit whispers, “Look again.” True faith thrives where certainty ends. [48:41]

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’” (Matthew 22:41-44, ESV)

Reflection: What familiar spiritual concept might Jesus be inviting you to re-approach with fresh wonder rather than settled answers?

Day 3: Arrayed in Dawn’s Dew

Baptism clothes us in resurrection’s first light. As Christ received the “dew of youth” on Easter morning, so we’re wrapped in the damp freshness of new creation. This isn’t about moral improvement but being swaddled in holy majesty. Like Charlotte’s baptismal water still glistening, our identities remain perpetually damp with grace’s surprise. [55:45]

Your people will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn, you will receive the dew of your youth. (Psalm 110:3, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you need to let the “dew of your youth”—Christ’s unearned vitality—refresh areas of spiritual dryness or aging resentment?

Day 4: The Unanswered Question’s Gift

The religious leaders’ silenced mouths became sacred space. When our arguments exhaust themselves, wonder begins. Jesus’ unanswered riddle about David’s Lord creates room for the heart’s slow “aha” moments. Sometimes faith grows best when we stop demanding explanations and start receiving mysteries. [53:38]

No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:46, ESV)

Reflection: What unanswered prayer or unresolved tension might God be using to create space for deeper trust rather than tighter control?

Day 5: Co-Laborers with Unfathomable Love

The Trinity’s dance invites our participation, not just observation. We collaborate with Christ like Peter preaching while still bearing denial’s scars. Our inadequacies become the very places where grace proves collaborative. To “dare” with Jesus means joining quantum physicists and toddlers in marveling at a universe charged with divine grandeur. [54:42]

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, ESV)

Reflection: What ordinary act of love or work today could become an act of co-laboring with the Trinity’s endless creative joy?

Sermon Summary

Pentecost opens the longest stretch of the church year as the Spirit breathes growth, maturity in Christ, and surprising expansion of the kingdom. Acts 2 sets the tone as the Spirit makes the wonders of God heard “in our own tongues,” speaking in native accents because the Spirit is incarnational like Jesus. The passage invites the church to keep asking, what does this mean, as the wonders are named: Jesus is God with us, the one who calls believers siblings and hands them his own Father; the one whose power does immeasurably more; the one who declares sin and death powerless even while present; the one who calls his people to co-labor for the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Trinity Sunday then frames how the church speaks of God. Scripture does not print the term Trinity, yet Jesus’ command to baptize into the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Paul’s threefold blessing, pull the church into an endlessly understandable mystery. The triune life refuses tidy diagrams and instead invites adoration and obedience.

Peter’s Pentecost proclamation follows Jesus’ own hermeneutic by way of Psalm 110: “The Lord said to my Lord.” Jesus had already posed the riddle to the religious leaders: how can David’s son be David’s Lord? The text compels a new imagination. David’s descendant is before David. The Son of Man is the Son of God. Jesus stands as the answer hidden in the question, drawing hearts into wonder rather than winning an argument.

Wonder functions as the path of true knowing. When God is reduced to propositions, words become weapons and joy thins. The gospel comes as declarations that outstrip calculation: “Your sins are forgiven.” “I am the Alpha and the Omega… I hold the keys.” Creation’s grandeur and human love preach the same lesson. As Gregory of Nyssa says, concepts create idols; only wonder understands. The Spirit keeps restoring people to wonder and restoring wonder to people.

Psalm 110’s coronation promise turns royal expectation upside down. The King does not crush Rome. He conquers within occupation and makes a footstool out of enemies named sin and death. Humility becomes wisdom’s doorway: the church does not dare pretend to know all; it dares to let the Master wash feet; it dares to return after denial; it dares to join his work in weakness. The psalm’s line from “the womb of the dawn” blooms at Easter as the Crucified receives “the dew” of youth. Baptism clothes the baptized in holy majesty and shares that dawn. The risen Christ still gives the dew, and wonder receives it.

Key Takeaways

1. The Spirit speaks in native tongues. Acts 2 shows God refusing one-size-fits-all revelation. The Spirit dignifies cultures, accents, and stories by carrying the same gospel in many registers. Incarnation continues at Pentecost as grace arrives in a person’s mother tongue and meets the heart at street level. Listening becomes worship because God has already been translating. [40:15]
2. Jesus fulfills David’s riddle as Lord. Psalm 110 presses the claim that David’s heir is also David’s Master. Jesus stands as the one who is after David according to the flesh and before David according to deity. Scripture opens when Christ himself opens it, and the riddle becomes a doorway into adoration rather than a puzzle to win. Worship answers the question more deeply than debate. [49:29]
3. Wonder outstrips concepts and control. When faith is shrunk to formulas, joy withers and language hardens. Wonder refuses idolatry by keeping God untamable and near at once. Awe does not cancel thinking; it transfigures it so the mind can love what it cannot domesticate. The Spirit guards the church from tidy idols by returning it to amazement. [52:17]
4. Christ conquers sin and death differently. The Messiah does not overthrow empires in the way empires expect. He liberates under occupation by trampling enemies no army can reach, turning sin and death into a footstool. Victory arrives through cruciform royalty, so courage takes the shape of humility, patience, and hope. The kingdom’s power is recognized by the tomb it leaves empty. [53:00]
5. Resurrection dawn gives baptismal dew. Easter is the womb of a new day, and the Risen One receives the dew of unaging life. Baptism clothes the baptized in that same morning, granting participation in new creation rather than a mere symbol. Holiness is not a costume but a shared life that stays fresh because its source never tires. The church lives by daily dew, not stored-up steam. [55:05]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[39:16] - Pentecost launches a long season
[40:15] - Spirit heard in native tongues
[41:48] - Naming the wonders of God
[42:01] - Jesus is God with us
[43:20] - Trinity Sunday’s endless understanding
[43:43] - Baptized into Father Son Spirit
[45:57] - Psalm 110 and the riddle
[47:51] - Jesus’ question silences opponents
[49:29] - David’s son and Lord revealed
[52:17] - Gregory: only wonder understands
[53:00] - Sin and death as footstool
[55:05] - Womb of the dawn fulfilled
[55:45] - Baptism and holy majesty
[62:17] - Trinitarian benediction

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Acts 2:5-12 (ESV): "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? [...] we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.'"
- Psalm 110:1 (ESV): "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'"
- 2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV): "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Observation questions

In Acts 2:5-12, how did the diverse crowd react when they heard the disciples speaking in their native languages? What specific question did they ask?
According to the sermon, how did Jesus use Psalm 110:1 to challenge the religious leaders’ understanding of the Messiah? [47:51]
What threefold blessing does Paul give in 2 Corinthians 13:14, and how does it relate to the idea of the Trinity?

Interpretation questions

Why might the Holy Spirit’s choice to speak through the disciples in “native tongues” (Acts 2:8) matter for how we share the gospel today?
Psalm 110:1 calls the Messiah both “Lord” and the one who crushes enemies. How does Jesus fulfill this in a way that subverts expectations of power? [53:00]
The sermon says, “Concepts create idols; only wonder understands.” How could reducing God to formulas or arguments hinder joy and relationship with Him? [52:17]

Application questions

The Spirit met people in their “mother tongue” (Acts 2:8). What unique cultural, relational, or personal “accents” has God given you to share His wonders with others? How could you use them this week? [40:15]
When have you tried to “domesticate” God into a tidy concept or formula? What practices (e.g., prayer, silence, art) could help you recover wonder instead?
Jesus conquered sin and death through humility, not force. Where in your life are you tempted to seek control or “crush enemies” instead of trusting His cruciform victory? [53:00]
Baptism is described as being “clothed in holy majesty” through Christ’s resurrection. How might remembering your baptism reshape how you face failure, shame, or weakness today? [55:45]
The Trinity is an “endlessly understandable mystery.” What simple action (e.g., pausing to pray, serving someone, marveling at creation) could help you lean into awe this week rather than demanding full understanding?

Sermon Clips

41s

“``The spirit actively seeks to restore the wonder to us and us to the wonder whose name is Jesus. I love Saint Gregory of Nysa. He was a bishop of the fourth century, and he said, concepts create idols. Only wonder understands. And so this Trinity Sunday, we're still breathing in Pentecost breath, still receiving CPR from God's spirit. We understand this through wonder. Lord said to my Lord, how could David's son also be David's master?”

34s

“And the answer to the riddle was the very one who is standing before them asking the question. Jesus, the son, the offspring of David, was also his Lord. Jesus, the descendant of David, the son of man, was also the son of God. Jesus was pulling the curtain back on scripture, bringing wonder. We still need him to do that for each of us to this day. Otherwise, we reduce wonder into categories and we turn turn words into weapons.”

39s

“Lord said to my Lord, how could David's son also be David's master? Jesus, David's future son, rescued and did battle differently than his ancestor and all the kings who ever preceded him. This king didn't liberate from Roman occupation. He liberated from within Roman occupation. And God made a footstool for Christ's feet out of his enemies, sin and death, and there are enemies too. These he has conquered for you. Back to Jesus in the gospel.”

46s

“Jesus gave them the riddle, and he let it hang in their hearts, waiting for the moment the spirit would open a new cognitive pathway into wonder, igniting a brand cardiac beat. The son of David was a title that was given for the Christ, the one who would rescue, redeem, deliver Israel, and he was to be a descendant of David's. So what Jesus asked was, how can David's descendant, future offspring, simultaneously also be David's lord? can David's successor also be before him? It's a riddle.”

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Hearing the Wonders of God" - May 31 - 11 AM - Sunday Service