Angelo – Welcome
1. Yes, Lord. Thank you for your presence, O God. God is here today. Say it to your neighbor, ‘God is here today.’
2. Psalm 47:1-2 says, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth.” We challenge everybody today to welcome the Lord. We’re going to shout to God with the voice of triumph. Amen. Are you ready? Are you ready to dance? Are you ready to move your body? Come on. Come on. Let’s clap our hands together. We’re going to enjoy praise today. Come on. Come on. The Bible says clap your hands. All you people, let’s shout to God with the voice of triumph.
3. Yes. Hallelujah. He’s faithful. When I woke up this morning, the first thing that I acknowledge God, is I thank him because I’m alive today. Amen. Turn to the person next to you and say you are alive. So don’t just stand there. Don’t just stand there. Let’s sweep our hands together. Come on. Lift your hands. Don’t be afraid. God is not going to bite you. He’s going to be pleased today because we’re going to use our hands, our voices to praise him.
4. I want to hear hallelujah on this side. It’s so soft. Make it loud. How about this side? Hallelujah. How about this? Do you know what hallelujah means? Hallelujah means we are ready. Amen. We are ready to lift our hands to the Lord. We are not going just to stand here today and go home empty. God is here today. And God is for everyone, for the young and old. Amen. Let’s bless the Lord together today.
5. Yes, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for helping us all the time, O God. Thank you, Lord, for our refuge, O God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father God. Let’s sing this amazing grace. Thank you, Lord.
6. We are saved by grace. Do you know that? Only by the grace of God, we can carry on. All of us fall short in the glory of God. No one is better than us here today. But it’s all because of the grace of God, we are here today. We are special in the sight of God. All of us are special in the sight of God. Because God is full of grace and mercy. Let’s sing this song together and encourage the church.
7. There is no powerful worship. There’s no powerful praise. The powerful praise and worship are we as a church will join our hearts together. And lift our hands to the Lord and sing for Jesus. That will become powerful praise. Amen. Don’t look to your neighbor today. I challenge each and every one of us. It’s not about the nice sound or music. It is the heart of people that wants to worship God. Amen.
8. God is here today. Take this opportunity. Take this privilege because there is power in our praise. God will minister to us in our praise. Amen. Let’s lift our hands together. Come on lift our hands together to the Lord. Release that hand. You know when you lift your hands meaning that you are you are declaring the victory of God and you are willing to receive something to the Lord today. Amen.
9. Hands Lord, today. I want to receive all the blessings. Do you want the blessing of God? Amen. God is here today. And He will pour out His blessings to each and every one of us. Are you ready? Come on let’s sing. Let’s lift our voices together in unison today.
10. Let’s give a big clap offering to the Lord altogether. Come on. Come on. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your grace of God. Thank you for saving us, Lord. Thank you. God bless you. Let’s all be seated.

Leto Reading the Word and announcements
11. Open your Bibles to the letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1:1-3. I only read Greek well. Somebody that reads English very well, please come and read with me. Thank you, Anton.
12. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Amen. Amen.
13. Thank you. I want to change the first verse a little bit. Paul said, ‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the holy people in Glyfada and faithful to Jesus Christ. To the church of Glyfada, grace and peace, from our Lord and Father, by our Lord through Jesus Christ.’ Amen, amen.
14. All the glory belongs to God. Let’s pray that all the glory goes to the Lord. We can pray all together. Amen.
15. Don’t forget to check our announcements. Next Sunday will be the first Sunday of the month. We’ll have communion. It’s nice, all the children of God, to be around the same table. On Wednesday at 7 o’clock, we have prayer, here at the church. And then we have Bible teaching.
16. From Tuesday, until Friday. The church is open for prayer. I don’t know if Rebekah is here. Okay, she’s here almost all the time, every day, from 10 to 11. We need people here to pray, like our sister Judy and Rebekah and other who are praying. Because this church is moving just through the prayer. We need people to pray. Amen.
17. Korina, give me two seconds and you will go with the children. Amen. I want to thank everybody. Sarah, thank you and Kitty for yesterday. It was wonderful. I went just for a few minutes. All the ladies were, you know, trying, you know, to do their craft so carefully. Thank you very much. Our children, now it’s time for the children to go for the Sunday school.
18. I forgot something. I’m leaving it till last, but it’s not the smallest one. On Saturday, the 6th of June, is the, ‘Walk for Jesus.’ Downtown in Athens. You can see the announcement on the board. It will be in Syntagma. Whoever can go, take part, will be very nice. It will be nice and good just to walk for Jesus and talk about Jesus. Just check and go there, please.
19. Do not forget our trip to Corinth, on 12th of July. We put it in our calendar. We have our piggy bank. And every day, we try to put some money aside, ready to go for this trip. If for example, they say that it’s 30 euros per person to go there. Oh, it’s too much for me. But if we go slowly, slowly and have this money, saving at home, it will not be so hard to give this money. What is important is to be all together at this trip.
20. It’s time to give our offering. It’s a challenge for our church. People who are invited, or are our guests, we are happy that you are here. But this is a challenge for the people of our church. You know that in order for this church to function, we need your offerings and your tithes. You know that in order for this building to function correctly during the month, we need at least 2,800 euros. Keep this in mind.
21. Our offerings and tithings have to be this much in order to be able to function this building. So when it’s time to give your offering, please. Just have this in mind that this is our home. This is our Father’s home. This is the home that we come just to have rest. But we have to pay the rent, we have to pay the bills.
22. Just a small information for you. Just the electricity bill is 800 euros. And it has to be paid. Some people say asking why. We have a lot of things that use electricity. We have people that are social groups that are here. Our offices, the computers, our TVs. And it is the square meterage of the building. You know when we pay the electricity, we pay taxes according to the square meters of this building.
23. So, in order to have this building from here to the top, usually the taxes are half of the bill. So, if you want to have more information about the taxes, come and talk to me. It’s the same thing when you pay your bills for your home.
24. Or if you go more than usually go up, it’s double. Because if we have some visitors here that they make programs and everything, that is go up a little bit. The water heaters, so some people to come and bath here.
25. You don’t know what happens here every day, but they happen. So, this is why when you will give your offering, please do it from the bottom of your heart. . God bless you all.
26. God bless you all. We feel good. We feel good. Let’s get prepared to hear the message from our sister Sarah.

Sarah Wheway – Main message
1. Good morning, church family and visitors. It’s really good to see you all today. I want to thank Pastor Gail and Pastor Brian for the blessing it is to be able to share with you today. Preparing the word today has just been such a blessing and benefited me. And so, I want to encourage you, because we often hear that, don’t we, that when we prepare a study of Bible verses for others. The Lord richly speaks to us personally. So, I really encourage you to reach with that today.
2. I’m going to be referencing a lot of different verses. We won’t have them on the screen. Only the main one. But I encourage you, maybe write these verses down in your phones or on paper. For if the Lord prompts you to do further study later.
3. So, the topic today is ‘Equipped by the Holy Spirit for His purposes in our lives.’ I’m just going to open in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us all here today. Lord, we thank you for your Word. And I pray, Lord, that you will speak to us today, each one of us where we’re at, Father. Holy Spirit, thank you for pouring yourself out amongst us. In your mighty name, I pray. Amen.
4. So today is Pentecost Sunday. This means we’re celebrating one of the most significant times in our church history. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and the 120 believers at the time. And this is referenced in Acts 2, which we’ll be turning to later.
5. The book of Acts was written by Luke. Luke was a companion of the Apostle Paul. And he’s considered to be one of the only Gentile writers in the New Testament. Acts is really a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. And one of the most striking things about Acts is how many times the Holy Spirit is referenced. Holy Spirit is referenced around 56 times. Just in the book of Acts. More than any other book in the Bible. So, we really see that Holy Spirit was central to the early church.
6. I just want you to imagine right now as you’re sitting there. Imagine yourself as one of those disciples at the time. You’ve been walking with Jesus every day. He’s your closest friend. Imagine how you would feel when he told you he was about to leave you. Just feel that for a moment. He knew that they were going to struggle. He knew they would feel overwhelmed when he left them.
7. So, before Jesus died, he gave them a promise. And this is found in John 14:16-18. We’re going to read that now. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him. For he lives with you and he will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.” Wouldn’t that be an encouragement to you? Knowing he’s going to leave you, but what God is promising is another One. You will not be as orphans.
8. So, my first point in this sermon is the promise. You are not alone. You here today, you’re not alone. Then we read, after his resurrection, Jesus said to them, “Wait in Jerusalem for the promise of my Father.” So, this really sets the scene in Acts 1:4-5.
9. Jesus tells his disciples, and we’re going to read this verse again. These two verses. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait. The gift of my Father that he promised you, which you have heard me speak about before. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit.”
10. So again, imagine yourself as one of his disciples. Before he died, he told you God would send you a helper. And now, here He is, after the resurrection, and He’s back with them. And again, He’s telling them, I have to go, but wait in Jerusalem for the promise that God is going to send you the Holy Spirit.
11. And he said, “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So why was the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost so important? Because we already know in Scripture that when the disciples believed, Jesus breathed his breath into them.
12. We’ll read that in John 20:22. “He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is not merely presence. He is God’s presence with us and in us. So, they have the Holy Spirit in them, but now they’re being told to wait for the Holy Spirit to baptize them.
13. So, imagine again yourselves. How would you feel? You’ve been told by Jesus to wait, and I think all of us know waiting is not easy. I always get really impatient when I’m told to wait. And I can imagine each one of them felt the same. They didn’t really understand what they were waiting for. How would you feel?
14. How long did they wait? Does anyone know? They waited 10 days. And the reason we know this is yes, Pentecost, that we celebrate today, means 50. And this feast was celebrated 50 days after Passover. We know that Jesus died for us on the Passover feast. The Passover was when the spotless lamb would be sacrificed to atone for people’s sin.
15. When our precious Jesus gave Himself for us, He was the ultimate sacrifice. He had turned for our sins once and for all. That’s what we celebrate today. No lambs are required anymore. He was the Lamb of God.
16. So, He died on Passover. He was resurrected just three days later. And this was during the Feast of the First Fruits. This was another Jewish feast. And we know from Scripture that when He rose again, He remained with them for 40 days, as somebody said. So that we can understand from this when Jesus ascended back to heaven after His resurrection. There was actually only a further 10 days that they needed to wait in the upper room before the Holy Spirit ascended on them.
17. So, isn’t it incredible that the Holy Spirit came on the believers during the Feast of Shabbat? Otherwise known as the Feast of Weeks. Otherwise known as ‘Pentecosti’, in Greek meaning 50th. For your notes, this is referenced in Leviticus 23:15-21.
18. So, we understand here that this feast was celebrated by the Jews, celebrating when God gave Moses the law. This is where Moses was given the Ten Commandments on the tablet of stone. So, it’s very interesting that the Lord chose to send His Holy Spirit on this time when they received the law. Now He is sending His Holy Spirit.
19. 50 days after Jesus had died, Pentecost took place. God had been preparing His people all along. And Hebrews reminds us the deeper meaning of this. We read in Hebrews 8:10. “I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts.”
20. So, this is what I found really interesting. At Sinai, God gave His Ten Commandments. This was to shape His people, to teach His people, and at Pentecost, God gave His Spirit to empower His people. We now see a bridge that God gave from Sinai to Pentecost.
21. Again, let’s think of the parallels. At Sinai, God came in fire. God gathered His people. God gave His law. At Pentecost, we’ll see in Acts 2, fire appears again. This time God empowers His people by Himself, by His Spirit.
22. So, it’s not just about us receiving the law, which is important for us. But we have the Holy Spirit to help us follow this law. Pentecost wasn’t a random moment in time. Pentecost fulfills what Sinai pointed to. In Acts 2 refers to the prophet Joel. And we’re just going to read from Joel 2:28, 29. “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” So, this was spoken centuries earlier.
23. Now the exciting part, we’re going to read from Acts 2, and we’re going to have that on our screen. Acts 2:1-12. We will read this, but I’m just going to ask you some questions. Think about what happened, why it happened, and what this means for you today.
24. Okay, so I’m going to read in English. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 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? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans (we’ve got some Greeks in there) and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
25. So, we read that they were all there waiting. Who were they? It was the 11 disciples. It was Mary, mother of Jesus. Jesus’ brothers. There were around 120 believers, gathered there. And we read all of one accord, one mind, devoted to prayer.
26. So, we had point one, the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now we have point two, the power. So, we see in Acts, there was a wind, God’s breath. We see there was like fire. Tongues of fire, resting on each one. When the Holy Spirit was touching them, they were lit up with this fire.
27. And I just have a personal testimony a few years ago when I was sharing in a Bible study. A couple of the girls asked if I could pray for them to receive a blessing and more of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It was such a blessing to pray over them. And what amazed me is when we stood up to leave. We were in a cafe.
28. And two of the tables next to us grabbed my arm as we were walking out. They said, forgive us for asking, but what were you just doing? Because we saw all of this light suddenly come over you. I was amazed to hear that and so encouraged.
29. People saw. People asked, what are you doing? I said, we were praying to God for His Holy Spirit. And it reminded me again of this when the Holy Spirit came. It was a witness to all of the people that were passing by. Again, we were a witness in that cafe of His presence in us.
30. Now we look at the verbal, the tongues. This was a manifestation of being filled with His Spirit. So, the disciples were filled with Him and they had this new power to be speaking in languages, not their own. So, the miracle is not confusion, the miracle was connection. People heard the gospel being spoken in their languages. This was evangelism.
31. And again, another personal testimony. When I was in Brazil on a mission trip, when I was 18 years old, there was a Greek girl in my team. She went forward for prayer and the person prayed over her in Greek. This person did not know how to speak Greek.
32. That’s when my friend asked her, how do you speak Greek? She didn’t know Greek. The Holy Spirit had empowered her to be praying in Greek. And on that same trip, I experienced that somebody asked myself and my friend for prayer.
33. I said, wait a minute, I’m going to go and get a translator from Portuguese, to English. And my friend said, no, Sarah, I believe she’s asking for us to pray for her son to return because he’s ill, and the father had taken him out of hospital and needed medication.
34. So, she asked us to pray for him to bring the son back to the hospital. So, we prayed this. The next day she came back, this time with a translator, and the translator told us, thank you for praying the son’s back in hospital, the father returned and he’s back on the medication. So Holy Spirit helped us to understand what we needed to pray for. We can trust him for that.
35. So, my third and final point is purpose. We had promise, we had power, and now we have purpose. Equipped. We were equipped to be sent out to evangelize. What happened after this time in Pentecost? We see Peter becoming bold. He’s no longer timid and scared. We see all of them preaching boldly the Gospel message. Teaching about Jesus no longer afraid.
36. What does that mean for us today? We can do all things through God strengthening us. We will get scared. We might feel timid. We might in ourselves feel I’m not strong enough, I’m not equipped. Perhaps the answer is we were never meant to feel enough on our own. Christianity is not about self-sufficiency. We see when after this time there were 3,000 souls added to their number on that day. Because they were equipped by his Spirit to preach. We’re dependent on his Spirit.
37. A friend of mine once said, I’m not strong enough to live a holy life. It’s impossible. We do not do things by ourselves, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.” That’s in Zechariah 4:6. So, we received the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. And then as we heard last week through Eric, when Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. We’re born of the flesh but we must be born of the Spirit. Because God is spirit.
38. So, Pentecost, God equipped us. How do we know that we’re operating in the Holy Spirit today? And each day. Ask him. D.L. Moody said when he was asked why do you ask to be filled continuously and repeatedly? D.L. Moody said because I leak. So, we need constantly to be filled. So, the personal relevance in our lives is fear turns to courage turns to. And our biblical worldview is that we’re dependent on God. Why? So, we’re equipped to serve him.
39. Pentecost shows us to rely not on ourselves but on God. And this is what I did in writing this sermon for you all. In my flesh I felt so weak and afraid and inadequate and ill equipped. I needed his Spirit within me to help me. And he can do that. He can take us from being scared to being confident in him.
40. Billy Graham. He said don’t confuse the Holy Spirit with emotional feelings. The Holy Spirit isn’t given for an emotional experience. And also, in Galatians 3:2 we’re encouraged not to follow our human effort again like I was doing in preparing the word, when we’ve been given his Spirit.
41. So finally, the purpose in Acts 4:13. This is my favorite verse of the whole study. They were unschooled ordinary men and women and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Yes. Equipped to live out his purposes.
42. So, we see later in Acts the Holy Spirit guides them. On Paul’s missionary journeys we can see guidance and protection. Can you all think of moments in your life when Holy Spirit has prompted you to do something or protected you from doing something.
43. A quick final testimony as I was driving in the city center of Athens just outside of Syntagma. And as I’m pulling to the stop, I hear lock your doors now. This wasn’t my own thought. But I obeyed. I locked my door immediately. And as I stopped at the traffic lights not five seconds later somebody reached to undo my car door. I don’t know what I was protected from that day.
44. And also, one time when I was in Italy and actually, I was in the situation on my own in a van at the hotel shuttle van. And the man came and he drove us away but he didn’t go towards the airport. He took us in another direction to an abandoned car park. I saw five big men coming from this abandoned building all in their big black leather jackets and I was afraid. They actually came to the window of the van and looked in at me and looked me up and down and then handed the driver a big amount of money which I saw this big amount of money being handed to him.
45. I was afraid I said God help me I don’t know what’s happening here. And I heard, ‘Call your hotel now.’ Now I know my phone doesn’t work outside of Greece and it doesn’t work outside of Greece. But I obeyed a spirit and I rang and actually the number was already on my phone which amazed me because I hadn’t put the phone number on my phone. God had prepared in advance to help me. And I rang the hotel and they answered immediately and I said please can you help me I’m in the van the shuttle van of the hotel.
46. He said that van was just stolen. And he said, ‘give me the driver.’ So, I handed my phone to the driver. He spoke for a few minutes was extremely agitated he threw the phone back at me. He actually threw the money out of the window and drove off immediately like I was like whiplash because of how fast he drove. Again, I don’t know what I was protected from that day.
47. But I do know that when I got out of the van, he took me to the airport and when I looked at him, he had such a look at blackness. I was shaken and I started reading the Bible and I read ‘I am with you.’ And I opened the daily reading, which was on the Holy Spirit. And this is why I’m sharing the story because the words were, ‘do not forget that I am with you. Do not be afraid of what’s happening to you right now. Know that I the Almighty God put my wings of protection around you. You have nothing to be afraid because the Lord your God is your protector.’
48. How amazing Holy Spirit encourages us and shows us his protection in his Word again and again. So, I really want to leave you with this this morning. The reality is it’s you and I today with the Holy Spirit helping us.
49. We may be feeling timid like some of the disciples did. But Pentecost reminds you today that God transforms us ordinary people by Holy Spirit. If you’re needing strength today, if you’re needing courage today, if you want a fresh filling of his Holy Spirit today, let’s come together and ask him to breathe in you again today, again to be equipped for living out our lives for him.
50. So, I’m going to ask if any of you do want prayer this morning come forward. I’d like to ask our prayer team to come forward. If this has touched you this morning and you just want to be prayed over to be loved on by your Lord today. And just pray this Holy Spirit breathe new life into me. Holy Spirit come abide within me. May you be seen in all I do. Amen.