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TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
Happy birthday, church. Happy birthday. Yeah. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah. Happy birthday. That's Pentecost Sunday for you. The day that the church was born. It's actually a very special Pentecost Sunday. If you didn't know. Because obviously it's not just the birthday for us here at the center. It's not just the birthday for us, you know, as a denomination of Baptists, as the church.
It's not just even a birthday for the Catholic Church, just but also, I don't know if you knew this for, you know, once every 4 to 5 years, Pentecost aligns in both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church observe a different calendar to us when they're figuring out East. In Pentecost. So this today that it's Pentecost Sunday and it's the church's birthday is something every denomination can agree on.
Who would have thought what the Easter miracle? We can all agree on something. So happy birthday, happy Pentecost Sunday! I'm praying today that the spirit would fall on us once more, like it did on the day of Pentecost. That the spirit of fire would ignite our faith, and that we would go out into the world to bring the kingdom of God as in heaven.
So as we're looking at Pentecost today, we're kind of going through a theme of mountains, which might seem like a bit of a weird choice. Why are we looking at mountains on Pentecost Sunday? Well, Pentecost, the day that the spirit fell on the first disciples and the apostles was actually on the same day of Shevat, which was a Jewish festival that was celebrated every year, and the day of Shreveport celebrated and remembered the day that Moses went up to Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments from God.
It happened on the same day. It was sort of a you Shabbat, sort of a second moment of sign. I wonder when we see this, when we look at, as Kim was talking about earlier, reading from acts two, the fire, the wind, all of these things are suggest we're taking back to this moment on Mount Sinai. And there are mountains all the way through Scripture.
It's actually quite a really rich theme that is woven throughout Scripture. So what I'm actually going to do is I'm going to tag team with Bible Project, and we're going quick watch a quick video to understand a bit more how mountains work in Scripture and how we should understand them. In ancient imagination, the mountain was where the sky touched down on the land, a place where God's wisdom and power and very presence could be found.
The Bible begins with God placing humanity on that kind of mountain, appointing them to oversee the land and fill it with God's blessing. To remain on the mountain. They must trust in God's wisdom, but humanity chooses their own wisdom instead. So they are driven from the mountain. And instead of God's abundance, they fill the land with violence. But God promises to restore his blessing to all nations through the offspring of one infertile couple.
He invites Abraham up to the mountain to give him this blessing. But first, Abraham must give up his promised son. The only way back up the mountain is to lose what we call life, and receive back the true life that God offers. Abraham's family grows, and God invites all of them up onto the mountain, but from below the mountain is frightening.
Only Moses goes up to learn God's wisdom, so God's mountain presence comes down instead to live in Israel's camp. Now the mountain travels with them and they're invited to live by God's wisdom wherever they go. When King David establishes a city on a tall hill, Israel's prophets imagine that this could truly become the mountain with a king who would rule in God's wisdom and restore the blessing to all the nations.
But once again, Israel spirals into violence and is driven from their home. And so God comes down instead, Jesus enters the world as one of us, teaching his followers how to live by God's wisdom, sharing the abundance of God's mountain with Israel and with the nations. And when Jesus faces his own choice, he trust God, his father, with his very life and through his surrender, the risen Jesus becomes the place where heaven and earth meet.
He is enthroned on the heavenly mountain, offering life and wisdom and power. And he invites his people to ascend, to choose God's wisdom, so that through them God's blessing can flow out to all the land.
So the mountain in the ancient Hebrew imagination was this place where heaven touched down on earth. And it's not that hard to imagine if you were living in a time where there's no Google Maps, there's no helicopters, there's no drones, there's no space X sending things up into the orbits. Well, the mountain is the highest point that you can get.
It's the closest place that you can get to heaven. This is the Hebrew imagination that God lived in the heavens, in the sky above. We might now imagine that as the ends of the universe, the ends of the universe, for them is the sky above. And climbing this mountain is a moment in which we can ascend into God's presence.
Now, this can be a bit hard to get our head around, because our tallest mountain in Australia's Mount Kosciuszko, which I did a bit of research this week. Turns out that there are over a thousand of the mountains in the world that are taller than Mount Kosciuszko, we don't even make the top thousand. It's not that impressive of a mountain.
We're pretty flat as a country, but I kind of found that quite surprising because I climbed Mount Kosciuszko when I was about 16 and he's pretty high up. I was at a school camp, and they took us up to mount because he also with this guide, Troy, he took classes up every single week. Not a bad way to get make a living taking a bunch of 16 year olds up Mount Kosciuszko every week.
So the night before, he told us what we needed to wear and what we needed to pack, and told us to take about 2 to 3 hours. And he got us all on the bus the morning off and drove us to the bottom of the mountain into Thredbo Ski village, which in spring is beautiful. This cafes and souvenir shops and a guy playing guitar on the side, you know.
And then we finally kind of whined on through to the bottom of the chairlift, and we get taken on up to the start of the walk, and Troy says, okay, guys, you can kind of just, you know, go at your own pace if you want. We'll meet up at the top at this time, but, you know, take your time, feel free to stop for a second and enjoy the view.
So I just I was off, I put my music in. I was just walking by myself, lone wolfing it up this mountain. And it was just glorious. The springtime is wildflowers along the path and the little banks of this giant mountain where the snow had melted crystal clear ponds. The sun's beaming. I finally get up the top and it just felt like I was on top of the world.
And from all sides I could just see the horizon. And I was just reminded how tiny I am and how expansive and grand and awesome our country is. And the world is God's creation. This is the sort of experience that we want to be tapping into when we think about mountain top moments, because the first mountain in the Bible is actually the Garden of Eden, which you might be thinking.
I don't remember a mountain being mentioned in Genesis one or Genesis two. Don't. I'm not remembering a mountain. Yeah, you'd be right. It doesn't explicitly say that there was a mountain, but the prophet Ezekiel, when he's writing to one of the other nations, is talking about the origin, and he says, you were in Eden, the garden of God.
I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God. Zacchaeus says that Eden was placed on a mountain on the top of a mountain. And then in Genesis 210, we actually get a little hint. It says a river watering the garden flowed from Eden. From there it was separated into four headwaters, the four being so this number of universality, the four winds, the four corners of the earth that this river flows to.
And as we know, water takes the path of least resistance. So if you've got a point of water and it is flowing in four directions, it manages to fathom that the water is coming from the highest point flowing down. And this is how we're to understand this Edenic Paradise, that God begins his story with humanity. This is the vision to be living on top of the mountain where the river flows out from.
And then obviously, we get to Exodus, a kind of more well known mountain moment at Mount Sinai, when Moses sees the burning bush and God says something really interesting to Moses, says something really, really interesting to Moses in Exodus 312 he says, I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you.
He says, when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. And you'll notice I usually take the footnotes out of these little verses. When I put them up for a sermon. But there's a really important little footnote there in your NIV, and probably in many other Bibles, which tells you that this you right here is second person, so still you, but plural.
So if we were Texan, we'd say y'all will worship on this mountain, all of you. Now, unfortunately, the Hebrews didn't have the the language of y'all, so they used second person plural. But the idea is it's not just Moses is going to be worshiping on top of Mount Sinai. The vision is that y'all, all of us, will be worshiping on top of the mountain.
It will be the sign that God has delivered them, which is a bit confusing because I don't. I don't remember all of Israel worshiping on top of Mount Sinai. I don't remember that. I mean, like, this isn't a stand alone moment in Exodus 19 526. Again, God says to Israel, now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy. Now I don't remember all of Israel being a kingdom, a priest. I remember the Levites being priest, but what happened? Why weren't they all a nation of priests? Why weren't they all worshiping Yahweh up at the top of the mountain? Well, in Exodus 2018 to 21, we kind of see what happens.
One of the many downfalls of Israel, when the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance. And they said to Moses, speak to us yourself, and we'll listen. But do not have God speak to us. We'll die. Moses said to the people, do not be afraid.
God has come to test you. So the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. The people remained at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. See, the people remained at a distance. They said, yeah. Look, you could go up the mountain, Moses, you enjoy the thunder and the lightning in the fire and the smoke.
Have fun being burnt, electrocuted, flesh probably asphyxiated to death. We're going to chill on down here. Give God out this time. We say, what's up? You can come back down and just tell us what he said. I guess we'll see you in 40 days and 40 nights by and let Moses go up by himself against the vision that God had for them.
The crowd stayed behind because they were scared to go up. They they didn't understand who God was. They weren't in an intimate relationship with God themselves. They only seen the plagues of Egypt, which were terrifying. It's like, oh, why don't I get close to that guy? I don't know what he's going to do to me because Moses had always been the mediator and goes on to say, guys, I want to be in relationship with all of you.
And they go, no, we just leave it to Moses. But you need to go up the mountain. Y'all need to go up the mountain. If you're relying on a pastor or a worship leader, or a small group leader or some guy on YouTube to be taking you up the mountain, or instead to be going up the mountain and bringing down a revelation for you.
You're living in the Old covenant. You're living in the Old Testament. You're living at the base of the mountain. Why would you want to rely on lukewarm Uber delivery revelation, when you can go up straight to the source of life itself and dine with the divine King on the top of the mountain? This is what we're invited into.
Not to get leftovers down the bottom, but to get the best up the top with God. And we don't just do this for our benefit. It's not just so we can be well fed and live on the mountain forever and sort of close the doors, shut the windows and just enjoy what's going on there. Now. It's actually so we can go back down so we can go back down and share that blessing with others.
When Abraham goes up the mountain to receive his revelation, God says, look at the stars in the sky. I'm going to give you more sons than you can count stars in the sky, and they're going to be a blessing to just you know, all nations. The river in Genesis flows down the mountain out to the four corners of the earth.
Because in acts one, when Jesus takes his disciples up the Mount of Olives X18, that's what we were just looking at with our main mission. Mount this passage, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
And they don't stay on the Mount of Olives continues in acts 112. They go down. The apostles return to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day walk from the city. See, when Moses went up on the mountain, he did it so he could bring the law back down. When Elijah went up on the same Mount Sinai many, many years later, he then went back down to appoint prophets and kings.
And when the disciples go up the mountain with Jesus, they don't do it to stay there. They do it to come back down, to share the Holy Spirit with all nations. Y'all need to come down the mountain. Going up is great because they need to be coming down because we're not blessed to be blessed. We're blessed to be a blessing to others.
This is the image that we're given.
This is what we see at Pentecost in Acts 212 12 it says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a vial and wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And 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 they 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 had their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked, aren't all these who is speaking Galileans?
And how is it that each of us here's them in our own native language? Now this is the part that I didn't give to cam because I love him, but I'm going to try it. Parthians, Metis and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene. Visitors of Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans 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?
I find it so striking that in that list of nations is Egypt.
The nation that held Moses and the Israelites back from the Mount Sinai moment. And yet here they are, even the people who were a stumbling block to God's people, receiving this blessing, receiving this new covenant, receiving this new spirit that God is bringing on all people indiscriminately.
That for this to happen, you'll need to keep ascending the mountain. It can't just be a one time mystical experience that you had 30 years ago, and then you just riding on the coattails of that. Because when I got married, we went on honeymoon down to has the and I said, babe, we've got to go to Matt because he also, trust me, it's going to be great.
She said, okay, cool. Sounds great. Is there anything we need to plan or organize for it? Sorry, babe. We just follow the signs. It's the tallest mountain we'll get there. That's the one. Let's go. What's the worry? We drive to Matt because he also National Park. Turns out there was a fee to get in. Didn't realize that.
I guess Troy had covered that before. So we pay the fee and we get in. We're just following the signs. We drive and we drive. Drive and we drive. And these guys, this is the right direction. I'm going, babe, there aren't two Mount Kosciuszko's, we're following the signs, okay. It's going to be okay. And we get to the car park and him gets out and puts the backpack on, and she's looking around.
She goes, where's the chairlift? I thought you said there's a checklist. I'd completely forgotten about Thredbo Village. Yeah. You know, babe, it must just be over that reach. This is my wife of two days. Must just be over the ridge. It wasn't over. That reached the chairlift was actually on the other side of the mountain. The side of the mountain that only takes 2 to 3 hours to go up.
I'd taken my dearly beloved to Charlotte's past a leisurely 10 to 11 hour hike up to Matt. Because, yes, I mean, we did have keys to pick up for Airbnb that night, but that's all right. You know we are. We pushed through. In my defense, I was rusty. I had to climb that mountain in ten years. How was I expecting to lead someone else up the mountain?
I was not expecting to do that. That Troy guy, he did it every week. I'm expecting to lead my wife up the mountain. I've only climbed once. Ten years ago. We need to keep ascending the mountain. So I said in the past, this desk, we can act as Sherpas. Sherpas master a mountain. They know its ins and outs intimately so that they can act as guides for people who are going up for the first time.
They know the path to the slippery. They know the path of the state. They know which places to camp there, the God that brings people up to the mountaintop experience. This is the consistency that we say that flows on in acts two. It says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Everyone was filled with awe. The many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily.
Those had been saved. They weren't just meeting every Sunday. They weren't just hanging out for Pentecost Sunday. They were meeting as part of a regular rhythm, as part of a community of believers that took their mission to be disciples to all the earth very seriously. Every day they continued to meet. Because if you aren't ascending the mountain regularly, going up and down, up and down, and showing others how to do the same, you've kind of missed the point.
Like you've kind of missed the point. That's the point of Christianity is for the river to run down the mountain, not for us to just sit at the top and lap up the water. It's for us to spread, to share, to show others how to ascend. Might call up the band. That's the three ideas today, y'all. Me included me to go up the mountain.
We all need to come back down the mountain. Going up, experiencing God coming back down, sharing God with others, taking them back up. Rinse and repeat. So what are your spiritual rhythms like? What are your daily spiritual rhythms like? What are your weekly spiritual rhythms like? Are you intentionally coming to and from the mountain? Or are you maybe just sitting comfortably with a hot chalky at the bottom of mountain base?
Are you maybe just hiding up the top, just soaking in the blessing of God and stockpiling it for yourself? A city on a hill cannot be hidden. You do not put a lamp under a bulb. This is something to be shared. So I'm going to just invite us. So now, if you're able and willing to stand up. And I want you to as high as you feel comfortable, lift your arms up in the air as you receive God's empowering spirit.
As you receive God's empowering spirit, just keep those hands up. This day of Pentecost, just like those many years ago when the spirit fell. Holy spirit, we pray that it would fall on us once more. Right now. And as you stand there with arms raised on your mountaintop, stop thinking who's somebody in my life who I need to bring this down to.
And once you've got somebody, I want you to bring those arms down and outward. In an action, an expression. These mountaintop moments aren't just for us to be stored by ourselves. They are to be shared with others. And God, we thank you that you are placing each and every person's heart ablaze with somebody in their lives. God, we thank you for the relationships, for the networks, for the communities that you have placed us in.
And Holy Spirit, we pray that today would not just be some set apart mountaintop experience, but God. It would be the start of something new, would be the start of a rhythm, a start of intentionality where we are inspired and filled and set alight by your spirit, and then take that fire down the mountain to be shared with others.
God, we pray for those people in our hearts right now. Lord, let us be a community who grow in number daily. Let us not stagnate. Let us not sit comfortably. Let us be willing to get our hands dirty, let out, get our feet down on the mountain, and then down on the floor with the people. Our Lord. Because Jesus, you didn't stay up in heaven.
You brought that mountain down. You brought it down to us. Jesus. You brought it down to us so we could taste and see your goodness. We want to share that with others. The Holy Spirit send us the light once more. Send us out now. In Jesus name, Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

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