What a day.
Acts 2:1 -- 41. 04/21/02
On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed and world war 2 begin. That is one of the sad days we remember in American history. You might call December 7,1941 the birthday of World War II.
Years before the war, a young maiden gave birth to a baby boy in Bethlehem and named Him Jesus. The Son of God was born. A Savior was born. It was the birthday of our Savior. Then on the day of Passover, the Son of God went to Calvary to die for the sins of the world. All who receive him as their personal savior are born-again. We call that day our spiritual birthday.
Then 50 days after the crucifixion, on the day Pentecost, the holy spirit is poured out upon the church. The church is formed. You can call that day the birthday of the church. What a day. The Son of God has gone up and the spirit of God has come down. And on that day spiritual power came to indwell believers and gave them to power to live the Christian life and obey the commands of Jesus to go into the world to be a witness for him. The same power that indwelled the believers in the believers in the upper room is the same power that indwells you and I today. So, here in chapter 2 you read the birthday of the New Testament church, on the day of Pentecost.
I want us to see a few things about the day of Pentecost. I call your attention first of all to THE MEANING OF THAT DAY.
The first thing I want to mention about the meaning of that day is it was a special day. This wasn’t the first day this day had occurred. They had been celebrating this day once a year for 1500 years. It was a festival day. A day to fellowship and eat. But that wasn’t what made it special. What made it special was this was the day the holy spirit would empower the believers and the birth of the church. What breath is to the body, holy spirit is to a church. You take the breath out of a body and you have a dead body. You take the holy spirit out of a church and you have a dead church. It is the holy spirit that produces live in a congregation.
What else happened that day? These old boys began to witness to people in a language they had never studied. But listen, the language could be understood by some people.
That was the meaning of that day but listen, there is THE MESSAGE OF THAT DAY. Look at verse 14. That is the same guy that denied three times that he ever knew Jesus. He is preaching to the people. The holy spirit has taken out doubt and denial. He is filled with the spirit and the sign of being filled with the spirit is that he is a witness for Jesus.
By the way, is not the only one preaching that day. If you are saved you are supposed to be a preacher. Huh? Well, women are not to be pastors but every Christian is to be a preacher proclaiming the good news of Jesus.
This was Peter’s first sermon. Pretty good don’t you say? He took his passage from the book of Joel 2: 28 and 30. The message you want to get from Peter’s sermon is found in verse 21. He preached his message from the Scripture. This sermon did not include positive thinking or name it and claim it. You can positive think yourself right into hell. You say I’m going to think positive, I’m good. The Bible says I am bad and unable to do good.
Peter not only explains Scripture, but he exalts the savior. Look at verses 22, 32, 36. It is not important whether you think my sermon is good but what does matter is if you think Jesus is good savior.
Let’s look at THE MIRACLE OF THAT DAY. What was the miracle of that day? Was it the wind? That was a miracle but not the miracle of that day. Surely it was the fire. No! That was a miracle but not the miracle of that day. Then it has to be the tongues. No! That was just temporary and passing. The real miracle is found in verse 41. People being saved. That is a lasting miracle. That is something that is eternal.
While Peter was preaching about the crucifixion of Jesus, look at verse 37, “they were pricked in their heart.” Tim look back up to verse 36.
I have had people to say I am not such a bad fellow. I don’t know that I need church and Jesus. Let me just tell you how bad we are. We are a murderer. The Bible tells me that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Our sins killed Jesus. We are guilty of the blood of Jesus.
Then they ask a question in verse 37, “what shall we do?” They are saying we want forgiveness. We want to be saved. That baptized 3000 people.
We don’t need another Pentecost. We just need to realize that Pentecost has appeared and go led by the spirit that lives in us as believers. Put the power of God to test and our lives. By being a verbal witness for Jesus Christ.
