Reboot With God's Promise

Acts 2:37-47 The Day of Pentecost

NIV Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call." 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Reboot with God’s Promise!

1) Repentant by God’s Word

2) Reborn through God’s Word

3) Regrouped around God’s Word

Introduction: This past week I downloaded a game from a website. My brothers play the game, so they told me to try it out. When I did, the files were not compatible with my computer. The game didn’t work and my computer would crash. My brother who knows computers said you need to try and reboot. Reboot is a fancy name for starting over. The hope is that when you reboot, your computer will forget all the bad things that it had done and magically do the right thing, when it begins again. There’s no guarantee that it will work. Most of the time the computer does remember the bad command s and files and still crashes. 3 times our San Antonio Spurs tried to reboot their team after each loss to the L.A. Lakers, but they couldn’t forget what had happened in the past and they crashed 1-2-3 times. They were caught in a cycle they couldn’t break. Today in our text, we have a group of people caught in a cycle they couldn’t break. They were sinners and couldn’t start over. They couldn’t reboot their lives to be god-pleasing. They couldn’t change. God sends His Word to these people to stop their lives from crashing. God’s promises rebooted their minds and souls to be God-pleasing children of God. For your personal life with God, your families’ relationship to God and each other as well as the future of Living Hope, Reboot with God’s Promise! Repentant by God’s Word; Reborn through God’s Word and Regrouped around God’s Word.

Part 1) Repentant by God’s Word

Pentecost is an awesome account of the Holy Spirit’s power. The account of Pentecost is filled with miracles. The disciples heads were covered with a flames of fire. There was the presence of the sound of a strong wind but no one’s hair was ruffled. After these miracles took place the disciples were able to speak in tongues they had never studied. Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised Holy Spirit. Now why do you think Jesus had the disciples sitting around waiting for the Holy Spirit, when he had already paid the price for all the sins of the world? Did the disciples need to have the flames of fire on their heads? Did the disciples need to hear the rushing wind with no air movement? Jesus had the disciples wait to spread the news of forgiveness until the Holy Spirit would come on them and remind them of everything he had told them: His Word. The Holy Spirit is promised in connection to God’s Word. What do you think is the most amazing miracle in the account of Pentecost? Is it the tongues of fire on the disciple’s heads? IS it the rushing wind with not even a breeze? Or is the greatest miracle of Pentecost the drastic change in 3,000 murderers?

Our text forms the conclusion to Peter’s Pentecost sermon. Peter the ordinary fisherman from Galilee, had preached boldly and fearlessly. He spoke the truth about Jesus Christ, who he was and what he had done. The Jews in Jerusalem had rejected him, despised him and murdered him. They killed the Son of God, their promised Savior. Peter told them, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!” These powerful words began to change the Jews in Jerusalem. The sword of the Spirit had pierced their hearts. The Hammer blows of God’s law were used by the Holy Spirit to break their hard stony hearts so that they now felt ashamed and guilty of their past decision. They had decided to reject Jesus Christ. They had decided to kill Jesus. They had decided to be Jesus’ enemy. The Holy Spirit had used God’s Word of truth to create a sorrow over their past and a desire to make amends.