The Day Of Pentecost

Something supernatural happened here!!

2. If we consider the second aspect of Pentecost, - the giving of the Law we see in Acts 2 that lives were changed- God put his law into their hearts

When the Holy Spirit comes on us, he changes us. He puts the Law of God into our hearts.

Jesus summed up the Law of God with the two Great Commandments – to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbour as yourselves.

We see the fruit of that change in the next Chapters of Acts.

The change was so significant that the Church was held in awe by the Jerusalem population

The Day of Pentecost was also a time for the fulfilling of two Old Testament prophecies.

The first from Ez 36:26-27 in which God said:

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

And the second from Jer 31:33 “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”

In our reading from the Book of Acts, we can see three principles for success in growing the Church.

1. The disciples obeyed Jesus

2. They needed the Power from on high

3. They earthed their message in God’s word

1. The first principle for success was that the disciples obeyed Jesus

You might wonder why, in Acts 1:8 were the disciples told to wait before bearing witness to the Resurrection of Jesus?

Simply because Jesus said so.

I think the simple answer is that if we are going to be servants of Christ, we have to learn to do WHAT he tells us to do.

Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until power from on high comes upon them.

So what did they do?

They spent their time in prayer – in anticipation.

In Acts 1:14 we read:

“They all joined together, constantly in prayer”

They got ready for action. Prayer is the power house of the Christian life.

Prayer is the preparation for everything that we wish to do in Christ.

It puts us in touch with HQ – with our Commander in Chief.

2. The second principle for success was the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Power from on high needed to preach the Gospel.

God asks us to be willing – but we don’t have to preach the Gospel in our own strength.

The Church isn’t our worry – it’s God’s worry.

If we are going to do God’s work, we need to do it in HIS strength and not our own.

The Acts 2 experience made the disciples changed people.

Let us look at the change that happened in Peter.

i) Before the Acts 2 Experience

I am sure you all recall how Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice:

Peter didn’t have the power to stand up for Jesus in front of a maid of the High Priest.

ii) After the Acts 2 Experience

However after the Acts 2 experience we see a transformed St. Peter.

In Acts 4, we see Peter who was scared to proclaim Christ in front of the High Priest’s maid now proclaiming Jesus in front of the High Priest himself.

3. The third principle for success in preaching the Gospel is that the disciples earthed their message in the Scriptures