The Day Revival Came Series

The Day Revival Came: Acts 2:1-41

I have said a number of times, during this series, that I would love to see Acts 2 happen in the church today. When I say that, I don’t mean the actual events because the actual events of Pentecost will never be repeated.

The Holy Spirit has already come, the wind blew and the fire fell, however, I believe the models and values found here will teach us how we should live as believers, in the world today. But at the same time, we must not separate any part of what happened from the others in order to justify our personal teaching.

Some ignore and deny verse 4 and some base their entire belief system exclusively on what happened in verse 4 while ignoring the wind and flames.

As a boy, I was taught that the only thing that mattered was the ability to speak in tongues we believed it to the point of believing that unless you spoke in tongues you were not saved.

In Acts 2, the disciples were both baptized and filled…but after Ch. 2, we see them experiencing many more fillings, yet no more Holy Spirit baptisms…(water baptism is different)

Now let me get down off my soapbox and focus on the real miracle of Pentecost:

The real miracle was -NOT the wind, -NOT the fire, AND NOT the tongues.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, the real miracle was that, on this very day 3 thousand people were saved!

According to verse 6, the incredible events in the first 4 verses began to draw a crowd. We see in verses 7&12: a multitude gathered and was amazed at what they heard, yet if you look at verse 13 you will see that some doubted and even questioned it to the point of making fun of the disciples. This still happens today…

Peter’s sermon was the answer to all of their questions. His sermon had 3 points, so that might make Peter a Baptist, since most of us think we’re not preaching if we don’t have 3 points and a poem.

Peter told the crowd three things that day and I would like to examine each of them.

*In verses 14-21 he told them what had happened.

*In verses 22-35 he told them how it happened.

*In verses 36-40 he told them why it happened.

So let’s look, first at…

1. What happened: read vs. 14-21

What time is it “third hour” means that it is 9 am. That’s EARLY for some of you. While you’re catching that extra time in bed, there is a revival happening outside!

In his message, Peter quotes the OT prophet Joel.

I shared this prophecy with you a few weeks ago but I want to make something a little more clear to you.

If you look closely at what he is saying, Peter is not saying that the day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of that prophesy. The prophecy of Joel will be fulfilled in the last days, during the tribulation and Joel’s prophecy deals with the nation of Israel.

Look at verses 19-20 carefully. We know that none of these things happened on the day of Pentecost so Peter was simply saying, “what you are seeing on this day; the day of Pentecost was LIKE the last days to come written by the prophet Joel.”

Let’s see if I can make sense of all this.

Strange things were happening, and they couldn’t make sense of it…Peter showed them that God was working in His mysterious and miraculous ways. Peter was saying; “Look at what Joel said, a long time ago, was going to happen!

What you are seeing is the beginning of what Joel spoke of.”

Too many times, Christians will deny something simply because we cannot explain it. If God heals someone, we say it won’t last… it will be back.

But I want to know something… somebody answer this question. Has God lost His power!? Has God become weak in His old age?

Let me tell you a secret. God’s ways are higher than ours and we shouldn’t deny something just because we don’t understand it or we can’t explain it.

[Isa 55:8-9 NIV] “8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We should be thankful we have a God we cannot understand…

Wouldn’t you hate to have a God so small that you could figure Him out?!

So, Peter explains to them WHAT had happened… Next he tells them:

2. How it happened read vs. 22-35

Peter explains in these verses that all of this is because of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ…he shares the gospel and gives them 4 reasons why they ought to put their faith in Jesus Christ: