Good morning,
Christ died to pay the sin debt for all mankind. He was buried in a rich man’s tomb. He arose the third day.
So, what happens next? Christ ascending back to heaven, waiting in the upper room, the replacement of Judas as an apostle, the 120 are filled with the Holy Ghost, and the 120 preaching and every one hears them in their own language.
We will explore each of these this week.
All hear in their own language (Acts 2:5-13)
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.”
The 120 now descend on Jerusalem. They began to preach and the people understood them in their own language. The city was made up of many different ethnic groups, which spoke different languages. What was happening was amazing.
There is a two-fold reason God allowed the residents of Jerusalem to understand in their own language.
First, it confirmed the message was from God. Only God could allow the residents of Jerusalem to hear the gospel message in their own language.
Second, it authenticated the messenger was from God. God was the one who filled the 120 with the Holy Ghost. These messengers were God’s witnesses.
We have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us. It is one thing to be indwelled with the Spirit and quite another to be controlled by the Spirit. How often does the Spirit of God move us to do something and we say no. When the Spirit shows us clear Bible teaching and we reject it. This is called quenching the Spirit. God wants us to be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants the Spirit of God to be in control of our lives.
Will we let Him?
Next week we will look at Peter’s preaching at Pentecost. His life was dramatically change from the night he denied Christ three times to standing before a great group and preaching about Christ.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com