Acts 2 - The Birthday of the Church


Click Here to Read All of Acts 2
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans.
As Jesus had promised in John 17, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as they were together in one room.  The metaphor used to describe the Spirit's arrival was one of a violent wind.  The word "Spirit" means breath or wind in both Greek and Hebrew.  And it is a fitting metaphor because although you cannot see the wind, you know when it is blowing.  Such was the case when the church was born.  The Holy Spirit's arrival fulfileld a prophecy from Joel 2 where the prophet predicted, "the Spirit would be poured out all people, young and old, male and female, rich and poor".  
Importantly the Holy Spirit empowered the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to all over the known world.  There were people gathered for the feast of Pentecost from Syria, Arabia, Turkey, Asia, Rome, Egypt and Africa.  These were Jews who were dispersed from Jerusalem when the Israelites were exiled under the Babylonian rule in the early 6th century B.C.  
The evidence of the Holy Spirit was Jesus' disciples preaching the gospel in the language of all these foreigners gathered for the feast.  The people were utterly amazed, though some thought they had too much wine LOL.
Peter preached the first sermon on the church's birthday and the scripture says, 3,000 people became believers.  Here was the basic content of Peter's message,
“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.” 
What an amazing plan that God had in his sovereignty to start the church, so the Good News of Jesus could be spread across the earth. Guess what? The places where we live, especially in larger cities, have brought people from all around the world living right beside us.  Could it be that God has brought the people into our communities so the church could preach the gospel to them in relevant ways that so they might understand?  In their own language?  
The birthday of the church started 2,000 years ago and every year the church gets one year older, but our mission remains the same.  And guess what? We preach the same message Peter gave on the church's 1st birthday. "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!"   

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