Peter Preached at Pentecost

What Makes Someone Important?

Is it the clothes they wear?

The places they are able to go, like the school they go to?

Is it the sports they play?

Is it the friends they have?

We use many external things to judge people and see if they measure up and are important or not.

God, however, doesn’t look at people that way.

Every single human being is made in the image of God. We are His image bearers. He created all of us so that when people look at us and how we live, we would reflect who God is and how He has created things to be.

Because everyone is made in God’s image, that means He loves us, and that everyone needs to hear the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus.

Main Point:

The main point of today’s lesson is this:

All people need to hear that Jesus is the Savior.

We are going to see in the weeks to come how Jesus’ command to go and make disciples of all nations would begin to take place. The mission was just starting to begin.

Recap

Last week, we learned about how Jesus was taken up into heaven by a cloud. Before Jesus left, He gave us the great commission:

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Now, in today’s lesson, we are seeing the gift of the Holy Spirit come on the followers of Jesus, just like Jesus had promised. God keeps His promises always, right?!

Pentecost

One day, all of the believers, about 120 of them the Bible tells us, were gathered together in one place, called the upper room, because it was literally the room upstairs at a house. This day was called the day of “Pentecost”. It was a festival celebrated 50 days after the Passover celebration.

The Bible says that:

Acts 2:2–4 CSB

2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

Basically: by the power of the Holy Spirit, the people in that upper room were able to speak in languages they didn’t know and share the amazing things of God with others!

So, a crowd of people from many different places came and noticed the sound that came from the upper room, the sound of the rushing wind, and were amazed because although many of them were from different areas, they could all hear the apostles speaking in their own language!

Example:

Imagine there’s a group of people. One person speaks English, another speaks Spanish, another speaks French, another speaks Swahili, another speaks Lithuanian, and because of the power of God the Holy Spirit, each one of them could understand what the Disciples were saying in their own language!

This was already a sign showing that God cared about all people. If he only cared about the Jewish people, He could have simply only kept the good news of Jesus in their language that they understood. However, because God loves the world and wants them to hear the good news of what He has done, He gave the gift of tongues to His disciples so that they could reach those who didn’t even speak the same language!

Peter's First Sermon

Next in this passage, Peter his first ever sermon to the group of Jewish people that surrounded the 120 disciples that were in the upper room there.

After Peter preached, the Bible tells us the people’s response:

Acts 2:37–39 (CSB)

CALL TO REPENTANCE

37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each 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 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Listen to what happened:

Acts 2:41 CSB

41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

3,000 people were baptized and believed in Jesus that day!

Closing

So, all people need to hear about Jesus.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were able to speak and be understood by others in their own language.

And Peter preached his first sermon, and by the power of God, 3,000 people were saved!

And this was all just the beginning of the miraculous things God was going to do through the power of the Holy Spirit.