Empowered Disciples 3

Day of Pentecost

This morning as we continue our series on Empowered Disciples we are looking at the Day of Pentecost

In week one we seen the Kingdom of God, as we seen Jesus spend 40 days with the disciples after His resurrection and then we seen His ascension to Heaven.

Last week we seen the disciples devoted to prayer in the upper room, we also seen the outcome of Judas Iscariot and the disciples find a replacement for him.

This morning as we look at the Day of Pentecost we will be looking at the first 36 verses of Acts 2.

In this text we will see the disciples in the upper room filled with the Holy Spirit, then we will see the outcome of the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit, and then we will look at Peter’s first sermon.

Filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1–4 NASB95

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

The Day of Pentecost occurred fifty days after Passover, it was and is a Jewish holiday marking the time of the wheat harvest and also commemorating the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.

In the Old Testament, it is called the Festival of Weeks.

Jews would travel to Jerusalem for Pentecost or else stay there after the Passover to await for the festival.

The disciples, possibly 120 or more were all together in the upper room where they have been praying for the past ten days, when Suddenly this noise of a violent rushing wind fills the whole house.

The important emphasis is made in connecting unity and obedience in order to experience the presence, power, and influence of the work of the Holy Spirit.

The wind was invisible, but its work would not be.

Those present, so the disciples and all those in the upper room saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each person.

Throughout the Old Testament fire is used to depict the present of God.

Think about Moses and the burning bush, God spoke to Moses through that burning bush.

As Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness God led them by fire at night.

Elijah faces off with over 400 Baal prophets when Elijah prayed the Fire of God fell and consumed Elijah’s offering.

Now in the upper room the Holy Spirit has come upon the disciples as a flame or fire pictured as a tongue.

Luke was writing about things beyond ordinary human experience that can only be expressed in earthly analogies.

What Luke was doing was trying to explain and give us a picture of what was taking place when the Holy Spirit came.

There was a sound of a violent rushing wind, and then an appearance of tongues of fire.

This appearance of tongues of fire can be metaphorical therefore the tongues of fire could meaning spoken language.

As the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit they are empowered to speak in other languages.

There is differences of opinions on what is meant by speaking in other tongues here.

But as we continue in our text I believe we will see that it is the disciples were speaking in other known languages so that those there whose native language was different could hear the sermon in their native language that they may better understand it.

Illustration: The Sailboat and the Wind

A sailboat can be beautifully designed and fully equipped, but without wind in its sails it goes nowhere.

The disciples had spent three years with Jesus, witnessed His resurrection, and received His teaching, but they still waited in obedience for the promised power of the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit came, they were empowered to accomplish God's mission.

Big Idea: God's people need God's power to fulfill God's purpose.

Application

We cannot live the Christian life in our own strength.

Many believers try harder when God calls us to surrender deeper.

Begin each day asking the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts, words, and actions.

Dependence on the Spirit should become a daily lifestyle, not an emergency response.

Question: Am I relying on my abilities or on the power of the Holy Spirit?

Illustration: The Empty Glove

A glove can do nothing by itself.

It has fingers, shape, and purpose, but it remains lifeless until a hand fills it.

In the same way, believers were designed for God's purpose, but the Holy Spirit fills us and empowers us to serve.

Application

God is not looking merely for talented people but yielded people.

The Spirit empowers ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things for God's kingdom.

Ask God where you need His strength today rather than trusting your own.

Outcome of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:5–13 NASB95

5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Many Jews had come from all over the world, we are given 16 different places that the people came from to Jerusalem for Pentecost.

When they heard the apostles speaking, they were both confused and amazed, because each person heard the disciples speaking in their own language.

Though the apostles were Galileans, each of these Jews and converts to Judaism who had come from throughout the Roman Empire heard the disciples speaking in their own native language and declaring the magnificent acts of God.

Some of these people were amazed that they could here in their own native language, while others were mocking them saying they are drunk.

Big Idea: When God's Spirit moves, people notice.

Application

The purpose of the Spirit's work is not personal attention but pointing people to Jesus.

Our lives should create curiosity about Christ.

The Spirit enables believers to communicate the gospel effectively to people from different backgrounds.

Question: Does my life point people toward Jesus or toward myself?

Application

We should seek to communicate the gospel in ways people can understand.

Avoid "Christian jargon" that confuses unbelievers.

Meet people where they are and speak with love, clarity, and compassion.

The Spirit still breaks barriers today—cultural, social, and generational.

Application

Not everyone will respond positively to God's work.

Faithfulness matters more than popularity.

Do not allow criticism to silence your witness.

Expect opposition whenever God is moving.

Peter's First Sermon

Acts 2:14–36 NASB95

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Peter stands up with the eleven, these are the apostles, and Peter begins to address the crowd.

The combination of divine activity and human confusion was a perfect occasion for proclaiming the truth of what God had done through Christ and what He was now doing among them.

Peter begins with dismissing the ridiculous notion that the apostles were drunk.

The only thing that they were drunk with was the Holy Spirit.

What the people were witnessing was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Peter quoted the prophet Joel, who foretold of the day when God would pour out the Holy Spirit.

In verse 21 we are told that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Calling on the name of the Lord is a specific act of Christians appealing to the courts and throne room of God.

Through the Holy Spirit all believers have access to divine illumination and divine enablement for ministry.

Peter then calls the people to listen.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit had to do with Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit, whose role was to witness to and glorify Him.

The Holy Spirit’s task on earth is to make much of Jesus, and if we are to experience the power of the Holy Spirit we must be willing to bear witness to Jesus.

Many if not all of those listening to Peter that day had witnessed Jesus and His miracles, wonders, and signs.

Peter then makes it personal, telling them what happened to Jesus was God’s plan, but they had used lawless people to nail Jesus to the cross and kill Him.

In this we see both divine sovereignty and human responsibility in action.

God has a sovereign plan to sacrifice His Son for sinners, but that did not absolve these free moral agents of their sinful actions.

Some of those listening to Peter’s sermon had joined the mob on the day of Jesus’ trail crying out crucify Him.

Even though they had killed Jesus, God raised Him up from the dead.

Death could not hold Jesus.

Peter then quoted David from Psalms 16, where David spoke of the Lord not abandoning him to the grave or allowing his holy one to see decay.

Peter then made it clear that David was not speaking about himself, but rather was speaking about Jesus.

The frightened disciples had been transformed by the Holy Spirit to risk their lives by boldly and publicly proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus.

The risen Messiah, Jesus who had been exalted to the right hand of God had poured out the promised Holy Spirit.

Peter tells the crowd that is what they were seeing and hearing.

Peter then quoted David from Psalms 110:1

Psalm 110:1 NASB95

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

This Scripture had been fulfilled in Jesus.

God had made Jesus both Lord and Messiah.

Illustration: The Same Man, Different Power

Just weeks earlier Peter denied Jesus three times before a servant girl.

Now he stands before thousands boldly proclaiming Christ.

Big Idea: The Holy Spirit transforms fearful followers into courageous witnesses.

Application

Your past failures do not disqualify you from God's future purposes.

God specializes in using imperfect people.

The same Peter who failed publicly became a powerful preacher because of God's grace.

Stop allowing yesterday's mistakes to determine today's obedience.

Question: What fear is keeping me from speaking boldly for Christ?

Illustration: A Courtroom Witness

A witness in court is not responsible for the verdict; he is responsible for telling the truth about what he has seen and heard.

Peter simply testified about Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and exaltation.

Application

Evangelism is not winning arguments; it is bearing witness to Jesus.

You do not need all the answers to tell others what Christ has done in your life.

God calls us to faithfulness while He handles the results.

Illustration: The Rescuer's Rope

Imagine someone trapped in floodwaters.

The rescuer throws a rope and calls for the person to grab hold.

Peter's sermon pointed people to the only hope of salvation—Jesus Christ.

Application

Every person needs to hear the gospel because every person needs salvation.

The church's primary mission is to proclaim Christ.

We must not assume people know the gospel simply because they live in a Christian culture.

Our message must always center on Jesus' death, resurrection, and lordship.

Closing Challenge

The Day of Pentecost teaches us three essential truths:

God fills His people with His Spirit.

2. God uses His Spirit-filled people to reach others.

3. God empowers His people to boldly proclaim Jesus.

The same Holy Spirit who filled the believers in Acts 2 still empowers disciples today.

The question is not whether the Spirit is powerful enough, but whether we are surrendered enough for Him to work through us.