WEEK ONE BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 (NIV) 4
6 BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 7 DAY 1 PENTECOST SUNDAY SETTING THE STAGE READ ACTS 1:12-26 Have you received your gift yet? That may sound like copy from an infomercial, but I m actually talking about something very real and very important the gift Jesus Christ promised His followers. You will remember that after Jesus rose from the grave, He astonished His disciples by appearing to them over a period of forty days in various places. Then, on the fortieth day, He assembled His disciples atop the Mount of Olives and instructed them to go to Jerusalem and wait. What were they were supposed to wait for? The outpouring of the Holy Spirit! As Jesus explained to them, John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). But before we talk about the Spirit s momentous arrival on the Day of Pentecost, I want to set the stage for you. The first time we read about baptism in the New Testament is actually when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist ( John, the Baptizer ) before He began His earthly ministry. At this moment, when Jesus was talking with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, He was assuring them that they, too, would be baptized, only with the Holy Spirit. The disciples responded to Jesus words with a question, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6). At first, this question seems rather off-topic, no? In one sense, it definitely was. But in another, it was perfectly natural. Jesus had just proven Himself the Son of God by rising from the dead. The disciples were excited. Jesus was back, alive! But no sooner was He back than He was talking about going away again. They were not so excited about this. And they were confused. If Jesus really was planning to leave again, they wanted to know one important thing first: Did He plan to reunite the kingdom of Israel before He went? Would He restore their nation to the center of world power and domination as they d been hoping? Jesus answered this way: It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:7-8 Imagine the bewilderment of the disciples! Jesus refused to tell them anything about restoring the kingdom to Israel. Instead, He uttered some mysterious words about being baptized by the Spirit. Then He promptly disappeared into the clouds. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). To add to the confusion, two men dressed in white appeared beside the disciples and asked, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).
8 BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 9 Wow. That s a lot to take in. So, what did the disciples do? They returned to Jerusalem. Makes sense. They went back to their base, and to where Jesus had directed them to go. What did they do when they got there? All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers (Acts 1:14). So far, so good. The disciples obeyed Jesus by going back to Jerusalem and devoting themselves to prayer. When God calls us to wait and simply trust without knowing what s next, prayer is always a good choice. But then, all that waiting and praying started to get old. Sound familiar? Peter the disciple known for his impetuous spirit wanted to do something, not just sit around and pray. What did Peter suggest? Well, you will remember that the disciples were now down to eleven after the suicide of Judas. Don t we need twelve? thought Peter. So he convinced the others that they needed to replace Judas and fill the empty spot. They found some good men, cast some lots, and came up with Matthias as the replacement disciple. Now, here s a question: When did Jesus ask the disciples to replace Judas? He didn t. I think the reason this story of Matthias is included in Scripture is to caution us about taking things into our own hands when the Lord s timing seems a bit slow for us. We rush ahead instead of waiting on God s guidance and provision. You see, there actually was a replacement disciple but it wasn t Matthias. Interestingly, we never hear of Matthias again in the Scriptures. Who do we read about instead, throughout the entire book of Acts? Who became the famous apostle who wrote much of the rest of the New Testament? The Apostle Paul. Isn t that interesting? The disciples used a game of luck, casting lots to choose Matthias, when God had somebody waiting in the wings, soon to be called through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we jump into a decision when the answer is soon to be presented to us. I ve done that many times. Have you? We try to solve our own problems when the Lord has a solution, and if we just wait a little bit longer, we will discover it!
BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 11 WHEN GOD CALLS US TO WAIT AND SIMPLY TRUST WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT S NEXT, PRAYER IS ALWAYS A GOOD CHOICE. REFLECT: Are you in a place of waiting where the future seems uncertain? Why not do what the disciples first did? Devote yourself to prayer, including prayer with other believers? And then, rather than take matters into your own hands, pray for patience and wait yes, wait upon the Lord!
12 BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 13 DAY 2 MONDAY THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT READ ACTS 2:1-13 When we left the disciples yesterday, they were waiting in Jerusalem for the gift Jesus had promised to send. It was a long ten-day wait! But when the time came for the Spirit s arrival, it was truly something to behold: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 (NIV) Christians refer to the day described above as Pentecost. Pentecost means fiftieth (from the Greek, pentékosté). The Spirit s arrival on Pentecost took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus. That s why Christians celebrate Pentecost fifty days after Easter, the celebration of Jesus Resurrection. In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a Jewish feast day celebrated fifty days after the Passover. The people of Israel would gather their first fruits for a harvest celebration. They also commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai on this feast day. In the New Testament, it was on the Jewish feast day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was first poured out with great power on the people of God, the Church. The timing of the Spirit s arrival connected the harvest of fruit in the Old Testament s Pentecost feast day with the harvest of souls that began in earnest with the Spirit s arrival on the New Testament Pentecost. Also, as the first Pentecost celebrated the Law given to Moses, the new Pentecost commemorates the Law now written on our hearts through the Holy Spirit. So what exactly happened on the Day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2? Just as Jesus promised, the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit. And that baptism was accompanied by an amazing display of power by God s Spirit. First, there was a noise that s described as the sound of a violent, rushing wind. I m not sure actual wind was blowing so much as they were hearing a sound like a rushing wind. I ve heard a kind of screeching and howling here in Florida when wind whips through the branches of trees during a thunderstorm. That s what comes to mind when I imagine the sound of a violent wind. Accompanying the sound, there was also something visual happening. The English Standard Version of the Bible describes it this way, And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them (Acts 2:3). The writer of Acts isn t describing literal fire; he is using metaphorical language to describe what is pretty much indescribable.
14 BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 15 So the disciples heard something and then they saw something. Finally, they did something. They began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). Let s look a little more deeply at this event because it s one of the more interesting things that happened on the Day of Pentecost. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: Aren t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues! Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, What does this mean? Acts 2:5-12 (NIV) When we think of speaking in tongues, a lot of times we think of an unintelligible language, don t we? We know of people who pray in such a language as a way of communicating with God with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26). I have never spoken in tongues, but I am married to a person who does, and I know other people in our congregation who do. Yet, on Pentecost, it was not unintelligible languages being spoken, but intelligible ones. And it was also a miracle of hearing. The disciples were all Galileans and yet people were hearing these men speak in their native languages. I ve heard of one other occasion where this kind of miracle took place. A seminary professor of mine, who formerly taught in Europe, told the story of being asked to speak to a conference of English-speaking students in Germany. After the conference, one of the German wait staff came up and asked the professor why he had been speaking to the English students in German. But I wasn t, he replied, I was speaking English. Astounded, the server said, But we heard everything you said in German. Hearing the professor speak about the things of the Lord in their native tongue led two of those German servers to place their faith in Jesus Christ. It was a miraculous intervention of God on behalf of souls who needed to hear God s Word in their own language. What power! Beloved of God, as we continue in our study, we will discover that the same power of the Holy Spirit that was at work on the Day of Pentecost was also at work during that conference in Germany. And that same amazing power is available to you and me! In fact, that power is the only way we can live the Spirit-filled Life. But first we must receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Stay tuned!
BAPTIZED: THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 17 REFLECT: Which phenomenon of the Day of Pentecost strikes you most powerfully the sound of rushing wind, tongues of fire, or speaking in other languages? Where have you seen the Holy Spirit move in power in your life or in the life of the Church? What was that experience like? ON PENTECOST, IT WAS NOT UNINTELLIGIBLE LANGUAGES BEING SPOKEN, BUT INTELLIGIBLE ONES. AND IT WAS ALSO A MIRACLE OF HEARING.