April 26, 2022 (Tuesday)
Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He presented himself alive after his suffering, by many proofs, appearing during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. He ordered followers not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” One hundred twenty followers of Jesus went back to the upper room where Jesus had spoken with them before the crucifixion, and they prayed for ten days.”Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4 ESV).
People from many countries were present for the feast and “were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” What were the Spirit-filled Believers talking to them about? According to them, “the mighty works of God,” which I would suggest were testimonies about Jesus — his ministry, miracles, teachings, death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
Some of the hearers said there was a simple explanation: “They were drunk.” That accusation was heard by Simon Peter, who immediately responded by preaching a sermon to them all, declaring that all this was predicted by the prophets and was the work of Jesus Christ, now seated in Heaven by God the Father. All the other apostles stood by his side as he preached. In response to Peter’s message and the testimonies of the other Believers, three thousand people believed in Jesus and were baptized. We will discuss his sermon in tomorrow’s blog.
The theme of this week’s blogs is “Birth of the Church.” It began when 120 followers of Jesus fervently prayed. Six blogs dedicated to this theme are:
1. Introduction (April 23-24 – Weekend)
2. Believers Prayed. (April 25 – Monday)
3. Believers were Spirit-filled. (April 26 – Tuesday)
4. Believers shared the gospel. (April 27 – Wednesday)
5. Peter preached about Jesus. (April 28 – Thursday)
6. Thousands believed and were baptized. (April 29 – Friday)