Showing posts with label Acts ch. 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Acts ch. 2. Show all posts

Wednesday

Is there Strength in the Promise? - 31 Days in Acts



I hope you read the previous blog post because this one is the continuation of Acts ch 2


The 120 waiting in the Upper Room received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.


But that wasn't the end of it.









The Promise of God was not just for the 120 who had been waiting 
but for all that were there.

Yes the 120 received the blessing but because of them others were now being given the chance to have their lives changed as well.


The 120 spoke in other languages and received boldness to witness.


When they spoke in all those other languages, that the foreign visitors to the city could understand, they gained the attention of so many people from near and far.

Peter then was able to use that opportunity to speak out for God.

Verses 14 - 39  had covered his sermon


Verses 40 - 47 now show the result of Peter's boldness through the Holy Spirit.
He had preached the Word of God from the scriptures they knew well and 3,000 people responded.

This was 25 times the 120 that had waited in the Upper Room.

This was 250 times the number of the disciples.

All those people had their lives changed in that day.


A church was the result and it continued to grow.

Why?
Because they were still in one accord.


They must have been still in agreement because verse 42 tells us




steadfastly:
fixed in intensity or direction; steady; 
unwavering or determined in purpose or loyalty

If they were not in one accord they would not have continued to do what they had been doing before but they knew the instructions Jesus had given them and they were guided by the Holy Spirit and they were wise to obey.


We can see 10 reasons for the preservation and growth of the church here too.

  1.  They were steadfast people.
  2.  They knew the doctrine/scriptures were very important.
  3.  They knew Godly fellowship was important.
  4.  They kept the command of communion that Jesus had given them.
  5.  They were faithful to pray.
  6.  They were in awe of God.
  7.  They were used in the miraculous.
  8.  They stayed together.
  9.  They shared with each other and were not selfish.
  10.  They took care of each other.



These are not just things that affect the people of a church, these are the things that strengthen the people of the church to face the world and spread the gospel and that hasn't changed today.

Yes there is strength in the promise!


Do you need strength to face the world and spread the Gospel?



Do you need strength to face the world and spread the gospel?

Then follow the example set in verse 42 and be in one accord in worshipping the Lord.










You can find the other blog posts in this series at












Tuesday

All Together Now? - 31 Days in Acts


This is Day 3 of our 31 Days in Acts Series for this month and if you would like to read the previous posts please click here first and then come back again.


Years ago as a teenager I had to take a group of young girls at a camp for morning and evening devotions.

This was the first time I had ever had to look at passages of scripture and make decisions as to what I should help to focus someone else's mind on.

The thing I have always remembered out of those weekly devotions was one from Acts ch. 2 which I based around


All together, all in one accord.



But the all in one accord didn't start there at the start of chapter 2, it was already mentioned in v 14 of chapter 1.

Not only did this refer to the 12 disciples being in one accord which would be a great feat in itself but it also included the brothers of Jesus and His mother Mary and other women.
Right so women and men all in one accord?
This is not something we see all the time!

What were they in agreement over?
We read that it was agreement in prayer and supplication, so yes maybe we have seen groups of people able to come together to prayer in total agreement about certain things but would their agreement then continue into other aspects?
In Acts ch.1 v.15-26 we already see that the number of people together were now 120 which is 10 times the number of the disciples. 

Could this size of group stay in agreement?
Yes they were definitely in agreement in following the scriptures because they took instruction and acted upon Psalm 109 v 8 to choose someone to take the place of Judas.




Looking at the first 4 verses of Acts ch. 2 we see some more things to do with them all being in agreement.

verse 1     all with one accord in one place
verse 2     sound of a rushing mighty wind filled the whole house
verse 3     sight of a tongue of fire resting on each person
verse 4     all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages


After reading these last two sections I do have two things that I am pondering:

If they had voted for a replacement for Judas would some disagreement have entered the group?
If they had not been all in one accord would the Holy Spirit have filled them all?





So far it's all been about agreement or in one accord and involving all the group but there was another group of people affected by this situation but things were not the same for them.

Acts ch.2 verses 5 - 15 show us the Crowd's Response to what had happened that day.

Here there were two sides
  1. Some were amazed and marvelled at how they could hear about the wonderful works of God.
  2. The others mocked and blamed it on drunkenness.

The first side ended up wanting to know more, the second dismissed it.
No agreement here!

But Peter now had the attention of many people.

And he used that to proclaim Jesus.


Verses 14 - 39 show the wise use of time and attention and a clear presentation of the Gospel in a way that the crowd were focused now on Jesus and not on the mystery of what was going on around them.
Peter called them to repentance, water baptism and to receive the Holy Spirit - he left nothing out!


The Promise of God was not just for the 120 who had been waiting but for all that were there.



But that wasn't the end of it.

See you tomorrow for the continuation.








You can find the other blog posts in this series at