Acts 2:1-21

 Acts 2:1-21

The day of Pentecost ought to be celebrated and observed more than it is. For many Christians it is not noticed at all. For some it is little more than a date on a calendar. For others it is an occasion to argue over the role of the Holy Spirit. In reality it ought to be second only to Easter in importance in the Christian calendar. The birthday of the bride of Christ ought not be overlooked. We would benefit greatly from an annual reflection on the reasons that the Lord gave us the Church. It would be a time to reconsider, reflect, and renew our understanding of why we are on earth and what we ought to be doing about it.

This is consistent with what we see in the record of the first Pentecost of the church age. After a description of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the surprise of the crowds, we get a wonderful insight. Before Peter speaks to the crowd in general, there is a description of what the other apostles were saying. After Luke lists the various language/people groups, he tells us, “…we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” We often hear that Peter’s sermon was the first sermon of the Church age. That is not specifically true. Peter’s sermon was an explanation of how these other sermons were offered. The first sermons were about “...the mighty deeds of God”. They didn’t offer sermons on psychology or self-help, or how to get what you want in life, or some form of therapy. Rather, they began talking about the mighty deeds of God. We don’t know what deeds they were talking about specifically, but in view of the season and recent events, it almost certainly would have been associated with the Passover, Exodus, and God’s ongoing plan of redemption in the past, present, and future. Not a bad subject for the church to talk about. 

"Lord, help me to always point people to the mighty works of God.  AMEN"