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Acts 2 – The promise fulfilled….

Sep8

Good afternoon y’all. Today we continue our study of Acts. We are in chapter 2.

I found out some interesting facts about the celebration of Pentecost. I’ve always thought Pentecost was a celebration that only started on the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. It never occurred to me that it was an existing celebration. Here is what I found about Pentecost and the significance of the Holy Spirit coming on that day. The extract below is from David Guzik commentary-

“The Day of Pentecost: This was a Jewish feast held 50 days after Passover. It celebrated the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.
i. In the Jewish rituals of that time, the first sheaf reaped from the barley harvest was presented to God at Passover. But at Pentecost, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God; therefore, Pentecost is called the day of the firstfruits(Numbers 28:26).
ii. Jewish tradition also taught that Pentecost marked the day when the Law was given to Israel. The Jews sometimes called Pentecost shimchath torah, or Joy of the Law.
iii. On the Old Testament Day of Pentecost Israel received the Law; on the New Testament Day of Pentecost the Church received the Spirit of Grace in fullness”.

Below are a few points I picked out from today’s chapter.

Be blessed 🙂

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– The disciples were in one accord before the Holy Spirit came. They were united in mind, faith and purpose waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. David Guzik in his commentary for Acts 2 said “Before we can be filled, we must recognize our emptiness; by gathering together for prayer, in obedience, these disciples did just that. They recognized they did not have the resources in themselves to do what they could do or should do; they had to instead rely on the work of God”

–  “And suddenly there came a sound….” (V2)  – The sound came suddenly. It wasn’t planned or expected. I’ve come to realize that most times, God tends to move in a suddenly manner when He is ready to do something new. This is why we have to be alert, ready, and well positioned so we are not caught off guard. The disciples were in one accord waiting for the promise when suddenly the fulfillment of the promise came to pass. Had they been sleeping or gone back to fishing, they might have missed their suddenly moment. I pray we don’t miss our suddenly moment; and that we will be found at our duty post doing what God has called us to do.

– “There appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire,…”(V3) – I tried to understand the significance of the fire then I remembered in the old testament God talks about fire being used to purify: like a refiner’s fire purifying gold. It removes all impurities till only pure gold is left. So the fire represent the Holy Spirit’s purifying work in our lives. David Guzik commentary explains this well for me. It says:

“The idea behind the picture of fire is usually purification, as a refiner uses fire to make pure gold; or fire can burn away what is temporary, leaving only what will last. This is an excellent illustration of the principle that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for abstract power, but for purity. In certain places in the Old Testament, God showed His special pleasure with a sacrifice by lighting the fire for it Himself – that is, fire from heaven came down and consumed the sacrifice. The experience of the followers of Jesus on Pentecost is another example of God sending fire from heaven to show His pleasure and power, but this time, it descended upon living sacrifices(Romans 12:1)”.

– Peter the timid one, who denied Jesus earlier all of a sudden became bold and stood up to defend the gospel. It just goes to show that when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He empowers you to do that which naturally, you cannot do of your own might. Peter was terrified when he was associated with Jesus during the crucifixion, now in front of the same set of Jews, he was bold to declare the gospel of Jesus. I pray that the Holy spirit will fill us with power and help us be witnesses for Jesus wherever we find ourselves.

– Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (v21). There is power in the name of our Lord. The name is available to all. Not just the Jews but now has been extended to the gentiles. The name has authority and power to deliver and to save from all forms of destruction. I’m reminded of proverbs 18:10, which says, “the Name of the LORD is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it and they are saved“. Are you in need of salvation or deliverance? Why not call on the name of the Lord today and be saved.

– The gift of the Holy Spirit is available to all but you can’t receive it if you are still living in sin. Peter, in verse 38 -40, told the crowd they had to repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus. Repentance is not just a case of saying I’m sorry. It’s a complete 180 degree turnaround from an old way of life to a new one. You have to turn away from your life of sin to a life of obedience to Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon says: “The old-fashioned grace of repentance is not to be dispensed with; there must be sorrow for sin; there must be a broken and a contrite heart. This, God will not despise; but a conversion which does not produce this result, God will not accept as genuine”.
When you turn to God in genuine repentance, He will forgive and save you. What are you waiting for? Why not give Jesus a try today and you too can experience this gift of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit which you have bestowed upon us. This day we ask for fresh outpouring of your Spirit to renew and revive us. Give us boldness to be witnesses for You wherever we find ourselves, in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter.

I’m blogging through the book of Acts a chapter a day with Good Morning Girls. Check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org

Have a blessed day 🙂

Link to David Guzik commentary on Acts chapter 2 can be found here

***With God all things are possible***

Acts 1 – Wait for the promise

Sep7

Good morning y’all.  Welcome back from our break 🙂 . Today we begin our study on the book of Acts. We will be studying Acts 1 – 5 this week.

I’m blogging through the bible a chapter a day with Good morning girls. You can check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org.

Courtney from GMG has done an intro into the book of Acts and our study for this week. Click here to read the intro.

Back to our study for today 🙂

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Verse 4 caught my attention.  Especially the phrase “wait for the promise”.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said,“you have heard from Me;” (NKJV)

Most times there is usually a waiting period from the time God gives a promise, to the time the promise is fulfilled. Some of us are impatient, we want instant results (***covering my eyes**** I’m one of them).  Sometimes God answers instantly and other times He wants to teach us patience.  Abraham waited 25yrs for the promise to be fulfilled. Scripture says he hoped against hope. Physically it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child but Abraham still believed and had faith in the One who promised. He knew God was faithful to bring to pass that which He has said.

God is not a man that He should lie, if He has said it, then He surely will do it (Num 23:19).
Habakkuk 2:3 says:
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry” (NKJV).

The disciples were told to wait for the promise and wait they did. God didn’t let them down, He came through on His promise as we will see in chapter 2 tomorrow.

What has God promised you? Friends hold onto it, even if it feels highly impossible to you. With man it might be impossible, but with God all things are possible (Luke 1:37).  Psalm 27:14 says:
“Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (NKJV)

When God gives a promise, it’s not in our place to question when the promise will be fulfilled.  Ours is to believe it will surely be fulfilled at the right time. The disciples in verse 6 asked Jesus about the timing of the prophecy. Jesus responds to them in verse 7 by saying, it’s not their business to know the timing – that’s God’s business!!!.

“6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority”. (NKJV)

The key thing is to make sure we believe the prophecy and do what God asks us to do while waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

What they needed to concern themselves with, was doing God’s business and for that they needed empowerment which came in the form of the Holy Spirit. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to empower us be witnesses for Jesus to the world around us. Of our own might, we won’t be able to do this. Verse 8 says:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)

The disciples had a decision to make regards replacing Judas. They didn’t take it lightly but consulted God before making the decision.

” And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (24 -26 NKJV).

They included God in their plan. Are we including God in our plans no matter how trivial the plan maybe? Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths. The disciples chose not to lean on their understanding, so they prayed and asked God to help them choose. After praying they put their faith into action – they applied their faith.  It’s definitely good to pray but we also have to get up and act on our faith. James 2:20 tells us faith without works is dead.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today and for the opportunity to learn at your feet. We ask for the grace to wait patiently on you and not loose hope. Give us the grace to be obedient, doing what you have asked of us while we wait for the promise to be fulfilled. Help us to trust you more Lord and we ask for a fresh release of your spirit over our lives. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we prayed. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Tomorrow we will be studying chapter 2. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***