Monday, August 2, 2010

Acts Chapter Two

Acts Chapter Two (NIV)
Acts Chapter Two (NASB)

I. SYNOPSIS

Verses 1-13: Jesus' promise to send the Holy Spirit is fulfilled. Luke gives us a description of the coming of the Spirit, along with a summary of the reaction of onlookers.

Verses 14-41: Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter delivers a sermon, after which around 3,000 people commit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verses 42-47: Description of life in the early Christian community.

II. KEY PASSAGES

(A) Acts 2:5--"Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven." God's plan for the initial spread of the Gospel was brilliant. In the Old Testament, God called the Jews to assemble in Jerusalem for the great feasts. Two of these great feasts were the Passover Feast and Pentecost. Israel was conquered repeatedly over the centuries, and Jewish communities were scattered across the globe. Devout Jews would return to Jerusalem as much as possible for the feasts.

Jesus was crucified during the Passover Feast, when Jerusalem would have been filled with Jews from many nations. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Holy Spirit came during the next great feast, when the city would have again been filled with Jews from around the world. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples of all nations. Due to the situation in Israel, and the timing of events, Peter was able to make disciples of many nations at his first sermon! (Note: We're modeling our ministry after the Book of Acts. Anyone care to guess why we think it's important to go to large festivals?)

(B) Acts 2:22-23, 32--Notice Peter's constant appeal to evidence. He points to Jesus' miracles (and notes that his listeners knew about them), and to His public execution, and he adds that he and the other disciples are witness of the risen Lord. Moreover, throughout the passage, Peter draws attention to Old Testament prophecies.

(C) Acts 2:33--This is an excellent Trinitarian verse, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit fulfilling Their roles. Notice that Jesus is the one who pours out the Holy Spirit. This is confirmation of Jesus' words in John 15:26, where Jesus said He would send the Spirit from the Father. (Note to Muslims: What mere prophet can say that he sends the Spirit of God?)

(D) Acts 2:44-45--The early Christian community had "all things in common." Since those who converted while visiting Jerusalem for the feast decided to remain in the city to learn from the Apostles, there was a tremendous need for the early Christian community to support one another. This was compounded by the fact that many converts would be ostracized by their families and communities, and would need a new family and a new community. The closest parallel today would be Muslims who give their lives to Jesus and must be loved, supported, and defended by their new families.

6 comments:

Jabari said...

David said:
This was compounded by the fact that many converts would be ostracized by their families and communities, and would need a new family and a new community. The closest parallel today would be Muslims who give their lives to Jesus and must be loved, supported, and defended by their new families.

Just like you and your wife cared for Negeen when she was being persecuted by her family and you cared for her like she was your child after she left her parents.
I believe Christians shouldn't cold shoulder Muslim converts to Christianity. They have just been ostracized, rejected and disowned by their families!! At worst, some of those converts are like Rifqa Bary who ran away from home when their parents threatened to them. We the church are the only family they've got!! We as Christians need to treat them like family in light of all this.

Tom ta tum Tom said...

Oh, HALLELUJAH! Lord Jesus, let me live to see that day - when THOUSANDS of families of the Body of Christ are ADOPTING THOUSANDS of freed-Muslims INTO the Family of God AllMighty! GLORY TO GOD!

Let those who come from a culture where adoption is forbidden, be themselves ADOPTED by the Blood of the Lamb of God! BY HIS BLOOD, they'll be given a new bloodline! IN HIS NAME, they'll be given a new NAME!

WOOO, David! You got me started, precious Brother! Hot tears of joy are flowing. GLORY! And, Thank YOU, precious brother Jabari, for your insight regarding how Negeen, herself has been claimed by the family of The Christ!! CLAIMED - forever - by the crucified one!

Good GRACIOUS I would love to hear beloved Pastor Joseph from ABN preach about this! Man, would Joe go to shoutin' or what? LOL!

FREED MUSLIMS BEING ADOPTED BY THE BODY OF CHRIST! THE END OF ISLAM because of the very thing Mohammed would NOT do and the very thing that JESUS CHRIST DID AND DOES! ADOPTION into the family of GOD!

Christ COMMANDS us to Love as He has loved us and He lovingly ADOPTED US by His blood (while we were His enemies) and so we adopt freed Muslims by the blood (by the Spirit/in the Spirit) of the Only Living God in Christ!

All the freed-Muslims have to do is repent of sin, say "YES LORD JESUS!" and "submit" to The CHRIST (bet they already know how to do that "submission" thing... LOL!) They can learn the Bible with their new families and from our friends at Acts17!

Hey, this all sounds like one of those Holy Spirit conspiracies. You guys at Acts17 are in on this aren't you? LOL! Why just plunder the Egyptians (Islamists) when you can steal the whole NATION of Egypt (Muslims) right out of the house of Islam! Adopt 'em ALL and let's evacuate them to the Promised Land!

THANK YOU, David! Thanks, Brother Jabari! Thank You, Lord Jesus!

KAFFIR AND PROUD AND LAUGHIN' OUT LOUD! MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED!!

Ry said...

Thanks to God that he speaks to us in our own language. The Good Shepherd reaches out to us- he does not ask us to commit to years of learning a new language in order to commune with Him.

Traeh said...

I'm sorry for my sins. May Jesus live inside me, and wash my sins away.

Traeh said...

Some images of Pentecost

Emil Nolde

El Greco

a nice one, but by whom?

Fernando Gallego

Titian

Traeh said...

Hmm. The links I posted do not work as expected. But you can still see the images of pentecost if you click the link and then when the page appears, click again at the upper left where it says "see full size image."