An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 2, for Sunday, June 9, 2024, with the title, “Empowered.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO  ??? Can you share a time when you felt like you sensed/experienced the Holy Spirit moving — maybe in an unusual way???

(Once when I was a teenager, I came in to a church service late one evening, and I was surprised at what I saw: all these people were going to the front of the worship center, and were crying and talking. I must have had a look of “what in the world is going on?”, but my mom said, don’t make fun of this; the Lord is working in a special way.

ALSO: it may not be an “unusual” way, but I often feel like God works as I prepare and share messages for our church. 

— Sometimes I’ll be typing and think, “Where did THAT come from?” That’s not from me; that’s from the Lord.

— And then sometime the way God uses them is only from His Spirit. A few weeks ago one of our men (names are changed to protect the guilty!) said he felt like I was following him around when I was writing my messages! Of course I wasn’t — but to me that is the Holy Spirit moving. I am no “mind reader”; when that happens, that’s the Holy Spirit.

You/your group can share some times like these — and then you can say something like: this morning as we continue our study in the Book of Acts, we’ll see how the Holy Spirit first came upon the church in power, in our passage in Acts 2:5+.

CONTEXT

We started our study of the Book of Acts last time with Jesus giving His last earthly commission to His disciples. But He didn’t tell them to immediately go out and share; He told them in 1:4 to “wait for what the Father had promised.” He told them that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and then they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Then He ascended to heaven, and they picked a “12 apostle” to fill in for Judas, who betrayed Jesus and killed himself.

This brings us to Chapter 2 for this week, which tells us in :1 that “When the Day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.”

A couple of things here:

— I would talk a little bit about “The Day of Pentecost” itself. Most of us know that term, but I’d say most people in our churches aren’t really familiar with it.  Those who are, are likely used to thinking of Pentecost in its New Testament context. But Pentecost was already a special day before Acts 2. Leviticus 23 (:16 etc.) had commanded them to count 50 days to the day after the 7th sabbath after the Passover. Then all the men of Israel were to gather for a special feast and offering. They called it “The Feast of Weeks,” (because they were counting the 7 weeks) and also “Pentecost”, which means “50” in Greek, for the 50 days. Among other sacrifices, they were to bring a grain offering, which marked the end of the harvest season. Everything was gathered in. 

So you might point out a few “symbolic links” between the Feast of Weeks, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost:

— BOTH of these involved waiting: In the Feast of Weeks, they waited, counting down those 50 days until the Feast. In Acts, Jesus’ disciples were also waiting! They didn’t know how LONG they were waiting, but it also involved waiting. (We talked last time about the importance of “waiting on the Lord.” We need His power and blessing. We need to wait on Him.

— Also this Feast was one of the 3 times a year that all Jewish males were to appear before the Lord. So there was a big crowd gathered. In other words, God picked a “high attendance day” to do this — for the specific reason of reaching a lot of people! 

— And of course in the Feast of Weeks they celebrated that the harvest was all gathered in. They would give loaves as “first fruits” offerings to the Lord. At Pentecost, the “spiritual harvest” would start to be gathered in as the gospel would be proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the church would see the “first fruits” of those who were added.

These are some of the connections between the Old Testament Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost here in Acts.  

— Secondly, :1 says that when the Feast of Weeks/Day of Pentecost had come, “they were all together in one place.”

This is significant. Since the time Jesus met with His disciples in Acts 1, they had continued to meet together. 1:12 says “they returned to Jerusalem;” :13 says they were staying in an upper room. And :14 says “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” (And it says the women too!)

So:

— they were all together; 

— they were unified (“all with one mind”)

— and they were continually praying.

And it was in THAT context that the pouring out of the Spirit happened on the Day of Pentecost. This is just the introduction, but that right there will preach by itself! If we want to see God move, in our lives, in our churches: be together, be unified, and be praying! No wonder God did something special among them. (And no wonder when He does NOT do something among US; when we are NOT together; NOT unified; and not praying!)

But they were, they did. And :2-4 describes how suddenly “a noise like a violent rushing wind” filled the house; :3 says “tongues of fire … rested on each one of them.” Verse 4 says “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues (languages) as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” 

This brings us to our focus passage for today, starting in 2:5!

OUTLINE

I. The Miraculous Event (:5-11)

II. The Reaction and Explanation  (:12-16)

III. The Gospel Shared (:36-38)

TEXT

I. The Miraculous Event    (:5-11)

Verse 5 begins this section: “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.”

So people from all over the world were there — this is significant, as we will see!

:6 “And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.”

I have heard a number of people say that the miracle of Acts 2 not that the disciples were speaking in other languages, but that it was actually miracle of HEARING: it says “each one of them was HEARING them speak in his own language.” It does say that, but I am not sure that is the “real” meaning, because :4 says that the disciples “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” So the Bible DOES indicate that the disciples were speaking in other languages. The “natural” interpretation of these to me would be that the Lord gave the disciples the languages of the people who had gathered; THAT’S why they “heard their own language” — because the disciples were SPEAKING these languages! 

And notice that what they were speaking was other LANGUAGES. Whatever you think about speaking in “prayer languages” like I Corinthians 14 talks about, this was not that. The disciples were speaking LANGUAGES here:

— :4 says they “began to speak with other TONGUES” — that’s the Greek word “glossa”, which can literally mean a human “tongue,” or it can mean a “language.” that is how it is used here. The disciples were speaking different languages. The Jews from around the world who were visiting were hearing their “own language.” 

We see this verified in :7-11, where it says: 

“They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

You could show a MAP like this one that shows where many of these places are, emphasizing the different languages they were hearing: 

These were from virtually all over the eastern part of the Roman Empire. (And remember, 20 miles of travel was good for those days — I thought about this several times last week while we were on vacation. At one point we were 40 miles away from one of our destinations; so I thought: “we’ll be there in 40 minutes!” But that might have been TWO DAYS’ travel back then!)  All that to say that this was a HUGE distance for that time; to have such a big variety of nations and languages, all gathered there for the Feast of Weeks. Again: God knew what He was doing when He planned this for then! This event wouild touch people from all over the world when they went back to their own countries!

So people from all these nations were hearing the disciples speak in their own languages. And what were they saying?

The end of :11 says “We hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” So they were talking about the great things God had done, in languages that all these different groups could understand — and eventually share with others!

II.  The Reaction and Explanation (:12-16)

As you might imagine, when all this happened, :12 says “And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

But then notice :13 “But others were mocking and saying, ‘They are full of sweet wine.’”

So there’s basically TWO reactions here, right?

— What’s the first one?

(Many of them asked “What does this mean?” This seems to be a sincere response. If you think about it, these were religious people, Jews who had come from all over the world, so it sounds like many of them were truly seeking to get some meaning from this. What was going on? What did this mean?

— But then the second reaction was very different:

“But others were mocking.” 

It’s significant that it says that others were mocking. There are always those who mock the truth. 

See II Peter “mockers will come with their mocking.”

How many times does someone post something, especially on social media like Twitter (X) and people just mock the truth. I’ve noticed that Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida, often posts a Proverbs a day from the Bible. I’ve clicked on the comments, and is just filled with mocking and profanity. Any time any Christian posts something that proclaims Biblical truth, you can count on it that somebody is going to say something mocking it.

We really need to learn to expect mocking, and not to let ourselves be thrown off or discouraged by it. Just because some person or group mocks the truth does not mean it is not right!

How many instances are there in both scripture and history, of those who have mocked something and made it out to be foolish, when it was absolutely right?

— We just saw that in the exit of Lot from Sodom. His sons-in-law thought he was foolish. 

— One example of this from history: people mocked Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. In fact, in this case it wasn’t just “random mockers,” but they actually came out with a book in Germany entitled “100 Authors Against Einstein,” all saying how wrong he was!  Einstein reportedly said, “to defeat relativity one did not need the word of 100 scientists, just one fact!” 

Einstein seemed to keep his cool about the mocking that came his way — he didn’t seem to let it bother him — we as God’s people need to learn to do that too. If we share His truth, we will be opposed, ridiculed, and mocked. Don’t let that bother you — share His truth anyway. 

That’s what Peter did here, as we see as we move along in Acts 2:  

:14 “But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven (interesting it is “the eleven” not “the new 12”; Matthias does not seem to be present! Maybe it’s “the other 11” but it doesn’t specifically say that …)

But notice there is a focus on PETER here. It’s PETER who is mentioned by name. He seems to be the primary speaker and preacher in the first part of Acts — and later the focus will turn more to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. But here it is Peter.

It says he “raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judaea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. (:15) For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; (:16) but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel”

So first of all he REFUTES the mocking claim that they were drunk. He says it is just “the third hour of the day” (9:00 a.m., as they started counting at 6:00 a.m.)

And then he EXPLAINS what it really is: “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.”

Then in :17-21 he quotes Joel, saying that in the last days, God will pour forth His Spirit on all mankind …. (:18) says they will prophesy … and :21 says “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

So one application for us today might include that we can do the same kind of thing when we get an opportunity to share with someone:

— REFUTE any misunderstanding: “it’s not what you’re thinking/making fun of,” etc.

— But then EXPLAIN what the Bible really says about the issue.

Ask your group members: has there been anyone who has opposed you, or mocked you, in your faith recently? If so, ask God to help you “keep your cool,” like Peter did, and be controlled by His Spirit, and then REFUTE any misunderstandings, and EXPLAIN what the Bible really says. 

That’s what Peter did, and he’s a good example for us in this today.

III. The Gospel Proclaimed (:36-38)

After he quotes Joel, Peter turns his attention to the main focus: sharing the GOSPEL.

He says in :22, “Men of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — (:23) this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death (:24) But God raised Him up again …”

There are several things of importance here in Peter’s preaching t them, notably that he shared the Gospel.

We find here in Peter’s sermon the “basics” of the gospel that get repeated in all the great sermons of the Book of Acts. Theologians and Bible scholars have studied what they call the“kerygma” — Greek for “the proclamation” — this is the “basic message” of the apostles in Acts. What was the Apostles’ basic message in those early days? We see it here in Acts 2, and then repeated throughout Acts. It’s been summarized in many ways, including:

— God had a plan

— You sinned and crucified Jesus

— God raised Him up to be the Savior and we are witnesses to it!

— You need to respond to this personally with repentance and faith.

We will see this basic message over and over from the apostles in Acts.

And this is a good model for us today too. What should be our message today? Let’s stick to the original message!

Interestingly enough, that same basic gospel message is the same message that Billy Graham shared in his famous gospel tracts, and that formed the basis some of our best Southern Baptist witnessing programs. All these good gospel presentations have the same 4 basic points:

— God has a plan: for us to have eternal life in glory with Him.

— We all sinned and fell short of His plan.

— Jesus died on the cross and paid for our sins, and rose again to be our Living Savior.

— But this calls for a personal response from each of us (as we will see in :38, etc.) We must repent of our sins, and trust Jesus as our Savior & Lord by faith.

THAT is the “kerygma;” that is the central gospel message. That is what the Apostles preached in the New Testament, and that should be the message we share today as well.

So let’s be sure that is what we share, when we talk to people:

The Gospel is NOT: “come to church.”

The Gospel is NOT: “you need to get your act together.”

The Gospel is NOT: “stop drinking, smoking and gambling”

The Gospel is NOT: “God wants you to have your best life now.”

The Gospel is that God has a plan for us to be with Him, that we sinned and fell short of it, that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, and that we must each personally respond in repentance and faith.

Let’s share that same message today that Peter and the Apostles proclaimed here in Acts!

Our last section, :36-38 details the last part of his message (the “4th point” of the gospel; what you might call the “invitation”?) and the people’s response:

Peter wrapped up his message in :36, saying “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord & Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Then :37 says; “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?”

So at first, many were mocking — but some were sincerely seeking. Now God has touched their hearts, and they asked, “What shall we do?”  They were responding to the Gospel!

What did Peter tell them? I would emphasize this because it is so important:

???WHAT WAS THE FIRST WORD OUT OF PETER’S MOUTH in :38???
(“Repent”! This is important. The first requirement for salvation, according to Peter, is repentance. This is a neglected word today.

To “repent” means to have a change in mind (which is what the Greek word “metanoia” literally means) which leads to a change in life. A change in mind, that leads to a change in life. One of the great examples of it is the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. After he’d left his father, :17 says “he came to his senses” and had a change of heart — and then he “changed directions” and went back to his father. A change of mind, that leads to a change in direction.

This is vital if a person is really going to be saved. Being saved is not just a matter of “starting to go to church.” You must realize that your life has been going the wrong direction, and turn to follow Jesus in the right direction. You must repent. Jesus said in Luke 13:5, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus preached repentance, John the Baptist preached repentance, Peter here preaches repentance, Paul says in Acts 20:21 that it is a central part of the gospel. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, about what he called “cheap grace.” He said “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance.”  

You may want to POST THAT QUOTE for your class to see, adn discuss.

Unfortunately, that is the “salvation” that many proclaim today: forgiveness without repentance. We’re all forgiven, whether we ever repent of our sins or not. That is NOT the gospel the New Testament teaches us! Let’s make sure that we don’t try to preach a gospel without repentance. Let’s include the call to repentance like Jesus, Peter and the Apostles in the New Testament did.

Then he commands them: “and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” This of course does NOT mean that the water of baptism saves us. I Peter 3:21 says it is “NOT the removal of dirt from the flesh (in other words, not the physical act of baptism that saves us) but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In other words, we are saved when we “appeal” to God; when we ASK Him to save us — because of what Jesus did.

When you do that, Peter says here, “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” — this is what happens when we get saved: GOD, in His Holy Spirit, comes to live inside of us. THAT is what makes the big change in us. Salvation is not “doing the best we can;” it is GOD coming inside of us, and He changes us in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

— just note the change He made when He came upon Peter here! Peter had last denied Jesus three times before servant girls! Now he’s boldly proclaiming Jesus in public. This is the difference the Holy Spirit makes.

— You may have a testimony, or a class member a testimony, of the difference the Holy Spirit has made in you. One of my favorites is how my wife Cheryl had tried for years to read and understand the Bible — but it made no sense to her. But when as an older high school student she truly gave her life to Jesus, all of the sudden, His word came alive to her! THAT is the difference the Holy Spirit makes!  You/your group can share stories like that.

And emphasize that it is so important for this to happen to each of us personally. Notice that Peter says “EACH OF YOU.” This is vital. Each one of us must personally respond to the gospel. It’s not enough to be a member of a church who has asked Jesus to save them, or to be a member of a family who has asked Jesus to save them — YOU must EACH do this personally, Peter says. 

So you might close today’s lesson with a challenge to your class: make sure that YOU have done this personally. Review the “4 points” of the Gospel, and especially emphasize that last one: make sure that you have personally repented of YOUR sins, and asked Jesus to save YOU. 

And you might also close with prayer, asking God to give you an opportunity to share this gospel with someone this week!

(Next Sunday we’ll look at the following verses in Acts 2:41-47, one of the great passages in scripture that describes for us the early days of the church at Jerusalem!)

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