Read
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
1 On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. 2Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.
5Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. 6And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. 7They were excited and amazed, and said:
Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? 8Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? 9Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, 11Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.
12Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, “What does all this mean?”
13Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, “They are drunk.”
Peter Speaks to the Crowd
14Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! 15You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16But this is what God told the prophet Joel to say,
17 “When the last days come,
I will give my Spirit
to everyone.
Your sons and daughters
will prophesy.
Your young men
will see visions,
and your old men
will have dreams.
18In those days I will give
my Spirit to my servants,
both men and women,
and they will prophesy.
19“I will work miracles
in the sky above
and wonders
on the earth below.
There will be blood and fire
and clouds of smoke.
20The sun will turn dark,
and the moon
will be as red as blood
before the great
and wonderful day
of the Lord appears.
21Then the Lord
will save everyone
who asks for his help.”
Reflect
Did you know that the largest student movement in the world is comprised of followers of Jesus? Spanning more than 154 countries, this movement is diverse in size, ethnicity, culture and language.
Called the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, this movement is just one of the many ways Peter’s sermon and Joel’s prophecy has been realized in our world.
“I will give my Spirit to everyone … I will work miracles in the sky above and in the earth below … the Lord will save everyone who asks for his help.”
Those are the powerful words Peter preaches in his landmark sermon in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago. On that day, there was much evidence of God’s Spirit at work among a diverse group of people. Thousands heard Peter’s sermon in their own languages. How this happened is a mystery.
But it’s a mystery that keeps repeating itself around the world today. Obedient followers of Jesus speak his words in their languages and to their own people. Others learn new languages and settle into life in a country not initially their own, but that begins, slowly, to feel like home.
Scriptures are translated over and over again, so more and more people can read the truth of God in their own language. New followers of Jesus emerge from places where the gospel has never before taken root.
God’s people are global. We are on the move. We have a mission.
Peter understood this. Through the centuries, missionaries have understood this. Today, millions of Christians, many of them young adults, understand this too. God’s powerful mission, given by Jesus and energized by the Holy Spirit, keeps moving forward. It is, amazingly, unstoppable.
Respond
Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives us courage, equips us to learn languages and gives us words to speak beyond our own understanding. We ask, today, that many people who are hearing your message of love and forgiveness will accept you and have their lives forever changed. Amen.
Geri Rodman
Under Geri’s leadership, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship Canada is focused on a 10-year goal of Launching 20,000 Extraordinary Kingdom Leaders by 2020. "We believe God will launch youth and students as Kingdom Leaders who are so transformed by Jesus that nothing will stop their enormous zeal for the things of God." Geri was appointed president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship Canada in 2002, after spending 23 years leading the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ministry in Northern California and Hawaii. Educated at the University of Toronto and Wheaton College, Geri is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry program at Gordon-Conwell. She serves on the boards of, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Water Ambassadors Canada.