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1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Par'thians and Medes and E'lamites and residents of Mesopota'mia, Judea and Cappado'cia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phryg'ia and Pamphyl'ia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyre'ne, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. 21 And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' (Acts 2:1-21 RSV)
Happy Tuesday everyone in the ConCafe Family! May God bring you awesome opportuities to witness to your faith in Him! May many come to know the depths of God's love because of you! We heard that Sylvia Gaytan's surgery of the spine went well, but she is in a lot of pain. She said she could feel the prayers lifted up on her behalf, so thank you all! May the Lord bring her comfort and peace during these hours is our prayer. Pray for one another; pray for yourselves.
It sometimes happens. We gather for one reason and another presents itself as an alternative. And sometimes the alternative proves to be the better thing. The Day of Pentecost was already a special day for the Jewish church. It was the day that was used to commerate the giving of the law to Moses from God. It was a special day that drew many visitors to Jerusalem. Verses 8 and 9 give you an idea of just where these visitors were from. While most of these visitors spoke or at least understood Hebrew, they would soon be amazed by a miraculous outpouring of The Holy Spirit. The disciples, being faithful Jews themselves, were aware of the festivities, but were safely hidden in the Upper Room, when a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, that filled up the house where the 12 were sitting. "And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." What were these different languages saying? "The mighty works of God." I may have already shared how some years ago, Nellie and I were part of a medical team to Puebla, Mexico. We took a team of doctors, nurses, and plenty of volunteers to help run a Methodist clinic there. While there we were given two copies of a self-published book by a missionary who had served in that area since the 1950s. In one of the stories shared by the Missionary Dow Robinson, he speaks of how a chief of one of the villages was in a coma and he, as a now respected man of medicine and faith, was invited to pray for him. The chief was an Aztec and spoke only his native language but when he awoke, thanks to God answering his prayer, the chief spoke in Spanish and quoted Old Testament verses and spoke of the greatness of God. He became a believer and led his whole village to Christ. I should mention that Bro. Robinson was of a denomination which does not believe in the work of the Holy Spirit in modern days; the work of the Spirit was only for work such as we read in today's passage and then returned to heaven. Hmm.
This declaration in diverse languages gathers a larger crowd, bewildered by these men from Galilee speaking their languages! Some were bewildered, some were angry and accused them of being drunk "with new wine." It was Peter who saves the day and says the men were not drunk as it was only nine in the mornning, and refers them to the prophet Joel who spoke of the last days when God would "pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and one my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."
What this tells me is that there is no limit to what God won't do to get His message to all the world. Someone once said, "Whatever it takes, God will make His love known to all people. Our God is a God of invitation and salvation; and wants to draw all people to Him. No one is turned away; but we are good at rejecting God's love and care. It's the answer to the question, how can a loving God send anyone to hell? God does not send any one to "the other place," we choose to reject that love and go our own way. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit in this mighty way was the birth of the Church. Created by God for God's people; all languages of and for all people, indicating God wanted all people to be a part of the kingdom. This part of the chapter does not tell the complete story, but it shows that as the Church developed, leadership would begin to step forward to lead the way forward. Here we see Peter speaking up, and boldly I might add, to sway the perception of the people away from mockery and towards the awesome nature of God's work of inclusion and salvation. The primary element of Church is worship; and as people heard from everyday folks speaking of the wonders of God, that is worship! That is praise! And to hear from others about could be, as in the prophecies, that too, is worship; Prophetic words must share that which can and should be; a better world until the perfect world comes.
We should think back to Eden. The paradise was not the lush vegetation as it was the relationship between God and His creation. No language barriers, just God providing for the needs of His creation, and God getting to know His creatures with talks and walks. The greatness of God's creation spoke for itself of what God could do; it was after Eden that paradise seemed far off and maybe even unattainable; It took the death of God's own Son for the paradise to begin all over again; God reaching out for humanity, and now humanity could reach back out to God. The Law which had served its purpose in defining the breaks in the relationship is now seen in a different light because God's work through His Spirit is reaching out to all people with a desire to bring in, to forgive all, and to receive all. We will see soon enough that that one day alone brought in 3,000 persons who also desired to know more about God. And that was just the beginning of this massive restoration project of God's.
PRAYER: Awesome Father, bring us closer to You and closer to each other. May we find new ways of communicating with each other so that we might continue the worship and praise that sings of Your majesty and might. We pray for the Church to be triumphant here on the earth as it is in Heaven; this we pray in faith in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Speak a new language of love about God to those you know!
Receive my blessings of joy and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
