Acts 2
The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, and Peter addresses the crowds
Discussion Questions
- What is Pentecost?
- Why were there so many Jews from every nation (v 5 and v 41)?
- Was this part of God’s plan so that they would take the gospel back to their homelands?
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Going Deeper from 'Words of Life'
Dr Myron Augsberger, one-time Mennonite university president and author of 26 books, once remarked: ‘Often, when the Holy Spirit is mentioned, people are stricken with one of two “diseases” – St Vitus’s dance or lockjaw. Both are spiritually harmful, if not fatal!’
Being filled with and directed by the Holy Spirit should be the natural result of a believer’s growth in Christ. This healthy, normal spiritual progression is what Paul affirmed: ‘Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life’ (Romans 6:22).
The momentous, dynamic, history-changing event that took place ‘when the day of Pentecost came’ is both the end and beginning of the spiritual highway on which we all travel. It is the conclusion of God’s plan for redemption – we have been ‘set free from sin’, and it is the commencement of a jubilant, victorious earthly life that will lead to ‘eternal life’. Being filled with the Spirit is ‘heaven on the way to Heaven’!
In 1894 William Booth composed a hymn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his conversion. It is a well-known prayer that can be said and sung any time, and most appropriately on Pentecost Sunday. Let’s sing and pray it together:
Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame,
Send the fire! Send the fire! Send the fire!
Thy blood-bought gift today we claim,
Send the fire! Send the fire! Send the fire!
Look down and see this waiting host,
Give us the promised Holy Ghost,
We want another Pentecost,
Send the fire! Send the fire! Send the fire!
(SASB 203 v 1)
Beverly Ivany