The Power of the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

Acts 2:13-21

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  

NIV

Peter, filled with the Spirit, being one of those who were speaking in other dialects now took advantage of, through the inspiration and power of the Spirit, stood with the eleven and raised his voice. Before we get into the beginning of Peter’s most excellent sermon, which did not come from many hours of preparation, but simply was empowered by the Spirit, we should consider just that very thing. Although we would have to say that Peter did spend some three years in seminary, so to speak, with the greatest teacher ever known to man. Peter was filled with many experiences that he was an eyewitness to and so with that, he had much to draw from as the Spirit gave him the power to say. Is this not our story? We do not have the eyewitness experience with Jesus as Peter did, but we do have years of experience being filled with the Spirit, as well, as somewhat of a knowledge of the scripture. Although we have enough to know all about Jesus and what happened to him and who he is and what he did for all of us. Sometimes we want to consider all the rules and regulations that we as Christians are supposed to pay attention to. We spend time making lists of things we should not be doing, and we think our goodness is dependent on the number of good deeds that we do. We know the gift of God is free and we cannot earn it, and some would say that we do these good things out of love for the Lord. However, as we will examine in more detail the sermon of Peter, he warned the people about living in a corrupt world and their only hope was to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and then they would receive the gift of the Spirit. This would be just as Peter and the others received this gift of the Spirit as promised by Jesus. We need to be living more in the Spirit so that all we know, all our study under the teaching of Jesus will be brought to our attention so we can boldly stand under the influence and power of the Spirit and proclaim the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.