The Incredible Change

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE INCREDIBLE CHANGE 

Acts 2:5-16

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs — we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 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:

NIV

This was the first time anything like this miracle or gift of the Holy Spirit happened as a result of people being baptized with the Holy Spirit. For them to speak in all those different languages was evidence of the baptism of the Spirit. This is not to be confused with what some today believe: speaking in tongues, when they speak words they do not understand. This event in Jerusalem specifies which language the disciples were speaking: 15 languages that people in those regions understood because they were their native tongues. We also see something exceptional happening in Peter's life. Peter has already had numerous exceptional moments during his time with Jesus. He was the one who answered Jesus' question, "Who do you say I am?" with, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus also rebuked him later, telling Satan to get behind him. Peter hauled in the largest catch of fish, following Jesus' direction. Peter walked on the water with Jesus. However, Peter also denied Jesus three times. From this moment on, on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter, filled with the Spirit, becomes bold and delivers his first and exceptional sermon. This should give us a clue about what should happen in our lives when we are baptized and filled with the Spirit. Granted, we should see a change in ourselves when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We cannot be sure whether those believers who were raised in a Christian home, considering themselves always to have been saved, have ever seen any difference in their lives because of Jesus. However, those of us who came to Jesus as adults know and understand how different our lives are. Yet another change in our lives is when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. He brings a whole new dimension to our relationship with Jesus and the whole world around us. We can be both gentle and humble as we learn from Jesus, and bold and outspoken in our speaking about Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave Peter that boldness, and He will give us the same boldness if we simply allow Him full access to our inner being. We wonder if we do not see any change within us because of the power of the Holy Spirit, with all his gifts and fruit, that we might be quenching His power. We sing the song, "Come Holy Spirit," that includes the words, "I need you, come Holy Spirit, I pray." Do we mean it? Peter was filled with the Spirit and fire and became on fire for Jesus. Should we not experience this same fire and boldness within us because we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit? Because we are filled with the Spirit, we should experience an incredible change within us.