Amazing Partner, Amazing People, part 1

This week, as we reflect on another Pentecost Sunday, I felt as though, especially since we are a Pentecostal Church, we should continue to study of the Holy Spirit. So this week, we are going to look at our “Amazing Partner” and how He desires to cause us to be an “Amazing People,” using Acts 2 (the whole chapter) as a basis for this week’s study.

Let me first begin by sharing with you some comments made by a famous British preacher, G. Campbell Morgan, as he wrote about the accusations made concerning those who were first Baptized in Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 

You will remember that many in the crowd began accusing the 120 who were “Filled with the Spirit” of being drunk. Morgan writes: “Carefully consider Peter’s answer to the accusations – “These are not drunk as you suppose” – that is, in the way you think they are. Compare this with Paul’s injunction in Ephesians 5:18 – “Don’t be drunk on wine – but be filled with the Spirit.” The one is a false and destructive method of attempting to realize life in its fullness. The other is the true and effective method.
 

Has anyone ever charged you with being drunk with your Christianity? O God, how seldom men have thought us drunk. We lack the flashing eye, and the pulsating song, and the tremendous enthusiasm of an overwhelming conviction. That is what the city needs, to create the opportunity for prophetic proclamation!
 

The Church’s responsibility is that her members be so Spirit-filled that the Spirit may be able to produce the new phenomena required to startle this age. The Church has been far more anxious about wealth, and theologies, and organizations, than about the Spirit…what’s the use of preaching when the world is not amazed?”  And I say, Wow, what a mouthful! 
 

How many of us really believe that God wants us to be – an Amazing People? How many believe that amazing people are hard to ignore – the world cannot help but check out people whose lives are so full of life that they are compellingly different!
 

Listen very carefully: Every one of us, reading through this devotional, have been created to live an amazing life – a life of incredible purpose, passion, and power – but the reality is, we cannot live that kind of amazing life on our own or in our own strength!
 

We cannot live an amazing life without an amazing partner, life is often just too hard – that’s why Jesus promised His disciples a partner – a Paraclete, who would be with them and in them forever – because the fullness of their lives depended on how full they were of the Holy Spirit. That partner Jesus promised to His disciples, of course, was the Holy Spirit and He is the promised partner of every believer who will receive Him.
 

In Acts 2, we not only encounter some amazing people – we discover some of the key characteristics that made them so compelling to their generation. Let’s take a minute here and read that chapter as our study passage for this week. (Please take a moment or two and read Acts 2 – I’ll include it here, so you don’t need to open your Bible.)
 

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

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: 

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.’ 22 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 

25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ 

29 “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 

34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” 

36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:1-47 NIV.
 

How many of us want to live such an amazing life that people will wonder what happened to you – and if it can happen to them? 

Continued tomorrow