{"id":20530,"date":"2022-03-07T22:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T05:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts1_12-26-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-03-01T22:50:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T05:50:31","slug":"acts2_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts2_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Without THIS Moment We Wouldn\u2019t Be Here Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 2:1-13\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 2:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 2:1-11 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs–we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-11:\u00a0\u00a0Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks,\u00a0was one of the big three festivals in the Jewish calendar (the other two being the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles \u2013 see Leviticus 23).\u00a0 Happening on the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0day after the Passover Feast (Pentecost in ancient Greek means \u201cFiftieth\u201d), Pentecost was a time to thank God for the harvest.\u00a0 It is fitting that God chose Pentecost to be the day when He would fill His church with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

The significance of this passage is not lost on me, especially when we just celebrated Canada here in Vancouver (albeit a different kind of Canada Day because of COVID-19).\u00a0 I\u2019m struck by the fact that we wouldn\u2019t be here in Canada and in other nations reading the Bible and worshiping the Lord today if it weren\u2019t for this incredibly significant moment.\u00a0 For not only did the Holy Spirit fill His church just as Jesus had promised, but people from different nations outside of Israel \u2013 \u201cevery nation under heaven\u201d (v5) \u2013 began to witness the work of God\u2019s Spirit leading them to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Before this moment, when Jesus was ministering publicly on earth, certain people from different nations got to experience His power on an individual basis: the Roman centurion in Matthew 8, the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15, the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, to name a few.\u00a0 Also, the crowd surrounding Jesus\u2019 disciples in Acts 2 were all or mostly Jewish.\u00a0 In other words, by this time Jesus\u2019 message had not yet reached the Gentile (non-Jewish) nations of the world in a major way.\u00a0 Still, Acts 2 represents a watershed moment when the Holy Spirit fills the church just as Jesus had promised and when the gospel of Jesus Christ is about to reach thousands of people from different nations.\u00a0 We the church would not be here today with this moment in Acts 2.<\/p>\n

This passage puts the spotlight on two of the biggest themes in the book of Acts:\u00a0 (1) God\u2019s heart to reach every person on the planet from every nation; and (2) the importance and power of the Holy Spirit as well as God\u2019s desire that every one of His children be filled with the Holy Spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 2:12-13 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0When we see God do things in and through His people the church that we are not familiar with, or more generally when we see things that we are not used to, we have two choices.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Either we can seek to understand and ask with a humble heart, \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d or we can dismiss it and say, \u201cThey\u2019re out of their minds.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0May we be quick to listen and learn, slow to speak and judge.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for Your heart to reach every person on the planet from every nation.\u00a0 I realize today that without this moment in Acts 2, I would not be here today worshiping You.\u00a0 Thank You for the day that, pursuant to Your Son Jesus\u2019 request, You sent us Your Holy Spirit and filled Your church with power.\u00a0 We need Your Holy Spirit once again today.\u00a0 Please come and fill us today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 2:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Acts 2:1-11 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
\n5\u00a0\u00a0Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
\n6\u00a0\u00a0When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
\n7\u00a0\u00a0Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
\n8\u00a0\u00a0Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
\n9\u00a0\u00a0Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
\n10\u00a0\u00a0Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
\n11\u00a0\u00a0(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs–we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-11:\u00a0\u00a0Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks,\u00a0was one of the big three festivals in the Jewish calendar (the other two being the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles \u2013 see Leviticus 23).\u00a0 Happening on the 50th\u00a0day after the Passover Feast (Pentecost in ancient Greek means \u201cFiftieth\u201d), Pentecost was a time to thank God for the harvest.\u00a0 It is fitting that God chose Pentecost to be the day when He would fill His church with the Holy Spirit. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20534,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20530\/revisions\/20534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}