Skip to content The Birth of the Church: Unity at Pentecost from Acts 2 Aug 28 · 14 min ...more
The Birth of the Church: Unity at Pentecost from Acts 2
August 28, 2025 · 14 min
Discover how unity, from families to congregations, amplifies the blessings of the Holy Spirit.
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The Birth of the Church and the Power of the Holy Spirit 0:11 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we move into Acts chapter 2, and we see the birth of the church. Verse 38, then Peter0:22 said to them, repent and let every 1 of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now recall, Jesus had told his followers to0:34 remain in Jerusalem until they had received the power from the Holy Spirit. Now there's nothing recorded in scriptures to suggest they knew the timing of the fulfillment of that0:46 promise. They were to wait, which is what we find them doing in chapter 2. And I think it's important for us to know that sometimes, you know, God makes a promise. We don't know when it's necessarily going to be0:57 fulfilled, but they were waiting with anticipation. And I believe we need to wait with anticipation for the fulfillment of God's promises in our lives as well. So they were waiting1:09 with this anticipation of the promise of the holy spirit who came at a certain point. It was at the Jewish feast of weeks, which in Greek is Pentecost. Okay?1:21 The feast of Pentecost comes 7 Sabbaths from Passover, and so there were 50 days it was the following day. There were 50 days after the resurrection and 10 days after Jesus had1:33 ascended into heaven, and and that's when the church began at Pentecost. 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, they're celebrating Pentecost and the Holy Spirit comes. Alright. Verse 1. When1:45 the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in 1 place. Now this is important because they were unified and they were together.1:57 Sometimes it's easy to be unified if you're not together, and it's difficult to be unified if you are together. The psalmist wrote of the the the of of the power of unity. And we see2:09 this throughout scripture, how important it is when we dwell together in unity. The psalmist wrote this in Psalm 1 33 verse 1, behold how good and pleasant it is for2:21 brethren to dwell together in unity is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon2:32 descending upon the mountains of Zion for there, the Lord commanded the blessing life forevermore. Unity is powerful. This is why Satan works so hard to keep believers2:44 divided. And disunity disunity keeps us from experiencing the fullness of the power of the holy spirit. And I believe the the abundant life, which is a part of2:56 being filled with the holy spirit that Jesus brought to us through his death and resurrection. And by the way by the way, this applies to the home. Now how can3:08 we expect to have unity in our churches if we don't have unity in our homes? And that begins with husbands and wives. Peter, who we're gonna read here in just a moment,3:20 was really leading here at Pentecost. He's the 1 up 1 that stood up and gave the sermon that we're gonna read here in just a moment. But he wrote this about the unity between a husband and wife in3:32 first Peter chapter 3 verse 7. He said, husbands, likewise, dwell with them, that is their wife, with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and being heirs together3:44 of the grace of life that your prayers may not be answered. What this is saying Peter was saying that the husband need to take the leadership role in the home to ensure that there was there was unity by resolving3:57 issues that were in the home that kept the husband and wife divided. Alright. Back to chapter 2 of acts, verse 2, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind,4:09 and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and 1 set upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit4:21 and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now these tongues were unknown to them, but not to the hearers. Alright. Verse 5. And there were4:33 dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in their own language. Now the4:45 feast of weeks or Pentecost was 1 of the 3 feasts where men were required to make a pilgrimage to the temple to Jerusalem. So Jews from the known world,4:57 at the time, were in Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost. I mean, think about god's timing. Why this particular moment? Why now the holy spirit5:08 coming and birthing the church? Well, the the the short wait that the apostles had allowed the right moment to accelerate the spread of the gospel because all of these people were5:20 all in Jerusalem from different parts of the of the world as you read here in this passage, and so they took this message back. Verse 7. Then they were all amazed and marveled saying to 1 another,5:32 look, are these not who are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? So there were people5:44 from 3 continents that were hearing the message in their own language. So question here, was the miracle in the hearing or in the speaking or in both? Verse 12.5:56 So they were all amazed and perplexed saying to 1 another, whatever could this mean? Others mockingly said, they are full of new wine. So here we have 3 different6:08 types of people. We have the doers who were being used by the holy spirit in this moment. We have the lookers asking what's going on, and then we have the mockers saying, oh, they're just intoxicated.6:20 You know, we have the same today. We have doers, we have lookers, and we have mockers. I hope that you, as you are standing on the word of God, are a doer being used by the Holy Spirit. Now let's6:32 look at Peter's Pentecost preaching, which was very effective with about 3000 people being saved and baptized on6:44 that day. Had to be remarkable. Verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said, the men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let it be known to you and heed my6:56 words. For these are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day, still morning. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it7:08 shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams.7:20 And on my men men's servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. Now this is really important. Very important. Don't miss this.7:33 How does Peter interpret and explain the supernatural events that are happening through the word? God had promised7:45 back in the old testament to pour out the Holy Spirit. Now prior to this point, the Holy Spirit was limited to specific offices or occasions, but not universal to all followers of7:57 God. What Joel prophesied was now beginning. Pentecost was the starting gun, if you will, for what would unfold and move toward8:08 ultimately the return of the Messiah. Matthew Henry actually quotes Jewish historian Josephus, writing of the signs in the omens that preceded8:20 the destruction of Jerusalem was which was about 40 years from this point of Pentecost. This is what he wrote. Terrible thunders, lightnings, and earthquakes. There was a fiery8:32 comet that hung over the city for a year, and a flaming sword was seen pointing down upon it. A light shone upon the temple and the altar at midnight as if it had been noonday. And8:44 and so these signs and these wonders that Joel talked about preceded the destruction of Jerusalem and then that there's more to come. Verse 19, I will show wonders in heavens8:56 above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon into the blood into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. So moving9:07 toward that point, the awesome day of the Lord is the return, the judgment that's coming. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. We're in that moment of grace. Now this was9:18 not always the case. But in this church age, the the age of grace, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You gotta call upon him. You gotta believe. You9:30 gotta confess. Verse 22. Alright. Peter's sermon, first sermon of the church. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God9:42 to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know you saw it. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God,9:54 you have taken by lawless hands and crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by10:06 it. It would be, and it is the the church that restrains the spirit of the lawless 1 that thought10:18 he had gained the victory over God by killing the redeemer of mankind. The church, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You know, Satan was Satan was wrong.10:30 He thought he could thwart God's plans and purposes. But as we move toward the return of the Messiah, there will be another attempt by Satan, the antichrist,10:42 the lawless 1, to again try to thwart the plans of god for his people. But I have news for you. Alright. There's well, should be a little ticker running under the the screen here.10:54 He will fail once again. Alright. Verse 32, we read this. Let me get back to it. This Jesus,11:06 God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the holy spirit, he poured out this11:17 which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend in the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstools. Therefore, let all the house of Israel11:29 know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, but both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to their to the heart and said to11:41 Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? This word preaching the gospel struck at the very heart. It it convicted them. Then11:53 Peter said to them, repent and let every 1 of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to12:05 your children, to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, be saved12:17 from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized that day. About 3000 souls were added to them.12:28 And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done12:40 through the apostles' fear of God, a reverence for God, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We're gonna see through the book of Acts the the expansion of the church as it goes from12:52 Jerusalem to to Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your grace and mercy, and we thank you for the13:04 power of the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost, em empowering your followers to walk, Lord, in in a in a in a13:16 sanctified manner through your word and through the Holy Spirit with boldness and with courage as we're gonna read throughout the book of Acts. Lord, I pray that we would wait with anticipation for the13:27 fulfillment of the promises that you've given to us. But, Lord, may we do so now that we have the Holy Spirit empowered by your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, for your love. Thank you for your mercy. And,13:39 again, we thank you for the holy spirit, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing on the word.13:52 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:04 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 The Birth of the Church and the Power of the Holy Spirit
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