18 Days in the New Testament with Chuck SwindollSample

The Spirit's Power

IF YOU EVER WANT TO EMBARRASS A PREACHER, I’ll tell you a surefire way to do it. Just ask about his first sermon. The nerves of the moment seem to conspire with ­inexperience to produce some really funny and embarrassing stories that nobody will forget—as much as the preacher might wish they would! That could have been the case with Peter’s first sermon, which is recorded in Acts 2. But in reality, it still stands as one of the best sermons anyone has ever preached.

In fact, both the sermon and the events surrounding it were full of amazing moments. It all got started with a literal bang, some fireballs, and a group of people speaking languages they had never learned (Acts 2:1-6)! Some jokers heard the excitement and laughed it off, saying the believers must have been drunk (Acts 2:13). After a crowd had gathered, Peter corrected this notion (Acts 2:15) and went on to explain what had actually happened—why the crowd was hearing their many local languages from these backwater Galileans.

Peter explained that the events the people were witnessing had been spoken of by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16). He was essentially saying, “You men and women, who are standing in the streets of Jerusalem hearing about the great works of God in your own languages, are witnessing the fulfillment of Scripture.” Peter then quoted Joel 2:28-32, apparently from memory—it is extremely unlikely that anyone would have had their own scroll of the Prophets to carry around with them in those days. This, by the way, is a demonstration of the power of the memorized Word. It is always there, right at the moment we need it. Peter declared that what the crowd had witnessed was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from God, an event marking the last days. What a declaration! Peter asserted that Joel had written about that very moment centuries ago, and these people were seeing it—living it!—right there in Jerusalem.

What was the thing that was happening according to Peter (and Joel)? It was the pouring out of the Spirit of God (Acts 2:17-18). Because the Spirit was poured out, the believers could prophesy—that is, speak the message of God without error. They could speak it in languages they had never studied. They could see visions and dream dreams that were miraculously given to them by the Spirit, something that had never happened like that before.

In this era that has now begun, the Spirit of God has been poured forth. But Peter goes on quoting Joel in Acts 2:19-20: “And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red.” Well, we’ve never seen that. It has not yet happened. That is because Peter and Joel show us both ends of a parenthesis, the description of the beginning and the end of an era. There has been a partial fulfillment of Joel’s words—the Spirit of God has come, and the young and old have begun to dream dreams and see visions and experience His fullness. But the “great and glorious day of the LORD” (Acts 2:20) has not yet come. That will mark the end of this era.