One of my favorite things is getting to the end of a novel and discovering that there’s an epilogue, and that’s when you realize the story’s not really ending. It’s usually just beginning. We are still celebrating Easter here on the Bible for Busy People… This is the rest of the story. The epilogue continues and it really is the beginning of the story of hope for all mankind. We pick up our story today in Acts chapter one. Here we go.
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Transcription:
One of my favorite things is getting to the end of a novel and discovering that there’s an epilogue, and that’s when you realize the story’s not really ending. It’s usually just beginning. We are still celebrating Easter here on the Bible for Busy People. This is the rest of the story. The epilogue continues and it really is the beginning of the story of hope for all mankind. We pick up our story today in Acts chapter one, beginning in verse three.
During the 40 days after he,
Of course, Jesus.
suffered and died. He appeared to the apostles from time to time and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the kingdom of God.
I want to pause here for a hot second. If you’re going, what is an apostle? Maybe you’ve heard the word before, it simply means sent. Okay, verse four now.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? He replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times and they are not for you to know, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Now, I want to pitch a tent here. It’s just a temporary tent because we’re going to get right back to the story. It’s going to get exciting pretty fast here, but I have to share this with you. I was listening to another one of our podcasts on purposely, it’s called In His Steps, and one of the pastors was saying, you might look at the disciples and think, didn’t they get the message that Jesus wasn’t going to be an earthly king yet? He came to be the Savior of the world, that his kingdom is not of this world, that one day he’s going to come again and reign forever, but that it’s not now. Well, this pastor was saying that the disciples had different expectations of what Jesus had come to do, and sometimes you and I have different expectations of what God is trying to do in our lives. And that really shifted my perspective and I went, it’s true, Lord. Sometimes I expect you to do something for somebody I love or for me and you don’t do it, and I question it. And that’s where faith comes in. Lord, you know everything. As I often say on this podcast, he’s got the cover of the puzzle box. We’ve just got a few of the pieces, and we may not have all of the pieces until we meet the Lord in heaven, but that’s okay. We can trust him with those pieces. We don’t yet see. Okay, let’s go back to our story. We are still in Acts chapter one, picking it up in verse nine.
After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven,
I would’ve done that.
two white robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.
Woo! Isn’t that powerful and wonderful to ponder today? It could be today. It could be before the end of this podcast that Jesus returns and comes on the clouds. Every time I see the clouds, I think of that. I’m like, Lord, is this the day? Oh, just gives me the good goosebumps. Okay, we’re going to pick up our story in Acts chapter two, beginning in verse one.
On the day of Pentecost,
And don’t let that word trip you up. It simply means 50th 50 days or seven Sundays after Easter, so…
on the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them, and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. How can this be? They exclaimed. These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages. Here we are, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God is done. They stood there, amazed and perplexed, what can this mean? They asked each other. But others in the crowd ridiculed them saying, they’re just drunk. That’s all. Then Peter stepped forward with the 11 other apostles and shouted to the crowd. Listen carefully, all of you fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem, make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. Know what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. In those days, I will pour out my spirit, even on my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy. 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 red. Before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives, but everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Praise the Lord. I wish we had time for Peter’s whole sermon. We don’t. We’re going to skip down to verse 41.
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day, about 3000 in all.
Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus promised to build his church is now becoming the man God made him to be. He’s fulfilling the calling on his life and it’s beautiful. I just want to end on that note. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you want to be saved today, if you’re craving hope in your heart, if you’re sorry for your sins and you’re ready for the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and clean it, just ask Him. He will. He is faithful. Everyone who calls on his name will be saved. Till next time you are loved.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life.
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