The extraordinary ordinary work of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-47

Pentecost means “50th”, it is the Festival of Weeks, 50 days after Passover. By this time Jesus had appeared to hundreds of people. Jesus had ascended and had promised His disciples that they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Eight extraordinary things that happened at Pentecost and can happen today:

1. Extraordinary decent of the Holy Spirit (vs 2-3) – The sovereign Holy Spirit decended on the disciples. They were sitting in the early morning and it was just another day of waiting for what Jesus had promised. God has the power to transform our ordinary days. The wind came from above. Tongues of fire rested on everyone who was in the room. There can be an extraordinary decent of the Holy Spirit on us today. God’s power is the same today, it has not run down.
2. Extraordinary empowering (vs 4-13) – There was a mighty release of the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. This empowering continues today. We are called to eagerly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There was opposition then and will be today. We are in a spiritual battle. The Holy Spirit gives us different gifts to empower us to do the work that He wants us to do. The gifts are from God and not something we can work up ourselves.
3. Extraordinary boldness (vs 14-36) – Peter was empowered with boldness to preach the message of Jesus. He boldly proclaimed that the Jews had Jesus’ blood on their hands. God used Peter’s words to convict the crowd of their din. We need this boldness from God today. We cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit and remain as we are.
4. Extraordinary conviction of sin and repentance (vs 37-40) – The crowd was convicted, repented and received forgiveness. 3,000 people received salvation and were baptised. We need to tell people the good news of Jesus in order for them to be convicted of their sin and for them to repent.
5. Extraordinary devotion (vs 42) – This church was alive with the Holy Spirit and there was a hunger to know the truth. They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching. They had a passion to remember Jesus through the breaking of bread. They had a deep sacrificial love for one another.
6. Extraordinary miracles (vs 43) – Everyone was filled with awe and many miraculous signs were done amongst the people. God’s church is meant to be an awesome place to be; not because of the building, but because He is at work in it.
7. Extraordinary community (vs 44-47) – These new believers shared everything. They met every day in the temple courts. They didn’t just pray and worship together, they shared their lives, homes, food and had fun together (their hearts were glad and sincere). They has a good reputation. God added to their numbers daily.
8. Extraordinary numbers were saved (vs 41 & 47) – God did all this then and He can do this today.