had just ascended (gone up) into heaven. The essential was the making of a body, one body. It was after the Holy Spirit came and taught these men God's mind. They were filled that they might speak. According to Acts 2:3 God was doing a work in each come again. They are not spectacular, miraculous demonstrations, but outbreaks of resistless power, like a mighty wind blowing no man knows where: Leading out into new ventures, new methods, new approaches; filling men with a passion and hunger for God and reality which consumes the dross, the garbage and waste of our lives; and setting men to speaking to others about the glorious reality of a God who lives within, who is mighty and adequate in all that he does. When did he say these "many things" unto them? did you hear a loud noise like a mighty wind? What an exciting thing it is to be a member of it! invisible; we cannot see it. And they prayed and said, "Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place." But the invisible wind is able to do amazing things: it There must be twelve apostles. It is resurrection power, as we said last week, which does not need props of any kind, and cannot be stopped in its operation. Have you ever had to WAIT for a person to come? Here is what the church must be today. witnesses. It was on the day of Pentecost. These are connected only with the beginning of the body. completed and He will come and take us to heaven (1 Thess. Many times we need to wait for God’s promises to come to pass. IS GOD DOING A WONDERFUL THING IN YOUR HEART? But, nevertheless, this is likely what he was doing. So the church is a living organism; it is part of the life of Jesus Christ present on this earth. We can examine this critical event by attempting to answer the following questions: What was the original meaning of the Day of Pentecost? verses where God promises to send the Holy Spirit (the Comforter): John 14, verses _______________________ special! Therefore the apostle chosen must be one who was there, and saw them, and could give witness that these things were true. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." In Acts 1:4 we read about a wonderful promise which God gave. They bought it from a potter and thus was fulfilled Zechariah's prediction that this money for which Jesus would be betrayed (Zechariah actually had predicted it would be 30 pieces of silver) would be given to the potter. Some think of it as a group of plastic hypocrites who are forever trying to play waterboy to the game of life; whenever real issues are faced the church is there to say, "Me too." The book of Acts details the beginning of the church and its miraculous spread through the power of the Holy Spirit. It indicates a recognition that God is in even the smallest things. It was used to decide only when men were otherwise qualified and equal. And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles. 24Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. As he realized that Jesus was approaching a crisis he found he lacked thirty pieces of silver in order to purchase the land. We learn how he forfeited his apostolic position, "For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in the ministry. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, there came shepherds and wise men, and there were angels and a star. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.". We are also given a glimpse, in this parenthetical verse, of the tragic end of Judas. Someday the building will be If God had not done this the There was the sound of the rush of a mighty wind, there was the appearance of tongues of fire dancing on the head of each individual, and there was the strange phenomenon of languages spoken by men who had never learned them -- tongues. That is what we shall see developing in the book of Acts. It is not spectacular power; it is quiet. _____ How can you Yet because it was the scene of the suicide of Judas, a place marked by the blood of a guilty man, they called it "the Field of Blood." It is not necessarily associated with tongues, or fire, or wind. 8:9 and 2 Timothy 1:14. The church, operating as it was intended to operate, is the most important body of people in any age -- far above and beyond anything else. as follows: God promised that there would come a day when He would send His Holy Spirit. In Verse 20, he says: "For it is written in the book of Psalms,   'let his habitation become desolate,   and let there be no one to live in it'; [Psalm 69] and   'His office let another take.'" If the Spirit is really right here. There is much justification for these charges. God did something else very special on that day. _________________________________________________________________. He was certainly a man God used in special ways to minister to the church, but it is important to recognize that none of the New Testament writers wrote in a vacuum nor were their writings the product of simple dictation. So the wind, the fire, and the tongues only occur together once in Scripture. Hello, Sign in. The birth of the Church is of utmost importance, understanding when the church began helps identify it and determine the laws that govern it. (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. Now there are symbols of the church. If we put together all the references to Judas in the Gospels we shall learn what happened. When John the Baptist predicted that Jesus would come and baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, he meant that there would be an unexplainable passion about the church. In When the person arrived, God is doing a wonderful thing today! wait for a PERSON (the Holy Spirit) and that this WAITING PERIOD would be for several days In the present form the estimated length is about 60 minutes. Thus the loaves are baked with leaven. "Filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke..." (Acts 4:31, 19:6). They were to be examples and patterns of what a Christian ought to be. 23So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. They yet have sin in them. RayStedman.org/permissions. Without the Holy Spirit there would be no power to live for Jesus and to be His This is the foundation upon which the whole church must rest. Church under the New Covenant." Out of that larger band there must be one chosen who had been there the whole time and saw everything Jesus did. Pentecost came at the end of the wheat harvest in Palestine, and they were to take this new wheat, freshly harvested, the first fruits of the harvest, and bake of it two loaves. At the close of the second chapter, the apostle says the church is like a building; "members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, which grows into a holy temple designed by the Spirit for the habitation of God..." (Ephesians 2:19b-22 RSV). have the Holy Spirit? Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of believers and to form something brand new: THE CHURCH. This booklet is designed to be used in personal devotions, Small Groups, Bible Study or training leaders. In stock. All over this country, and around the world, there are breaking out such manifestations again.