SATURDAY, APRIL 16
READ ACTS 2:14-21
ACTS 2:14 Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: “You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!
As the apostles receive a new start by the Holy Spirit, so too must we become Pentecost people, shunning all projects of self-salvation and letting God be God in our lives. Our posture becomes one of abject humility, for only when we bow down before the Most High and call upon God’s name can we detach ourselves from all forms of idolatry and make a radical commitment to charity.
Come, Holy Spirit, pour upon us the balm of salvation. Anoint us with the oil of gladness that we may have the courage to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.[Susan Muto]
Our mailing address is:
Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
READ ACTS 2:14-21
ACTS 2:14 Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: “You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!
15 “These people ar en’t drunk, as you suppose — it’s only nine in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken about through the prophet Yo’el:
17 ‘Adonai says:
“In the Last Days,
I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my slaves, both men and women,
will I pour out from my Spirit in those days;
and they will prophesy.
19 I will perform miracles in the sky above
and signs on the earth below —
blood, fire and thick smoke.
20 The sun will become dark
and the moon blood
before the great and fearful Day of Adonai comes.
21 And then, whoever calls on the name of Adonai will be saved.”’[Acts 2:21 Joel 3:1–5(2:28–32)]
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Peter, who denied he even knew Jesus, became the rock on which Jesus would build his church. Here he speaks with authority. Flanked by the apostles, he addresses the crowd’s concern. No one among them is drunk. They have never been more sober. He reports that at nine o’clock that morning the Spirit hovered over them with tongues as of fire, reformed them from within, and made them messengers of the Most High. Not with his own words but with those of the prophet Joel, Peter explains what happened. Let us listen to this prophecy as if for the first time, personalizing its declarations.
We may be young or old, male or female, slave or free, Gentile or Jew and yet be designated by the Divine as prophets who refuse to be satisfied with the status quo. Life as we know it takes another turn. Nature itself records the end of one era and the beginning of another. This transformation will take us with Jesus from the agony in the garden, through the scandal of the cross, to the glory of Easter morn. Blood, sweat, fire, smoke, and mist—these and other symbols of turmoil point to the change that earth and its inhabitants are about to undergo. With the coming of the Spirit, our salvation is at hand.As the apostles receive a new start by the Holy Spirit, so too must we become Pentecost people, shunning all projects of self-salvation and letting God be God in our lives. Our posture becomes one of abject humility, for only when we bow down before the Most High and call upon God’s name can we detach ourselves from all forms of idolatry and make a radical commitment to charity.
Come, Holy Spirit, pour upon us the balm of salvation. Anoint us with the oil of gladness that we may have the courage to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.[Susan Muto]
Our mailing address is:
Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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