"Pandemic" - Acts 2:14-21

• Series: "Pandemic" - The Gospel Unleashed
• by: Chris Mayfield 07/19/09

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Acts 2:14-21

The Holy Spirit has now been poured out and made available for those who call on the name of the Lord. Peter makes a bold and brave speech against those who mock the ones speaking in tongues—the same group of people who pushed to have Jesus crucified. The disciples’ time spent with Jesus after His resurrection, His instructions, and their time spent together in prayer  served to prepare them and build them for this exact moment of the unleashing of the Holy Spirit.

Engage the Text

1. By presenting the “speaking in tongues” as prophecy fulfilled, was Peter implying that they were “in the last days”? What does “in the last days” refer to?
2. What does v.17 mean when it says, “all flesh”?
3. For the Jews listening, whom might they have imagined “everyone” in v.21 to entail?
4. What is the name of the Lord? What would the name of the Lord be to a Jew at this time? What name is Peter speaking of?
5. How is one saved? Is calling on the name of the Lord a mechanical work that anyone can do flippantly or a Holy Spirit wrought call that arises from deep within our soul to God to receive His salvation?

From Thought to Action

1. The most important question you can ask yourself after reading this text is ‘Have I called upon the name of the Lord?’ Do you trust in Christ alone to pay for your sin, set you free from it and fill you with His Holy Spirit, enabling you to walk in a manner worthy of His name? Or are you holding onto to some hope of being a good person and earning your way into heaven, thereby nullifying a need for Christ? Consider this today. Are you trusting in Christ alone for the salvation of your soul? If your answer is no, or Christ and __________ (i.e. something else) please contact a community group leader or pastor to meet with you.
2. If you are trusting in Christ alone, are you continually preparing yourself for the Day of the Lord? That great and glorious Day! How will the Lord find you on that Day?
3. It’s easy to think that this is just a localized event in the Bible when we only read these seven verses. It looks like the Holy Spirit completely takes over and gives superfluous amounts of ambition and boldness to these believers, but don’t forget the previous 40 days the apostles spent in prayer and in communion with Jesus and one another. They likely also were fasting at various points over those 40 days and definitely over the past weekend they had just finished as the day of Pentecost was a solemn feast for the Jews. So if God lead the Apostles in this much time of preparation for this exact event, why do we sometimes expect God to do the supernatural when we spend no time praying for, fasting in observance of, or preparing our hearts and minds for a specific event? Read John 16:23-24. We can’t expect God to do something we’re not asking for or willing to put any work ourselves towards.