Revival Fire Fall

Acts 2

Many times in my life, I have wondered what God meant when He spoke to me. Sometimes God would give me a word or a picture and I would wonder what it would mean. Sometimes it would only be a few minutes before He revealed the rest of the message, but other times took years. Has this ever happened to you? Well, we are in good company.

Acts 2 contains one of my favorite revivals mentioned in the scriptures. The disciples had seen Jesus die on the cross, raise from the dead and he spent forty days with them before ascending into Heaven. Now they sit in the upper room, at the time of Passover, trying to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5 NIV).

The Upper Room

They could not imagine what Jesus meant by this, but they gathered together in the upper room to pray. And that is what we should do when we are seeking to hear more from the Lord. But I don’t think any of them could ever have imagined what happened next.

Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. Imagine you’re sitting in a room praying, trying to seek what Jesus meant by His words. With eyes closed, you feel wind on your face. The wind picks up and the sound of the wind becomes deafening. Those sitting around you all begin to speak in different languages and the presence of God is so thick it’s tangible.

And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Acts 2:2-4 NIV

By this point, you would think not much would shock them. They had witnessed one miracle after another, not to mention Jesus returning from the dead. But, here they sat praying and the third member of the trinity shows up in power.

What excites me here is that many times when miraculous things happened, they still doubted, but here they are so overcome by the Spirit that they go out and share the message of Jesus and miraculously in the many languages of all those present.

God’s Timing Is Perfect

You have to love God’s timing. This did not happen randomly, but when all the people returned to Jerusalem for Passover. God moved when the most people would be in one place to hear the message He had for the people.

Acts 2:9-11 tells us of how many nations were represented. “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” I would love to have seen this with my own eyes.

Now here is the part we really need to pay close attention to, and that is the response of the people. When we hear God’s message, we can respond in judgement and reject what He says. Or, we can respond like they did on this day we now know as Pentecost.

Cut To The Heart

Acts 2:37-39 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

What happened when they heard the message? They were cut to the heart. Some versions say, “they came under deep conviction” while others say, “their hearts were troubled.” Either way, there was a change within them. They ask, “What should we do?” Once again, we find the vital ingredient for revival; repentance. Peter says, “Repent and be baptized.” In Acts 2:41, we read 3000 came to faith in Jesus that day.

3000 People Came To Know Jesus

3000 people! Can you imagine what your city would look like if 3000 people came to know Jesus in one day and then those 3000 went out and shared what happened to them? Our cities would be completely different.

In our study, ‘The Culture of Revival’, we began by looking at a culture of surrender. What would it look like if every believer surrendered themselves to God? If we sought God’s direction each day of our lives, spoke to the people He put in our path’s, and refrained from the things we felt we should partake in. This world would be completely different. This class is only available in our ‘Online Community.’ I encourage you to go through this class. Learn the steps of living a life that brings forth a culture of revival.

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