“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
– Acts 2:1–4
Can you just imagine this in Acts 2:1–4? Like imagine being in a worship gathering in your church on Sunday, and as you’re gathered in that place, suddenly there comes from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. You can’t like feel the wind, but you can hear it. Picture hurricane force winds that you hear, fills the entire house where they’re sitting. That’ll wake you up on Sunday morning.
If you trust in Christ for salvation, you have the Spirit of God inside of you. Might this compel you to open your mouth and proclaim the good news to those around you.
You’ve got hurricane type winds that you hear, and then divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Like, what does that look like? Divided tongue as of fire, imagine looking at the person next to you and you see a fire tongue on them. What does that look like and what do you do? You’re like, “Whoo, whoo.” Do you like blow on it? What is going on?
These tongues of fire. And then they all are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God, and they start to speak in other tongues, in other languages as the Spirit gives them utterance. Everybody starts speaking in different languages that they couldn’t speak in before. They’re all declaring the wonders of God in multiple languages. That is an awesome worship service.
Can you imagine that scene? And as you do, this is where I just want to encourage you today, if you are a follower of Jesus, if you have trusted in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life, if Jesus is your life, then the exact same Spirit who did this in Acts 2:1–4 is living inside of you right now.
The Spirit of God who did this in Acts 2:1–4 dwells in you.
If you really think about that, it’ll knock you out of your seat. It’ll, I don’t know if you’re sitting, but whatever it’ll do, it’ll affect you if you really think about this reality, that you are not alone right now. That the Spirit of God dwells in you. The supernatural Spirit of Jesus Christ himself dwells inside of you.
For what purpose? Remember, Acts 1:8 said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses,” which is why as soon as the Spirit comes down among all these people, what do they do? They start witnessing, they start speaking, they start declaring the wonders of God with their mouths because they’re empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So, why has God put his Spirit inside of us? We see all over scripture all kinds of things the Spirit does in our lives, through our lives, for our lives. And in the middle of it all, we must not forget that the primary purpose of the Spirit in our lives is that we might be witnesses.
Proclaiming The Gospel
So, I want to encourage you today, based on the reality that the Spirit of God is dwelling in you right now, to believe that. And as a result, to speak, to witness to somebody around you. Share the Gospel with somebody around you. Like Peter in the rest of the chapter stands up, this is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times. And yet, now he’s standing up, proclaiming the Gospel to thousands of people. What happened to Peter? The Holy Spirit happened to Peter. The Spirit of God came upon him and totally changed him.
I think about, picture in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God comes upon one person and he is changed into another man. The Spirit changes us into another person. A person that looks like Jesus and speaks about Jesus.
So, God, we pray today, I pray for my own life, I pray for every single person who is listening to this right now who has your Spirit dwelling inside of them, God, I pray that today they would be a witness for you. A witness to Jesus, by your supernatural power in them. Open a door. Oh, God, help them to walk through doors, sharing the Gospel with somebody else.
Prayer For the Spirit’s Power To Spread
And we pray that your Spirit would do what only your power can accomplish. We pray that today, through our lives as witnesses, that you would bring somebody, some people from death to life. Oh, God, please, may it be so today. I think about Acts 2:47, where it says you were adding to the number of the church day by day, those who were being saved.
So do it today we pray, God, I pray this for the church I’m a part of, add to our number daily those who are being saved. I pray through the power of your Spirit in our church spread out among the city where we are. I pray the same for other churches and followers of Christ in whom your Spirit dwells. Lord help us to realize the power that is in us to be witnesses to you in ways that change peoples destinies for all of eternity.
Oh God, do amazing do amazing, awesome, Acts 2:1–4 like work through us today. In Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
