Sermons Worth Stealing - Pt 1

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” (Acts 2:14:21 ESV).

Recently my son asked me if I had ever preached from all the sermons found in Acts? He and I had talked about that some years ago. My response was, “Those are certainly sermons worth stealing.” However, I never got around to doing that series. So, today we will begin to look at each one of the apostolic messages recorded by Luke as a basis for encouragement and inspiration. The first is found in our reading today. It was preached by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost and “about three thousand” people were baptized (v. 41). It is the sermon that launched the church. Peter begins with a touch of humor. Some mockers were accusing the believers who spoke in tongues of being drunk. Peter could have ignored them or responded defensively, but instead he says, in effect, “It’s too early for us to be drunk!” The Jews would not normally have eaten or drunk at this hour during the Feast of Pentecost. Then, Peter explains that the phenomena they had seen and heard were “what was spoken of through the prophet Joel” (v. 16). Peter’s main point is not the particular form that the outpouring of the Spirit took, but rather that He was poured out “on all flesh.” Not just the prophets or rabbis, but even sons and daughters would experience this outpouring of the Spirit (v. 17). Not just the older men, but also younger men would know the Lord and His will (“visions”). Not just the wealthy, but even bondslaves would know the fulness of the Spirit. Not just men, but also women would have the Spirit. As the apostle Paul later taught, “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13). No believer today lacks the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That ought to be the foundation of our encouragement. We are not left to fend off the world alone. God is present within us! That is a sermon worth stealing!