April 23 - The Spirit Changes Everything

Acts 2:14-21

This passage is a lot to take in. It is the beginning of Peter's sermon to the crowd after the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. For them, everything has just turned upside down and they have experienced the Spirit of God. Onlookers are perplexed, interested, even mocking. So Peter gets up to explain it all. And what he describes I think comes down to this statement: the Spirit of God is a game-changer.

The passage from the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-32) describes a world in which God pours out his Spirit and things start to change. The disciples have already experienced change in themselves through life on earth with Jesus. But how will the rest of the world experience the same change now that Jesus has returned to heaven? Turns out, God had an answer to that question already. And that is what Peter stands to preach about that morning.

Because of the Holy Spirit, everyone--men, women, Jews, Gentiles, slave and free--can receive the forgiving power of Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit, the work of Jesus on the cross would have been a story that the disciples were desperately trying to convince everyone was true. But because God sent his Spirit, dreams and prophesies and signs and wonders were all possible. Because God sent his Spirit, it was possible that the early church's inner fire was lit and that they performed miracles. Because God sent his Spirit, it was possible that the church spread across the world, to the countries that would eventually bring it to America, to you and me. The Holy Spirit is a game-changer. The Holy Spirit gives us access to God wherever we go, whoever we are--because we have him within our forgiven hearts. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we are never alone.

Verse 21 says, "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." During this time of quarantine, even though we know we are saved, it can be so easy to feel alone sometimes. I urge you to call on the name of the Lord, to walk throughout your house, your neighborhood, to make your meals and climb into bed at night in the full knowledge that you are in the presence of God. He is with you wherever you go, whatever you do. His Spirit is poured out upon you.