When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord  on place.  (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  (3) Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.   (5) And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.  (6) And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused, because everyone heard them speak, in his own language.  (7) Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another “Look, are not all those who speak Galilleans?  (8) And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?  (9) Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (10)Phrygia  and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, (11) Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

The book known as Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, historian of the early church  of Christ.  In today’s verses Luke records the events of the Pentecost immdiately after the death and resurrection  of Christ Jesus. Pentecost was one of the three major feasts of the Jewish people and it fell on the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of Passover.  Jews travelled to Jerusalem for Passover and often stayed for this feast of weeks – the first fruits of the wheat harvest  – so Jerusalem would have been filled with  visitors from all over the Roman Empire. When the sound came – as of a rushing mighty wind, it attracted the multitudes in the  city,  both residents and visitors.  Then the visual manifestation of God in the form of divided tongues of fire over the heads of those sitting in the house.   And then those with the tongues of fire began speaking of God and Christ to the multitude and the listeners were amazed at hearing the untaught Galilleans speak not just in Aramaic or Greek but they heard them speak In the dialects of the visitors.  Because Peter soon addressed the  multitudes and made no mention of the different languages I might assume the listeners were the ones who heard the different dialects rather that the disciples actually speaking different untaught languages.

in chapter one of Acts Christ tells his disciples that they must wait until he has ascended to God the Father in glory and then the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given them to empower them. The great commission arrived as told in Acts 1:  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to ME in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Now the church is born and the testimony begins. In ages before people served God out of fear or consequences and now in this new age, we serve God out of love and power from the indwelling Spirit – it is from the Divine and individuals at the moment of faith receive the indwelling Spirit.

What is the church??  We the faithful are the church.