But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words…….(36) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (37) Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (38) Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (39) For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (40) And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” (41) Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

The book Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, physician, historian, beloved of the apostle Paul. This book begins with the ascension of Christ Jesus and chronicles the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church in its first three decades. Our verses today record the speech of Peter on that first Pentecost Day – the same day as the Jews celebrated the Feast of Weeks which was the second of the three solemn feasts in the Jewish calendar. It occurred 50 days after Passover and required that it be celebrated in Jerusalem by able bodied Jewish men. In just 50 days after the crucifixion Peter and the disciples in Jerusalem had gone from frightened, bewildered people to bold and convinced – ALL of the disciples were implacable in their conviction -that Christ Jesus was/is the Messiah and Lord. On Pentecost day the promises of God to send the empowering and indwelling Holy Spirit were fulfilled. The church was born and the explosion of Christianity in that ancient world began.

Luke’s account tells us of phenomena of that Pentecost Day. There was a tremendous wind that drew a crowd in Jerusalem. There were “tongues” of fire over the heads of the disciples and the gift of tongues was evident. Peter went out to address the crowds who heard Peter in their many different native languages. Peter’s speech was to show the crowd just who Jesus Christ truly is – Lord and Messiah – and who they truly were – sinners in spiritual death who had rejected Christ. Peter’s first sermon set forth the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Peter also proclaims God’s promise that they will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit – and this extended to those far off and far away; to the dispersed Jews, the Gentiles and their believing heirs. The crowd responded with conviction of sin – they repented and were baptized. Peter preached boldly, God worked inwardly and the church was launched.

The Spirit came on Pentecost Sunday in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. In this first apostolic speech Peter linked the prophecy of Joel to the coming of the Spirit – I love the haunting beautiful words of Joel 2: 28-29. “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “