Acts Chapter 2:11-21

God places people together in the body to serve together to reach all the people they can and so that's why I want to encourage everybody to play their part because everybody has their part. Whether you're young, whether you're old, whether you're married, whether you're single, whatever you are, whoever you are, God has a plan for your life to use you to reach other people. Encourage one another because as we join together then we can do all we can, while we can, to reach all we can.

It's going to take every one of us. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

I've got two questions for you today. What can we use the power from God for? And is there anyone beyond the reach of God's grace? And speaking of someone beyond the reach of God's grace, we have one of David McGee's associate pastors, D.A.

Brown, who wasn't always a pastor. Welcome to the studio today, brother. Bob, that's the truth. I'm excited to be here. This word we're going to listen to today from Pastor David can definitely be life-changing. Life-changing because it's directly from the word of God in the book of Acts today. What the Bible says about the power that God gives us and what we can do with that power.

Well, sounds good. And so here's David McGee with his teaching, Spirit Led, Simple, Powerful. So we're in Acts chapter 2, verse 11. Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Now, just a little background here. This is the day of Pentecost. It is the Feast of Pentecost, if you will.

We talked about that in depth last Sunday. And so they're in this place, and these guys start speaking in these other languages, in other tongues. Sometimes tongues are an unknown language, and we'll get into that another time. But at this point, what they're doing is they're speaking in these languages that these other guys are recognizing.

There's 15 nations made up in this group, basically the known part of the world. They're from all over because the Feast of Pentecost required that Jewish people come to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. So God's design, God's plan was to have all these people gathered here for the birth of the church. And it happens.

It happens in a big way. And notice, they didn't have to send out invitations. They didn't have to push the program, come to Jerusalem, we've got some really happening meetings.

No, God gathered them and had them there at the right time. Now, we need to understand it is the Lord that builds the church. It is the Lord that builds the church. And in this day and age, we've gotten into programs and this and that and the other.

Now, we've been very proactive in the website and television and radio and all those things, but we are not dependent on those things. We're dependent upon the Lord. We do all we can and then we rest in the Lord knowing He's going to do what He wants to with those things. So here we see another case of the Lord building a church. And remember, Jewish people were dispersed all over. Diaspora is the word that we use through the Assyrian captivity, the Babylonian captivity. They were all over the world.

And the cool thing is they were going to carry back to their places in the world what? What happened here and what Jesus has done. Now, let's see some of the response. Verse 13, others mocking said they are full of new wine. So they're saying they were drunk. They didn't understand what was going on. So since they didn't understand what was going on, they were going to make fun of it. And that's what they did.

Here's the important thing. And here's the question that we need to ask constantly and consistently through the book of Acts. This power that was spoken of, remember it was prophesied. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. Jesus said to the disciples, He said, 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. What was this power for?

The Greek word dunamis. It's where we get our word for dynamite. What was the power for? The power was so they could yell and scream and run around the room. Isn't that what the verse says?

No, that's not what that verse said. Power to be witnesses. Now, maybe there's somebody in this room that doesn't need that power.

Maybe you're just an on fire witness and you don't need any more power in your relationships to share the Lord. But for the rest of us, I think we need that power. We need to ask the Lord to fill us with that power because He's made the offer to fill us with the power. Jesus proclaimed, If you will ask, I will give it to you. I will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. So we need to understand Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit so that we might not be comfortless in the King James, orphans in other versions, the Greek word orphanos, it's where we get our word for orphan, so that we could have this power. It's not just for show, it's for tell.

It's not just for show, it's for tell. Now, Romans 1 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Understand, when you're sharing the gospel with somebody, there is power in that proclamation. Just saying Jesus died for your sins carries with it an assurance from God's word that there is power there. And again, 1 Corinthians 1 18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. It's the power of God, the life lesson here. There is power in the gospel, and God will give us the power and creative ways to tell the story. There's power in the gospel, and God will give us the power and creative ways to tell the story. Do you realize there's people all over the triad that think that they've heard the gospel, and they really haven't heard the gospel? What they've heard is almost like a cheerleading hip, hip hooray, that if you try harder, and you go for longer, then God will honor that with forgiveness. Well, if that's the good news, I'm a little disappointed in the good news.

That's not the good news. They call the gospel the good news because Jesus is saying, you know what? Every one of you has sinned. Every one of you is falling short. But in spite of that, through my death upon the cross, now I offer you forgiveness.

I offer you forgiveness. There's three earmarks of the presentation of the gospel that should always and consistently be there. Number one, spirit-led. Number two, simple.

Number three, powerful. Spirit-led, simple, powerful. Sometimes when I'm in a restaurant, I'll see somebody, and the Lord will just burn my heart to share with them the love that God has for them. Sometimes that's not there. And what we need to do is be sensitive to the Holy Spirit because He will lead you to talk to some people, and He will lead you not to talk to some people.

Do you realize that? Not every person that you meet necessarily is somebody that you should share with. Now, if you see somebody and you get a burden for them, pray for them. Now, let me give this caveat. We don't share with far more people that we should share with than we share with people we should.

Because some of you just say, oh, cool, I'm off the hook, man. Praise God. I was feeling like I had to tell people about Jesus there for a moment.

Now you need to tell people. But be spirit-led. And if somebody slams the door, the door is shut. God could kick that door down, but what you don't want to do is verbally abuse the person and start yelling at them because it might be the next person that's really going to bring them to Jesus, but because you beat the door down and hurt them so bad when that person says, hey, have you heard about Jesus? Then you're going to run, and you don't want that. You don't want that.

Be led. And so they're making fun of what they don't understand. There's a lot of stuff in this book I don't understand. I've studied it for years and years.

Stuff's still in there I don't understand. Be careful of making fun of stuff you don't understand. Now, let's look at verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the 11, 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.

Ah, you got to love this. Who's standing up talking to these guys? Peter. The same Peter that 50 days ago was denying Jesus to a servant girl, now is standing in front of the most powerful religious leaders in the world. And he's going to preach to them.

What's the difference? Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, you know what? I'm going to give you this power to be a witness. And what we see in Peter standing up is Peter's been given that power to be a witness. There's another phrase in here I really like. It says Peter standing up with the 11.

I like that. The 11 knew what Peter had done and is such a testimony to the grace of God that Peter's standing with them. And when Peter stands, notice what they did not say. I mean, Peter had denied Jesus not once, but three times. Most of us are familiar with that.

A very serious charge. But when he stands to talk, the other 11 didn't go, you need to sit down. You blew it. Everybody knows you blew it. You need to sit down. You're embarrassing us. He didn't do that.

He was standing with the 11. This is interesting. And notice the guys are no longer standing around talking about who the greatest is, who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom. No, they saw the job that needed to be done.

They were going to do it. Man, that's a great model for us as a church. Too often we sit around talking about who's going to do what and why you can't do this and why I can't do that. You know what? There's so much to do and there's so much for every person to do.

You need to be busy about that. But look at this. The grace of God here is extended towards Peter with these 11 guys who I'm sure were disappointed in Peter. Maybe even some of them were heartbroken. Maybe John was heartbroken at what Peter did. But here they're accepting Peter based upon the grace of God.

This is so important in our relationships. The next life lesson. You have received grace in your relationship with God. Give grace in your relationship with others. You have received grace in your relationship with God.

Give grace in your relationship with others. What would have happened if you know anything about the book of Acts? What would have happened had this group counted Peter out? Well, Peter, you messed up. You can hang out with us. We don't want you speaking publicly.

You can't do that. And again, let me remind you, this is 50. That's five oh days after his denial.

No big, you know, seven year sabbatical or anything like that. He's standing up 50 days later telling people about Jesus and these guys are okay with it. Praise God, they didn't form a committee and vote on it. You know? I kind of like what J. Vernon McGee says or said. He said, you know, you can't do anything without a committee and the committee collectively decides nothing can be done. We need to be careful about committees and Jesus.

Peter stands up and tells people and we're gonna see an awesome, awesome bearing of fruit here. If you think about the Bible, and I love the stories it tells because it doesn't just hit the high points. I really don't read Christian biographies anymore and I'll tell you why. Because when you read Christian biographies, it just, I don't know about you, but it totally bums me out. Because I read the biography and it says, you know, and this guy, he studied the Bible for 14 hours a day and then he prayed for the other 16 hours a day and you read that and you go, I only have 24 hours a day and I can't do that. And then you begin to think, well God used them because he prayed 16 hours a day and studied 14 hours a day. But in this book, the bad parts are kept in.

See in those biographies, you never go, well then he struggled with this and then he fell but he got back up again. They leave that part out. But not in here. But see, if these people that messed up would have been discounted, think quickly with me through the Bible. Peter never would have spoke here. Paul never would have been used by God. Abraham would have been discounted as the father of the faith. Moses would never have been allowed to deliver because he was a murderer. And David, man, David would never have been allowed to be king once he was involved with not only murder but adultery. And yet God calls him a man after his own heart. We have been given grace by God.

Give grace to one another. And maybe you're sitting there and you go, well you don't know what this person said, you don't know what they did. You're right, I don't, but you know what? I know that every one of us has sinned against God.

And I would venture to say that the things that we've done against him don't compare to what's been done to us. Let it go. Let it go. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. We want to take just a couple minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically Williston, North Dakota, and Hamler, Perrysburg, and Toledo, Ohio, and Clinton, Elk City, and Carnegie, Oklahoma. Lord, we thank You for everyone who lives in these cities. We pray that You would draw them to Jesus even right now. Lord, I pray that You would fill them with the faith that they need to say yes to what You're wanting to do in their life. Lord, we pray for the leaders in these cities, that You would give them wisdom and discernment, help them to put their trust in You, help them to turn to Your Bible for answers. And God, we pray that the churches will be full of people wanting to get to know You, to be taught, and to use their gifts to be a blessing to people in their community. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 15. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, it is only the third hour of the day. So it's 9 a.m., Peter's saying, you know what?

It's too early to be drunk. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now, this is important. These people are wondering what's going on in this church. Peter says, this is what? In the New King James. In the King James, Peter says, this is that. And then what he's getting ready to do is explain through Scripture the application for this day. That is mission critical.

And here's why. Because sometimes people do all kinds of things, and you've probably seen some of it, and they say, well, this is God. And I've seen some things that people claimed were God, had nothing to do with God.

Had nothing to do with God. And I would ask them, well, can you show me in the Word, in God's Bible, where that is something we're supposed to be doing? Oh, it's not in there. But once you open that door, where do you close it?

I've seen dear friends over the years get involved in all kinds of stuff. You know, the gold glitter from the ceiling and supposedly fillings in the mouth turning to gold and just all kinds of... And my question was always, where do you see that in the Bible? Oh, it's not in there.

But that's dangerous ground to be on. See, when we engage in a church practice or something happens here, I want to be able to say, when somebody comes to me and says, why do y'all do that? I want to be able to say, good, it's right here. It says we should be doing this.

It says they did it, so we should be doing it. And I'm standing on the solid ground of Scripture. See, if you come to me and go, why are you doing this, and I don't have a verse, uh-oh.

It's just dangerous ground. Stand on the solid ground of Scripture. 2 Timothy 3.16, 17 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God has given us what we need. So Peter goes on to explain what's happening there by referring back to the Hebrew Scriptures in verse 17. It says, And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. What a wonderful verse.

What a wonderful verse. Let's talk about a couple things we see here. I'll tell you one thing that we see is we see three generations of believers working together. We see sons and daughters. We see young men. We see old men. We see men and women.

Everybody working together. You see, it's interesting the way that we all fit together and all need one another. Young people have a lot of zeal usually. Older people usually have a lot of wisdom. And when the two combine, it's a powerful, powerful thing. That's a generalization.

I've met older people that had zeal and I've probably met younger people that had wisdom. But this is the body of Christ joining together, three generations. Be careful about discounting people. Now, what should we be doing? Should we be bridling that? Whoa, whoa now, brother.

Or should we be encouraging that? So we have these three generations and we have these people from all over the world, married people, single people, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, all kinds of people that are now joining together. God is knitting their hearts. The life lesson, God wants to use all people to reach the world. God wants to use all people to reach the world.

You know, I often talk about serving. God places people together in the body to serve together to reach all the people that can. And so that's why I want to encourage everybody to play their part because everybody has their part.

Whether you're young, whether you're old, whether you're married, whether you're single, whatever you are, whoever you are, God has a plan for your life, to use you to reach other people. 1 Timothy 4.12, Paul is speaking to Timothy and he says, don't let anyone think less of you because you're young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach and the way you live and your love and your faith and your purity. Be sure to encourage those that are younger in faith. Encourage the ones that are older in the faith. Encourage one another. Because as we join together, then we can do all we can while we can to reach all we can. It's going to take every one of us to accomplish what God has called us to do. Ephesians 3.20, keep this in mind. Now, glory be to God. By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.

Infinitely. You know what that word in the Greek means? It means a little bit.

No, I'm kidding, it doesn't mean that. It means infinitely, a lot more than you can imagine God wants to accomplish through you. Now, you not only can look back in this book and see that, you can look through history and see that, you're sitting in a church that's living this infinitely beyond. And notice, it talks about visions and it talks about dreams.

Now, you may get a little uncomfortable at this point. That is a Christian concept. I'm not suggesting all your dreams are of God, okay?

But some of them are. And to sit around and think, what might God do through me is a great thing. It's a powerful thing.

It's a powerful thing. And it's a sad thing that the New Agers have gotten so much out of this while Christians neglect these things. Throughout Scripture, you have dreams, you have dream interpretation. Now, isn't that interesting? The New Agers have taken that ball and run with it. You know, five times in the first two chapters of the New Testament in the book of Matthew, five times God spoke to people through dreams.

Five times. God speaks to us through dreams. He maybe speaks to you about reaching people or warnings or all sorts of things.

God can speak to you through your dreams. Verse 18, and on men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days when they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and the signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. Obviously, not all these things are going on in this day. Part of what Peter's saying is that the Holy Spirit that God said He's gonna pour out, He's pouring out, and He's here at this point.

But these other things aren't going on, so this is a partial fulfillment, if you will, of what Peter was referring to. But this is the Holy Spirit that God told us was gonna come. Verse 21, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So who are the very select few that can meet up to God's strident standards? Which one of us can earn our way so that God might bestow this forgiveness upon us? Whoever, whoever. Everybody in here is a whoever. Or if you're in the King James, you're a whosoever. But you're either a whoever or a whosoever, depending on your version. Anybody.

Do you realize that? Ah, loved ones. Nobody is beyond the reach of God's grace. Maybe the person that some of you just thought of, just flashed in your mind, and thought, oh, this guy, this girl, that ain't gonna happen. They are not beyond God's grace.

I used to be one of those people. But God will take a whoever and change them. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the Internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So, folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.