Today Our Daily Bread Acts 2 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Acts 2:1-47
The Holy Spirit Comes
1On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, F6 the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, F7 as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5Godly Jews from many nations were living in Jerusalem at that time. 6When they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7They were beside themselves with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!" 12They stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked each other. 13But others in the crowd were mocking. "They're drunk, that's all!" they said.

Peter Preaches to a Crowd
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! It's much too early for that. People don't get drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, what you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
17 'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred, before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' F8
22"People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. 24However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25King David said this about him:
'I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead F9 or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will give me wonderful joy in your presence.' F10
29"Dear brothers, think about this! David wasn't referring to himself when he spoke these words I have quoted, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. 30But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on David's throne as the Messiah. 31David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave.
32"This prophecy was speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are witnesses of this. 33Now he sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven, at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 34For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,
'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.' F11
36So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!"
37Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"
38Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles F12 —all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer.
The Believers Meet Together
43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
FOOTNOTES:F6: Greek When the day of Pentecost arrived. This annual celebration came 50 days after the Passover ceremonies. See Lev 23:16. F7: Or in other tongues. F8: Joel 2:28-32. F9: Greek in Hades; also in 2:31. F10: Ps 16:8-11. F11: Ps 110:1. F12: Greek to those far away.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’~ Today
It really helps us to understand the power in New Testament (NT) symbolisms, if we understand Old Testament (OT) historical celebrations.
One mentioned here is Pentecost. Pentecost was a Feast celebrated in the OT. It was also called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, and was celebrated by the Hebrew nation. The Festival time was to celebrate the first harvest of the year. The winter was over and the spring had come and had brought its fruits from the earth. It is 7 Sunday’s after Easter time. It is 49 days after Easter, 50 days in all. 7 is the number of completion, 49 is 7 -7’s, and 50 is jubilee.
It was a great time for the people of God and time to thank Him for the labor from their work of sowing that was reaped in harvest. The work was complete and evidenced in the bounty of the harvest.
Jesus came, died, and was resurrected. He died at Passover as THE Passover Lamb who washes away the sins of the whole world. (He was a seed in the ground towards a harvest of wholeness for the world)
He rose in 3 days, which we celebrate as Easter. (His seed sprouted up unto the opportunity for the world to be saved through Him) He was seen alive after His resurrection for 40 days by as many as 500 eye witnesses. He ascended to heaven, leaving us with the promise of His Divine presence being invited on the inside of each man and woman alive from that day forward.
Do you remember how He’d said I desire to dwell in temples made without human hands? He was speaking of dwelling inside of individuals, by His spirit. The same spirit that raised Christ Jesus would come and make our physical bodies alive with eternal resurrection life, to whoever would believe and receive it.
He said, I will not leave you alone, go and wait for the part of Me to come that will fill up each of your lives, the part of Me that can live in each of you separately, making each of your one with Me, one with My earthly and heavenly purposes.
So they went to wait for His spirit as He’d told them to. They were in waiting for 10 days, making it a total of 50 days since His resurrection. Just as He was the Lamb of God at Passover, He was also the celebration of Pentecost now. The Holy Spirit came to the earth to dwell in men on the day of Pentecost. The Day of Pentecost had fully come, 7 x 7 = 49, fully, wholly, completely- come.
Why is that completeness? Because God came to forgive men, and clean them all up by Jesus’ blood, so He could live in men. Pentecost or Feast of Weeks means it’s done- finished, the celebration was about the work being over and the promise of the harvest coming in, in a visible and manifested way.
I think it is cool that the reference is made here to drunkenness, being it was the time of a festival and a celebration and thus many people from many lands had gathered around in the city for the festivities. This was a great opportunity for the Lord to show His complete work in people of the earth, who really are the harvest of the earth.
Another thing to note, the last crop of this first fruit harvest is wheat, the first crop was barley. Barley + wheat can mean many things to many, many people. Barley and wheat are used to make bread, and do we remember Jesus saying He is the Bread of Life?
There are also other uses for barley and wheat. Can anyone here guess the use I’m speaking of? Rotted, fermented, unused, not fresh grain can be made into alcohol, which intoxicates. Everyone needs something that brings them joy and peace, is that thing fresh and alive, or old and dead?
One is real and leads to eternal life, and one is temporary leading only to temporary peace and personal satisfaction for the moment. With the joy of the Holy spirit, by 9 o’clock in the morning, you can already be happy!
With the life of God in a person they can be saved, stay saved and save others from a life of sin and damnation. Death is abolished and has no sting. Also it is for all people everywhere for all time, not just a select few of a certain race, color, religion, etc.
Everyone can approach God through the shed blood of the Lamb and everyone can live each day in His presence. In times past it was only priests from certain family lines who knew the approach. Women never became priests, Gentiles and people of other races never became priests, but now we all can approach God and be kings and priests unto Him in our own homes everyday.
So, "Brothers, what should we do?"
"Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles —all who have been called by the Lord our God." "Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!"
Believe and receive Him into your own personal life.
And come and join yourselves to the body of Christ which is the fullness of Him in demonstration, where you will be fed living eternal bread, daily and be filled with the real joy of God’s spirit, rather than every other substitute that really only leads to a temporary high, but does not eternally satisfy.



Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.