Today's TRC DB Acts 2 w/ Lena's Journalin'

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.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

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’~
Psalm 89: 15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.
What sound did the peoples hear this day? Disciples heard it, crowds heard it, what sound was it they heard? And did it fill their hearts with joy?
The sound of God’s spirit breathing upon man! What a wonder God coming inside of and living with man. Speaking through men, leading men into righteous pathways of truth. Wow, what a sound. It changed the atmospheric sounds, it changed the air around them, effected their thinking and speaking. When God’ spirit came the first evidence was that man began to speak differently than he’d been speaking, even though he’d not studied to do so! So like, they spoke like God without trying? WOW! WOW! Without reasoning it out, without figuring how, without being trained and taught how, they just started talking like God out form the deepest part of their hearts? Their wells became cleaned and refreshed. What a wonder for the world to see believers speaking like God does. What a wonder that we’d speak differently than we usually do.
Are you negative? How about a logical thinker? Everyone knows and sees how we are by hearing us speak to one another. They’ll say things about us like, Lena is such an opinionated person, has an opinion about everything…then God shows up in Lena and she speaks His words without her opinion, when they hear her they wonder what has happened, it looks like Lena but it sounds like God! What is she taking? What is influencing her? Is she drunken? When people are drunken they speak like they are someone else, they are changed.
Have you ever heard people say that if a person is outward, when they drink they become quiet? Or if a person is quiet, when drunk they are loud? They become another man under the influence.
The people around on that glorious day when God showed up in men, were curious about the influence. Of what influence are you under? Peter had to explain that the influence is a “person” not a substance. Have you been influenced by the person of Christ? Are you a person who influences others with the person of Christ?
God is no respecter of persons at all. He will fill anyone who wills, He will speak through anyone who wills, He will influence anyone who wills, He will use anyone who wills.
Whosoever believeth in Him will have….When a man’s spirit is born again, when a man is transformed into the new nature of Christ and God’s Spirit becomes alive in him, he changes.
We were dead to God and alive to our sin natured eternally destined to hell fire- man, now we are dead to sin and alive to God’s spirit and eternally destined to heaven’s gates, with a co-mission to bring any and all friends, even the ones we make today!
When one is transformed into new life, life for them means change. It can be expressed visually as metamorphosis. Caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis. A complete and total change, especially of the appearance, because what has happened on the inside leaked out, emanated outwardly.
What is the greatest earthly wonder? Men looking like and acting like Jesus, like God. Men being changed. Conquerors of death’s eternal grip.
What is the evidence of Christ’s resurrection? My change, my changed life. My life that was my own to live, now being lived by God’s Spirit’s steering of me.
How many enemies are under your feet? Is even the first enemy, which is eternal death, under your feet? Better put it there quick, how do you know the number of your days?
So what should we do?
Oh my, before I answer this I want to go ahead and tell you this, it is YOUR decision. You decide what to do. Live or die. You should choose….., but you do not have to. You can live the way you are living, and stay that way till you die if you’d like to. It is not up to anyone but me alone for me, you alone for you.
Peter tells us what God says, turn from your sin (of a self serving life), turn to God, be baptized and forgiven, receive the Holy Spirit. Get filled up with God, and give Him to a world that will die without Him, especially your children, especially those of the next generation coming up. Why live like this? Oh Lord, if not for our children then who? Ourselves? That’s why we don’t change, if it’s just for us, why? IT IS NOT just for us, it is for the world that comes after us. Why become a butterfly? Stay on the ground or climb a few branches in life, be eaten by a bird or fly like one!
Don’t be like those who went before you and did not change, did not serve God, but served self and some perished in doing so, don’t be that way, change and be a way that brings positive eternal life influence for others.
Want to see the peoples of earth stand in awe? Change! People are waiting to see the new me! The earth groans for the new me to come forth.
Oh worm? There is a branch waiting…come on wormy…here wormy, wormy….up here…..gotta come up higher and hang out awhile, till change comes to you! Metamorphic change.


Daily Repetitive Verses:

John 3:17
You know these things – now do them! That is the path of blessing.