{"id":1256,"date":"2018-10-13T13:49:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T21:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1256"},"modified":"2018-10-13T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T21:49:13","slug":"devotion-acts-25-13-not-natural-but-supernatural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1256","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 2:5-13 Not Natural, But Supernatural"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 2:5-13\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing\u00a0Jews from every nation under heaven.<\/i><\/span>\u00a06\u00a0When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0Utterly amazed,\u00a0they asked: \u201cAren\u2019t all these who are speaking Galileans?<\/span>\u00a08\u00a0Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?\u00a0 9\u00a0Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappocia, Pontus\u00a0and Asia,10\u00a0Phrygia\u00a0and Pamphylia,\u00a0Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene;\u00a0visitors from Rome<\/span>\u00a011\u00a0(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs\u2014we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!\u201d<\/span>\u00a012\u00a0Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d\u00a0 13\u00a0Some, however, made fun of them and said, \u201cThey have had too much wine.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cNow there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing\u00a0Jews from every nation under heaven.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 There were God fearing Jews from all areas of the dispersion (areas the Jews had fled to avoid persecution).\u00a0 Of course there were also Jews that lived in Jerusalem and they also were there, devout and otherwise.\u00a0 They were there for the second of the three festivals that required Jewish men to visit Jerusalem for at least a week (Exodus 23:14, 17, 34:23, Deuteronomy 16:16<\/b>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 The sound that was like a rushing wind and then the sound of all the disciples speaking out as the Holy Spirit lead them.\u00a0 They disciples were speaking in the different languages and dialects of those gathered in Jerusalem.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit speaking through these one hundred twenty disciples (men and women\u00a0Acts 1:12-14<\/b>) made quit a commotion in The City and this crowd of Jews, more than three thousand, came to see what was happening.\u00a0 He rang the dinner bell that they would feed on the Bread of Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?\u00a0 9\u00a0Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappocia, Pontus\u00a0and Asia,10\u00a0Phrygia\u00a0and Pamphylia,\u00a0Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene;\u00a0visitors from Rome<\/i><\/span>\u00a011\u00a0(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs\u2014we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 A list of those present is given.\u00a0\u00a0 They were all hearing the Holy Spirit baptized disciples speaking in their languages, all speaking in one of the various languages.\u00a0 The Jews who had gathered were hearing them declare the \u201cwonders of God\u201d<\/i>\u00a0in their own language (tongue).\u00a0 What they were hearing the disciples do was declaring the \u201cwonders of God.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Wouldn\u2019t you like to have heard what it was that they were saying?\u00a0 It seems likely that what was being said were the scriptures that God had already given them, especially the prophecies concerning Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazed and perplexed, they asked one another, \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 In our day words like amazing are used so frequently that they can lose the impact of their meaning.\u00a0 Putting these two words together what is being related is that what happened is that what they were hearing totally disrupted what their thoughts were, what their comfort zones were, and what they understood from their life experiences.\u00a0 We might say that it took them way beyond their comfort zones.\u00a0 Remember that the Lord had not spoken to them through a prophet for five hundred years till John the Baptist and Jesus showed up.\u00a0 These Jews were not accustomed to seeing God move in powerful ways.\u00a0 These Jews were in awe, they were \u201cblown away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome, however, made fun of them and said, \u201cThey have had too much wine.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 As in our day, there are always mockers who resist the things of God.\u00a0 Pharaoh had a hard heart and resisted when God did great signs for him to believe.\u00a0 For some people, there are never enough signs and there is no sign is big enough.\u00a0 They have been blinded by what they will not release from their lives (2 Corinthians 4:4<\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Family, people have not really changed.\u00a0 We have more technology now, but we are still born with the same sin nature.\u00a0 Even us who are born-again generally don\u2019t want to be pushed out of our comfort zone.\u00a0 And today, just as then, there are scoffers for whom no proof will do.\u00a0 That is because they don\u2019t want to see, they don\u2019t want to have their lives changed and be removed from their comfort zone.\u00a0 It is horrible to read of the mockers then, and it is horrible to see them now.\u00a0 People who think themselves wise and only reveal their foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 1:25<\/b>).\u00a0 Let us be open to see, hear and obey the mighty moving of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 This supernatural event of God happened to further enable them to spread the Word to all people.\u00a0 This event openly displayed that God would break down all barriers that attempt to bar the spreading of the Gospel.\u00a0 God desires to gift us so that we can reveal the greatness and glory of God to unbelievers as they hear the endless depth of the Gospel.\u00a0 Let us praise God and welcome all that He has for us.\u00a0 As always, and in all things, let us praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 2:5-13\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing\u00a0Jews from every nation under heaven.\u00a06\u00a0When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.\u00a07\u00a0Utterly amazed,\u00a0they asked: \u201cAren\u2019t all these who are speaking Galileans?\u00a08\u00a0Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?\u00a0 9\u00a0Parthians,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,1872,2257,94,17],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-deuteronomy","tag-exodus","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}