Like a Rushing Wind Acts 2:1-21

Jesus friends gathered all together for Pentecost and God broke in.
Acts 2:2 tells of a rushing wind from heaven. God the Holy Spirit arrived like a violent wind that filled the entire house where Jesus' friends gathered. Tongues of flame rose from their heads in Acts 2:3.

On the prairie in southern Minnesota we're no strangers to wind. In our near century old house some winter nights we hear and know the power of the wind. Some good neighbors have figured out how to harness wind to produce electricity. Generations ago wind powered pumps pulled water from deep wells to sustain homes, farms, and livestock.

There's raw power in wind and Acts says that's how the Holy Spirit arrived—like a violent rush of wind penetrating every corner of their domain in Acts 2:4 and every corner of our homes and world today. The believers will filled with the Holy Spirit and wonderful things happened: they spoke in tongues and underrstood each-other plainly like everyone in the room was speaking the same native language in Acts 2:5-11.

Wind can be dangerous too—terrible storms remind us of our fragility and dependence on God in the worst of times. And God—the true God who made heave and earth—is to be revered for His awesome power to both make and remake heaven and earth.

Acts 2 reaffirms the truth that God's on the loose, not domesticated to answer at our whim; rather God is free to reach in to our world and more personally into the lives of believers. Many looked on at this with wonder and ind doubt suggest in Acts 2:12 that they were just drunk. But Peter stood up and declared the wonder of what was happening in Acts 2:13. They weren't drunks; God was at work in them in new and wonderful ways Acts 2:14-16. Peter reminded all who were listening that day that God was making good on a promise made through Joel for the sake of those who would believe in the last days Acts 2:17-21.

Pax, John