Completing the Mission that Jesus Began
The Birth of the Church, Part 1
Acts 2:1-4
Read Acts 2:1-4
This is a tremendous transitional passage. We have
the end of the Old Covenant and the birth of the
Church under the New Covenant."
All the great elements of God's redemptive plan are
right here. The death, resurrection, and ascension of
Jesus Christ results in the sending of the Spirit, the
birth of the church, and the age of the Spirit.
In the old age, the Spirit was with the believer. In
the new age, He is in the believer.
In the first four verses we have four important
supernatural elements that we need to examine
carefully in order to understand the implication of this
passage.
1. The church
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit.
3. The filling of the Spirit.
4. The speaking in other languages
T. S. First the church
2
1. The church
The church is the instrument through which God will
“Complete the Mission that Jesus Began”.
Matthew 16:18 …I will build my church, and the
gates of Hades will not overcome it. NIV
Remember that when the Bible talks about the
church, it’s talking about the real church, the people
who truly know Christ, not a building.
In the church there is one body of believers indwelt
by the Holy Spirit, all in an invisible union with
Jesus Christ and with each other. That is the mystery
that is unfolding, a mystery that was not understood by
those in the Old Testament period.
The Greek word for church is “Ecclesia”. Means
“called out ones”. Believers are called out of the world
to serve Christ in the world.
The church is the bride of Christ. It is the branches of
the vine Jesus Christ, the flock of the Good Shepherd,
the kingdom ruled by the Son of God, the family of
adopted children, a spiritual temple, the body of
Christ.
Jesus Christ is incarnated in His people. It is not one
body, but a multiplicity of bodies in whom Jesus lives.
Yet the church is one body with Christ as the head.
The church is a fellowship knit together, totally
3
dependent on each other. The church is one people
and all barriers are abolished.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. NIV
All racial and gender barriers are abolished and we
need to honor that in the church.
The church is the body of Christ blended together, a
spiritual incarnation of Christ.
Words are too poor to fully describe the Church.
APP.
It should encourage your hearts as believers to
know that you are a part of the body of Christ the
church and you should do all that you can to grow it
and nurture it.
T.S. The second thing we want to look at in this
passage is the baptism of the Spirit which brings the
church into being.
Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent
wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where
they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues
of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
NIV
4
This is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the Baptism
of the Holy Spirit revealed in the sudden sound “like
the blowing of a violent wind” and what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each
of the believers.
There was no wind just the sound. There was no fire,
but what seemed to be tongues of fire.
Do you get the feeling they had a hard time explaining
what it was. It was the coming of the Holy Spirit, and
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The word translated wind is not the ordinary word
pneuma, but it's the word pnoes, it means a blast of
breath.
Can you imagine? No motion in the air and yet the
sound of a tornado coming down.
Notice the word “suddenly”. I'm sure they didn't
really expect what happened, when it happened.
T. S. We need to understand the Baptism of the Spirit
in order to understand what is going on in this
passage.
2. The Baptism of the Spirit.
A. The baptism of the Spirit is the fulfillment of
prophecy.
5
John the Baptist predicted the baptism of the Spirit
in Matthew 3:11 "I baptize you with water for
repentance. But after me will come one who is more
powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. NIV
John 7:37 Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By
this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him
were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not
been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. NIV
In Acts 1:5 Jesus promised the baptism of the
Spirit. “For John baptized with water, but in a few days
you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." NIV
Jesus was talking about what would happen on the
day of Pentecost, which was 10 days after his
ascension to heaven.
There is a second type of prophecy we need to look
at.
The first type are word prophecies like the ones we
have just looked at.
The second type are picture prophecies. Picture
prophecies are events that paint a picture of a
coming spiritual event.
6
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were
all together in one place. NIV
Day of Pentecost is a picture prophecy.
The word Pentecost, a Greek word, means fiftieth.
This was an important feast. Also called the feast of
harvest.
The feast of Pentecost celebrated the first fruits of
the wheat harvest and also commemorated the
giving of the Mosaic Law.
It was celebrated 50 days after Passover.
In Leviticus Chapter 23, There are three major
feasts that are pictures of the work of Jesus Christ.
The Passover, Feast of the first fruits, and
Pentecost or the feast of harvest. We need to look at
all three.
1. The Passover, celebrated the angel passing over
the houses of the Israelite that were marked with the
blood of the lamb and sparing the first born, right before
their exodus out of slavery in Egypt. 50 days after that
the law was given.
Passover pictures the sacrificial death of Christ on
the cross that delivers the believer out of slavery to
sin.
7
2. Feast of the first fruits. This feast was on the
Sunday right after Passover.
The Feast of First Fruits was the barley harvest first
fruits.
Farmers used the first fruits to see what kind of
harvest they would have. Good first fruits guaranteed
a good harvest.
That is a very, very accurate picture of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ which occurred on The
Feast of First Fruits. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of
the first fruits.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised
from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep. NIV
Because of Christ’s resurrection, the believer has
the assurance that he also, will be raised from the
dead to eternal life.
3. Pentecost or the feast of harvest was 50 days
after the Passover. It was a celebration of the first
fruits of the wheat harvest. It pictures the coming
of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:5 …God… has given us the Spirit as a
deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. NIV
Ephesians 1:13 Having believed, you were marked in
him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a
8
deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the
redemption of those who are God's possession
The Spirit of God within you is the guarantee of
your full final inheritance of eternal life.
Jesus was crucified on Passover, He rose on the
Feast of First Fruits, and the Holy Spirit came on
Pentecost all in perfect fulfillment of the prophecy.
Jesus died at the right moment. He rose at the right
moment. The Spirit came at the right moment, all on
God's timetable.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were
all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the
blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the
whole house where they were sitting. NIV
All – probably at least 120 were there, not just the
12.
B. The meaning and the significance of the Baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
All the believers were completely enveloped and
immersed into Christ by the breath of God who is the
Holy Spirit.
All believers are made one, by baptism of the Spirit.
Romans 12:4 Just as each of us has one body with
many members, and these members do not all have the
9
same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one
body, and each member belongs to all the others. NIV
At the moment of salvation a person is baptized by
the Spirit into union with Christ and His body, the
church.
Galatians 3:27 for all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. NIV
Romans 6:3 “… don't you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? NIV
We have been crucified with Christ, buried with
Christ, and raised with Christ to live a new life all by
the baptism of the Spirit.
It's not baptism in water. It’s baptism into Christ by
the Spirit.
As a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we become
the temple of God and the fullness of God dwells in us.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you
have received from God? You are not your own; NIV
Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness
in Christ, NIV
10
As a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the
believer has all of the fullness of God living in him.
Don't ever think you lack anything.
Now, this is the mystery of the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit that cannot be fully explained.
Conclusion:
Why has God given us the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit?
He has given us the Baptism of the Holy Spirit so that
we might “Complete the Mission that Jesus Began”.
The Mission of seeking and saving those who are
lost. Luke 19:9
