both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”Cretans and Arabians—we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.
6 sermons cite this verse
… people from Egypt and Libya, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them telling us in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And they were all astonished and perplexed, and they started saying to one another, What does this mean? But others, mocking, were saying, They've had too much wine. And Peter, he stood up among the eleven, the apostles of Jesus, and he lifted up his voice and he addressed them, Men of Judea, all you staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you. Give ear to my words. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning. No. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, as it is written, And in the last days, it will be, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people, all flesh. And your sons and your daughters will proclaim, they will prophesy. And your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women. …
… Verse 11, they say, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. So the disciples are just like speaking these other languages. See, in the upper room, they're recognizing this is about his will. What's his will? His will is about others. It's not just about you. It's not about your brand or your plan or your future. It's about him bringing all his children back to himself. In the ziggurat, it's about making a name for ourselves, our plans, our kingdoms. In the upper room, they're waiting patiently, constantly praying, waiting for his kingdom to come. And people hear their language being spoken. They hear the goodness and the works of God in their own language. Like I could just imagine the disciples, they're sitting there and they start to speak in different languages. Could you just imagine it? Like this is how I picture the Bible. Like I could imagine Matthew just all of a sudden coming out and be like, hola mis amigos, que paso, como estan? Right? And then Mark is over here and he's like, he starts speaking like, he's like, marhaba, habibi, how are you? Right? And then you've got somebody else speaking French, bonjour, monsieur, mademoiselle. Like, I don't know. I don't think they spoke French back then, but they're speaking all these different languages and people that are there from every nation start to hear about the goodness of God. And then Peter stands up and he preaches a message and that day, 3,000 people are added into the kingdom. So here's the contrast. In the ziggurat, …
… It's consistent with the list. Why? Because those who speak in an unknown tongue speak to God, not to men. And it says in Acts 2 verse 11 says, they are speaking of the mighty deeds of God in these other languages, which is what? Praise. That prayer language, we'd call it the secret language with our children. That secret language is a language of prayer, intercession, and a language of worship, of praise. so the list that exists in the Bible are not to restrict or confine God they are lists that reveal God so chapter Psalms 115 verse 3 says but our God is in heaven he does whatever he pleases that's like my favorite verse he does whatever he pleases verse 4 their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands they have mouths but they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk. …
… amazing scene where all these people were speaking in different languages, tongues of fire resting on them, it says, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues at the end of verse 11, And verse 12 says, So two questions. What does this mean in verse 12? Over here in verse 37, what shall we do? You know, I think it's really interesting to note that when we saw these amazing things happen at the beginning of Acts chapter 2, people speaking in different languages, tongues of fire resting on people's heads, it caused curiosity. What is this about? But when the Word was proclaimed, When Peter preached, they didn't say, what does this mean? They said, what shall we do? It wasn't just curiosity. It was conviction. They realized something needed to change. I want you to notice, you can do a lot of things to amaze people and to wow them. And there's a lot of tendency, temptation today to do church to amaze and to wow and to entertain. …
… description of all the different languages that are being spoken there among the different peoples. And it says, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Now, Jim mentioned earlier in the service, that is basically most likely a reference to these people and all these different languages proclaiming just what we did today, maybe the Psalms or other portions of Old Testament scripture that declared the wonder and the glory and the beauty of God. That's what they were doing in all kinds of different languages. You can imagine the intensity of the scene, declaring the wonder of God in their own tongues. And that gives us a little bit of a glimpse into the purpose of the Word and the significance of the Word, because the Word is the instrument that God uses to reveal Himself, to show Himself to us. Look at it in two ways. Number one, God reveals Himself as the Word. God reveals Himself as the Word. Remember John chapter 1, verse 1. …
… residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, what does this mean? Somehow, I ever made fun of them and said they have had too much wine. These guys are loaded. What in the world is going on here? Awaken our affections so that we obey your spirit. Now, these verses that we just read are so packed full of meaning. In order to understand what's going on here, we've got to understand some of the background of the Old Testament. So we're going to do some turning for a couple minutes, And I want you to see some things unfold in Scripture that are just amazing about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the role of the Holy Spirit in the church. …