Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words.But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judæa, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words.
5 sermons cite this verse
I said I thank God for Acts chapter 2. I thank God for Romans 8.31. What then? Because Acts 2.14 says, Then Peter stood up. Everybody stand up on your feet right now. This is your part in the message. Hit your neighbor and say, Stand up. God is not done with you. Get up. It's not over. Get up. It's not gone. Get up. It's not lost. And Peter preached so good that 3,000 people got saved because he stood up. Maybe if you don't believe Peter, you'll believe the thief who was hanging on a cross. He didn't do anything right to deserve to be saved. His friend was mocking Jesus, but he had a little bit of faith, just a little bit of faith, not enough to get his act together. He didn't even have long left. For all of you who think there's not enough time, you can change the end. The Bible says that while one hurled insults and one said, Save us if you're really who you say you are. …
… Look at verse 14. The Bible says Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. We talked about how that word, address the crowd, literally means to speak with great gravity or seriousness. And he begins to preach. First Christian sermon. fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning. No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below. blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Now those verses he just quoted were from Joel. Anybody know where in Joel? Joel chapter 2 verses 28 through 32. Either we have Bible scholars here or they've got a little note down at the bottom of their Bibles that tells them, some of you probably have it, Joel 2, 28-32, instant Bible scholar status, okay? …
… with the 11, raised his voice, and said something witty that got them to laugh. No, he stood up, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. You could circle that word in Acts chapter 2, verse 14, put a note that says this literally means to speak with gravity, to speak with seriousness, and with the weight of something very important. It's a word that's often used to refer to prophecy, spokesman for God that takes the Word of God and speaks it to people. That's a serious thing to do. So Peter stands up, raises his voice, and speaks with gravity to the crowd. It's a very serious thing. Two things the preacher does that we're seeing Peter do here. Number one, the preacher exposes the voice of God. Preacher takes the voice of God. That was the job of the prophet. We see him talking about prophecy here, quoting Joel. Preacher takes the word of God and proclaims the word of God. That's exposing the voice of God. …
… stand up and glorify? So in Acts 2.14, then Peter stood up. I wonder if he remembered the bitter tears he wept when he denied Jesus. I wonder if that was the soundtrack playing in the back of his mind on some level going, okay, maybe this time I'll get it right, but maybe I won't. I wonder if Peter was dealing with some doubt. Like, could you really use me, God? But something about it, the voice of God, the Holy Spirit resonating in him, made him stand up and he spoke loudly and clearly. And he said, let me explain the goodness of God to you. And who better to explain the goodness of God than a man who had just disappointed and denied Jesus 53 days earlier. He didn't need to go to a class. He didn't know he'd need to go to a 12 step program. Those are good. But he said, all I need is Jesus on one side and then the Holy Spirit on the other. So in Acts, here's the way it begins. …
… It's a preview of coming attractions. And now the book says in Acts 1, he goes back to glory. When he goes back to glory, he says, y'all wait right here in Jerusalem, this hostile environment. You wait right here. And when you wait right here, the Holy Ghost is on the way. And the book says for 10 days they waited. And then on the day of Pentecost, Pentecost came. Now, I park right there because Pentecost, as far as I'm concerned, 50 days after Passover, another day of commemoration and celebration, Pentecost had to be triggering. It had to be a triggering reminder of what had happened 50 days prior. Don't forget Passover. Jesus gets set up to be lynched and taken out. It's 50 days later, another time of commemoration where Jews from all over the world gather in Jerusalem. This has to be a triggering and tumultuous time. And so what I love about this passage is this passage lets us know that God is so good that even when you have experienced trauma, your life has been flipped, turned upside down. …