They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.
8 sermons cite this verse
… is The Secret to Sharing the Gospel Effectively. Let's read Acts 2, verses two to seven. I'm reading, by the way, from the New Living Translation. On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting and then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and they began speaking in other languages as the Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem and when they heard the loud voice everyone came running. And they were bewildered to hear their own language being spoken by the believers. And they were completely amazed and said, how can this be? We'll stop there. So God is getting ready now to change the world with 120 people. What can we learn from them? …
… I think there's some principles in his message that we can employ in our own lives as we share the gospel. Let's read Acts 2 verses 2 to 7. I'm reading, by the way, from the New Living Translation. On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began speaking in other languages as the Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. And when they heard the loud voice, everyone came running. And they were bewildered to hear their own language being spoken by the believers. And they were completely amazed and said, how can this be? We'll stop there. So people from around the world are gathered in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. …
… There's a sound that comes from another world. Came and filled the house where they were, and there are tongues of fire. And Hebrews 1 quotes Psalms 104, speaking of the angels who remember on the house of God ascend and descend, because it's a gate between worlds. This is weird, I know. I'm just trying to describe to you what to expect. a wind I've studied some of the words here in this chapter and they're fascinating and one of the words for this sound comes from heaven the word sound there's a roar roar it's this roar of heaven it's this thunderous roar that is released from one world to fill a room of 120 people in another world and they began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance verse 5 there were dwellings in Jerusalem devout men of every nation under heaven when the sound occurred a multitude came together let me read these verses for you they were confused verse 7 says they were amazed and marveled verse 12 says they were amazed and perplexed verse 13 says they were mocking so that sounds like a revival to me that sounds anybody who expects to get a revival without those manifestations You're dreaming. …
… And they saw what seemed to be flames of fire, tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. and they began to speak in other tongues, in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now staying in Jerusalem, there were God-fearing Jews, men from every nation under heaven. And when they heard the sound, a crowd came together and they were filled with wonder because each person was hearing them, the Christ followers, speak to them in their own language. And they were astonished and amazed and they started saying, Look, aren't all these people speaking Galileans? How is it that we are hearing them speak to us in our own native languages? Parthenians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia and Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, 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. …
verse 1 through 7 Yeah, it's Acts chapter 2, verse 1 through 7. Stand on your feet if you would. And I want you to listen at this closely. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. Do you not know that's why the spirit of division always comes against the kingdom of God or your family or your household? Because Satan is afraid of our unity. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. Somebody holler, fill my house. Not just fill my church, fill my house. fill my car, fill my job, fill my business, fill my children, fill my grandchildren. I want a great outpouring of the Holy Ghost. I want to see the cup run over. Anybody walk past my house is going to fill the Holy Ghost because God is going to take me into overflow. Shout yes, somebody. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. …
… and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now where they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven, when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, 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. …
… is Jesus on one side and then the Holy Spirit on the other. So in Acts, here's the way it begins. Here's the second person, Acts 2, verses 1 through 4. so that day that Peter gets up and speaks that day that he boldly proclaims Jesus here's the other person that comes into him starting in verse one says when the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place suddenly the sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven it filled the whole house where they were sitting they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire separated and come to rest on each of them all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues that the Spirit enabled them so some of you have not placed your faith in Jesus and you are dead in your sin and what I would want you to do is to hear the voice of Jesus calling you from the grave say rise and shine it is time to rise and shine it's time for you to get up out of that grave close it's time for you to come into a relationship with me some of you have been following at a distance for so long. …
… Look at the text. The text says that when the day of Pentecost had come. Now, you got to stop right there because that's the beginning of chapter 2. How does chapter 1 end? Chapter 1 ends with them waiting. They are told by Jesus to wait right there. Wait in hostile territory. Wait in Jerusalem where your Lord, watch this, had been messed over by the authorities as they got together with the occupying forces of the oppressive Roman Empire. You wait right there. I know the territory is hostile, but don't you go nowhere. I know folk are looking at you and talking about you, but don't you go nowhere. You let your presence stay right in that precarious place and then watch what happens and for 10 days they wait. Wait. Can I be honest? Why is it, this is me, not you, why is it that I'm in a hurry but God ain't? Now, I'm not speaking for you because I know you're patient and you just know how to wait. …