Hi, I am Claude and welcome to Acts.net.

This topics "Peter Explains" has 3 chapters that we will be walking through together.

Acts 2, Joel 2:28-32, John 20:19, John 20:30-31

All the disciples were in one place and waiting for the Spirit to come. Suddenly a loud noise came from heaven, and the wind picks up speed, and all who were in that room received the Holy Spirit and started to talk and sing in other tongues.

Before we start, I would like to mention that there are many different thoughts on this upper room. Jesus had the last supper in the upper room, and He knew the owner. Jesus went to this upper room many times with the disciples. Since He knows how humans think, He knew that the disciples would attach themselves to this room. If they went to another place, they would lose that connection with Jesus. Since the Temple curtain was sliced in two pieces while He died on the cross, God was no longer in the Temple house. Jesus talked to Mary and told her to tell the disciples about this conversation.

There was only one place the disciples could be, and that was the upper room. They locked the doors, because they were afraid of the leaders of the church. Jesus appeared a few times to them in that room. This room was doing something even more to the disciples, which connected to Jesus in the upper room, not in the Temple house. After seeing Jesus many times, it came time for Jesus to leave. So on the fortieth day after his resurrection, he departed. He left one more instruction to the disciples which was, they needed to stay in the upper room until the Holy Spirit came. Imagine yourself, knowing that many people are after you. Would you go and do some shopping or would you have someone do it for you? So after ten days of prayer and supplication in the upper room, that is when the Holy Spirit came, and it happened to be on the same day of the feast of Pentecost. God does everything in His own way, and there is always a reason for His action (John 20:30-31).

This experience was quite an event for all the disciples who were expecting something, but this was entirely out of their human reality. This phenomenon was something out of their comprehension. How can this take place, and how is this possible? I am pretty sure that they had many questions, mostly when it was all over. They were happier to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit all around them, and then all inside of their body. The feeling of being even closer to God would be so much more than talking to Jesus when He was on Earth.

My experience with the Holy Spirit was as moving as theirs, my only regret was not being there and talking to Jesus in person. Since I have been infused with the Holy Spirit, I have a deeper connection with the triune God, and you should too.

After that, Peter went out of the upper room because he could hear the commotion outside. Everyone was wondering what was going on and how the disciples were able to speak in their own native language. Peter explained what the prophet Joel spoke about nine centuries ago.

This is what Joel 2:28-32 said about the Spirit:
- After all of this
- I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
- Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
- Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;
- your young men will see visions.
- Even on male and female servants
- I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
- I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth
- blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
- The sunlight will be turned to darkness
- and the moon to the color of blood,
- before the day of the Lord comes
- that great and terrible day!
- It will so happen that
- everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
- For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,
- just as the Lord has promised;
- the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call.

Now, approximately nine hundred years later, Jesus said that His Holy Spirit would come. They were to wait in the upper room, where they had the last supper. They stayed for ten days, and during that time, they prayed non stop. Then on the 10th day, they were suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit who had access to all the gifts.

Here is the biggest question about the Holy Spirits' gifts. What do we do with them, and how do we get them to manifest?

Well, the answer is in the bible, and in short, it means that when the Holy Spirit sees what you are doing and He feels you need help and guidance, He will trigger the one you need. You do not need to ask. The Holy Spirit already knows your intention, remember, He dwells within you. Anything you do, He knows, and therefore Jesus and God the Father knows, no exception.

- But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say.
- In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.
- But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:
- ‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and 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.
- And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
- The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
- And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
- “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know –
- this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.
- But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power.
- For David says about him, ‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.
- Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my body also will live in hope,
- because you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor permit your Holy One to experience decay.
- You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of joy with your presence.’
- “Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
- So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne,
- David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay.
- This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it.
- So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you both see and hear.
- For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand
- until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
- Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”
- Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”
- Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
- With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”
- So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.

From the reading, you can see that Peter explained what someone needs to do, to be part of God's family. Since that day, people are waking up and are tired of searching for the perfect place to be. They have found the real reason for being on Earth, which is to explore, to search for God. You are here, and God is here. What are you waiting for? Come and have supper with Him and His family. You could do what others do and decide to wait. On the other hand, God is very close to coming back and get His people. If you are not ready, you will miss the best action of your life.

Unfortunately, God will no longer wait for any human to decide after His people have come home. You will stay where you are. The death that you might go through will be worse than the death of your soul with no more chances, since God has given you all the opportunities you needed to make this decision. In one way, you could say you rebuke Him.

God loves you so much that He really wants you to be with Him in heaven. Take God's hand and come home. When you confess your sins and change your ways, Jesus will become your lawyer in heaven. So when we all go to heaven, God the Father will see that you are born again with a new heart and that Jesus wrote your name in the Book of Life. That ticket is your entrance fee to come on board.