Emphasis Preaching Journal

Object: A bottle of water.

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Acts 2:1-21
The church in America is losing members big time. And a 2022 Gallup poll revealed that only 31% of the American public really trusts the church. Martin Luther offers a word of comfort in these circumstances:

It is not we who sustain the church, nor will it be our forefathers, nor will it be our descendants. It was and is and will be the one who says, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world...”

An ancient Jewish legend declares, “Pentecost is the day on which Torah was given.” One wonders whether James might have had that in mind as he penned these words. According to the Jewish teaching, it was on the day that eventually became the feast of Pentecost that God gave birth to the Hebrew nation by speaking the divine covenant to them at Mt. Sinai.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. (vv. 1-2)