Acts 2: 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I wish we had the space and time to put several chapters worth of scriptures here, but we will keep it to these few verses. In context, Jesus has already come and gone, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out over the disciples. Acts 2 is where we find what most refer to as "The Day of Pentecost." Pentecost literally means "the fiftieth day." It was the second of the three great Jewish feasts, celebrated at Jerusalem yearly, the seventh week after the Passover, in grateful recognition of the completed harvest. Side Note: I love how God always does things in order and brings them to completion.
As the disciples begin to speak, the Holy Spirit interprets their words into multiples of languages listed in the chapter. Everyone heard the word in their own language. While some were amazed, as in most situations, there had to be a nay sayer. Some said, "these guys are drunk!" You can probably hear the whispers of, "oh yeah...those disciples...bet the got ahold of the new wine." Personally, if said "new wine" makes my voice be understood in multiple languages, I'll have what they're having! Imagine the ease at which I could now order in the drive-thru!
But Peter, ready not only to save face, but also deliver a word, says, "HOLD UP! We're aren't drunk! It's just the third hour of the day!" In other words, "uhhh guys...it's only 8am. No way we've been drinking this early." Being the sarcastic person that I am, I'm sure I would have been the one to respond to Peter something like: "Ohhhh okay! Give it a few hours."
I know you're wondering why I've belabored the whole "drunk point." Here's why: The power of the Holy Spirit was so strong on these men that it was noticeable! They acted differently! They talked differently! I've been around some drinking people in my lifetime, and those who've had the "new wine" are typically pretty excited party people. So why is it that the original power of the Holy Ghost made these men appear to be drunk but most of us appear to be dead?
I wonder if we couldn't tap into that Holy Spirit power today? Not to be limited by our personalities, comfort zones, or insecurities, but so dramatically affected and empowered by that same Spirit that people take a step back and wonder what's up. We've been shyly peaking through the peep hole of our box for long enough. It's time to shed that fear and be limitlessly excited about our faith.
#WeAreLimitless
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