Acts 2:4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
What do you talk about all day? It’s a fair question. Doesn’t what we talk about reveal what’s in our hearts? What we love and what we care about?
It did on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit entered the hearts of the disciples and they began to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. And, miraculously, they did it in other languages that they didn’t even know so that people from all over the Roman Empire could hear the good news in their own tongue (language).
Acts 2:6. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
Like we said yesterday, this is a reversal of the Tower of Babel. At Babel, God gave everyone a different language so that there was confusion and separation. But at Pentecost, God allowed everyone to understand the gospel message in their own language so that there was understanding about Jesus and unity in him.
The Holy Spirit might not ever make you miraculously speak a different language, but the Holy Spirit does make you talk different. He is still controlling your tongue. Let’s look at how the Apostle Paul says it years later to the Christians in Ephesus:
Ephesians 5:18-21. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Paul tells them to be filled with the Spirit and then to talk. That should sound like what happened on Pentecost. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and then they talked. That’s exactly what we are still doing today. We might not be talking in different languages, but we are still supposed to be talking about Jesus.
In a very similar passage, written in the book of Colossians, Paul says it this way:
Colossians 3:16-17. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
From these two passages, can you make a list of all the ways we are supposed t be talking about Jesus?
Teaching one another.
Admonishing (encouraging) one another.
Singing to one another.
Being thankful to God.
Submitting to one another.
Doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This is our Pentecost. The Holy Spirit changes how we talk. From bullying to encouraging. From ignoring to teaching. From arguing to listening. From complaining to thankful. From to worrying to praising.
So let me ask you one more time. What do you talk about all day?
You: What will you talk about today? What will your message be?
You with Jesus: How does knowing that Jesus loves us and lives in us by the Spirit change what we talk about?
Prayer: Father, you have placed your Spirit in me including his words. Help me to listen to Jesus through the Spirit and the Bible and think before I speak so that I say what he wants me to say. Amen.
TLICfamily 