Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 307

November 2;   Acts 2:14;   91/260(II);   ‘What a Difference’

Acts 2:14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.      NLT

On the night the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would be betrayed, arrested and that all of the disciples would abandon Him, Peter boldly declared that he would never abandon Jesus, even if it meant his death.  The Lord Jesus then told Peter that Peter would deny Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.  That is exactly what happened.  Peter denied Jesus when he was confronted by servant girls, not soldiers or the religious leaders.  Peter, wept bitterly after his failure of courage.  All of us can be intimidated and our natural, human courage can fail.  The Lord Jesus loved Peter, He reinstated Peter and told Peter and the other disciples that they would shortly be empowered by the Holy Spirit.  That happened on the day of Pentecost.  Peter, the other apostles and about 120 worshippers in an upper room, were baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.  The fact that they all spoke in tongues confirmed that the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit had come upon them.  Did that power help Peter?  In verse 14 the Bible tells us that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit stepped forward and boldly preached to thousands of people.  The anointing of the Holy Spirit did something for Peter and he went on to do mighty exploits for the Kingdom of God.  These true accounts are not in the Bible just to share with us stories of what happened to people back then.  They are teaching lessons for us concerning what the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit will do for anyone, including us.  The Holy Spirit will change you and just like Peter you will finish strong.