Media

Acts 2: 1-21

A Sound Like a Strong Wind

1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning, there was

a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number

of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world.

When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out

what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk

in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; immigrants from Rome,

both Jews and proselytes; even Cretans and Arabs!

“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?” 13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”

Peter Speaks Up

14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency:

“Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight.

These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—

it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

“In the Last Days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit on those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy. I’ll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous;

and whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved.”

Text...

HYMN 543

COME BUILD A CHURCH

1. Let us see the tongues of fire. Let us hear the great wind roar.

Let us know the awe and wonder, that we’ve only glimpsed before.

Let us feel the strength of passion, which can make us laugh and weep.

Let us know this great awakening. For so long we’ve been asleep.

Refrain: Come build a church with soul and spirit, come build a church of flesh and bone.

We need no tower rising skyward; no house of wood or glass or stone.

Come build a church with human frailty, come build a church of flesh and blood.

Jesus shall be its sure foundation. It shall be built by the hand of God.

2. Let us know the love unceasing, which alone can loose the bounds,

reaching out across the chasms, bringing walls of hatred down. >

Let us taste the sweet communion, where the circle never ends.

Hold us in the sweet connection, turning strangers into friends. Refrain

Refrain: Come build a church with soul and spirit, come build a church of flesh and bone.

We need no tower rising skyward; no house of wood or glass or stone.

Come build a church with human frailty, come build a church of flesh and blood.

Jesus shall be its sure foundation. It shall be built by the hand of God.

3. Guide our feet in peaceful pathways. Teach us peace of heart and mind;

Peace with God and all God’s children; till we leave our wars behind.

Surely joy will come and find us like a breeze that cools the night;

like the rain upon the desert; like a candle’s gentle light. Refrain

Refrain: Come build a church with soul and spirit, come build a church of flesh and bone.

We need no tower rising skyward; no house of wood or glass or stone.

Come build a church with human frailty, come build a church of flesh and blood.

Jesus shall be its sure foundation. It shall be built by the hand of God.

Used by permission. Ken Medema Music www.kenmedema.com