Filled with the Spirit

Not the Same Peter

Peter said, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. … Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2: 36-38).

Brash and unpredictable. Outspoken and audacious. Those are adjectives we might use to describe Simon Peter, the fisherman turned disciple. Also imprinted on many of our minds is his vehement, curse-laced denial of Jesus in the temple courtyard on the night Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26:69-75).

But thankfully, that isn’t the end of Peter’s story.

In Acts 2, Peter stands on the temple steps and addresses a crowd of Jews, unashamedly preaching the gospel of the Risen Christ: “You … put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead” (vv. 23-24).

What made the difference? Peter had been transformed. For forty days after Jesus’s resurrection, Peter had heard the Risen Christ explain the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-45). With “all authority in heaven and on earth,” Jesus had commissioned Peter to preach the gospel and to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Peter had also witnessed Jesus’s ascension to heaven (Acts 1:9). Most importantly, Peter had been filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).

Walking alongside Jesus and absorbing His teachings for three years wasn’t enough. Peter needed a life-transforming encounter with the Risen Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to become the apostle God designed him to be.

Many people accept the teachings of Jesus. They may even claim to follow Him. But that isn’t enough. If that’s all we do, we’ll react as Peter did in the temple courtyard when trouble arises: we’ll deny the Lord we say we serve. Like Peter, we need a life-transforming encounter with the Risen Christ to become the people God has designed us to be. We also need to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we truly follow Christ, the transformation in our lives will be as obvious as the difference between Peter the disciple in the temple courtyard and Peter the apostle on the temple steps.

Ask yourself, “When people mention Jesus, what do I do?” Do you pretend you don’t know Him, or do you declare Him “Lord and Christ”?

DIG DEEPER:

Read Psalm 16:8-11. How does Peter explain the prophetic meaning of this Old Testament passage in Acts 2:25-36? How can these passages help us “live in hope” too?

Compare what Peter says about “God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge” in Acts 2:23-24 with Romans 8:28-30 and 1 Peter 1:18-21. What do these passages teach us about how God works out His eternally good plans?

What was the result of Peter’s Spirit-filled message that day according to Acts 2:41- 47? If someone claims to be Spirit-filled today, what kind of results would validate their claim?

By Denise K. Loock

This devotion is part of a series on The Book of Acts.