Dr. Pothana's Teaching

1. Detailed Study on The Book Of Acts
COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies
Hyderabad

2. Acts 2

3. Acts 2:1-4
Descent of the
Holy Spirit

4. Pentecost
• Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they
were all together in one place.
• Pentecost means "fiftieth“
• The Jews had 7 major feasts

5. 1. The Festival of Unleavened Bread
(Passover or Pessah) was held in the first
month of the Jewish religious calendar. It
was initiated to commemorate the Exodus
(the ‘going out’) from Egypt in 1447BC
when God led his chosen people out of
slavery (see Exodus 12:1-20). The Jews
were to eat unleavened bread (bread made
without yeast) to remember that the
Israelites didn’t have time to let their bread
rise before leaving Egypt.
2. The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost, Harvest or
Shavuot) – the main harvest festival
celebrating the end of the wheat harvest – was
held seven weeks after the first barley harvest
(see Exodus 34:22). As it was fifty days after
Passover, it became known as Pentecost
(‘pentekonta’ means ‘fifty’ in Greek). It usually
occurred in late May or early June. Jesus’s
early disciples were filled to overflowing with
the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in
30AD.

6. 3. The Festival of Ingathering (Shelters, Tabernacles or
Sukkot) celebrated the gathering in of the grapes, figs
and olives that had ripened during the dry summer
months. It was the autumn harvest festival held in late
September or October. Also known as the Festival of
Tabernacles, Shelters or Booths, this feast also
commemorated the time when the Israelites escaping
from Egypt had no permanent homes and pitched their
tents (tabernacles) or temporary shelters (called
'sukkah') wherever they found sufficient water or
grazing for their livestock (see Exodus 17:1).
4. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) – This festival, usually
held in mid-September, celebrated the end of the
agricultural year and the beginning of the New Year in
the Jewish civil calendar (the beginning of the seventh
month in the Jewish religious calendar) (see Numbers
10:10). In an age with no written calendars, trumpets
(originally the ‘shofar’ or ram’s horn) were sounded on
the first day of each new lunar month (see Psalm 81:3),
and as a sign of the new agricultural season. There is
no reference to the Feast of Trumpets in the New
Testament.

7. 5. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) – This solemn
festival, at the end of September, was a time for
remembering past sins (wrongdoings) and for making
amends. It was the only day of fasting decreed in the
Bible. Traditionally, the High Priest ‘atoned’ for the sins
of the people once a year. He took a goat (the
‘scapegoat’) and symbolically heaped the sins of the
people upon it before driving it out into the desert to
take away their sins (see Leviticus 16:5-10 & 20-22).
The Letter to the Hebrews contrasts this annual
ceremony of atonement performed by the High Priest
with the once-for-all forgiveness of sins achieved by
Jesus on the cross at Calvary (see Hebrews 9:6-7 & 23-
28).
6. Purim – this festival commemorated the
actions of Queen Esther whose quick thinking
and decisive action saved the Jewish exiles in
Babylon and Persia from being massacred in
473 BC (see Esther 3:1-6 & 9:23-32). It takes
place in February or March. There is no
reference to this festival in the New Testament.

8. 7. Lights (Dedication or Hanukkah) – this festival was initiated to commemorate the re-dedication of the Second Temple
by Judas Maccabaeus in 165BC after its defilement by King Antiochus Epiphanes. This re-dedication is recorded in the
apocryphal First Book of the Maccabees (see 1 Maccabees 4:52-59). During the re-dedication, a single flask of olive oil
miraculously kept the lamps in the Temple alight for the whole eight-day ceremony. Hanukkah takes place in mid-
December. Jesus attended the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in Jerusalem in the winter of 29AD (see John 10:22-24).

9. Acts 2:1, All Together In One Place
• Acts 2:1…they were all together in one place.
• Many think this (one place) was at the temple.
• 120 (1:15), 3,000 baptized in one day (vs. 41).

10. Acts 2:1, Many 1 Time Miracles
• . Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come…
• 2 ...a noise like a violent rushing wind...
• 3 ...tongues as of fire ... rested on each one of them.
• 4 ...all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
with other tongues [16 different languages]...
• 5 ...Jews ...from every nation under heaven. 6...hearing
them speak in his own language.
• When God makes an ax head float, splits the Red Sea,
gushes water out of a rock, theses are one time events
to get Israel’s attention. He does not repeat them!

11. Acts 2:2, Sound Like A Violent Wind
• Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of
a violent wind came from heaven and filled
the whole house where they were sitting.
• “like” the blowing of a violent wind (simile)
• It wasn’t a violent wind!
• Many equate this with the sound of tornados.
• This, no doubt, was what drew 3000 people.

12. Acts 2:3, as, like, something like
• Acts 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of
fire that separated and came to rest on each of
them.
• CSB Acts 2:3 … like flames of ...
• KJV, ., ESV, NKJ , NAS Acts 2:3 … as of …
• NET Acts 2:3 … like a fire ...
• BGT Acts 2:3 … γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ
• [GING] ὡσεί , 1. particle denoting comparison as,
like, something like Mt 3:16; 9:36; Mk 9:26; Lk
22:44; Ac 2:3; 6:15; Ro 6:13

13. Acts 2:3, Separated
• Acts 2:3 …tongues of
fire that separated
and came to rest on
each of them.

14. Acts 2:4, Filled With The Holy Spirit
• Acts 2:4 All of them were filled
with the Holy Spirit …
• 3 references about the nativity
• Luke 1:15 [John] will be filled with
the Holy Spirit even from birth…
• Luke 1:41…Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit…
• Luke 1:67…Zechariah was filled
with the Holy Spirit…

15. Acts 2:4, Filled For Service
• Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
• Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit…
• Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were
meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
• Acts 9:17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.
Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-
Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming
here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled
with the Holy Spirit."
• Acts 13:9-10 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with
the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 "You
are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is
right!

16. 2:5, Panorama of Eastern wall
• Acts 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing
Jews from every
nation under
heaven.

17. Southeastern Corner of wall

18. Acts 2:6-12
• Acts 2:6-12 When they heard this sound, a crowd
came together in bewilderment, because each one
heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly
amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are
speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us
hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians,
Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea
and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene;
visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to
Judaism); Cretans and Arabs — we hear them declaring
the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed
and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does
this mean?"

19. His Own Language-Our Own Tongues
• 1258 διάλεκτος dialektos {dee-al'-ek-tos}
• Meaning: 1) conversation, speech, discourse, language
2) the tongue or language peculiar to any people

20. Acts 2:13-16, Too Much Wine?
• Acts 2:13-16 Some, however, made fun of them
and said, "They have had too much wine."
• 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised
his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews
and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me
explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's
only nine in the morning!
• Dr Ryrie says, “Jews engaged in the exercises of
the synagogue on feast days abstained from
eating and drinking until 10AM or noon;
therefore this could not be drunkenness.”

21. Acts 2:16-21
• Acts 2:16-21 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet
Joel: 17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will
prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old
men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both
men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below,blood and
fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of
the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

22. Acts 2:16-21
• spoken by the prophet Joel: = Ch 3 in Jewish Bible
• I will pour out my Spirit on all people… not yet
• young men…old men… Age discrimination
• I will pour out my Spirit in those days…wonders …and
signs…Blood…fire and…smoke…sun…to
darkness…moon to blood before the coming of the
great and glorious day of the Lord…everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

23. Who’s Peter Speaking To?
• Acts 2:14…"Fellow Jews and all of you who live
in Jerusalem…
• Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen…
• Rom 11:26-27 And so all Israel will be saved,
as it is written: "The deliverer will come from
Zion; he will turn godlessness away from
Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them…

24. God Opened The Spigot Of Israel’s
Promises Of The Last Days
• . Joel 2:27 "Thus you will know that
I am in the midst of Israel [not yet]. ,
And that I am the LORD your God,
And there is no other; And My
people [Israel]. will never be put to
shame [not yet]. 28 "It will come about
after this [after what, May14th, 1948 and the church
age?]. That I will pour out My Spirit on
all mankind [not yet, Millennial Kingdom]. ; And
your sons and daughters will
prophesy, Your old men will dream
dreams, Your young men will see
visions. [not yet, Zechariah 8:22-23].

25. Acts 2:22-24, This Jesus Of Nazareth
• Acts 2:22-24 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus
of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you
by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did
among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23 This man was handed over to you by God's set
purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the
help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing
him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the
dead, freeing him from the agony of death,
because it was impossible for death to keep its
hold on him.

26. Miracles, Wonders And Signs

27. Acts 2:25-36
Peter Preaches
Christ
Through the power of
the Holy Spirit

28. Acts 2:36, Peter’s Finish
• Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured
of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ."
• It’s all about Christ!
• Powered by the Holy Spirit.

29. Acts 2:37, Cut To The Heart
• Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they
were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we
do?"
• Ray Stedman asks, “Who gave the altar call?
• What had Peter been preachin’?
• “Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ."

31. Acts 2:38
The Order Of Repent And Believe
• . Acts 2:38 …"Repent, and each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness ….
• The order is always, #1. have a change of
thought/mind, #2. then believe.
• "Acts 15:7…the Gentiles should hear the word of
the gospel and believe."
• "Acts 16:31…And they said, "Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you shall be saved…
• "Acts 28:24 And some were being persuaded by
the things spoken, but others would not believe."

32. Repent And Believe
• Mark 1:15…the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel."
• Repent and believe are not synonyms, they are
two completely different Greek words. Yet they
are 2 sides of the same coin. You can’t have one
without the other. If you truly have a change of
thought/mind, you will believe. You also cannot
believe if you have not truly had a change of
thought/mind.
• The order is always, #1. have a change of
thought/mind, #2. then believe.

33. Repent And Believe
• Mark 1:15 …the kingdom of God is at
hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
• Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent,
and let each of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ…
• What is the prerequisite to be baptized?
• Revelation 3:3 …repent. If therefore you will
not wake up, I will come like a thief…

34. Acts 2:38, Baptized For Sins
• Acts 2:38…be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins…

35. Acts 2:39, God’s Sovereignty
• Acts 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and
for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God
will call."

36. Acts 2:40, Save Yourselves
• Acts 2:40 With many other words he warned
them; and he pleaded with them, "Save
yourselves from this corrupt generation."

37. Acts 2:41,
• Acts 2:41 Those who accepted [middle voice again] his
message were baptized [passive voice], and about
three thousand were added [passive voice] to their
number that day.
• Three thousand!
• From 120 to 3,120
• Wow!

38. Acts 2:42, Saved, Now What?
• Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• The apostles' teaching = Bible Study

39. Acts 2:42, Sweet Fellowship
• Psalm 55:14 We who had sweet fellowship together Walked in the
house of God in the throng.
Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
to prayer
• When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil
smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When
he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. Corrie Ten Boom

40. Acts 2:43, Signs That Mark An Apostle
• Acts 2:43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many
wonders and miraculous signs were done by the
apostles.
• 2 Cor 12:12 The things that mark an apostle — signs,
wonders and miracles — were done among you with
great perseverance.
• These signs , wonders and miracles were to ordain the
apostles, and to convince the Jews that this work was
of God. As prophets of God, they were accredited to
write God’s Word.
• Matthew 10:19 …do not worry about how or what you
are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you
are to say. 20 "For it is not you who speak, but it is the
Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

41. Acts 2:44-47, Sharing Not Socialism
• Acts 2:44-47 All the believers were together and
had everything in common. 45 Selling their
possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he
had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet
together in the temple courts. They broke bread
in their homes and ate together with glad and
sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the
favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved.
• This is voluntary sharing not governmental taking.

42. Acts 2:47, God’s Sovereignty
• Acts 2:47…And the Lord added [verb indicative imperfect
active] to their number daily those who were
being saved [present passive voice] .
• Acts tells about Christ and His “building” of
the church through the Holy Spirit’s work.