Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
The above passage is at the end of Peter’s first ever sermon. It was the day of Pentecost and the Spirit of God had come down on the disciples and the other 120 that were there. Here are some key elements of Peter’s preaching that saw 3,000 people come to Jesus by faith and be baptize both in the Spirit and by water. Perhaps if our preaching today included all these elements we would see similar results:
1. They anticipated this based upon the promise Jesus gave them. They were there on the word of Jesus that He was going to send them the Spirit of God. They knew not when but were anticipating it. We ought to anticipate the movement of the Spirit in our preaching today. (Acts 1:7-11)
2. Peter recognized his experience and what he was witnessing as a fulfillment of God’s Word. He was able to take the moment and see it through the lens of Scripture. He did not attempt to view it any other way. We might do well to start seeing the experiences of those we preach to as being activity and actions of God in their lives for His plan. (Acts 2:14-21)
3. Peter began to exegetical take the Old Testament words of David and show how they were applicable in the moment. What we read in Acts 2:23-35 is simply amazing. It is the perfect example of exegetical preaching. Peter is feeding the people, but at the same time the Spirit of God is using Peter to give a clinic for all preachers on how to take a passage and break it down for spiritual application. (Acts 2:23-35)
4. Peter made Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection the center piece of his preaching. He didn’t wonder into politics, social concerns and/or economic benefits of walking with God. He simply preached Christ crucified and that was what the Spirit of God would use to convict and convince and convert these souls. (Acts 2:23-24)
5. When they asked how to respond to the preaching, Peter made it simply: Repent and believe!! Peter did not confound the message with a 10 step process. He did not open a theology book to explain transubstantiation. He did tell them it was up to their good works and they had to be circumcised (something Peter will actually stumble over later in his ministry). He simply told them to repent and believe. (Acts 2:36-38)
This approach converted 3,000 souls. We ought to try it any given Sunday.
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