Here are some keys to releasing God’s power from Acts 2:

1) Going along with God’s plan to use all believers, not just special ones like the apostles.  At the end of Acts 1, the believers pick one disciple to replace Judas as an apostle.  However, Acts two begins with God pouring His Spirit on all the believers and overriding a formal structuring of ministry.

2) Spirit prompted words.  All of the believers “began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  We tend to focus on the tongues in this story, but what if it isn’t the language of the words that matters most, but where the words come from.  The disciples boldly and openly spoke words “as the Spirit enabled them.”  The words they were speaking were directly prompted (enabled) by the Spirit.

3) A willingness to appear foolish.  People laughed and mocked, but the believers didn’t let that stop them from flowing with the Spirit.  “Some, however, made fun of them,” but they didn’t let that slow them down.

4) The Spirit & the Scriptures radically proclaimed and obeyed.  The disciples put Scripture and the Holy Spirit above tradition, custom, and their comfort zone.  They boldly quoted “I will pour out my Spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy . . . Even on my servants both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”

5) Belief in and humble reliance on a risen, resurrected Jesus Christ.  The disciples boldly declared that “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”

6) Courageously challenging the culture.  They boldly confronted their culture: “With many other words he warned them and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.'”

7) Not being offended by the mysterious and the supernatural.  They openly and publicly spoke in languages that they didn’t know.  And they prayed for and experienced miracles:  “Many wonders and signs were performed by the apostles.”

8) Giving it all to God.  They “devoted themselves” to following and obeying the living, resurrected Jesus, no matter what.  Many of them were later murdered for their faith.