昨天，我們提到五旬節能使人對神的神聖肅然起敬，並且使人在屬靈上有新的追求和渴慕。此外，五旬節也給人帶來一種超然的熱情和興奮。我們只需要閱讀使徒行傳，便可以感受到初期信徒特有的興奮和喜樂，很多地方都有這些記載，其中一處便是今天的經文。

初期教會對一切關於神和祂的國度的事情都感到興奮，他們對耶穌、聖靈的降臨、神國度的建立、以及祂再來的應許都感到激動。他們十分誠懇，並懷著渴望的心，認為神既讓耶穌從死裡復活，亦必讓他們從自己罪的墳墓裡出來；神將耶穌升上天上、坐在天父右邊的大能大力，亦必在他們中間工作。

任何人只要認罪悔改、與神和好，就一定可以享有超然的喜樂，這也是在靈性復興時的情況。不要以為復興一定是與重擔和憂慮有關。復興雖然總有一段為罪哀傷的時間，但緊接著的是無盡的喜樂。有些歷史學家將復興時的基督徒形容為沮喪的憂鬱者，這完全是最可悲、最錯誤的描述。實際情況是，經歷復興的基督徒就像第一世紀的信徒一樣，需要為被誤認為喝醉的控訴作辯。可喜的是，我們現在很少會再受到這種誤解，我們不須要再強調兩者的區別。

Yet another outcome of Pentecost was extraordinary fervour and excitement. One has only to read the pages of Acts to feel the throb of excitement and joy that characterized the early disciples. It surfaces in many places, one of which is the text before us today.

The early Church was excited about everything that was connected with God and His kingdom. They were excited about Jesus, about the coming of the Spirit, about the establishment of His kingdom, and about the promise of His coming again. They were gripped by an intense earnestness and a spirit of expectation. The God who had raised up Jesus from the dead had raised them also from their own graves of sin. The power that had elevated Christ to the heavens and placed Him at the right hand of the Father was working in them with all its quickening might.

This is also the way it is in times of revival. Once people have repented of their sins and found peace with God there is invariably extraordinary joy. Let no one think that revival is associated with heaviness and gloom. There is always a period of mourning for sin but this is soon followed by waves of endless delight. It is surely amongst the most tragic misrepresentations of truth that historians should write that in times of revival Christians act like dejected melancholics. The reality is that in revival Christians, like their brothers and sisters in the first century, have to defend themselves against the charge of being drunk. Very few of us come under that dark suspicion nowadays, but it is hardly to our credit that there is rarely any need to stress the distinction.