Bible Study: May 12, 2021

Okay, so today we'll be starting in with with Acts 2 last time. It's hard to believe it was three weeks ago. Seems like three weeks ago. In another way, it seems like not three weeks ago. We went through Acts 1. And if you recall in Acts 1, the apostles were there with Jesus Christ.

Actually, all the people were there with him, the 120 who were gathered there in that upper room. And Jesus Christ, as he ascended into heaven with the 12 watching him, he told them to wait in Jerusalem. Basically, he just said, wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Spirit. You'll all be witnesses to me. And they waited for him. And there's a lesson that we continue to look at where God is concerned. He may not do things in exactly the time that we want or we think appropriate, but we always learn to wait for him. If this is Jesus Christ's church, God is the Father of us all. He is in control of everything. And our job is to learn to patiently wait for him. He has the plan in mind. And he's got everyone who he has called and he considers one of his children. He's got us all in mind because he wants us all to be in his kingdom.

But anyway, the apostles and the 120, they tarried there in Jerusalem just exactly as Jesus Christ said. They weren't told that it was going to be the day of Pentecost, that the promise of the Father would come. But they waited and they continued to do exactly what God told them to do. Remember that there was one, they selected a new apostle to replace Judas. We talked about that. That was the other thing that God led them to do. Peter looked at the Scriptures and it was only by divine inspiration that Peter could have ever looked at those Scriptures in the book of Psalms and be able to pull out what it is that God's will was for that situation. And we learned that as we go through the book of Acts. And even as we look at Acts 2 today, we're going to see the word prophesy show up. We're going to look at direct. We're going to look at the divine inspiration and see that as the apostles began to preach after the Holy Spirit came, it was by divine inspiration. There was no Jew, there was no Sanhedrin, there was no chief priest who could interpret the Bible in the way that only God can lead his people to understand it. So it's something that happened with Peter in Acts 1 before the day of Pentecost came. But as we come to Acts 2, the people that were there gathered together as God's disciples are there. And as we pick it up in Acts 2 and verse 1, you know, we see that all of them, all of them are there gathered together on the day of Pentecost. And that's a beautiful picture of how God's people just obeyed him. They just obeyed him. He said, Be there. They had no idea what was going to happen that day, but in verse 1 it says, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. You know, they were just there. God said, Be there. And as I said a number of times, good for them that they were all there. If they had missed that day of Pentecost, just think what they would have missed. Not one of them knew what was going to happen that day, but they were there when God brought these momentous, momentous things upon the church at that time and began the New Testament church with the infusion of His Holy Spirit into those who had repented and were following Him. They were all with one accord in one place. In that phrase, we see what God's will for us is that we would all be in one accord, that we would all be together in one place when He has the assemblies that He wants us to be part of. And as they were there, and it's interesting, later on, you know, in the chapter, Peter, you know, Peter talks about when people are saying, oh, when they hear people speaking in different languages. And some of the naysayers would say, oh, these people are drunk with new wine, and Peter stands up and refuses them. He said, this is only the third hour of the day.

So look what time of the morning that the apostles here, or the disciples here, were gathering together. It was very early, very early in the morning of the Day of Pentecost, around nine o'clock in the morning. We assume the sixth hour was the first hour of the day as the sun rose, that they were gathered together there.

And in verse 2, it says, suddenly, out of nowhere, if you will, there was no advance warning. They were all seated there together in the house where they were assembled together to keep the Day of Pentecost. And as the day began, suddenly, suddenly a miracle occurs. Suddenly there's this sound from heaven. It's not an actual rushing, mighty wind. It wasn't that their hats flew off, the women's hats or coverings, whatever they were wearing, flew off, their hoods stood on end. There was just the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and not an actual wind itself. And as they sat there, you can imagine the amazement, and as they knew something was going on, as the room was just filled, as it says here, the whole house was filled with the sound of a rushing, mighty wind.

And as God was going to put His Holy Spirit and the people that were gathered there that day, we can go back and we can see Jesus Christ actually talking about those things ahead of time. They had no idea when He spoke to them what was going to happen and when it was going to happen. They were there on the Day of Pentecost. The sound of a rushing, mighty wind came in on them. Now, as they were sitting there, they had no idea what it meant, but they might have thought back later to John 20, when Jesus Christ had done with the disciples when He was visiting them. In John 20, it's a scripture that actually kind of confuses people sometimes. We know that the Day of Pentecost is when they received the Holy Spirit. Christ said, you wait until you wait, you tarry in Jerusalem, until the promise of the Father comes. So we know that the Holy Spirit was not put in them before the Day of Pentecost. Certainly, the Holy Spirit was with them, as it tells us in John 14, but it wasn't in them until the Day of Pentecost. But here in John 20 and verse 21, as Jesus Christ comes among their midst, He said, after His resurrection, He said to them, peace to you, as the Father has sent me, I send you. Well, He wasn't sending them anywhere at that point when He was talking to them. He was going to be with them another, you know, until the 40 days until His ascension into heaven was going to be up. But He would send them. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. He breathed on them. The Bibles make specific note of that breathing on them and said to receive the Holy Spirit. Again, the disciples had no idea, probably, what He was talking about. That doesn't record whether they asked Him, what do you mean by that? What is? What are you talking about?

Again, they would just, the Holy Spirit later would help them recall these things. Then God kept it in the Bible for us. But He breathed on them. And so as this rushing mighty wind filled the whole house on the day that they were assembled at Pentecost, on that day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit was going to be put in them. And that day as God sent it to them, perhaps later they recall Jesus Christ breathing on them. And that sound of the rushing mighty wind was like God breathing life into them. You might think back into Genesis 2 verse 7 when God formed man of the dust of the ground and says He breathed life. He breathed life into man.

And here's Jesus Christ in John 20, 20, breathing on them and saying, receive the Holy Spirit. And in those things we see, again, in the parallel of the physical and the spiritual. God breathed life into man and He became a living being.

Let's, while we're talking about, let's go to 1 Corinthians 2.

We just complete the thought here, tie it together. God breathed, God breathed life, and He breathed the Spirit and man into them at the time of creation that would set them apart from the animals and the birds and all the other living creatures on earth. And then God gave them dominion. And He gave them the Spirit that would allow man to have dominion. We read about that in 1 Corinthians 2, of course.

In verse 11, 1 Corinthians 2, says, What man knows the things of man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? When God breathed life into Adam and breathed life into man, back in Genesis 2 verse 7, He breathed life and that Spirit of the spirit of man, man's spirit, was in him. That would give him the ability to have dominion of the earth, as God commanded him to do. What man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him?

It made him complete for one task, a physical task, but man was incomplete. That would give him physical life, but that breath that God breathed into him in Genesis 2, 7 could not impart to him eternal life.

It could only bring impart to him physical life and a physical spirit that would help him, that would enable him to understand the physical. He would need another spirit in order to have eternal life or to receive eternal life and to understand and to understand the things of God.

It says, even so no man knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

So they had all the disciples there. They had the Spirit of man, just like every single man, woman, child that has ever lived has had the Spirit of man. But only today, only those that God calls, does he breathe into them the Spirit, his Spirit, that can impart eternal life. What we had today is physical life, and as we'll even read in Acts 2, if we get that far today, you know, we will die and we will wait for the resurrection, but it is only eternal life if God's Spirit is in us. So as we come to Acts 2, you know, we have God giving the Holy Spirit that will impart to these people, the people that are gathered there, the opportunity at eternal life. Without God's Holy Spirit, there is no eternal life inherent in us. Of course, just because we received it at one time, we've talked about that before, doesn't mean, you know, doesn't mean we don't have to do anything else.

So let's go on then. Again, remember, if there's any questions, anything that I'm not making clear, even any comments that someone wants to make that just helps clear it or just talk about it, feel free at any time to, you know, to unmute yourselves and talk so that we, you know, we get the whole, we get the whole feeling of what God is talking to us about here. So verse 2 again, since I put it into pieces, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then another miracle, then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

Now, you know, not at my baptism, not at any baptism since has there been the sound of a rushing mighty wind, not in another baptism that I know of or that I have seen in the Bible. Was there another one where these divided tongues of fire came and appeared to sit on each one of the 120 who were there together that day?

God was making it fully aware that there was something going on. This was the time when he was pouring out his Spirit on those people that were there that day. And he uses the rushing mighty wind, which we can say is akin to God breathing the Spirit of eternal life in us and his Spirit into us, and the Spirit of understanding, comfort, and all the things that the Holy Spirit imparts to us. And then in verse 3, as this fire appears, it appears on each one of them, not just one flame of fire that fills the whole room, but it's there and on each head as they looked around, there was this this tongue of fire, this fire that's there on each one of them, indicating that the Holy Spirit was going to be in each one of them poured out into them individually. Now, pause for a moment. Why would God use fire to represent his Holy Spirit with the rushing mighty wind? You know, we've talked about what about fire? The wind, the sound comes in, then we have fire. Any ideas or thoughts on that that you've heard over the years?

Mr. Shaby, I've heard some things yesterday and the day before when we were listening to another study, and it referenced when God came down from, or came to Mount Sinai, there was fire there, and that was Exodus 19, verse 8.

And then another one was at the dedication of Solomon's Temple. There was fire at the sacrifice there. And then here on the day of Pentecost. Very good. God does accompany some of the things that he does by fire, and it's kind of one of his marks. Very good. Any others that anyone can think of?

You also have the burning bush. The burning bush? Very good. You've heard of Moses and the burning bush? Excellent.

There was the pillar of fire when Israel was in the wilderness and when they were going to be going through the Red Sea.

Very good.

Yeah, that's us. And as they sat there that day, they later, they were human. Later they would think about these things, I think, and all the things that we've talked about and more might have come to mind.

We're even told in the New Testament, we read not too long ago in Hebrews 1229, it says, Our God is a consuming fire. Remember that in Hebrews 12? Our God is a consuming fire.

So when the fire and these divided tongues of fire came upon people, again, it's a symbol of God's presence.

There is something. This is divine. What is going on is of God here in this situation.

Any other thoughts on that?

Let me look at my notes here and see that we've got... Oh, you know, one thing I did here, I wrote down Luke 3.16. Let's go back that and just... Yeah, Luke 3.16.

John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and fire.

And I've heard it mentioned, and I think there's all... I think that's much more than that, but I do remember hearing someone say at that point, God, when He was baptizing them, here's the fire, here's the fire that came upon them as well.

So whether that's... if it's the fire of the Holy Spirit, here's the fire that came upon them as well. So whether that's... well, it's just another one of those things that, again, God using fire as a symbol here and a consistent symbol when He's present. So...

Okay, well, let's go on to verse 4, then.

These things happened. Sound of a rushing mighty wind, divided tongues of fire, sitting on each one of their heads.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, verse 4 of Acts 2. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and then they began to speak with other tongues.

Of course, we know tongues means languages when you look up the Greek word, and certainly the succeeding verses here indicate that.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So we have these... one miracle after another. We've got... all of a sudden, they're sitting there, just in church services as you and I are.

Rushing mighty wind, sound of it, fills the house. Then they look and see the divided tongues of fire on each of them.

And then they began to speak. The Holy Spirit is put in them, and then they're able to speak in languages they never went to school for, never understood before.

But they could not only speak it, but they could understand it.

And here's God, ready to send this group out into the throngs that are assembled in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, for the Feast of Pentecost, because the city was filled with people.

Filled with Jews who had come in obedience to God's command that three times in the year they become the Jerusalem at the days of...

...passed over the days of unleavened bread at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Tabernacles. So Jerusalem was filled with people.

And the Holy Spirit gives them utterance, gives them... gives them exactly what they need to go out and be able to speak to these people.

So when God increases Christ's word, I'm going to send you, you know, He certainly sent them out that day to begin preaching, and He gave them the tools they need.

It's just one of those things, you know, that we can think of what God's Holy Spirit can do for us if we have faith.

He can provide anything we need. These people had no training, right? They had no training, and that there they were speaking in languages that they never had spoken before and fluently.

And people could hear them and vice versa. Whatever God wants us to do, when it's His will for us to do something, He will give us the ability, He will give us the talents, He will give us the gift, whatever it is to do it.

We don't have to doubt, we don't have to ask why, we don't have to say, make any excuses. If it's God's will, He will provide.

They were filled with the Spirit. They began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit. It wasn't them as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews. Devout men. They were there, they were there in obedience to God's commands. They were doing what they believed God wanted them to do.

Devout men from every nation under heaven. And later on, then, He lists all those nations that were there gathered together.

Now, you know, one of the questions might be, later on in Acts 2, we find that as Peter goes out and they preach to the people, it says 3000 were baptized that day.

And that's a big number. When we compare it to the numbers that are in the church today, 3000 is a lot of people to add to the church.

But how many people were in Jerusalem that day? How many people were there, you know, gathered together to observe the peace of Pentecost as the Old Testament directed them to be there?

Let me put up a screen for you here. And, well, you know, we have no idea. We know there were a number of people. We know there's more than 3000 who were there.

And Josephus gives us a clue as to how many might come to Jerusalem to these feasts when they're gathered together.

Let me just read, you know, what Josephus says about this. Everyone can see this on their screen. I hope it says...

And again, you got to look at the words. This is the way they wrote that is translated.

That this city, talking of Jerusalem, contains so many people in it is manifest by what number of them, which was taken under Cestius, who, being desirous of informing Nero of the power of the city, who otherwise was disposed to condemn the nation, and treated the high priests, if the thing were possible, to take the number of their whole multitude.

So, Nero said, well, how many people are? How many of these Jews are there? How many people are in Jerusalem? So these high priests, the second paragraph there, upon the coming of their feast, which is called the Passover, when they slay their cat sacrifices, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice.

So he's saying these people gathered together at Passover. This wasn't Pentecost, but at Passover they would come, they would offer their sacrifices, and they would have ten, at least ten in a group, because there were so many of them, they would have at least ten in a group, or it is not lawful, he says, for them to be singly by themselves, and many of us, he says, are twenty in a company, so ten was the least, found the number of sacrifices was two hundred fifty six thousand five hundred. Now that's a large number of sacrifices, so that's just one per person. That's two hundred fifty thousand people that are there in Jerusalem on Passover. Similar number would be there on Pentecost, if they're coming to Passover and they're devout men, as it says in chapter two of Acts here, two hundred fifty six thousand five hundred sacrifices were made, which Josephus goes on to say, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feasts together, that amounts to two million seven hundred thousand people who would be in Jerusalem at that time.

That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. Whether there were two million people in Jerusalem or two hundred fifty thousand people in Jerusalem, there were a lot of Jews who would come to Jerusalem in obedience to God's command to do that.

And I bring that up because as they go out into the multitudes that are gathered there in Jerusalem, this is no small affair. It's not like the rest of the city is just kind of blank and the apostles or the 120 are there in their room. Jerusalem is bustling with people.

And out of two hundred, if we just say two hundred fifty thousand people, you know, if it's not two million, if it's two hundred fifty thousand, which I think would be the minimum, you know, at least according to what Josephus has written, out of that three thousand.

Again, you know, it wasn't God's purpose to call everyone that day. Peter went out and he preached a powerful message imbued with God's Holy Spirit. Everyone could hear it in their own language.

And yet three thousand that day, which is a tremendous number, but just like God does in the world that we live in today, it's not his purpose to call everyone today.

But anyway, just as this is kind of an aside here. So let's go back to verse six here in Acts two. Someone had a comment? Yeah, Bob Luther. Yeah, Bob.

If I remember correctly, and please still let me know if I'm wrong, wasn't the number of people in Jerusalem at that time due to the fact that Nero lifted the tax on travel so that the Jews could travel back to Israel to celebrate the feast.

And his entire intent was to get them all together to try to annihilate them. And that was the purpose of all that. Yeah, is that correct? I don't know. You're probably correct on that. Yeah. But we do see that a number of people will see here in these verses came from all over the place. So they were apparently free to travel, you know, across borders to here at the time of this Pentecost in 31 A.D. I know that Nero was later on in the 60s.

Yeah, he did. If I remember correctly in my reading, he did lift the travel, what they call a travel tax, so that they could travel freely. And that was the reason why so many of them actually went back to Jerusalem for the feast that year. That's interesting. Okay. Yeah. Whatever the number is, there were a lot of people there, right? So in verse 6 here of Acts 2, And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together. So we've had the multitude outside, seeing, hearing something is going on as well.

God was getting their attention as well. What was happening with the disciples who were gathered there. Also, when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and they were confused. Now, I think what it shows us is the disciples who gathered there that morning had no intent. It wasn't in their minds at all that they were going to go out and they were going to be preaching a strong gospel to all the people that were gathered there in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, and that he was the Savior.

They didn't go out and they didn't have plans on, oh, we'll gather the people together this way. This is what we'll do. When God wants to get people's attention, he will get their attention. That's one thing for us to remember as we're in the work of God, too.

Sometimes we can become a little discouraged when we see everything going on. It appears that no one's paying attention, that how many people are really listening, how many people are, where is the Word going to? When God's ready for the Word to be received by people or to go out into the world, we'd better be ready and very near to him to be able to do what he wants us to do. Anyway, when the sound occurred, the multitude came together.

They were confused, as you can imagine. We hear like a rushing, mighty wind, I guess is what it's referring to here. The sound relates back to verse 2, but there is no wind. I'm not holding on to anything. It's just I hear a sound of a rushing, mighty wind.

What does this mean? You can understand where their confusion would be. This is a miracle. It's not anything that happens every day. They were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. So whether the sound got them and the disciples come out, and then all of a sudden it's like, here's these people, and we can understand them. And yet we know they're Galileans, and they even mentioned that later. In verse 7, there's another word that follows God. Suddenly, it's one of those things in prophecy that God says things will happen suddenly. It's not that they're not occurring and that things change, but it's because sometimes we're asleep and we don't pay attention to the bulge of the wall, as Isaiah 30 puts it.

We don't pay attention, we get lulled to sleep, and then all of a sudden when it bursts, we think, how did that happen? Well, it's been happening all along. So suddenly, it's one of those words that follows prophecy. But here's another one in verse 7. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, aren't all these who speak Galileans? They were amazed. Now we can, again, look in the Bible and there's other places that it talks about people being amazed.

One of them is, let's just turn over here in Acts 3. Just go over one chapter and read the first few verses of Acts 3. Peter and they go out and they preach this gospel of Jesus Christ, but then there's this miracle that occurs right after that. Let's read through the first 11 verses, I guess. And again, we'll see the word amazed come in here as even the Jewish powers of that day that want to limit, they pretty much wanted to cancel Jesus Christ.

They wanted Him dead. They didn't want His name ever preached anymore. Similar things that we see going on in the world today. Acts 3, verse 1, Peter and John went up together in the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a certain man lame came from his mother's womb, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.

Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked her alms. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Peter says, silver and gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate to the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to them.

And the word amazed follows in verse 11. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. And Peter says, what are you marveling at? What do you amaze at? Jesus Christ, God the Father, can do anything. There's nothing impossible with him.

So we see amazing, you know, amazing is in people's minds when they see the power of God.

You know, in Acts 4, when we see the disciples, Peter and John and them pulled in front of the Sanhedrin, and they're telling them, we don't want you preaching this anymore. We don't want to hear the name Jesus Christ anymore. And when they speak with power and the boldness to them, and they don't back down, it tells us in verse 13, I think it is. Yeah, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They hadn't gone to the colleges, they hadn't gone to the, you know, seminaries, they hadn't gone through the Jewish training to be scribes and whatever. Who are these guys? Look at how boldly they're talking. Look at what they're saying. They were in their minds, uneducated and untrained men. They marveled. They marveled. Where did they get all this information? How do they know this stuff? How can they speak with this way? Now, it's because God's Spirit imparts, imparts truth. It's through God's revelation that we understand these things and have the strength that we need in order to do what His will is. They didn't realize what they were up against, but there's that amazement and that power, you know, that continues to accompany God when His works are evident. One psalm speaks to that as well among many other places that I could turn to you, but in Psalm 119, David's testimony to God's Word and what it brings into our lives. Certainly a psalm worth studying in detail. Each one of the stanzas there to see what message that God is giving us. But in 1st 130 of Psalm 119, it says, It says, I can just pause there. When God opens our minds to understand the truth, light, all of a sudden, it's like the light bulb goes on. We are living in light. The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. Now, when you look at simple, it means that they're untrained. The newer translations actually translate that verse. The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the untrained. And none of us have been to seminaries. None of us have been to the places of this world where we would say we need to get all the religious knowledge and understand everything that it is, that every Bible has to say, and be taught by this college or that college, and I'm discounting Ambassador College, which is God's training college, but other places that people might say, like, where do you get that from? What seminaries did you go to? What Bible college did you go to? We get our understanding. God gives understanding to those who don't have those credentials and all those letters after their name. But what they do have is something so far more valuable, and that's His Holy Spirit that imparts the understanding to us. So, go back to Acts 2. Again, if there's any questions, comments, observations, anything to add, anything at all, always feel free. So we see, look at everything that's happening. This is early in the morning on the Day of Pentecost. They're all in one place in one accord. They had no idea what was going to happen. They're sitting there. They're sitting there. If I put in the modern-day verac, vernacular, sitting there getting ready for services to start, sounds of a rushing mighty wind, then they see tongues of fire on each person's head, and they're filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they began to speak in other languages that they had never spoken in before. And then they go out into the crowd, and the crowd is amazed at what is happening. Amazed at what is happening. Who are these people? How can they speak in our language?

First aid to Acts 2. How is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? And then look at all the nations, and all the, you know, I guess these are all nations and communities. How far and wide the people came to Jerusalem. It was kind of like our modern day. You know, we go for the Feast of Tabernacles and we travel to a place, but back in those days, it was the three times in a year that God commanded.

Come there at the Days of Unleavened Bread, pass over. At Pentecost and at the Feast of Tabernacles. Parthians and Medes and Elamites. Those dwelling in Mesopotamia. Judea and Cappadocia. Pontus and Asia. From all the areas surrounding, from far and wide, people devout Jews who were coming back to Jerusalem for the space. Medieval angels as well as German nobility, subjects where they wereflow. IG cities of Florence and Pamphilias. Egypt and the parts of Libya, adjoining Syrene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Those Gentiles who connected with orthodox Judaism and became a Jew through that avenue. aintains and Arabs. How is this possible? How is this possible? It was a miracle in itself. So they were all amazed.

And they were perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? How can something like this happen? What is going on here in Jerusalem? Nothing like this has ever happened before.

And there was a lot of people that were hearing these things, and a lot of them were just amazed and taking it all in, and a lot were going to stay and listen. But always in a crowd, there's the naysayers. There's the ones who are like, okay, there's an explanation for this. This isn't anything really there. This is the reason this is happening, or that's the reason that's happening. They never account for God's Spirit. They never account for God's intervention and things. They never account and give God credit. It's always, well, okay, here's what's wrong with these guys in verse 13. Others, mocking said, they're full of new wine. They're just wrong. They've been drinking here this morning, and so this is nothing new. We're finding ourselves doing this, and I don't believe there's anything here other than we've got a bunch of people who have been drinking. There are people who will accept God and that He is working and that He can do anything, and that things happen, and we believe in Him, and we see Him in that.

Other people who can see the same thing, and they will lean on their own understanding.

Proverbs 14, 12, and just about every occasion in our life, we have to stop and think, am I leaning on my own understanding? Where God is concerned, His thoughts, we're told in Isaiah, are so far above our thoughts. His ways are so far above our ways. What He does, He is in perfect control. He knows what He's doing, and we can't apply our own ideas. We can't apply our own human logic to anything that is of God. We have to simply appreciate God, give Him glory, sit back and wait.

Don't lean on your own understanding. These people who were there mocking, who were looking at it, saying, you know what, no, come on, don't even talk to me about that. I don't want to hear about you or from Phrygia, and you can hear in your language. These people are just drunk. There's always going to be naysayers. There will always be people who will discredit God and try to bring it down to a physical level. That's something we all need to guard against, too. See God when He works. Give Him credit. Don't go overboard the other way, but always give God credit and understand where His people are concerned and where His church is concerned and His plan is concerned. He will make things happen the way He wants them to, and sometimes we will be surprised. Again in Isaiah, God says, this is my word that's gone out, and it will surely come to pass. It may not be the way you think, the way you reason. It may not be according to the logic that you think it will be, but it will happen. One day you, too, will be amazed when you see the power of God.

So we have this element here, just like we would have in the world today.

Today we might say, you know what? Sabbath day. No, that's all gone. God doesn't care what day we worship on as long as we know He's there. He doesn't care what festivals we keep as long as we acknowledge Him. That Bible's ancient. All the type of things that people can say today who are going to mock what you say, and they just, human reasoning, right, and what's going on.

But Peter, verse 14, Peter, good for him. He stands up. Now this is the same Peter who, when Jesus Christ was being arrested, remember, he denied Christ three times. He was afraid of what the authorities would do to Him. He ran. In fact, all of them, except John, were there, and were not there with Jesus Christ. They ran because of fear. But here's Peter now with the Holy Spirit. Peter's been holed up in the upper room with the disciples from the time of Jesus Christ, and he tells them, just stay there. They haven't been out and about in the city. They haven't been out prophesying or talking about Jesus Christ or anything. They've been laying low, if you will, because the atmosphere and the environment in Jerusalem certainly wasn't conducive to anyone who believed that Jesus Christ was one of His followers. But here's Peter, imbued with the Holy Spirit, and he stands up to the crowd. Peter, standing up with the 11, and with the 11, right? The Bathias, the 12th apostle who was chosen in Acts 1, Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to them, there's no fear, there's no trembling here. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words. Listen to what I have to say, men of Jerusalem. He's going to give a powerful sermon here on the day of Pentecost. He's going to talk about many, many things as we tear apart this chapter. He's going to certainly, Jesus Christ, as the centerpiece of it, as the Messiah, but other things he talks about as well. You know, he lays an awfully lot out here for the people at that time, but he does it with power, and he does it with authority, and you can just see Peter standing there, and he says, listen to me, and you listen to my words. If you want truth, this is where it is. For if these are not drunk, say, put away these ideas, okay?

These are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. It's early in the morning. These people are not what you're saying, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, and he does what God's ministers do. What he says, he backs up by scripture. It's not our words, not our ideas. It's God's. It's God's message that is preached, and it is backed up by scripture. So he starts out, and he talks about Joel. Now, we know, as we read through the next four or five verses here, not everything that is prophesied in Joel, too, has come about yet, but here is the start of the Christian era of the church. The Holy Spirit, for the first time, has been poured out to the church of God that's assembled there, and this is a new beginning of new dispensation. Some years ago, I gave a sermon on the dispensations of the Bible, the seven of them, and if you're interested, you know, you can go back and you can find that out. I was going to look up what the title of it was, but you know, it goes through what the seven ages in the Bible are. Peter talks about the dispensation, and here we are in the sixth dispensation, the Christian era, where people have God's Holy Spirit. It's the post, you know, Jesus Christ post-resurrection period that extends until the time that Jesus Christ returns and sets up the seventh age of man, the kingdom of God. So this is the beginning of that age. The Old Testament age is gone. It's in the past, and now we have what's going to be called the Christian era or the era of the Holy Spirit and the era of the church, if you will, where God is working through His church and bringing people and calling them. So this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, he says, it shall come to pass in the last days, says God. Now we know the last days are still ahead of us when the Bible talks about them, but as the people were gathered together today, they were in, they were entering into the period that would include those last days. This is a totally different era than in the time when Jesus Christ was working through the prophets of the law and the times of old. Now he was going to work through his church, not the Jewish, not Judaism anymore.

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. That had happened. That had happened, and it continues to happen today on all flesh today, that he calls, that repents, and comes before him as baptized.

The pouring out my Spirit on all flesh will occur, of course we know, at the time of Jesus Christ's return when his kingdom is set up. I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Now, you know, whenever we read the word prophesy, we think of prophecy. Now we think of people for telling events, you know, this is going to happen on this date or this year and everything, and you know, we all speculate, we all read prophecy, and God leads us to understanding prophecy. But prophesy itself, when you look at the Greek word, talks about it, is something that you receive by divine revelation. It's God who gives understanding. It's not something that you necessarily go to a book and look at, but God, you know, as you've read through the Bible, and as you've read through passages you've read before, you know, it's like I always said, the light bulbs turn on. Oh, I get what that means. I understand that now, and I get the context of it, and oh, there's a physical application of that verse as well as a spiritual application. As God opens our minds to understand more and see the fullness of the Bible that has the instruction to us as well as the others, but he says, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. You know, they will have divine revelation. God will work in their minds. The Holy Spirit is in them. And he said that the Holy Spirit, you know, back in John 14, 15, 16, he said the Holy Spirit will lead you into all understanding. The Holy Spirit will teach. The Holy Spirit will comfort. The Holy Spirit will guide. It's poured out on men and women. Not just one, but men and women will have it. So they will, they will understand as well. Your young men shall see visions. You know, I don't know if that's happening today, but later on, you know, before the return of Jesus Christ, perhaps that will begin and we'll have people speaking of visions. That happened later on in Acts, right? I mean, we remember Peter in Acts 10, he had this vision of the sheet descending from heaven with all these unclean animals. And God was teaching him a lesson through that. We have the, you know, the example of Paul when he's being called and having a vision. But, you know, so it happens in Acts as well. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. Mr. Shavey? Yes. I've got a question. Okay, your sons and daughters shall prophesy in verse 17. So would that be the same as like in verse four when it said they were all filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues? The men and women, all the disciples that were there. So would that be the same thing as that? Is that what they were doing in prophesying the men and women?

I look at the word all. I look at the word all and God in court is Holy Spirit out on every single person in that room that day, right? And last time in Acts 1, we showed Acts 1.14 talks about the men were there and the women were there too. We were all gathered. So my opinion would be yes.

But it doesn't mean they were teaching in church if we're going down that road, right? Okay, Paul makes that clear later. But you know, I mean, God never says that He's not going to reveal anything to women. He never says that, right? He all of us are heirs of His Kingdom and His Holy Spirit in us is in us. And so we do listen to each other. And that's why even on, you know, the Bible studies, I say in our congregation, some women will still hesitate to talk. And I think in the Bible study, it's okay. If you have a thought, if you have the question, there's no problem with that. What the Bible talks about is in the teaching situation and services. So anyway, that's an aside. Verse 18, and on my men servants, and notice the ads, and on my maid servants, both, and on my men servants, and on my maid servants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven. Now these are things that are even yet ahead of us, right? These things haven't happened yet. I will show wonders in heaven above, signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon in the blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it will come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord, excuse me, shall be saved. So he reads this passage from Joel 2, 28 through 32. The people that are gathered there are listening and they're understanding this. What is going on is the Spirit of God is at work. The Spirit of God has been poured out on people that are there. These people are out and among, and Peter now is speaking with the power of God that comes from his Holy Spirit, God giving Peter the words. Peter didn't come prepared with, you know, his pages of notes for that day thinking, this is what I'm going to preach that day. Every single word Peter said that day was inspired by God. He uttered just what God gave him to do, something we should all aspire to do, that the words we speak are the words that come directly from God. So as people are listening to this, God as he's opening their minds, the ones he's opening their minds, you're, oh, the Holy Spirit, okay, the Holy Spirit. They're talking about the Holy Spirit, the sound that's here, and Peter's going to go on and talk about that. Verse 22, he says, men of Israel, again, look at the power that he puts behind it. Men of Israel hear these words. He's not making any excuses. He's not discounting it. He's not trying to minimize what he's doing. He is speaking with authority. Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus was Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know, when Jesus Christ came, we've talked about that, and we talked about the kingdom was at hand in a sermon a couple weeks ago, Jesus Christ was accompanied by healing everyone who came to him. God gave him the power to do that. He performed miracles. The signs when John the Baptist sent his two disciples and said, are you the one we're looking for, or do we look for another because Jesus Christ wasn't exactly doing the things that he thought that he should, Christ said.

The sick are healed. Leopards are cleansed. The blind see. The lame walk. These are the things that mark the kingdom of God. Indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst, as he said. So he's saying, you know Jesus Christ, all those things he did, God was there with him. You could see his power in what the man was doing, and you know it, he said. You can't deny it. And him, verse 23, Jesus Christ being delivered by and him, let me read the whole sentence here. Men of Israel hear these words. Let me go back to 22 and just read it without interceding here. Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know, him, Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, okay, what he's saying here is this was part of God's plan. Jesus Christ came to die, okay. You Jews didn't put him to death against God's will. You didn't win the victory over God. Satan didn't win the victory over God. It was God's purpose.

He was being delivered by the divine purpose and foreknowledge of God. You have taken. It was God's plan that he would die. And then he would speak about, you know, the Messiah would die, all these things that they didn't know, that the Scriptures came alive to them. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. And I'm sure Peter had all the prophecies that were there as they spoke that day, because this isn't the only words he spoke. We have the kind of outline of what he spoke there. He would have gone through some of those prophecies and shown what they mean. So people were like, whoa, that's in the Bible. That's exactly what happened. That's exactly what God was doing. By God's purpose and plan, you've taken him by lawless hands. And everyone knows, even the commentators, there was no law by which Jesus Christ should have been put to death. He broke no law. He lived the perfect life. It was the term we hear today. It was mob rule that killed Jesus Christ. It was the will of the people and Pontius Pilate was not strong enough to stand up against it. He listened and deferred to what they said. We see rudiments of that in our society today as you look at some of the things that happened. Mob rule is a very dangerous thing.

And in Christ's time, against all the laws of the land at that time, against conscious Pilate who knew this man shouldn't be to death, because the man shouldn't even be scourged, against all the things and all the laws of the land. He yielded to the will of the people and they said kill him and so he authorized it to be done. As we go forward to the return of Jesus Christ and as time comes, we're likely to see some of the same things happen in ours. It's what people's will is as opposed to what the law would say. It was it was thrown aside for Jesus Christ. They will be thrown aside many, many times and Paul or Peter called it exactly what it was. Lawless. There was no basis. And Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, because lawlessness, lawlessness abounds, the love of many will wax cold.

But we're entering into a time where law means nothing. The law that's on the books, throw it out the window, people will have their own ideas and all that, all that will change before the return of Jesus Christ. You have taken him, Jesus Christ, by lawless hands. You crucified him. You put him to death. Their will, but also God's will. I mean, it was God's will and God's part of his plan that Jesus Christ would die and pay the penalty for our sins. In verse 24, they said, whom God raised up. You put him to death, but God gave him life. God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it wasn't possible that he should be held by it.

It was God's plan. God has the power over life. He has the power over death. Jesus Christ came. He paid the penalty. They were now going to understand why Jesus Christ, why he came the first time, what his life and what that part of his mission was, and what he was doing then, because later he'll talk about him sitting at his right hand today, that they would understand fully what Jesus Christ had done and that God is the one who gave him his life back, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. There wasn't any man. There wasn't any government. There wasn't any anything that could keep Jesus Christ at that grave. The will of God is, I will raise him up. And indeed he did in exactly the time that had been foretold and planned from the foundations of the earth that it would happen. So, you know, I could reference I could reference 1 Corinthians 15, where it talks about Jesus Christ having the power, you know, that he's given us hope, and he has the power over death.

Let me look at my notes here for a moment.

First, are we in 24?

Oh, yeah, the power death. Death was never going to have the power over Jesus Christ.

The same thing is what Jesus Christ says about his church. Let's go back to Matthew 16.

It wasn't possible for Jesus Christ to be held by the bounds of death, or the constraints of death, God would resurrect them up. And with Jesus Christ, when he was talking about his church, that now with the day of Pentecost, that church has received the Holy Spirit, and that's the age that we're in. Now it's Jesus Christ's church that is there until the time of his return, the temple that he's building. In Matthew 16, 18, he says, I say to you, I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Death will not alter that church. Death will not kill my church. You may have leaders that die, that won't end the truth. You may have people who are put to death, and certainly down through the, you know, 2000 years since the church started, how many people have we seen they were put to death down in the, you know, during the times of the exiles and down through all the thousand years when when anyone who would even look at the Bible, you know, was could be put to death. Nothing will stop God's church. It will exist. It'll be a small flock. It'll have little strength, but it will exist. Nothing can kill it. No man's death. Nothing will stop the church of God, and that has been the truth. That has been the truth, you know, down from the time that Jesus Christ, from the time that Jesus Christ began his church.

Okay, next.

Acts 2. Now, I can't, you know, man and Satan will try to kill the truth. I mean, I guess I can't impress that enough. Man and Satan will always try, Satan, man under the influence of Satan, will always try to kill the truth. I mean, Jesus Christ was put to death. Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

And again, as we look at where we are today, from the until the time that Jesus Christ returns, understand that a world under the sway of Satan will do everything it can to kill the truth.

It will do everything it can to kill the truth and cancel anyone who believes that.

The mission being you will believe what we believe, and if you don't, there's going to be a price to pay. It's only with God's Holy Spirit poured out in Acts, poured out here the day of Pentecost, and in 31 A.D. in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit that you and I have, it'll be with that strength and that patience and the power that God gives us to see it, you know, to see, to endure through the time of the return of Jesus Christ.

Okay, Acts 2, verse 24.

Jesus Christ, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it, and that he supports what he's saying by Scripture again.

Always what is said, and he's speaking with authority, right? He's saying, hear my words, listen to what I have to say, and then he backs it up with Scripture. But David says concerning him, and this comes from Psalm, one of the Psalms, David says concerning him, Jesus Christ, I foresaw the eternal always before my face. I foresaw him always before my face. He's always there. Now Jesus, I mean, Jesus Christ is a descendant of David. He came from his line. Yet David knew God's plan. God revealed that to him. He says, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. Jesus Christ said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

I saw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

I won't fear. Whatever comes my way, I will stand because I know that Jesus Christ is there with me.

He said he would never leave or forsake me. His Holy Spirit will give us the power, the love, the sound mind that we need to go through everything and to walk through anything that God wants us to do. David saw that, and he's prophesying here, and he's talking about what God has led him to see about the Messiah. Therefore, verse 26, therefore my heart rejoiced.

He saw the plan. What is there not to rejoice in when you know the plan of God and you know that his way is going to, he's going to provide everything we need, and his way is going to ultimately be the way of life on earth. Therefore, my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. My flesh also will rest in hope. Well, Jesus Christ, we know that's the hope of the resurrection.

David knew that hope was there. I know that I will live again. Job said that in Job 14, I know that I will live again. You will have a desire for your hands, for the work of your hands.

You will not leave. Verse 27, here he gets into a little bit about, you know, what happens after death. It's right here in that, you know, the Jews of that day had no idea what happened after death. I don't, you know, I think they had their own theories of what went on. I'd have to research that a little bit more, but verse 27, he kind of tells them what happens after death. This is from David. You will not leave my soul in Hades. You're not going to leave my soul forever in the grave. You didn't leave Jesus Christ forever in the grave. He was there for three days and three nights, and you resurrected him. You won't leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. And indeed, Jesus Christ didn't decay. He wasn't in the tube long enough for his body to decay. He didn't see corruption like those of us who die will, and eventually our our flesh and bones turned to dust again. David knew that. He, you know, and here as Peter is giving this impromptu sermon, 100% fed and inspired by God on this day of Pentecost, look what he's teaching them. Look at the verses that he turns to so that the people are understanding this is what was prophesied. This is what's happened in our midst. So when we come to the conclusion here, after you get down to verse 38, you know, how can they say anything? What can we do? Look what we've done. Nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You've made known to me the ways of life. You know, David had a vision of the kingdom. David would muse on the and meditate on the ways of God and imagine what life would be like when every single man, woman, and child was living by every single one of God's commands that was led by his Holy Spirit.

You've made me to know the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence.

Always in God's way there's joy. Always in God's way there's joy. Even though times may be tough, and even though there may be some physical pain involved along the way, there's always joy where we're doing things God's way and we're led by his Holy Spirit. Verse 29, he addresses the congregation again, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David. He is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Though he's addressing something and letting him know Jesus Christ was the pattern. Jesus Christ died. Jesus Christ was not immediately when he breathed his last breath taken up into heaven. He laid there for three days and three nights in the tomb, and it wasn't until God resurrected him three days and three nights later that he ascended into heaven at the time appointed by God. He laid in the grave just like you and I. He is the pattern. He's the example. And just like he laid in the grave until God, until, you know, God calls us, and you know, Jesus Christ says in John 5 when he says, come forth, then we'll, you know, be resurrected. David, he says, he's dead and buried and his tomb was with us today. We can go over to verse 34. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself. Here's what it is in your Bible. In these verses you know so well, Peter is telling them. David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. You sit there until Jesus Christ returns. He will sit at God's right hand, exactly where he is today, until God sends him back and God and the enemies and Jesus Christ returns to earth and he makes his enemies his footstool. So all these verses are there as Peter is explaining to the people and using these words to help them understand what they've lived through and the truth that is there, even to the point that when you die, don't worry yourself with all these imaginations that you have and all these theories of what happens and everything the Greeks are talking about that happens when you die. You will lay in the grave until God resurrects you.

So Mr. Shabey, I do find that it's kind of funny it just dawned on me when you read these words. It's amazing that it is just black and white right there that why does modern religion or Christianity believe that we go to heaven after we die? I mean, you would think if anybody's going to be there, David and some of the other forefathers that were called out in the Old Testament, if they're not there, why do we have this belief that everyone goes to heaven when they die? It's kind of crazy, and it's just right there, old-face black and white. People don't see it or don't read it. There's no way to misinterpret what that says. There's no way to know that. You're absolutely right. It goes back to 1 Corinthians 2, right? When it talks about the Spirit of God gives us the understanding, you and I can see it, but without God's Holy Spirit, they read right over it, or they make excuses for it, or they just assume that all the theories they've heard all their lives are correct. It is hard to understand how people don't get that, but God's Holy Spirit is the thing that allows us to understand it, and until you have it, you just don't understand God's way.

Mr. Shaby, I'd like to comment about that. That was one of the studies that I was working on that I shared with you. Is it possible that a lot of the Christian, mainstream Christianity, specifically, not the non-believers, but the mainstream Christianity people, there is a scripture that says when we die, the spirit of man goes, our spirit goes back to God? And I think maybe that's where some of the confusion may be coming in. What do you think? I think that that can be confusion, but it doesn't say that the Spirit does go back to God. Maybe where the confusion is, but when you get in the New Testament, that's why I say I haven't studied it, and I do believe the Jews had some thoughts about what happened after death. They didn't understand this either, and I think that's one of the reasons maybe Peter is talking about this here, to let him know this is what happened, just like Jesus Christ did that. I don't know. I think it's blindness. I mean, Peter talks about blindness has happened to Israel. Satan would want men to believe in the immortal soul, but we know that God didn't breathe eternal life into man at the time of creation. He breathes his spirit into us when we repent and are baptized, and that is the thing that will lead to eternal life, not the breath that we are born with. I think all those things go together. Satan has done a masterful job of trying to deceive people and let them think they will live forever regardless, and that's what God created us with. But beyond that, just like they can't understand us, we read these things and we can't understand how they can't understand it either, and the comfort and the peace that just comes from knowing what happens after death. It's interesting because people will read what they want to read, and they won't read what they don't want to read, and they'll make anything support their point of view. I've got one of my sons who is battling on his clean and unclean meats at work, and it's interesting because the gentleman that is challenging him brought in a list of Bible verses that said, here everything God created is good, and he uses this specific verses to say, okay, if it's good, then I should be able to eat pork and all this kind of stuff. And it's interesting because they're just using the very simple aspects to support their point of view, and I kind of joked with Brendan and said, then go to him and say, okay, so if everything's good, do you eat human? Do you eat dog? Do you eat cockroaches? I mean, it's just funny because it's just so blatant that people breeze right over it. Yeah. No, you're right. Yeah. And again, they just, I mean, 1 Corinthians, they just can't understand. They just can't understand until they have God's Holy Spirit is, you know, one thing to remember. Jesus Christ, one of the words, you know, he says, many wise men wish they could see what you see and know what you know, but they don't, that they don't. God has given us, you know, this.

So, Mr. Chavi, this is Berta. Hey, Berta. You know, if you go back to the beginning of 2, I think it is the beginning when God started calling the masses, because if you see the miracle, it was not so much on the different languages, but on the interpretation in the hearing. He opened the hearing and the ones who responded, the chosen one, the people who answered and heard, you know, at that minute, people were already judgmental on the people who follow God. You understand that they were telling, telling that they were drunk, but those are the resistance here. The one who do not want to admit that God is right. You know, there is many self-will. They want to go their way, and God is wrong. And like I just had just recently told to me, I says, I cannot believe God made heaven and earth in six days. And, you know, I says for him, it's nothing, it's impossible.

You know, and I know Peter says somewhere that a thousand years is like a day to God.

Or in David, he mentioned a thousand years is like yesterday. You understand, for us, it's very hard to comprehend God's miracle. But it's in the hearing, the miracle, and it's the person that responds to the calling. But not every heart is ready. Yep. And sometimes we have to get our human reasoning out of the way. Like you said, I've heard the same things from some people. It's like, if there's no way God could have created everything in one day, or you know, he's on one day, and it's like, but he's God. Do you understand? He's God. Yeah, he's not me. He's not you. We could do it in a hundred lifetimes, or any of the things that he did. And it's kind of like, you know, just kind of like Sarah, you know, Sarah, we talked about her. I mean, that she believed. She just had to believe that even though my body isn't physically capable of it, you're capable of doing anything. And yeah, but we trust sometimes we get our human reasoning involved in logic, and then we can discount God, and we limit him. We limit him, you know, as Paul says, by our own affections, our own ideas, our own mindsets. So, no, we can't do that.

Okay, good points. You know, I'm looking at the time here. Let me see where we are. Did we do 29?

Okay, well, let's go ahead and let's look at, um, I don't want to keep you past 230 here. Let me just see what read these verses in here, what I've got in my notes here. So, let's end it there at 29, and then we will pick it up in verse 30 next week. We can't get through, I didn't want to get through the, I didn't intend to get through the entire chapter today. Anyway, maybe we would get down to verse 30, um, eight, but we can do that later. Okay, um, let's just do that. I don't want to keep you too long.

Any other comments or questions? Yes, I'm shaming. Yes, sir. So, I was just going back to, I'm not sure who was talking about the, uh, that, for that potential confusion about, um, the spirit going back. I think, I think something that's been helpful for me when, when I've come across that, uh, that, that, that sort of, that mindset, the best analogy that I've come up with is to help people who aren't really in God's truth understand it is, uh, you know, they can think of it as like a cell phone and a battery. If you take the battery out, the cell phone doesn't work. It works as a unit. So that battery, if you will, is the, you know, the life energy that God breathes into us. And that is what is returning to Him. It's not, it's not the entire unit together.

It's just simply the energy that was given goes back to Him. Um, so that was something that, hopefully, that's, you know, helpful in that, that regard. And then I did have a little bit of a question. Um, so, so I understand that we don't, you know, that we won't understand, I guess, the fullness of, but I do think we can grasp the concepts without, I mean, just with, without God's Holy Spirit. And I'm going to say that in terms of understanding what it means, because if we couldn't understand it at all, then we wouldn't, you know, like, like, basically, before I was baptized and I was learning God's truth, I understood not to eat pork, according to His word. So I understood the concepts. Um, I believe that I'm growing more and more, but I do think we can understand God's concepts and His truths. And I, you know, I, I followed what He said. Obviously, I was learning and I still have to continue to learn and grow, but I do think we can understand it.

Yeah. And Brandon, you're right. Remember, remember there's a difference between the Holy Spirit with you and the Holy Spirit in you, right? That's what Jesus was writing to hold the disciples back in John, I guess it was 14, the Holy Spirit which has to be with you, but it will be in you. And so, yeah, God, as God begins to call us and our minds are understanding, that's God's Holy Spirit that's imparting the understanding. He's, He's with us to give us that understanding, and so we can understand. Otherwise, we would never come to the truth, but He, He leads us to see, you know, where, what will we do? Will we actually repent and follow Him or just cast it all aside? So, yeah, the Holy Spirit is there when people are understanding. I tell people, even when they call, so many of them call, and they know the Sabbath day, and they are convicted, and I know they're being called because the God Spirit is with them, but so many of them, like it talks about the parallel soils, will just fall by the wayside. You hear from them once or twice, and then they never pick up the phone again, right, and or never respond to a call. So, no, God's Spirit is with us, and God's Spirit was with among these people that day. Of the people that we're hearing, you know, later on in verse 41, we see 3,000. 3,000 of however many heard that day, so, and then later on 5,000, so. Okay, anything else? Hi, Sherri Ewell. How are you doing? Good, good. Feeling better each day, I hope? Absolutely. Good, good. Did you have a question or? Okay, anything else anyone?

Okay, so Jacksonville, let me see. Let me give it the times right here. Jacksonville's 1130 services on Sabbath. We will zoom Jacksonville services to Jacksonville people who can't be in, who can't attend on Sabbath. Just trying to let me know. I know the ones I know. I'll send it to you anyway, but anyone else that can't be there, let me know. Orlando will be doing the webcast out of Orlando at 2 30. One Pentecost. We're going to do just zoom. We won't do YouTube or webcast.

Jacksonville services will be zoomed, available on zoom. Orlando services will be available on zoom. So at 2 30, I'll send that on my letter to you. 2 30 in Jacksonville and Pentecost, 11 a.m. in Orlando.

Mr. Shady, we weren't there this past Sabbath, so, but I heard you say something on the webcast about Orlando having something. They can bring the lunch or something. Do we have anything going on in Jacksonville like that? No, we don't. In Orlando, we've got some time, but in Jacksonville, we can't be in the hall until 1 o'clock because they have services there on Sunday morning. So that's why we otherwise we would do it. So okay. Okay, thank you.

Okay, well with that then, very good everyone. Thank you for joining in. We will look forward to seeing all of you on Sabbath, others of your Wednesday. Everyone have a good Sabbath at a good Pentecost, and we will see you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Have a good day.