THAT DAY!

I want to look at the title, That Day. That Day. Acts chapter 1 and 2 tell us everything we need to know about that day. That day is unlike any other day that came before it. Or that will come after it, save one day. The only day that will be more magnificent of God's power is the day of Jesus Christ's return. That is the day we will all look forward to. But before that comes, he gives us every year a chance to celebrate and remember the Feast of Pentecost. In 31 A.D., 1995 years ago, today, that Feast of Pentecost took place. Can you imagine it? What if you were there? Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall, as they say? Of course, I don't know. There was a big breeze, so I may not want to be a fly. But will we ever be able to have the impact that 3,120 people had that day? No, don't think so. Because that was a one-time event that day. That day. Do you think they will remember everyone that was there that day? Oh, boy! I think you would. The 120 in the room, about, let's get precise, it says about 120. Then the 3,000, about 3,000. It says 3,000, but I don't know that anybody was down there counting, taking roll of that day. But it was a large group of people. Amazing! The Holy Spirit was given in mass for the first time ever on that day. Events that could only be called miraculous. I know you've read it. I know you've heard sermons after sermons over the years. I have 50, wow, 54 sermons for me on Pentecost. And none of them can ever touch what it would have been like in that room that day. What happened 50 days, 49 days before it? We gathered in this room for a Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread. And then that time, and it seems like it just happened, didn't it, seven weeks ago. Imagine if you were them, you went through the event and the sacrifice of God in the flesh. I think the seven weeks went by awfully fast because Jesus came back and appeared to them for 40 days. He stopped 10 days before Pentecost. He got to spend time with them, even cooked them some food. That's what I was pretending to do for this afternoon later on as I had my grill out. It's on my throat a little bit because I was smoking a whole lot of meat. And there was supposed to be a breeze, and it wasn't. And so it just went right up in my face. Don't you feel sorry for your cook?

But Maria's got us some fish, and we've got all these other things. I'm just bringing this out. We've got bread, so we're going to be able. What kind? Barley bread. I say, wave that before God.

The miracles can only be described in Acts 2 as divine. Divine. God. And on that day, godly power was going to be distributed to humans.

There were a few cases in the Old Testament, but Christ was waiting for this time. He was slain from the foundations of the earth. The world actually says. He knew. He knew in his plan that after this time he would be able to give an essence of himself to his followers. And they'd be small at first, but there's a better time coming. And that's what is beautiful about this. I'm going to ask you something, though.

That day. What do you think about in that day? Do you think about it? That day.

Where were you? November 22nd, 1963. Do you remember that day? I was almost five years old. I remember that day because my mother crying, and I couldn't understand why she was crying. But then I understand that the woman whose husband was killed that day had a son my very same age. My mother could feel that.

9-11. Do you know where you were on that day? Almost everyone does. Is there anyone that does not remember? You don't remember. You weren't born yet. You weren't. You were just too young. Or you were playing with something else. All of us do. I remember exactly where I was when I went in to pick up a bobcat. What? Construction bobcat. As a matter of fact, no, it wasn't bobcat, it was a backhoe. I went in to pick it up, and there on the screen was this. When I went to the shop, there was this thing that said, oh, man, somebody must have... something happened because the first plane hit the towers. That entire day, I was staying by my radio, listening, and so forth. Do you remember where you were? Yes. Why? Because it made such an impact. It has shaken most of us to the core of that attack on America.

I remember when Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed. I was only seven or eight years old. I got up and turned on the cartoons on Sunday morning, and there they were showing him.

I remember that day. It made an impact on me, even at eight or nine years old. I remember that day. The only thing I can't remember is the date.

I can blame it because I was dating her at the time.

She made me forget everything.

That's why when I baptized someone, I said, what day is it? Remember this day. This is a day that God knows, as your name is written in the book of life, because that's when it is.

Yes, it used to be. Yes.

Come with me to Acts 1.

Acts 1, yesterday I read about, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and to all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And that's Christ's last words to them after 40 days of meeting with them. And it says they all went off, left there. Let's pick it up then. Acts 1, verse 12, said, Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey, which two-thirds of a mile is what my note says, but that has been bantered around quite a bit. Depends on where you're from.

Is that really important to us today? Well, I don't think anybody, I think everybody here traveled more than two-thirds of a mile to get here. So there are certain circumstances there. Verse 13, And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. And these all continued in one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. They'd come together right after that he left them. This would have been about 10 days before Pentecost. And in verse 15, it said, In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. Altogether, the number of names was about 120. And I won't go through what he was saying there as much as verse 20. He says, For as written in the book of Psalms, Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it, and let another take his office. And you can read about that if you'd like in a different text from the Old Testament. But verse 21 says, Therefore of these men who have accompanied us all the time, all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, to the day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. Isn't that interesting?

There were two men, obviously, who had been with Christ and been a disciple or follower of his for the entire three and a half years. We don't hear much about them.

They were put into a group of other people who called disciples. And it makes you think, were they part of the seventy that went out as twos? Were they? Because he sent seventy men out in twos, scattered a country, and they cast out demons. They did all these various things. They preached the gospel. They baptized. They did all these things. But were they also, that last day at the Feast of Tabernacles, his last Feast of Tabernacles as a human on earth, when he gave that sermon about to eat my flesh and drink my blood?

Were these two men? Were they ones who left? Because it said they've all left. But, there's much difference between them and what happened to all the men who scattered that night when Jesus Christ was taken. So obviously these men had been following and Christ knew the Spirit. And so he was making this happen.

Verse 23, and they proposed to Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, so I guess he had many names, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of you these two you have chosen. Which of these two? Because it's going to be down to one to replace Judas. And to take part in the ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell that he might go to his own place. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. So he became an apostle like them. Have you ever wondered how that was done? If you'd been there, could you imagine it? How were lots cast? Do you know how it was back then? Do you know how that day went? The eleven apostles chose by casting lots who it would be of the two men. So today we're going to reenact that. We're going to have two men come forward, that I've talked to, Clive. And, well, we don't know your name yet. And David? Two men were brought forward.

Lots were cast. I'm going to ask you to put your hands behind your back. I'm going to give you a stone, and I don't want you to look at it.

Each of those has a stone, one white and one black.

God knows, but the eleven men didn't. Now I'm going to ask if you will. There are eleven people in this room that have stones under their chairs. I'd like you to look under your chair. And pull out an envelope that is there.

See, make sure we have eleven. Everybody got one? Hold it up. And who else got one? Yep.

Okay, raise your hand. Raise your hand. One, two, three, four, over here. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. If you will, open the envelope.

You will find two stones.

Yeah, you get to keep the envelope. You have a white stone and a black stone. Okay.

You're going to put them in your hand, in one hand, and with the other hand you're going to pull one of the stones out without knowing what it is. And you're going to put it in here. You're going to put one stone in here.

Nope.

One in the basket. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. This would have been prayed over, and it was God's will that they said by casting lots, because they didn't know. Now, do you mind showing the stone what you have up here? You have what? The black stone or the white stone.

One, two, three, four, and five black stones. One, two, three, four, five, six. You are Matthias. Thank you. You keep those stones.

That is how that was actually done.

Random. That way you left it in God's hands. The interesting part about this is the casting of lots was never done, and church or evidence after the Holy Spirit was given.

You'll find it nowhere in Scripture where they cast lots. Holy Spirit was given, and then the Holy Spirit was to guide you in the decisions they would make.

I've been asked about that.

Now you know why. It's never been done since then in the Scripture that we can find.

Finally, that day. That day.

Let us read as we go to Acts 2. Acts chapter 2. This is the full account. All we can see, all that we know, all that was inspired to be written down by Luke, the physician, and the book of Acts. So we're going to go through 41 verses here, but I want you to imagine being there. I don't know how many of you have watched movies. I used to grow up watching westerns, and always thought when I was a kid, boy, I wish I did have a horse growing up, but I thought, man, how nice that would be to ride like John Wayne and be back in the western times, and then when I got older and read about it, no, I like air conditioning and running water.

But this is a day, a time, that is tied to us. This is the first fruits. This day was given. It was given for us, not just 3,120 people that day. We are recipients, and we are following down. We are part of the legacy of this day, that day of Pentecost. Amazing when you think about it. What a privilege. What a privilege. Undeserved, a bunch of humans. But yet God says, nope, children of God, sons and daughters of God. So chapter 2, verse 1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. No, they weren't in a car. They were all of one mind, one accord. They were all thinking this. And that's what's important about we today, as we gather here, we need to be of one accord. And it's having that vertical mind that I talked about yesterday, because He's given us the power there. And so now I hope you can relive this as we go through that, because I think it's important since you are the legacy, that you can explain just how big this day is, because in a lot of places it's not that big. It's just another Sunday. Verse 2, as they were all in this upper room together, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Can you hear it? Imagine the chills.

Those people had never seen or heard anything quite like that before. Imagine you being there, not knowing that sound, that wind. What was happening?

Verse 3, And then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one set upon each of them. Do we know how that happened? What would it have been like? Matthew had talked to maybe even even it was a tongue, because it was tongues. Fire is something most people run from. This was brought to them. A divine miracle. Did it set on each other's heads? Did it set over them? I don't know. I can read this and I can wonder as I try to picture myself back there. What would you have been thinking? I just heard and felt a wind that came through almost like a tornado. And then I'm seeing this miracle of fire above people. Is it above me? Is it above...

What a moment. That day was something very, very special. Verse 4, And they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Could I have my speaker stand and read?

Matthew 28, 19-20. Stand Imagine you were in that room that day. 28. Matthew 28. Imagine being in that room and being divinely guided in saying something, all the same thing, that you didn't fully understand. And you were hearing all these different languages. We're blessed today to have an example of that. If you would mind, please, go.

Go! Amen! Please have a seat. I appreciate those who can speak different languages or bilingual. I learned at a very young age how to speak a second language. Southern. I speak English and I speak Southern. Imagine being there, talking and saying these things and hearing these from people that you knew, people who were related, they were relatives. You had Jesus and his mother and his brothers and his sisters. It would have been all right there, saying these things they knew, but something was coming out of their mouth and people were hearing it in different languages of the 3,000 people. Amazing day. Amazing day. You would have had chills because you knew you were in the presence of something divine. We all felt that at one time or another. Let's go down. Verse 5.

Are not all these speak Galilean? Because it was a form of Southern. It was considered a lazy speech in Aramaic that was being said because they weren't really educated. But they knew who these people were and they were saying, how are they saying these things in our own languages? That is amazing. How is it we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phygea, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya joining some of the nations. Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, those who had converted. Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speak in their own tongues, the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what ever could this mean? Others, mocking, said, oh, they're just full of new wine. They're a bunch of drunks. Because they're just carrying on up there. But Peter, Peter who ran, who denied Christ three times, now that the Holy Spirit was given, he spoke with power, with authority, with direction, as God will direct each and every one of us through the Holy Spirit when we need. Isn't that why the Scripture says when you're called up before people, don't worry about what you're going to say. Ask God to put the words in your mouth. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to the men of Judea, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. Pretty strong. Heed my words. He's saying, listen up! For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only nine o'clock in the morning. But this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last day, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesize, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and on my menservant and on my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heavens above the signs of the earth. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord, it shall come to pass, and whoever calls on my name shall be saved. What was this? Because we can look. He's actually talking about the sixth seal. He's talking about the last time. Why would Peter quote this from Joel? Why would he do that? Does he think that the world's coming to an end? No. No.

God is pouring out the first fruits of his Spirit. He is pouring out, just like he will at the end time, where he will make available to anyone in the last days his Holy Spirit. But as we know, the world at that time has rejected God, and there's very few, but there's some who will. And if you will at the end time, you have to cry out to God, and he will give you his Spirit. He just gets to do it on a very small scale, just like those first fruits. And what better day to do it than the Pentecost? And Peter knew this. Peter knew that this was just a first, but a bigger time is coming. Greater time when Joel. Isn't there so much duality in the Bible? There's this, and there's this. There's John the Baptist and the real prophet on the way. There's so many cases of that. Let's finish as we go to verse 22. It said, Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and the signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourself also know.

He's putting it point blank. How many thousands did Jesus Christ heal? It may be into the tens of thousands as people were lined up. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it is not possible that he should be held by it. He wasn't going to stay in the grave. For David said concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades in the grave.

David will be resurrected. He knew that, as he also knew his seed would be resurrected. Nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption, for you have known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us today.

Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his body, Jesus Christ, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. And Christ will come back, and he will sit on that throne, the throne of David. He foreseen this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Three days and three nights he was brought out. This is Jesus God has raised up, of which we are witnesses, therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.

He brought out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. David knew where Christ would be. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Can you say those words?

As one, one, two, three. Men and men, what shall we do? Can you imagine 3,000 people saying that? Can you imagine there are 3,000 of those people who didn't know what was going on, who thought they were drunks, now being moved by Peter by saying because so many of them had actually seen Jesus the Christ.

Why? How would they have seen it? From all over the Roman territories? Because they were proselytes because they came in for the Holy Days. Who was at these Holy Days for three years? Jesus the Christ. They had heard about Him, and they cried out together, Man, brethren, what shall we do? Talk about a moving moment. 3,000 men, maybe women, knowing that they had killed God, and that God was now opening access to them. What an incredible day. What an incredible moment.

Verse 38, Then Peter said to them, Repent! And let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins. And you shall receive what? The gift of the Holy Spirit. What? The gift of the Holy Spirit. Ah. 3,120 people all receiving it in the one day.

I don't know how they did it. I don't know. You had twelve apostles? How? How did they baptize? Someday I want Him to show me that. I want to see that vision because I pictured this so many times. I want to know how He did it. I baptized six people in a day, and I think that's great. Okay. How did they do this? Where were they at, brethren? What city were they at? Okay. Are they near the Jordan River? No.

No. Are they near the Sea of Galilee? No. They're still exciting. Maybe the Poulous Islands? Where else? I've tried to look. Matthew, you've done a lot of study. There weren't great bodies of water. There was the sea, but they weren't going to let them go up to the temple near the sea and be baptized into the sea.

Everybody knows the two towers, as they were called, the sea, and the water below them. How did they do it? And did they march? If they were coming from a house, which is believed to be Mark's mother's house, where they held the Passover, where they held these, they would have had to walk to find, what, 3,000 people? Tell me the Roman soldiers wouldn't be going, What's going on?

The Roman soldiers weren't worried, were they? They had put down the rebellion. The leaders, the leaders, where were they? They were in the temple. Doing what? Keeping Pentecost. The old-fashioned way. They wouldn't have been worried. Isn't that amazing? I want to find out, someday. Some of you have traveled to Jerusalem. I've never done that. Maybe you know. And I don't know what existed 1,995 years ago. But how did they do it? What an amazing thing. 3,120. What's your weird thought? Bill's weird thought. Weird thought. What if the water he took out of the Red Sea, when they passed through the Red Sea, that amount of water he transported into a place, that became the water they were baptized in. That's a weird thought.

I told you from here. Never even thought that. I think I'm on... The aqueducts. The aqueducts. There are some. There's a water back there. Yes. The Bible shows. Mine shows a small, small body of water. Where at? In Jerusalem. Does it say what it is? Yes. Good. That's your assignment for next week. Bring me that evidence so we can point that out. You can teach us, as I do not know that. Now, where were we? What verse should I end with? 39. Oh, where he says, repent. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as our Lord. Will. Call. Call. Do that again. To all who are far off. Are you a far off from 1,995 years ago? I feel we are. As many as the Lord our God will call. We heard earlier about the indwelling and the calling from Matthew. This is us. That day, brethren, is about us. This is our day. Because we get to relive the greatest that day that ever existed. And we get to do it every year until Jesus Christ returns. Verse 40. And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. That's a way to start a church. That's a way the next week we're going to go. Bill, you've got to find us a bigger hall. Right? Except you better plan for 5,000.

Yes.

Brethren, we are blessed to be a part of this day. And I want you to be a part. I want you to feel a part. Because it was about us. It is for us, as it was for them. The beauty. The pageantry. The love and the mercy that was shown that day to those 3,000 men. Besides 120. 120 knew. 120 knew. Christ, intimately. 120 knew to expect miracles. The 3,000? No. They didn't have a clue. And God called them. Just like He called us.

That day was on this day. That day made this day possible. The Holy Spirit and God's gift to us. Thank you. Thank you very much for being a part of that day. Today.