Well, here we are another week, another episode
of the Semi -Seminarian. This is a continuation
of our Bible study series, which we're calling
the Bible for Grownups. In this episode, we're
looking at part two of our study of the Acts
of the Apostles. Tonight, our talk is entitled
The Roof. The roof, the roof is on fire. We're
going to be looking at the significance. of the
Pentecost action, the descent of the Holy Spirit
onto the people that we find in chapter 2. I'll
see you on the other side. So in order to wrap
up on time, I'm going to go ahead and get started.
This is session 2 of our study on Acts of the
Roof. The roof is on fire. And we're going to
actually begin the study on Acts chapter 2 by
looking in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy.
So if you see your sheet there, if you want to
go ahead and get to Deuteronomy 26 and wait for
me, I'll catch up with you guys. So last time
when we were together, we looked at the first
chapter of Acts, and we found ourselves right
at the end of that chapter with the 11 disciples,
apostles, now picking a replacement for Judas.
And we will recall, this is going to be important
not only through that lesson, but also through
this one too, that there was something that was
very, very important to the disciples in picking
that replacement. And they had two things that
they wanted to look for. One, they decided that
the apostle, the replacement, should have been
with them the whole time. And been with them
the whole time was actually defined. by Peter
by saying that there's a beginning, and that
beginning is Jesus' baptism, and then there's
the resurrection or the ascension at the end
of his earthly life. So there's a start and there's
the beginning, the start and the end, if you
will, for someone that's been with us for the
whole time. There's two things that are in common
with each one of those signposts. The first one
is that there's a witnessing of heaven by witnesses.
In the baptism by John the Baptist, the heavens
open up, the spirit descends upon Jesus as a
dove. And then, of course, after the resurrection,
the eyewitnesses discovered, witnessed the heavens
opening up during the ascension. The other thing
that those two events held in common was that
not only was it witnessed and participated in
by the 12 apostles, but also it was witnessed
by other people. So they could spread this news
of the resurrection as it being an event, as
it being eyewitness testimony, and it's something
that not only they and their close circle of
friends saw, but other people saw as well. That
eyewitness testimony, part of it, was super,
super important. Because the apostles, we're
going to find, are going to start the early church,
the Christian movement, not just on faith. Not
just on something that a book told them to believe
in. They're going to begin the Christian faith,
the worship of Jesus, on an event. An actual
event that's backed up by eyewitness testimony.
So tonight we're going to look at chapter 2 of
the Acts of the Apostles. And this is going to
deal with another one of these Jewish festivals
that's called the Feast of the First Fruits.
It's also known as Pentecost. And the timing,
just to remember to put ourselves in the time
frame here, the timing is going to be Passover
plus seven sevens. So 50 days, 49 days plus the
day of Passover. That day is is Pentecost. And
people will return back just a couple of months
after the Passover festival. They'll return back.
to offer their first fruits offering. And the
reason why I want to start off in Deuteronomy
is I want to get a Jewish understanding of this
festival before we look at the Christian significance
of Pentecost. Because I think that we find in
the Bible stuff that, man, that sure is really
coincidental, and we realize that it's not coincidence.
It's a pattern of God's behavior. that shows
us something about what we can trust about God
and the way he's acted in the past, and God can
act in the future. So I believe that there are
some distinct parallels that we can draw between
the Jewish celebration of the festival of first
fruits and the Christian celebration of Pentecost.
So beginning with the first verse of the 26th
chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses writes, When you
have entered the land the Lord your God is giving
you as an inheritance and have taken possession
of it and settled in it, take some of the first
fruits of all that you produce from the soil
of the land the Lord your God is giving you and
put them in a basket. Then go to the place the
Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his
name and say to the priest in office at the time,
I declare today. To the Lord your God that I
have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors
to give. Verse 4. The priest shall take the basket
from your hands and set it down in front of the
altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare
before the Lord your God. You're going to say
this out loud. My father was a wandering Armenian.
What? What's an Armenian? Syrian, okay? Same
thing. These are just different names of the
same thing. This is going to be modern -day Syria
or northwest Iraq or northwest Babylon at that
time, Mesopotamia, okay? And I said Armenian,
and it should be Armenian. So let's go down this
rabbit hole, okay, about Armenians. These Jewish
people are declaring that I, just because I don't
like saying that word, let's say Syrian because
it's the same word. It's easier for us to say.
So this is someone that comes from Syria or northwest
Babylon. And so we're declaring as Jewish people,
my father was a wandering Syrian. Now, I want
you to turn to Genesis chapter 24. Not too far
away, all the way on the left -hand side. In
the 24th chapter of Genesis, we find the patriarch
Abraham, and Abraham is now in Canaan. Specifically,
he's in Hebron, which is south of Jerusalem,
and would have then been called Philistia. or
Philistia. Today we would call that Palestine.
So he is in the land of Canaan, land that today
is not Israel, but is in Palestine, the city
of Hebron on the west bank of the Jordan. So
Abraham's here, and Sarah, his wife, has died,
and he is very old. So chapter 24 of Genesis
says, Abraham was now very old. And the Lord
had blessed him in every way. He said to the
senior servant in his household, the one in charge
of all that he had, put your hand under my thigh.
I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven
and the God of earth, that you will not get a
wife for my son from the daughter of the Canaanites,
among whom I am living. But you will go to my
country. and my relatives to get a wife for my
son Isaac. Skipping down to 15, this servant
has now made his way to this area of northwest
Babylon or Syria. Before he had finished praying,
Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.
She was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah.
who was the wife of Abraham's brother, Nabor.
So who's Bethuel? Bethuel is Abraham's nephew.
We are in the northwest portion of Iraq. We are
north of what we call today the country of Israel,
kind of up where it starts to touch where Turkey
would be, if you have the Middle East map in
your head like I do. ancestral home of Abraham.
We find Abraham, Genesis finds Abraham in the
city of Ur of the Chaldeans. But this is his
ancestral home. So this servant has left Canaan,
Hebron, and gone northward, north and eastward,
to northwest Babylon, back to where Abraham originally
was from. He has found his nephew, Bethuel, And
Bethuel has a daughter. That daughter is Rebekah.
Okay? He is an Aramean. Later, Isaac's son, Jacob,
would return back to this area. It's called Padah
Aram, where he married Leah and Rachel. They
would be the daughters of Laban, who again was
identified as an Aramean. So Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob were all wandering Syrians. But this
verse in which we profess of our father is speaking
specifically about Jacob. Why? Well, Deuteronomy
continues. So flip back to Deuteronomy 26. Deuteronomy
26 and 5. and he, the wandering Syrian father
that I have, and he went down into Egypt with
a few people and lived there and became a great
nation, powerful and numerous. That's Jacob and
his offspring, right? It's the result of Joseph
and his divine placement in the Pharaoh's household.
But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer,
us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the Lord,
the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard
our voice and saw our misery, toil, and oppression.
So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror
and signs and wonders. He brought us to this
place and gave us this land, a land flowing with
milk and honey. And now I This is the continuing
of this professment you would make in front of
the priest. And now I bring the first fruits
of the soil that you, Lord, have given me. Place
the basket before the Lord your God and bow down
before him. Then you and the Levites, that's
the priests, and the foreigners residing among
you shall rejoice in all the good things the
Lord your God has given you and your household.
Okay, so in regular person words, So we can all
understand this. What are they celebrating at
First Fruits? Or this Pentecost festival? They're
celebrating the fact that God had made a promise
to them, right? And that promise had been fulfilled.
The produce of that land, this agricultural produce,
of the land that God gave them is proof that
God had fulfilled his end of the bargain. Even
in times that you relate in the words you say,
even in times where things didn't go well, God
says, I still promised you blessing. I still
promised you deliverance. God is saying through
all of this, I am always faithful. I've made
a promise to you, and I've kept it. And your
recognition of my sovereignty as God is a portion
of the first harvest of the land I have provided
you. And when we think about the conversion of
the first souls on this day of Pentecost, we
might equate that to the first harvest. That
God is again proving His faithfulness to the
human being. That the story of the Bible is in
fact A story of God and His creation and how
God time and again creates a way that we might
come in contact with Him even when we choose
the other choice because of His love. And so
the festival of first fruits, I think, has a
very real symbolic connection to what we'll see
as Christian Pentecost. Okay, so having said
that, let's look at Christian Pentecost. Let's
look at that day. So we're going to begin in
the second chapter of Acts, verse 1. When the
day of Pentecost came, they, now this is going
to be all of the apostles and then their followers,
they were all together in one place. Tradition
tells us that this is still the upper room. perhaps
of John Mark's mother's house. And suddenly a
sound like the blowing of a violent wind came
from heaven and filled the whole house where
they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to
be tongues of fire that separated and came to
rest on each one of them. All of them were filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now, Luke,
the historian here, is overlaying these events
in the second chapter of Acts with the ancient
stories of the people of Israel. Not only as
a literary device, but to show us the consistency
of God. Think about this. If God brought order
out of chaos, then we should be able to see God
acting and working in an orderly way with us,
in a way that seems to make sense and follow
a pattern. That's what order out of chaos would
mean. He would be working and interacting with
us in an orderly way. And when we can see that
pattern in our lives, if we recognize it, it
can actually form. one of those foundations of
faith that we need. Because if we can see God
acting in a consistent and faithful way, not
only through our lives, but throughout the whole
of the Bible, then we can anticipate and expect
and trust that he will act in the same orderly
way in the future. So the Holy Spirit has come
to the individual, and it's represented by wind,
Here and fire. Okay? Now, rhetorically, where
do we find other stories, perhaps, in the Bible
of wind and fire? Remember, I'm looking for patterns
here, okay? So skip back to another book that
Moses wrote, Exodus. And I hope that as I go
through these, I hope that you'll see the magic
eye of it. As you stare at this a little bit
longer, and then all of a sudden, I think it'll
pop out and all of a sudden you'll see the fish
swimming in the whatever, right? So Exodus chapter
3, verse 1. We find Moses tending the flock of
Jethro, his father -in -law, who was a priest
in Midian. And he led the flock to the far side
of the wilderness and came to Horeb. That is
a mountain that will later be called Mount Sinai.
The mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in flames of fire from within
a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on
fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I
will go over and see this strange sight, why
the bush does not burn up. When the Lord saw
that he had gone over to look, God called to
him from within the bush. Moses. Now, while we're
in Exodus, skip to Exodus chapter 40. And we
are going to begin looking at the first verse
of Exodus chapter 40. And while you're flipping
there, let me kind of set you up where we're
at in the story. We have got to the point now
where the people of God are in the wilderness
and it is time for God to instruct Moses on how
to build the movable tabernacle. Okay, so he's
telling him how it's supposed to be done and
he's now commanding him to do it. Okay, so Exodus
chapter 40 verse 1 begins this way. Then the
Lord says to Moses, set up the tabernacle, the
tent of meeting on the first day of the first
month. Place the ark of the covenant law in it.
Shield the ark with a curtain. Bring in the table
and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in
the lampstand and set up its lamps. Place the
gold altar of incense in front of the Ark of
the Covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance
of the tabernacle. Now, skim down to verse 33.
Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle
and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance
to the courtyard. And so Moses finished his work.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and
the glory. of the lord filled the tabernacle
the presence of god as indicated by this cloud
or smoke has filled filled the tabernacle okay
moses could not enter the tent of meeting because
the cloud had settled on it and the glory of
the lord filled the tabernacle in all of the
travels of the israelites Whenever the cloud
lifted from above the tabernacle, they would
set out. But if the cloud did not lift, they
did not set out until the day it lifted. So the
cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by
day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the
sight of all the Israelites during their travels.
Now, I want you to skip to 2 Chronicles. And
while you're getting there, I'm going to tell
you about one of the things that we see when
we see this, the Hebrew word is Shekinah. Shekinah,
which means the physical manifestation of the
glory of God. God's presence on earth. In essence,
we have an earthly realm and a heavenly realm.
And where those two realms intersect, where heaven
and earth meet, These are the moments where we
see the manifestation of God's glory through
wind, through fire, smoke, or cloud. In these
moments where heaven and earth overlap, there
we find God's presence. In the incident in Exodus
chapter 40, this intersection is that movable
tabernacle, right? That's where the cloud of
God filled the movable tabernacle. That was the
place where the heavenly realm intersected with
the earthly realm. Now, once the people get settled,
it's time to build an actual building this time.
2 Chronicles describes the building of that temple
by David's son Solomon. And we are now looking
at the dedication or the consecration of Solomon's
temple, here by Solomon. In 2 Chronicles, and
I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you to go to chapter
7. In 2 Chronicles 7, verse 1, Scripture says
this, When Solomon finished praying, fire came
down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering
and sacrifices. The glory of the Lord filled
the temple. The priests could not enter the temple
of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled
it. When all of the Israelites saw the fire coming
down and the glory of the Lord above the temple,
they knelt on the pavement with their faces to
the ground and they worshiped and they gave thanks
to the Lord saying, He is good. His love endures
forever. What do these events have in common?
These events have in common the tabernacling
of God with his people. Now, we use that word
tabernacle to think of a place, a structure,
a building, some sort of holy structure. But
that's actually not what the word tabernacle
means. The word tabernacle actually means to
dwell with. In the very first chapter of John,
when John is explaining in the beginning about
the Word and the flesh, he says in the 14th verse,
and God dwelt among us. John 1, verse 14. You
don't have to turn there. I'm just quoting it.
John says, God coming to the earth. Dwelt among
us. The word dwelt there in the gospel account
is the word tabernacle. Or in English, tabernacled.
It's the place where heaven and earth meet. Here
in Acts, verse 4 of chapter 2, we read that all
of them, all of the individual people, had the
fire above them and were filled with the Holy
Spirit. In each one of them individually, the
Spirit of God didn't tabernacle in a place, be
it temporary or permanent, but He tabernacled
within us. We can see the consistency of God's
actions here, right? God comes to the earth.
From the heavenly realm, and that manifestation
is through wind or fire or smoke or cloud, the
way that we can perceive it, right? The difference
is in the Old Testament, God chose to dwell in
a place for the benefit of the people. And under
the new covenant, God has decided to dwell within
the people. And so when we read of the people
with the... Tongues like fire above their head.
That's why we're having that. That's why we have
that as an image. That's God showing us something.
That's God tying us back to those ancient stories
of the Israelite people. Continuing on in Acts
chapter 2, verse 5. Now, they were staying in
Jerusalem. There were staying in Jerusalem. God
-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
They have returned back to the festival of first
fruits or Pentecost. Now, if you were with us
when we talked about the coming of people to
Passover, and we said that scholars have determined
that the city of Jerusalem may have swelled to
three times its normal size during Passover.
The festival of... Pentecost is not that big.
But still, it's going to swell to probably double
its size. There are people everywhere. And so,
they're from all over the place. And when they
heard this sound, the wind rushing through, they
came together in bewilderment. Because when this
all happened, they began to hear each one in
their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed,
they asked, aren't all these who are speaking
Galileans? Now I want to pause right there for
a second. How would they have known that? Because
they're hearing in their own language. It's not
that they're hearing Aramaic, unless of course
Aramaic was their own language. And if they were
speaking Aramaic, then they maybe would have
been able to assume that they were Galileans.
Because Aramaic was the dialect of Galilee. Perhaps
it was their dialect. One of the scholars that
I had read for the study in Matthew had indicated
that Galileans had, I guess, the Galilean dialect
of Aramaic. I think you guys may remember me
saying this is particularly annoying to people.
And so much so that Galileans weren't allowed
to read the proclamations in synagogue. People
just didn't like to hear the way they talked.
So it could have been their dialect, maybe their,
what do we call it, their accent. Even though
they're hearing their own language, maybe they're
hearing it in an accent that sounds strange to
them. Perhaps it's that. Maybe it was how the
Galileans dressed. Remember, these guys are all
fishermen. They're country bumpkins. Maybe it
was the way that they dressed. We don't really
know why it was so clearly stated, aren't these
guys Galileans? Although an interesting thought.
That is not backed up by Scripture, but an interesting
thing to think about is maybe some of these people
did know Him. Remember, it's just been a couple
of weeks since all the brouhaha went down at
Passover. Remember how famous, how popular Jesus
was when He came in to celebrate that Passover.
It wouldn't be completely out of the realm of
possibility that the people calling out the Galileans
here might very well recall a few months ago.
When these guys were with Jesus, maybe that's
a part of the story. Again, there's no backup
to that. I'm just saying it's an interesting
thing to think about. So continuing on with Acts
here, then how is it that each one of us, if
they're Galileans, how can we be hearing in our
native language? And then Luke has a timeout
here and starts just in the middle of this story
that's really spectacular. He just starts laying
out. a geography lesson about the people that
are there. He says the Parthians, the Medes,
the Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea,
Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phygeia, Pamphylia,
Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors
from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism,
Cretans from Greece, and Arabs. Luke doesn't
have to tell us this. Luke doesn't have to tell
us anything. So why would he stop the middle
of this fairly exciting narrative and list all
of this out? I believe it's to indicate to us
that in this moment when the Holy Spirit comes
upon these individual people and the fruit of
the Holy Spirit begins to spread, As they hear
each one of their languages being spoken, what
this list of people represents is basically the
whole known world at the time. Now, it doesn't
include Chinese or Russians or whatever, South
Americans, because that part of the world wasn't
known then in the first century. But in the first
century, this basically... When Luke writes this
out, he's saying to the first century reader,
somebody from everywhere was here. There were
people from the whole world here. And we hear
them declaring the wonders of God in our own
tongues, amazed and perplexed. They asked one
another, what does this mean? Some, however,
made fun of them and said, they've had too much
wine. Sweet bear wine. And then Peter stood up
with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed
the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live
in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen
carefully to what I say. These people are not
drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the
morning. And I'm sure people probably went, ah,
right, yeah, because they'd be day drinking,
right? They're partying all night. No, Peter
says, no. This is what was spoken of by the prophet
Joel. Oh, wait. Oh, yeah, because we're Jewish.
We know this, right? We don't. But the Jewish
people would have went, oh, okay. And he just
straight up quotes from Joel's prophecy here.
The second chapter of Joel's prophecy. In the
last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit
on all my people. Your sons and daughters will
prophesy. Your young men will see visions and
your old men will dream dreams. Now, there's
three options here. Either Joel is talking about
an event that... had happened, or Joel is talking
about an event that will happen, or Joel is talking
about an event that is happening right now. Is
Joel's prophecy, is what he's talking about in
these last days, is this something that in the
chronology of the Bible, is it something that
had already happened? Is it something that will
happen? Or is it something that is happening?
As Peter is speaking Joel's prophecy. That's
my argument. That this is about right now, Peter
is saying. And if you go back, go home and read
and start back at Joel, beginning of Joel. Joel
is, there's a famine in the land and the people
have just suffered a plague of locusts. The reason
why they're suffering the drought and the locusts
is because the people of Israel have turned away
from God. And in the very first part of the explanation,
in chapter 1, this is chapter 2, but in chapter
1, Joel actually says something to the people
of Israel. He says, you drunkards, wake up. Arise.
Put the wine down. I think Peter knows his Bible.
And given the fact that they had just made the
comment about being drunk at 9 in the morning,
This is tying all of that in. If you memorized
Joel as a kid, you might have chuckled whenever
he starts reading Joel 2 because we just accused
those guys of being drunk and went, oh, yeah.
I remember from when Joel had that problem with
the locusts. The other thing I think is interesting
is, and I've done about a full day of research
on this to finally decide where I'm coming down
because I think the last time I had mentioned
that this event, It's happening in the spring
of 30. I've changed my mind. I've changed my
mind because even though Isaac Newton came up
with April of 30, there's a better theory out
there. There's actually a theory that the crucifixion
of Jesus happened on April 3rd, 33. And the reason
why that is there is because astronomers have
gone back and have actually showed that at 6
.02 p .m. there was a lunar eclipse. That as
the sun was beginning to set and the moon began
to rise, the moon would have filled like blood.
So if he would have been crucified at 3 p .m.
and sent to the tomb at 6 p .m., it would have
actually been at a time where astronomers have
been able to indicate, that in Jerusalem at 6
.02 p .m. there would have been a lunar eclipse,
a partial lunar eclipse that would have made
the moon red. That event would have occurred
on April 3rd, 33. So he could also be saying,
remember whenever all that hubbub happened with
Jesus and we had the blood moon? That's coming
from Joel too. What he's doing though, Peter,
He's quoting Joel 2. I think those are a couple
of interesting theories. But what Peter is actually
doing is he's trying to explain the phenomenon
of speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit has descended
into the individual. The individual as a human
being now acts differently than the human being
has acted in the past because now the Holy Spirit,
the intersection of earth and heaven is now here,
not in a building. And as we begin to speak in
tongues, I think Peter, whenever he uses Joel's
prophecy to say that our sons and daughters will
prophesy, that young men will see visions and
old men will dream dreams, right? And he'll pour
out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.
Peter is pulling it out from Joel here. This
is promised already to us from God. We shouldn't
be surprised. We certainly shouldn't be thinking
these guys are drunk. Because if you know Joel
the way I know Joel, and I know you do, then
you would have already known. This was prophesied.
It was promised to us. Peter's also saying that
what we're seeing, right, that is proof of God's
order through chaos. So he continues on. Fellow
Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth
was a man accredited by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did among you through
him as you yourselves know. This man was handed
over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge,
and you, with the help of wicked men, put him
to death by nailing him to the cross. But God
raised him from the dead, freeing him from the
agony of death because it is impossible. For
death to keep its hold on him. David said about
him, I saw the Lord always before me because
he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.
My body also will rest in hope. Because you will
not abandon me in the realm of the dead. You
will not let your Holy One see decay. You have
made known to me the paths of life and you will
fill me with joy in your presence. By quoting
this psalm here, and I believe this is the 110th
psalm, I think. Peter is drawing the people's
attention just like he does to Joel. This is
something that should not catch us by surprise.
We were told long ago that God was going to work
in our lives in an unusual way. What's so unusual?
Jesus died, the Messiah died, and death couldn't
hold him. Usually people die and they stay dead.
But Jesus didn't stay dead. God's already told
us he's going to act in this unusual way. But
let's pause here for just a moment and let's
give Peter his right due. Because how long ago
had it been since Peter... had denied knowing
Jesus to a little girl? Fifty days. A couple
of months. A month and a half. Two months. Right?
How long ago had it been that Peter didn't even
have the guts to go and see Jesus die because
he was scared he might be next? A couple of months.
In a few weeks, here he is standing amongst thousands
of people in Jerusalem. and saying, you did it.
You killed him. Something is different about
Peter. And that should be encouraging for all
of us. Because no matter how much you've screwed
up in the past, I might have kicked Peter off
the team. Jesus made him the quarterback. When
the power of the Holy Spirit begins to work in
us, it can, and not always, but it can work.
So Peter, in this newfound spirit, says, fellow
Israelites, I can tell you confidently, he's
not going to let the David thing go. He says,
I can tell you confidently that the patriarch
David died and was buried, and his tomb, it is
here, in this town, to this very day. But, he
was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised
him on an oath, That he would place one of his
descendants, Isaiah chapter 11, one of his descendants
on the throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke
of the resurrection of the Messiah. That he was
not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did
his body see decay. God has raised Jesus to life.
And, here's the big part, and we are all witnesses
to it. We all saw that. Exalted to the right
hand of God. He is received from the Father,
the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out
what you now see and hear. For David did not
ascend to heaven, and yet he said, the Lord said
to my Lord, talking about Jesus, sit at my right
hand until I make your enemies a footstool for
your feet. Therefore, let all of Israel be assured
of this. God made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Messiah. When the people heard
this, they were cut to the heart and said to
Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what
shall we do? Peter replied to them, repent. Now
when he says repent here, he's not saying, Turn
away from your sin of gambling. I mean, you might
be, but Peter here is saying, change your mind
about what you thought a couple of months ago
about Jesus. Because Jesus isn't in that grave
where they laid Him. And we are all witnesses
to it. Repent and be baptized. Every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins. And you too will receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and
your children and for all who are far off, for
all whom the Lord our God will call. With many
other words he warned them and he pleaded with
them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation.
Those who accepted his message were baptized
and about 3 ,000 people were added to that number
that day. I think that's an average Sunday probably
for Life .Church. 3 ,000 people. 3 ,000 people
in Jerusalem who had heard of or witnessed the
life or the acts or the deeds of Jesus. 3 ,000
people, and don't miss this, 3 ,000 people who
could have at any time during Peter's speech
said, time out. I would like the crowd to follow
me because I can show you where he's buried.
This wasn't years ago. This was two months ago.
Time out. I can take you to the place where I
know his body is. No. In the very city where
Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, over
3 ,000 people said, we believe. And 3 ,000 people
joined the church on day one and were baptized.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching. and to fellowship, to the breaking
of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with
awe at the many wonders and signs performed by
the apostles. All the believers were together
and had everything in common. They sold property
and possessions to give anyone who had need.
Every day they continued to meet together in
the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere
hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of
all the people. And the Lord added to their number
daily. Those who are being saved. And that's
chapter two. Well, there you have it. I hope
that that was illuminating and educational for
you to listen to as much as it was for me to
prepare for. Hey, before I let you go, if you
like what we're doing here at the semi seminary,
and I'd ask that if you would. If you could make
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if you could take the time to rate and review
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get the word out to new folks. Anyway, I will
see you next week as we continue on in our study
of the Acts of the Apostles. And until then,
be blessed and be a blessing.