WEBVTT 00:00:02.239 --> 00:00:05.259 Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.660 want to thank you for joining us today, and we 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.179 hope you find today's sermon impacting as you 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.699 listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk. 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:15.960 To find service times and watch messages online, 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:20.100 see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now, 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:28.179 enjoy this week's message. So I am just so glad 00:00:28.179 --> 00:00:30.879 to be able to preach this morning. What I'm going 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:33.840 to be talking about is Pentecost. And I know 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.320 for some of you that are aware of when Pentecost 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.420 is, it was a week ago, seven days from today. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.039 Today is actually the day of Trinity. This is 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.659 Trinity Sunday. But a week ago was Pentecost. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:48.859 But of course, we had a guest speaker. And Dr. 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:51.179 Meyer did an incredible job doing that and preaching 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:53.659 through that weekend. But I just, in time of 00:00:53.659 --> 00:00:55.380 prayer and even discussing with Pastor Brad, 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:59.000 just felt such an urgency and such a zeal to 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.380 be able to come and to speak about Pentecost. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.680 Because, you know, we actually, as Christians, 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:10.379 celebrate different holy days. Now, of course, 00:01:10.420 --> 00:01:14.420 when I say holy days, Resurrection Sunday is 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:16.180 probably one of the biggest ones, or Easter Sunday. 00:01:16.750 --> 00:01:19.030 There's a huge one that comes to mind. But there's 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:21.750 also Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ. 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:24.010 You know, those are specific days that are like 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:26.329 really, really important. And Pentecost kind 00:01:26.329 --> 00:01:29.129 of gets overshot a little bit because, I mean, 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:31.609 we don't give presents out on Pentecost Sunday. 00:01:31.730 --> 00:01:33.769 We probably should. Maybe that would add some 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:37.849 more awareness for it. But there is a significance 00:01:37.849 --> 00:01:40.670 about the day of Pentecost that's paramount actually 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:44.209 to the gospel. It's paramount to the work of 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:48.090 the church. impactful in your life and to understand. 00:01:48.370 --> 00:01:52.450 And so when we celebrate days like that, we are 00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:55.670 actually taking time to remember what happened 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:58.390 on those days. Even though they were thousands 00:01:58.390 --> 00:02:01.629 of years ago, they are still so prominent today 00:02:01.629 --> 00:02:06.230 because we are practicing actually a Israelite 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:10.520 form or principle of remembrance. We need to 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:14.360 remember the things that God has done so that 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.340 we can actually live out what God has done in 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:20.419 the past, but in a greater and deeper level in 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:25.719 today. So even though we, yes, we celebrate Resurrection 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.620 Sunday, but we remember it also because we see 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.340 the resurrection life of Jesus in our own lives 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.780 today. We celebrate the birth of Christ for Christmas 00:02:35.780 --> 00:02:39.280 because we recognize him as the gift given by 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:42.219 the Father. So we also want to give gifts to 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:44.159 one another in thankfulness and gratefulness. 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:49.000 Because each generation that God is doing something 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.919 new, but also something old at the same time. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.699 time. I don't want just the brand new thing. 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:59.819 I want something that's tested and proven. And 00:02:59.819 --> 00:03:02.080 God likes to use things that are tested and proven. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.139 So we see throughout the Bible multiple things 00:03:05.139 --> 00:03:08.879 done in different ways. You see where the Israelites, 00:03:09.099 --> 00:03:12.819 when they were brought from Egypt into the wilderness, 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:15.780 they crossed the Red Sea. Well, they did a new, 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:20.030 a different crossing with the with the crossing 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:22.110 of the Jordan when they went from the wilderness 00:03:22.110 --> 00:03:25.229 into the land of Canaan. They still had a crossing 00:03:25.229 --> 00:03:28.729 of a body of water. It's remembering that, but 00:03:28.729 --> 00:03:31.530 done in a different way and in a greater way. 00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:34.270 And what did God say to Joshua when they crossed 00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:39.830 over? Build a memorial here so that every generation 00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:44.830 after you will look upon this and remember or 00:03:44.830 --> 00:03:49.610 at least ask, what is that for? Because God wants 00:03:49.610 --> 00:03:52.430 to do something new in every generation, but 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:54.889 not new in the sense that he's never done it 00:03:54.889 --> 00:03:58.270 before, new in the sense of a greater revelation 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:01.189 of what he's always done and who he's always 00:04:01.189 --> 00:04:06.169 been. So when we look at Pentecost, we need to 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:09.330 look at what's really important about a day like 00:04:09.330 --> 00:04:11.129 this, because Pentecost didn't start in Acts 00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:14.000 2. You know, for some of us, you know, charismatics 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.339 or Pentecostals and stuff, we can just read Acts 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:18.459 2 and go, okay, that's the day when we started 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:21.180 having, you know, five hour long services and, 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.560 you know, everybody started doing cartwheels 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:24.839 around the church and stuff. That's actually, 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:28.370 Pentecost is an Old Testament thing. Pentecost 00:04:28.370 --> 00:04:29.689 happened in the Old Testament, and we're gonna 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:31.889 discuss some of that. But what I want us to look 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:35.089 at is, I want us to look at how Jesus actually 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:38.810 discusses things like Old Testament. Because 00:04:38.810 --> 00:04:41.170 God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever, 00:04:41.350 --> 00:04:43.930 right? He's not a different God in the New Testament 00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:46.769 than he is in the Old Testament. The same God 00:04:46.769 --> 00:04:50.670 who is willing to grab the sheep who was lost, 00:04:50.709 --> 00:04:52.550 and he goes out of his way, leaving the 99 to 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:55.709 save the one, is the same God that brought the 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:59.889 flood. Same God. So we have to be able to read 00:04:59.889 --> 00:05:02.209 the Old Testament and the New Testament as a 00:05:02.209 --> 00:05:06.629 unified story, which is redemption of the world. 00:05:06.649 --> 00:05:10.149 God wants to redeem his creation, redeem humanity 00:05:10.149 --> 00:05:15.310 for himself. So let's look at Luke chapter 24 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:21.350 and verse 27. So Luke chapter 24, verse 27 says 00:05:21.350 --> 00:05:24.829 this. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, 00:05:25.050 --> 00:05:28.639 he... being Jesus, discussing to the disciples, 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.660 he's teaching to the disciples on the road, at 00:05:32.660 --> 00:05:37.100 least two of the disciples, where he was already 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:40.360 resurrected in his resurrected body, but he concealed 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:44.579 his true form to them, but he was teaching them 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:47.500 the scriptures. Now, when we say the scriptures, 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:52.399 the New Testament wasn't around then. The scriptures 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:55.620 were the Bible of the Old Testament. That was 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:57.699 the Bible back then. That was the Bible that 00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:00.120 Jesus preached from. It was the Bible that the 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.120 Apostle Paul preaches from. So for anybody who 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.399 thinks, well, the Old Testament, that's old news, 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:08.680 that's old school. We don't need that. We actually 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.019 need it very much to understand what's taking 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:14.740 place in the New Testament. And we need to understand 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:16.800 that it's actually the same Bible that Jesus 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:19.800 preached from. So we have to be able to just 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.139 read the Old Testament the way Jesus read it. 00:06:22.670 --> 00:06:25.629 That's the important aspect. You don't read it 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:28.689 from the place of a practicing Jew. You read 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:31.629 it from the place of Christianity from how Jesus 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:34.370 read it. So look at this. In the beginning with 00:06:34.370 --> 00:06:37.569 Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:42.470 to them in all the scriptures the things concerning 00:06:42.470 --> 00:06:49.279 himself. In other words, in every... Every book 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:51.740 of the Bible, there's a message that reveals 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:57.639 a person, and that person is Jesus. Always. No 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:00.480 matter what book you read, whether it's Leviticus, 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:02.959 whether it's Judges, Malachi, or everything in 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:07.519 between, it is always about Jesus, even in the 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.500 Old Testament. And so Jesus is revealing to them 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:13.660 all the things that actually were about him, 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:17.680 but they didn't realize it yet. They didn't understand 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.779 all the things that were about Jesus, but Jesus 00:07:19.779 --> 00:07:23.300 then reveals. Not just the books of Moses, which 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:26.040 are the first five books of the Bible. He doesn't 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:27.860 just talk about the prophets, which of course 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:29.660 are all the prophetic books. He goes through, 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.459 it says all the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3 .16, 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:37.839 it says all scripture has been breathed out by 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:42.420 God, right? So every verse, every chapter is 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:47.120 about one person. And who is that person? Jesus. 00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:50.759 So now we go to Colossians 2, 16 through 17. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.279 It says, therefore let no one pass judgment on 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.100 you in questions of food and drink or with regard 00:07:56.100 --> 00:07:59.319 to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Now 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.660 this is really important, this second half. These 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:07.620 are a shadow of the things to come. But the substance. 00:08:08.659 --> 00:08:12.600 belongs to Christ. So in other words, a shadow 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.480 or a type or a sign means that these things that 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:18.420 happen in the Old Testament, they're important, 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:22.680 but they're not the fulfillment of what is Jesus. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:26.279 There is a type, it's a shadow. It's something 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:29.399 that has the figure or shape of what is the real 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:33.240 thing. And who's the real thing? The substance 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:38.350 of it, the fulfillment of it, it is Jesus. If 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:40.750 you're not tired by me saying the name of Jesus 00:08:40.750 --> 00:08:43.509 already, you probably will be. Because this is 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:46.190 the message of the church. It's the message of 00:08:46.190 --> 00:08:47.870 the gospel. It's the message of the scripture. 00:08:48.190 --> 00:08:52.909 It is Jesus Christ. And so this is what we want 00:08:52.909 --> 00:08:55.610 to read through the story of the Old Testament. 00:08:55.690 --> 00:08:58.029 We want to look at Jesus throughout it. But also, 00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:00.990 we need to go, all right, yes, what's so important 00:09:00.990 --> 00:09:03.820 about that to Pentecost? in order for us to really 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:06.519 discuss the significance of the day of Pentecost 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.940 in Acts chapter two, we're gonna have to actually 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:15.500 go back to a different story in the Old Testament 00:09:15.500 --> 00:09:17.840 and look at some different things. We're gonna 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:19.720 actually have to look at a couple different festivals 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.139 within the Bible. There are different festivals 00:09:23.139 --> 00:09:26.879 all throughout in the Old Testament. When God 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.240 was helping the people of Israel after Egypt, 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:32.700 you're just like, okay, This is how you guys 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:35.820 are going to celebrate throughout the year. You're 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:36.980 going to have different offerings throughout 00:09:36.980 --> 00:09:39.679 the year when you dwell in the land of Canaan. 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:41.659 And these are the things I want you to do. Did 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:45.600 you know in the festivals is the gospel? If you 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.379 look hard enough, the gospel is in pretty much 00:09:47.379 --> 00:09:50.399 everything in the Old Testament. But in the festivals, 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:53.200 it's actually the message of the gospel. I'm 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.600 going to prove it to you. Let's go to the different 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.299 festivals here. I'm going to skip ahead in my 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:01.019 notes, but then I'm going to... rubber band right 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:06.100 back so these were the days of observation or 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:11.620 remembrance it was number one Passover which 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:13.799 for some of you guys you might know what Passover 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:18.659 is But Passover is essentially that day in Egypt, 00:10:18.740 --> 00:10:22.159 the last plague where the angel of death was 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.320 sent and God gave the Israelites a solution to 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.820 this plague by saying you need to kill a lamb 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:31.340 that is without blemish, less than a year old, 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:35.320 and its blood has to be poured over or brushed 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:39.779 over the doorpost of your house. And when the 00:10:39.779 --> 00:10:43.379 death angel comes and sees the blood of the lamb 00:10:43.379 --> 00:10:46.960 on your house, He will then pass on. Over that 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.360 house. That's why it's called Passover. So when 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:54.960 we look at that celebration of Passover, we see 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.299 Jesus is the fulfillment of it. Because the Bible 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:02.279 says Jesus is the Lamb of God. And by his blood, 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.940 we are redeemed. And that now we are free from 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:09.019 sin and death. And so now, with the blood of 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:13.399 Jesus over us, death comes but passes over us. 00:11:15.199 --> 00:11:20.250 That's an amen if I've ever heard one. Beautiful 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:22.850 fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the lamb. And not 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:25.710 only that, but there is not only a salvation 00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:30.269 from death, but now a exodus or a breaking out 00:11:30.269 --> 00:11:34.090 from slavery of Egypt into the promised land. 00:11:34.230 --> 00:11:36.549 Well, guess what that means for us? By the blood 00:11:36.549 --> 00:11:40.970 of Jesus, we are able to exodus from the slavery 00:11:40.970 --> 00:11:45.750 of sin now into freedom in God and live in our 00:11:45.750 --> 00:11:48.889 promised land, which is the presence of God. 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:52.399 That's our Canaan. That's our promised land is 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.799 God's presence, which is beautiful. It's amazing. 00:11:56.220 --> 00:11:58.419 That's the story of Passover. And that's why 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:01.279 they celebrate Passover. So when we look at Passover, 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.080 we have to look at the cross. Then there's the 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.840 feast of unleavened bread. which represents the 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.259 sanctification of believers, which represents 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:13.039 the period of time between now and when Jesus 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:17.500 returns, that we are being sanctified. We still 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:20.080 need a lot of help. We still got a lot of work 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.080 to do. There is a lot of things need remodeling 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:27.279 in this house. There's some ugly things still 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.419 on this face. And there's some things that need 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:32.720 to go through some spiritual surgery through 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.919 the scalpel of God's word. And things like God's 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:37.940 love and his faithfulness, his character, his 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:41.860 nature gets implemented into me. And now I look 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:45.399 good. But it's not me who looks good. It's Jesus 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:48.080 in me that looks good. So there's this process. 00:12:48.179 --> 00:12:51.679 Why? Because Jesus is coming back for a perfect 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:58.840 bride. Perfect means mature. We have to understand 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.500 that this time of unleavened bread represents 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:04.019 this time of sanctification being transformed. 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:08.500 Then we have first fruits. The Bible says in 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:10.820 the New Testament that Jesus Christ, the resurrection 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:15.279 of Jesus, is the first fruits. That him being 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.279 raised from the dead, he is the first fruits 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:21.289 to us. which represents what? We're in the season 00:13:21.289 --> 00:13:23.529 of first fruits. This isn't something that just 00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:25.909 started in the New Testament. It's been going 00:13:25.909 --> 00:13:29.090 from the Old Testament on, but Jesus, once again, 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:32.990 is the fulfillment of it. Then we have, we're 00:13:32.990 --> 00:13:35.769 gonna jump down to Pentecost, which Pentecost 00:13:35.769 --> 00:13:37.690 represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. 00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:41.950 So first fruits and Pentecost actually go together. 00:13:42.450 --> 00:13:44.830 Then there's the summer harvest, which represents 00:13:44.830 --> 00:13:47.269 the church age. That's where we're in right now. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:51.039 It's all things summer until God comes back. 00:13:52.980 --> 00:13:55.559 And then when God does come back, this is now 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:59.220 the fall time. Remember, these are all feasts 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:01.419 that are listed in the Old Testament that had 00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:04.139 a natural significance. They were a shadow, but 00:14:04.139 --> 00:14:05.840 Jesus comes and fulfills them. Now we're gonna 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:09.320 get to the last three. The first one is the Feast 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:12.360 of Trumpets, which is what? God gathering his 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:15.330 people together. for his return. Then there's 00:14:15.330 --> 00:14:17.789 the Feast of Atonement, which is the final cleansing 00:14:17.789 --> 00:14:20.350 of God's people. Just as I said, we're all going 00:14:20.350 --> 00:14:22.870 through sanctification, cleansing. Well, it's 00:14:22.870 --> 00:14:25.470 not going to get the full stamp of approval until 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:29.299 Jesus comes back. At that moment, we will be 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:32.039 raised up, resurrected, having a body that is 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:34.279 like Christ, that is perfect and without any 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:38.100 form of selfishness, any form of sin, any intention 00:14:38.100 --> 00:14:42.340 or any direction, led to self, but is 100 % focused 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:46.100 on God, unified with God, and in perfect relationship 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:49.500 with God. That is going to be when Jesus returns, 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.019 and that's going to be a pretty awesome day. 00:14:52.330 --> 00:14:54.830 Once again, that deserves an amen. Come on, we 00:14:54.830 --> 00:14:58.090 await that day. We have hope in that day that 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:00.649 as I'm in process, that's why Paul says, I have 00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:03.710 been saved, being saved, and will be saved. That 00:15:03.710 --> 00:15:07.889 will be saved is that final moment where we join 00:15:07.889 --> 00:15:11.309 in the resurrection of Christ and are brought 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:13.169 into our perfect bodies where our sin nature 00:15:13.169 --> 00:15:15.909 has completely been done away with. And then 00:15:15.909 --> 00:15:17.850 finally, which is another one you guys are probably 00:15:17.850 --> 00:15:20.950 very familiar with, which is the Feast of Tabernacles. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:24.740 Who here knows what the Feast of Tabernacles 00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:32.899 is? Perfect. The Feast of Tabernacles is the 00:15:32.899 --> 00:15:37.399 last feast because it represents the actual return 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:39.580 of Christ. And not only the return of Christ, 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:43.700 but actually when When Jesus returns with fire 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:45.620 in his eyes, riding on a white horse with his 00:15:45.620 --> 00:15:47.559 name that is above every name that is only known 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:49.600 to him and the Father and a sword coming out 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.480 of his mouth, he comes with the armies of heaven 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:55.379 and he defeats the woman of Babylon. He destroys 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:58.559 Satan and the dragon and he completely eradicates 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.820 sin over the whole earth and brings everything 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:03.799 into judgment. And then we are brought into what 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:07.059 is Revelation chapter 21 and 22, which is the 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:09.779 new heavens and the new earth where we now get 00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:12.139 to dwell with God in peace. Perfect creation 00:16:12.139 --> 00:16:19.019 forever. That's a good amen. That right there, 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.059 did you know the reason why it's called tabernacles 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:25.399 is because in John 1, it says, and the beginning 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:27.059 was the word, and the word was with God, and 00:16:27.059 --> 00:16:28.580 the word was God, and then later it says, and 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:32.960 the word dwelt among us. That word dwelt is actually 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.120 in the Greek the word tabernacle. God, Jesus 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.899 himself, the word, came and dwelt tabernacled 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:45.480 among us. So we have this partial tabernacling 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:47.980 presence that's not, once again, in its fullness, 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.080 but in a partial gift. And then when Jesus comes 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:55.039 back, oh boy, we get a whole new world, whole 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:59.159 new bodies, full extreme home makeover, and God 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:02.779 says, Jesus, move that bus, and then there is 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:07.839 all this new stuff. And God is with us and we 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:11.059 get to dwell with God forever and eternity in 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:14.519 perfect unity with God and one another. That's 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:17.400 the Feast of Tabernacles. Now in the midst of 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:20.019 Passover and Tabernacles. So once again, what 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:25.140 you're looking at is the gospel story. Passover 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:27.220 is Jesus on the cross. The unleavened bread is 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:28.920 the sanctification of believers through the Holy 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:30.859 Spirit. The first fruits is the resurrection 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:32.759 of Jesus. Pentecost is the pouring out of the 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:34.619 Holy Spirit, which implemented the church age. 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:36.759 Then you have the trumpets, which is the gathering 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.140 of his people upon his return. You have the atonement, 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:40.660 which is the final cleansing of God's people. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:42.759 And then you have the tabernacle, which is the 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:44.460 eternal fellowship with God. That's the gospel. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:49.519 That's the gospel. That's what Jesus dies for. 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:55.299 And in the midst of that, you have this holiday 00:17:55.299 --> 00:18:00.319 or this holy sacred space called Pentecost. Pentecost 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:05.880 is significant because, and this is what I hope 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.440 to help us with, is to understand that in the 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.880 midst of Passover and tabernacles, these incredible 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.680 feasts, that Pentecost is not less than either 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.740 of those days, but equal to and significant even 00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:25.660 with Passover. Yes, Jesus Christ dying for our 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:28.119 sins was an incredible thing. But if the Holy 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:32.400 Spirit didn't come on the day of Pentecost, we 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:35.799 would not be having church today. The ministry 00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:38.000 of Jesus would have ended with the 12 disciples 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.940 there. But it is Pentecost that takes the... 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:46.000 The blessings that occurred and were made available 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.180 to us because of Passover and the unleavened 00:18:48.180 --> 00:18:51.700 bread. And now bring us into a time where we 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:55.680 are continuing the ministry of Christ. Pentecost 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:58.819 is not some day that we need to brush over to 00:18:58.819 --> 00:19:01.579 get between Easter and Christmas. We are talking 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:05.380 about the birthday of the church. Happy birthday, 00:19:05.539 --> 00:19:08.200 by the way, as of a week ago. Late birthday. 00:19:11.690 --> 00:19:13.690 But before we can get to the teachings on the 00:19:13.690 --> 00:19:16.049 Holy Spirit in the book of John from Jesus and 00:19:16.049 --> 00:19:17.869 even Acts 2, we have to go to the Old Testament. 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:21.750 I gotta try and preach like Jesus did. We're 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:24.529 gonna start with Moses and we're gonna move from 00:19:24.529 --> 00:19:26.710 there. So would you turn with me please to the 00:19:26.710 --> 00:19:31.009 book of Genesis chapter 11. Book of Genesis chapter 00:19:31.009 --> 00:19:36.079 11, verse one through nine. And so. we're gonna 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.339 talk about really quickly the Tower of Babel, 00:19:38.380 --> 00:19:41.259 which is a contrast to the day of Pentecost. 00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:44.000 So I'm gonna try and get through this quickly 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.779 in the time that I have, but it says here, now 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:51.839 the whole earth had one language and the same 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:55.279 words. And as people migrated from the east, 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.619 they found a plain in the land of Shinar and 00:19:57.619 --> 00:20:00.500 settled there. And they said to one another, 00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:03.259 come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:06.660 And they had brick for stone and budamon for 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:10.000 mortar. And they said, Come, let us build for 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.079 ourselves a city and a tower with its top in 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:17.299 the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:20.980 lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:24.359 earth. And the Lord came down to see the city 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:26.640 and the tower, which the children of man had 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.960 built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one 00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:33.670 people. And they have all one language. And this 00:20:33.670 --> 00:20:36.650 is only the beginning of what they will do. And 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:39.269 nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:43.589 for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their 00:20:43.589 --> 00:20:46.089 language so that they may not understand one 00:20:46.089 --> 00:20:49.349 another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them 00:20:49.349 --> 00:20:53.029 from there over the face of all the earth. And 00:20:53.029 --> 00:20:56.369 they left off building the city. Therefore, its 00:20:56.369 --> 00:21:00.299 name was called Babel. because there the Lord 00:21:00.299 --> 00:21:02.819 confused the language of all the earth. And from 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:05.839 there, the Lord dispersed them over the face 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:10.500 of all the earth. So why is that so important 00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:14.099 for us to read this? How is it significant and 00:21:14.099 --> 00:21:16.819 attached to Pentecost? What we have to look at 00:21:16.819 --> 00:21:20.220 here is that there is a, it's a part of God's 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:22.579 mission for mankind, which was to fill the earth. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:27.619 Fill the earth, to fill the earth and have, to 00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:32.259 subdue it. So automatically they are being rebellious 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:34.339 to God's command of humanity to fill the earth. 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:37.119 They said, listen, let us stay together and let's 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.759 build a city and let's build a tower and let 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:44.539 us do this together because then we will disperse. 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:46.740 So they knew that it was a part of God's plan 00:21:46.740 --> 00:21:49.539 to disperse. So this is an act of rebellion to 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:53.480 God to all gather together and say, we're gonna 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:57.640 build this city and this tower and stay in one 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:00.779 place. It's rebellion because God said to go 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:03.160 and fill all the earth. And this is something 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:04.880 that's really important to understand as well. 00:22:05.539 --> 00:22:09.440 We're gonna break this down a little bit. Notice 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.819 how they came from the east and they picked a 00:22:11.819 --> 00:22:14.180 place that's in the east. They found a plain 00:22:14.180 --> 00:22:16.319 in the land of Shinar, which is in the east. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:20.440 Did you know that east, going east, represents 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:26.990 moving away from God? So in Genesis 3, when Adam 00:22:26.990 --> 00:22:29.150 and Eve had sinned, they left the Garden of Eden, 00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:35.329 they went east. Then when you have Cain, when 00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:39.910 he had slain Abel and he was driven away from 00:22:39.910 --> 00:22:44.450 God's presence, he went east in Genesis chapter 00:22:44.450 --> 00:22:49.990 4. So going east represents a journey away from 00:22:49.990 --> 00:22:53.359 God. So when they gathered in this land of Shinar, 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:56.839 which is in the east, the author Moses is trying 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:58.980 to communicate to us that what they are going 00:22:58.980 --> 00:23:04.279 to do is going to be in rebellion and draw people 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:09.380 further away from God. Then you have the name 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:13.039 of the tower, the Tower of Babel, which Babel 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:17.200 is connected to the name Babylon. If you understand 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:19.240 what the word Babylon means, it was an ancient 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:22.039 city back in the Old Testament, but it becomes 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:27.279 a symbol or a type of a shadow of what represents 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:32.420 everything that is in opposition to God's will. 00:23:34.220 --> 00:23:37.660 It represents the deification of self -will. 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:40.380 And what do I mean by deification? It means I'm 00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:45.819 gonna make myself God. I'm going to make my desires 00:23:45.819 --> 00:23:48.680 God. I'm going to make what I want God in my 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.000 life. This is the God that I will serve, self. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.579 That's what it means. And so this nation of Babylon, 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:59.900 which actually becomes this nation that conquers 00:23:59.900 --> 00:24:02.660 Israel many, many years later, and then through 00:24:02.660 --> 00:24:06.420 the rest of the scriptures, there's so many references 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:08.440 in the prophets, and then all the way up until 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:12.420 Revelation 18, where Babylon is the enemy of 00:24:12.420 --> 00:24:18.509 God. And it started with Babel. It started with 00:24:18.509 --> 00:24:23.430 this evil power and symbol of self -glorification. 00:24:24.309 --> 00:24:29.430 Then you have four falls that take place. Do 00:24:29.430 --> 00:24:31.950 you know in the first just few couple chapters 00:24:31.950 --> 00:24:34.210 of the book of Genesis, there are four falls 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:38.589 that happen? The first fall is the fall of Lucifer 00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:42.440 from heaven. That was the fall of the heavens. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:45.039 Where Lucifer falls, Jesus says, I saw Satan 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:46.819 fall like lightning. That was the first one. 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:50.619 That was before creation. Then you have the fall 00:24:50.619 --> 00:24:55.099 of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But then 00:24:55.099 --> 00:24:57.279 you have a third one, which is the sons of God, 00:24:57.420 --> 00:25:00.039 which represent the fallen angels coming and 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:02.599 mating with the women of men in Genesis chapter 00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:07.940 six. Then you have the fourth fall, the final 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:13.099 one. Fall of the Tower of Babel. So you have 00:25:13.099 --> 00:25:15.019 the fall of the heavens, which is Lucifer. You 00:25:15.019 --> 00:25:17.059 have the fall of mankind, which is in the garden. 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:22.900 Then you have the fall of the family and the 00:25:22.900 --> 00:25:25.579 creation and the form of creation, which is because 00:25:25.579 --> 00:25:29.200 of the sons of God, which represents the fallen 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:31.460 angels that would come and create beings through. 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:36.339 with the daughters of men that would create these 00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:38.759 giants or Nephilim that were these unredeemable 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:42.160 beings. Then you have the last one, Babel, which 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:48.000 represents the fall of the nations. Even though 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.740 they were one people, they represent all the 00:25:51.740 --> 00:25:53.940 nations of God or they represent all the nations 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:59.319 of the world. Each fall declares independence 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:03.569 from God. Lucifer said, I want to be God and 00:26:03.569 --> 00:26:05.369 I need to be independent from God. Adam and Eve 00:26:05.369 --> 00:26:08.430 says, I want to have knowledge of good and evil, 00:26:08.509 --> 00:26:13.210 independent from God. The daughters of men decided 00:26:13.210 --> 00:26:15.230 they wanted to be independent from God and how 00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:18.009 to create life. Then you have the Tower of Babel, 00:26:18.089 --> 00:26:19.890 which is the nations to say, we want to build 00:26:19.890 --> 00:26:25.049 a world independent from God. And what were they 00:26:25.049 --> 00:26:29.789 building? To build a city means to build a civilization. 00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:34.240 Now, this is really interesting because before 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.220 the flood in the days of Noah, there was immense 00:26:37.220 --> 00:26:39.579 wickedness in the world. The Bible says that 00:26:39.579 --> 00:26:42.140 they were so wicked that every form of their 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:45.500 thoughts and intentions were for evil. Nothing 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:48.380 good in them. It was all bad. But back then in 00:26:48.380 --> 00:26:52.410 the time of Noah, it was chaotic. It was everybody 00:26:52.410 --> 00:26:54.490 for themselves. It was everybody just killing 00:26:54.490 --> 00:26:58.009 everybody and betraying everybody. It was total 00:26:58.009 --> 00:27:01.029 nonsense. But now after the flood, you have a 00:27:01.029 --> 00:27:04.690 form of evil that's even worse. Organized evil. 00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:09.269 Evil decided to get organized and say, let's 00:27:09.269 --> 00:27:12.130 all get together and let's build a city and build 00:27:12.130 --> 00:27:17.190 a tower. So you have this organized chaos and 00:27:17.190 --> 00:27:20.250 organized evil that is man -centered and not 00:27:20.250 --> 00:27:24.839 God -centered. It's a form of humanism. That 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:28.279 man is the solution to everything. And then this 00:27:28.279 --> 00:27:30.819 is the other thing. They were building something 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:35.119 that was a refusal to expand the kingdom of God. 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:38.160 God says go into all the world and fill it. Why? 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:40.259 Because God wants his kingdom over the whole 00:27:40.259 --> 00:27:43.039 earth. But man said no. We don't want to spread 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:46.539 your kingdom. We want to build ours. So they 00:27:46.539 --> 00:27:48.200 began to build their own civilization and their 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:54.309 own tower. Not only that, but they were trying 00:27:54.309 --> 00:27:58.309 to build something that was... Because a city 00:27:58.309 --> 00:28:01.829 points to a civilization. A tower is actually... 00:28:01.829 --> 00:28:05.009 In modern day, we think, okay, a tower is like 00:28:05.009 --> 00:28:07.650 a skyscraper or something like that. Just a really 00:28:07.650 --> 00:28:09.190 big building with multiple floors. You can do 00:28:09.190 --> 00:28:12.349 more things in it. No, actually, a tower in ancient 00:28:12.349 --> 00:28:14.930 civilization is through a lot of history. A tower 00:28:14.930 --> 00:28:20.099 was a religious place. It was a temple. So the 00:28:20.099 --> 00:28:23.839 Tower of Babel wasn't just this skyscraper. It 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:29.319 was a temple built for themselves, for the worship 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:34.880 of self and to gods of their own making. That's 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:36.680 what they're building. So they're building not 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:38.759 just a civilization and how to do community. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.680 Listen, the world and evil knows how to build 00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.549 community and how to have fellowship. Evil has 00:28:45.549 --> 00:28:47.950 its own idea of how to have family, how to have 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:49.869 businesses, how to have a civilization, how to 00:28:49.869 --> 00:28:52.470 have laws, how to have a hierarchy. But evil 00:28:52.470 --> 00:28:54.329 is still evil, whether it's organized or not. 00:28:54.569 --> 00:28:57.549 The same thing goes for the tower that's there, 00:28:57.650 --> 00:29:01.190 which represents this temple dedicated unto the 00:29:01.190 --> 00:29:04.609 Lord. It is evil unto God because it's in rebellion. 00:29:05.990 --> 00:29:07.890 And I want you to imagine this. I want you to 00:29:07.890 --> 00:29:11.250 imagine a teenager who lives in your house, eats 00:29:11.250 --> 00:29:15.190 all your food. Uses all your stuff without asking. 00:29:16.190 --> 00:29:18.410 Drives your car, doesn't fill it up with gas, 00:29:18.549 --> 00:29:20.349 leaves it on empty when you need to go to work 00:29:20.349 --> 00:29:23.490 the next day. And some of you don't have to imagine 00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:30.230 very hard. Listen, imagine telling that teenager, 00:29:30.369 --> 00:29:33.170 hey, listen, can you take out the trash? And 00:29:33.170 --> 00:29:35.430 they say to you, no, I don't have to do what 00:29:35.430 --> 00:29:38.109 you tell me to do. If I said that to my dad, 00:29:38.250 --> 00:29:43.180 I would not exist today. That is something that, 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:47.319 how could you say that to the person who is giving 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:49.579 you all the blessings you're taking advantage 00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:54.119 of? This is essentially what the Tower of Babel 00:29:54.119 --> 00:29:57.660 is. It is them saying, I want to have the blessing 00:29:57.660 --> 00:30:01.980 of God without following your instruction. I 00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:05.339 want to do things my way, but I still want your 00:30:05.339 --> 00:30:08.779 hand and your blessing from it. And God is not 00:30:08.779 --> 00:30:13.099 going to bless it. Because you have to, in order 00:30:13.099 --> 00:30:14.920 to experience the blessing of God, you have to 00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:16.819 live according to his commands and his instructions. 00:30:17.339 --> 00:30:20.859 So this is something that they were building 00:30:20.859 --> 00:30:23.299 by saying, God, just keep blessing us. We're 00:30:23.299 --> 00:30:24.720 gonna keep multiplying, but we're all gonna stay 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.240 here. We're gonna do things our way. We're gonna 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:31.539 build this tower. Now, they said, we're gonna 00:30:31.539 --> 00:30:35.400 build this tower to the heavens, which to you 00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.039 and I, the heavens, what does that even mean? 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:41.519 It's the sky, which represents the upper atmospheres 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.160 of the world. But to them, it's the realm of 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:47.480 the spirit. And so whether they meant this literally 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:50.740 or figuratively doesn't matter. Their heart and 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:53.160 their posture was, we are building something 00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:55.259 that's going to affect the spiritual realms. 00:30:56.059 --> 00:30:58.500 And it will influence it and rule it. And so 00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:00.660 what were they saying? We want a tower that goes 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:03.200 to the heavens. So that when we get there, we 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:06.309 will define the spiritual realm. our way. So 00:31:06.309 --> 00:31:08.250 we're not just going to do life on earth our 00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:10.730 way. We want the things of the spirit done our 00:31:10.730 --> 00:31:18.069 way. So this is a, this is something that they 00:31:18.069 --> 00:31:22.390 are unified in wickedness and evil to not only 00:31:22.390 --> 00:31:24.789 have influence of a physical place without God, 00:31:24.829 --> 00:31:33.279 but I want heaven without God. But here's something 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:36.319 that's really interesting about the tabernacle 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:38.980 that God has Moses build and David and even the 00:31:38.980 --> 00:31:42.660 temple of Solomon. Listen to this. Yes, the tabernacle 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:45.079 in heaven, the tabernacle of the Lord, according 00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:48.559 to Hebrews, is on a hill in the place of Mount 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:51.059 Zion. We don't have time to really go into that, 00:31:51.099 --> 00:31:52.460 but essentially this is what you need to know. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:55.160 Look at the difference between how God wants 00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.579 his temple built and how man wants their temple 00:31:57.579 --> 00:32:01.599 built. Man wants their temple built up. God has 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:06.880 his temple built forward. There's the outer court, 00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:08.720 the holy place, and the most holy place. That 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:13.960 doesn't go up. It goes forward. That once I get 00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:16.779 into the presence of God, it's about getting 00:32:16.779 --> 00:32:22.440 closer to him this way. Because that's how God 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:28.220 works. He loves. The Bible says he came down 00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:30.180 and humbled himself to dwell in flesh. He came 00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:35.079 to our level and made a way for us to come to 00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:38.680 him. Man is always going to want to build something 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:41.240 to go up. And so with all the work, all this 00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:44.200 building, all this celebration of self, who gets 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:48.680 the credit when a tower is built like that? But 00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:50.900 who gets the credit when God comes down to and 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:57.170 makes himself available to us? He does. He gets 00:32:57.170 --> 00:33:02.410 the credit because it's him coming to us. So 00:33:02.410 --> 00:33:05.130 what does God do? What does God respond with 00:33:05.130 --> 00:33:07.349 all of this? Well, he says that he looks down 00:33:07.349 --> 00:33:11.230 and he's looking down. The picture I got in my 00:33:11.230 --> 00:33:13.529 mind when I read this, it almost looks like God 00:33:13.529 --> 00:33:16.269 the Father. He's grilling on the barbecue and 00:33:16.269 --> 00:33:18.089 everything and he looks over. Oh my goodness, 00:33:18.190 --> 00:33:22.470 what's that over there? Michael, come look at 00:33:22.470 --> 00:33:26.740 this. They're building this tower in this city 00:33:26.740 --> 00:33:31.220 and they're coming to invade heaven and mess 00:33:31.220 --> 00:33:37.640 us up. God is not threatened by this at all. 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:42.500 God is not intimidated by this at all. God, I 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:44.339 love how the wording is. God came and looked 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:47.480 down, which shows you the position he's in. He's 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:51.259 going, what is happening down there? Not that 00:33:51.259 --> 00:33:53.119 he's surprised. He knows all things. I'm not 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:55.619 trying to give a, it's a crude image. But what 00:33:55.619 --> 00:33:57.599 I'm trying to help you understand is that the 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:00.359 Bible says that the nations of the world rage, 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:04.440 but God laughs at them. Doesn't matter how bad 00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:06.900 the world gets. Doesn't matter how much the world, 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:09.559 if every nation on earth came together to come 00:34:09.559 --> 00:34:13.039 against God and destroy him, God is not intimidated 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:19.059 in the slightest. He's not scared one bit. He 00:34:19.059 --> 00:34:24.320 goes, man, this is hilarious. So what does he 00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:29.469 do? He says, well, he diagnoses the problem and 00:34:29.469 --> 00:34:32.349 he provides a solution to that problem without 00:34:32.349 --> 00:34:35.690 destroying them because he promised to Noah that 00:34:35.690 --> 00:34:38.590 the last time that they got this bad, he just 00:34:38.590 --> 00:34:40.110 used the flood and took them out and started 00:34:40.110 --> 00:34:42.889 over with one man. But what he did this time 00:34:42.889 --> 00:34:44.650 was because of that covenant to say, I'm not 00:34:44.650 --> 00:34:46.590 gonna do it like that again. What he's gonna 00:34:46.590 --> 00:34:49.750 do is instead of pouring out a flood, he's gonna 00:34:49.750 --> 00:34:51.670 bring something else that's gonna cause them 00:34:51.670 --> 00:34:55.880 to disperse. So remember, this is a place that's 00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:57.980 a civilization dedicated to their own gods and 00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:00.079 idolatry and the deification of their self -will 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:03.260 and a tower built up, a temple built for themselves. 00:35:03.739 --> 00:35:06.260 This is why we have so many different religions 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:10.480 in the world. Because God accomplished his task 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:13.039 of filling the world with humanity, but they 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:16.380 took their religion of self and self -glorification 00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:18.599 and created their own gods. That's why every 00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:20.940 nation has different gods, but kind of all look 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:23.989 the same. Because they all come from the same 00:35:23.989 --> 00:35:29.710 place. The Tower of Babel. say almost very similar 00:35:29.710 --> 00:35:32.690 origin stories almost very similar hierarchies 00:35:32.690 --> 00:35:34.650 and all these things why is that is because it 00:35:34.650 --> 00:35:36.710 comes from this place where they were unified 00:35:36.710 --> 00:35:39.750 and God caused them to disperse to accomplish 00:35:39.750 --> 00:35:42.869 his will but it wasn't done the way God had intended 00:35:42.869 --> 00:35:46.590 so now you have a world filled of different nations 00:35:46.590 --> 00:35:49.989 different gods but they they and they're all 00:35:49.989 --> 00:35:53.150 serving themselves and so this is what God does 00:35:53.150 --> 00:35:56.329 he says you know what I want to redeem these 00:35:56.329 --> 00:35:59.630 nations but I can't I can't do it through just, 00:35:59.750 --> 00:36:01.989 I'm not gonna be able to do it like how I tried 00:36:01.989 --> 00:36:06.929 before. I'm going to bring one man forward that 00:36:06.929 --> 00:36:09.610 whom all the rest of the nations would be blessed. 00:36:11.389 --> 00:36:14.630 So now you jump from Genesis 11 to now Genesis 00:36:14.630 --> 00:36:19.510 12 where the author Moses skips ahead a little 00:36:19.510 --> 00:36:23.090 bit in time and he stops here and he begins to 00:36:23.090 --> 00:36:26.449 discuss one man. And this is so important. Why 00:36:26.449 --> 00:36:28.610 do we remember these things? Because God has 00:36:28.610 --> 00:36:31.610 a system in how he does certain things. Remember 00:36:31.610 --> 00:36:34.650 with Noah, the whole world was evil, and so what 00:36:34.650 --> 00:36:36.750 did he do? I'm gonna save the world through what? 00:36:36.889 --> 00:36:40.550 One person. The nations are against me, so I'm 00:36:40.550 --> 00:36:42.570 gonna bring out one person. Now in Babel, you 00:36:42.570 --> 00:36:44.809 see the same thing. All the nations are against 00:36:44.809 --> 00:36:46.110 me, so guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna bring 00:36:46.110 --> 00:36:49.480 out one man, and his name is... Abram. The same 00:36:49.480 --> 00:36:51.079 thing happens. When all the world and all the 00:36:51.079 --> 00:36:53.340 nations are fallen into sin or against me, what 00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:58.780 does God do? He sends one man, Jesus, through 00:36:58.780 --> 00:37:00.679 whom the whole world would be reconciled and 00:37:00.679 --> 00:37:05.500 saved. Remember, this is all pointing to Jesus. 00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:11.940 He's the fulfillment of all of this. So now let's 00:37:11.940 --> 00:37:13.599 go to Genesis 12, one through three. It says 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.559 this. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your 00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:18.500 country and your kindred and your father's house 00:37:18.500 --> 00:37:21.239 to the land that I will show you. And I will 00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:28.739 make of you a great what? Nation. Now this nation 00:37:28.739 --> 00:37:31.400 is the nation that we call Israel, the Jewish 00:37:31.400 --> 00:37:34.460 people, the sons and daughters of Abraham. That 00:37:34.460 --> 00:37:38.179 now we see that this God will now, I will create 00:37:38.179 --> 00:37:42.789 my own nation. He says, go out from your house 00:37:42.789 --> 00:37:47.170 of moon worshipers and I'm gonna make you, one 00:37:47.170 --> 00:37:50.070 man, into a new nation. Do you know what God 00:37:50.070 --> 00:37:53.409 also did with Jesus? He made a nation out of 00:37:53.409 --> 00:37:56.769 the lineage of Christ who is the nation of the 00:37:56.769 --> 00:38:02.710 church. A nation that is no longer about who 00:38:02.710 --> 00:38:06.190 your mommy and daddy is, but it's about who is 00:38:06.190 --> 00:38:11.059 your savior. Who saved you? Who adopted you? 00:38:11.099 --> 00:38:14.099 Just as Paul says in Romans that you would no 00:38:14.099 --> 00:38:16.880 longer have a spirit of slavery, but now you 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:21.420 may cry out, Abba, Father. To who? The Father 00:38:21.420 --> 00:38:24.960 of your salvation. The same God of Abraham, Isaac, 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.840 and Jacob. You are no longer separated from the 00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.400 covenant blessing that was given to Abram, but 00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:35.059 now you have been grafted in as the Bible... 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.780 As the Bible says, you've been grafted in to 00:38:38.780 --> 00:38:42.219 the root of Jesse, who is Jesus, who is the descendant 00:38:42.219 --> 00:38:46.400 of Abraham. This is incredible. This is how God 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:54.500 redeems his world. So now we see that Pentecost, 00:38:54.579 --> 00:38:59.420 as the people of Israel, are formed and shaped 00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:01.579 from the lineage of Abraham, and now they're 00:39:01.579 --> 00:39:05.820 a huge nation, but they're in slavery to Egypt, 00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:07.699 and then they've been exodus out, and now they're 00:39:07.699 --> 00:39:09.460 in the wilderness. And so God is like, okay, 00:39:09.579 --> 00:39:12.539 let me teach you how you're going to live in 00:39:12.539 --> 00:39:16.000 this new land. So this is where Pentecost comes 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:19.440 up in the Old Testament, is in Leviticus chapter 00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:22.099 23, verse 15 through 18. Let's read this together. 00:39:22.940 --> 00:39:25.340 You shall count seven full weeks from the day 00:39:25.340 --> 00:39:28.179 after the Sabbath. From the day that you were 00:39:28.179 --> 00:39:31.099 brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall 00:39:31.099 --> 00:39:33.880 count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. 00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:37.460 Then you shall present a grain offering of a 00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:40.260 new grain to the Lord, and you shall bring from 00:39:40.260 --> 00:39:43.340 your dwelling place two loaves of bread to be 00:39:43.340 --> 00:39:50.900 waved. As in, that's it. God was specific, you 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:53.630 gotta wave. There's different forms of offerings. 00:39:53.710 --> 00:39:55.090 There's offerings you gotta barbecue. There's 00:39:55.090 --> 00:39:56.829 offerings you just gotta wave, then barbecue. 00:39:56.869 --> 00:39:59.469 Some just wave, but then you get others. So there's 00:39:59.469 --> 00:40:01.010 different kinds of offerings that are there. 00:40:01.349 --> 00:40:03.030 But God is saying, okay, you're gonna take these 00:40:03.030 --> 00:40:04.530 two pieces of bread and you're gonna wave them. 00:40:04.889 --> 00:40:07.750 This is significant, I promise. And then it says 00:40:07.750 --> 00:40:09.610 that they shall be made of two -tenths of an 00:40:09.610 --> 00:40:12.210 ephah. They shall be of fine flour and they shall 00:40:12.210 --> 00:40:15.829 be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. 00:40:18.030 --> 00:40:26.880 This is... The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Pentecost 00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:31.159 is the end of first fruits. We've been in a season 00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:34.219 of first fruits. And now here in this time, we're 00:40:34.219 --> 00:40:35.920 talking about Pentecost, which is at the end 00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:38.079 of first fruits. And it's right after seven exact 00:40:38.079 --> 00:40:42.300 weeks after Passover. And do you know what the 00:40:42.300 --> 00:40:48.869 word Pentecost means? 50. because the term Pentecost 00:40:48.869 --> 00:40:50.530 is actually not a Hebrew word, it's a Greek word, 00:40:50.610 --> 00:40:52.929 but it was translated from Hebrew into Greek 00:40:52.929 --> 00:40:55.090 with the Greek Septuagint, which was translated 00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:57.690 into the modern Old Testament back in the time 00:40:57.690 --> 00:40:59.769 of Jesus, which was a Greek Old Testament called 00:40:59.769 --> 00:41:01.550 the Septuagint that Jesus and the disciples would 00:41:01.550 --> 00:41:04.030 have preached from. So they would have preached 00:41:04.030 --> 00:41:09.590 Pentecost and this day in Leviticus of Pentecost 00:41:09.590 --> 00:41:12.210 where there were now two loaves being offered. 00:41:13.309 --> 00:41:17.750 Now look at this, that God, This is how God works. 00:41:17.789 --> 00:41:19.969 He redeems nations and he works in the details. 00:41:20.050 --> 00:41:22.110 God works in these small little details. Even 00:41:22.110 --> 00:41:25.409 just two loaves. Because you gotta remember this, 00:41:25.489 --> 00:41:30.710 that there was a, there is a, Jesus defined his 00:41:30.710 --> 00:41:34.489 body as being a, as being the bread. Yes, we 00:41:34.489 --> 00:41:36.969 agree with that? Jesus says that I am the bread 00:41:36.969 --> 00:41:41.889 of life. Okay? When we think about communion, 00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:43.869 we take of communion, we remember communion, 00:41:43.949 --> 00:41:45.750 we take of the cup and the bread. The bread represents 00:41:45.750 --> 00:41:49.789 his body. When we are saved and brought into 00:41:49.789 --> 00:41:51.250 the church, do you know what else is described 00:41:51.250 --> 00:41:57.110 as the body of Christ? The church. So you now 00:41:57.110 --> 00:42:02.889 have two loaves which represent two different 00:42:02.889 --> 00:42:06.710 people groups. The first loaf is the loaf of 00:42:06.710 --> 00:42:09.489 the Jewish people. God's promised descendants 00:42:09.489 --> 00:42:12.409 from Abraham to receive the blessings of Abraham. 00:42:12.610 --> 00:42:15.230 But through the Old Testament, we see that they 00:42:15.230 --> 00:42:18.489 also rebelled against God and chose other gods 00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:21.230 over him. And so what does God do? There's also 00:42:21.230 --> 00:42:24.550 this other people group. Everybody else. from 00:42:24.550 --> 00:42:27.530 that time of Babel, are called Gentiles. Anybody 00:42:27.530 --> 00:42:29.949 other than a descendant from Abraham is called 00:42:29.949 --> 00:42:31.929 a Gentile. Those are the only two people groups, 00:42:32.030 --> 00:42:34.409 according to Judaism, is you're a Jew or you're 00:42:34.409 --> 00:42:36.150 a Gentile. There's no in between. There's no 00:42:36.150 --> 00:42:41.360 middle ground. You are one or the other. So how 00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:44.139 does God save this problem, solve and redeem 00:42:44.139 --> 00:42:47.179 this issue of a scattered people, of different 00:42:47.179 --> 00:42:50.199 people groups? What does he do? How does he answer 00:42:50.199 --> 00:42:52.199 the issue of God? You said that you're gonna 00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:54.519 save the world through the descendants of Abraham 00:42:54.519 --> 00:42:57.360 and through his nation. What does Jesus do? Well, 00:42:57.360 --> 00:42:59.960 Jesus is now the fulfillment of Abraham, the 00:42:59.960 --> 00:43:02.980 fulfillment of Israel, and he now makes a nation 00:43:02.980 --> 00:43:06.940 of what? A nation that is made up of his own 00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:19.059 body. So now we go from two loaves to one. We 00:43:19.059 --> 00:43:22.500 go from two separate peoples to one people under 00:43:22.500 --> 00:43:27.000 Christ. That now it is no longer the two loaves 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:29.619 of the Jew and the Gentile, but now we're brought 00:43:29.619 --> 00:43:32.760 into perfect unity of sonship and daughtership 00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:35.920 into the family of Jesus because of what? The 00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:41.420 Holy Spirit. Think of this. On the day of Pentecost, 00:43:42.059 --> 00:43:45.199 The Feast of Pentecost was a mandatory attendance 00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:48.079 day. Do you imagine if we started having some 00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:52.059 of those today in church? How many emails Pastor 00:43:52.059 --> 00:43:58.300 Scott would get? Same church as mandatory. But 00:43:58.300 --> 00:44:00.400 it's a mandatory day, which means like, unless 00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:04.280 you were dying, you had to go. Unless you, I 00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:07.400 mean, Bob, I have this cannonball wound. I don't 00:44:07.400 --> 00:44:10.889 know if I'm gonna make it to Pentecost. You can 00:44:10.889 --> 00:44:13.750 still talk to me. You're fine. If you're able 00:44:13.750 --> 00:44:15.510 to say that, then you're good. Listen, if Mary 00:44:15.510 --> 00:44:17.409 can get around on a donkey nine months pregnant, 00:44:17.510 --> 00:44:22.690 you can get to Pentecost. Let's go. It was mandatory. 00:44:23.869 --> 00:44:25.829 So I want you to think about this. In Acts 2, 00:44:25.909 --> 00:44:27.750 we're now gonna jump ahead to Acts 2. Acts 2 00:44:27.750 --> 00:44:30.409 is where the 120 are in the upper room. They're 00:44:30.409 --> 00:44:35.050 waiting for the prophesied. gift that Jesus gave 00:44:35.050 --> 00:44:37.909 in John and in the very beginning of, in chapter 00:44:37.909 --> 00:44:40.769 one of the book of Acts. The paraclete, the helper, 00:44:40.869 --> 00:44:44.170 the advocate, the comforter, the one whom Jesus 00:44:44.170 --> 00:44:51.150 says that without him, you can't have me. Before 00:44:51.150 --> 00:44:53.349 the church starts, before you can preach the 00:44:53.349 --> 00:44:56.949 gospel, before you can continue this ministry, 00:44:57.070 --> 00:44:59.460 you gotta have me. The Holy Spirit. You have 00:44:59.460 --> 00:45:02.000 to have the paraclete. And so look at this. A 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:04.699 festival where there were Jews scattered across 00:45:04.699 --> 00:45:08.699 all these nations of the world. Think about this. 00:45:09.500 --> 00:45:13.460 They all come back to the temple in Jerusalem. 00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:17.320 And you have this 120 that are either in a room 00:45:17.320 --> 00:45:19.679 that is actually attached to the temple or they're 00:45:19.679 --> 00:45:22.159 right outside of the temple, but they were in 00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:24.019 a really public area as people were on their 00:45:24.019 --> 00:45:26.079 way to the temple of God where they were able 00:45:26.079 --> 00:45:31.159 to be seen and heard. You have now the Holy Spirit 00:45:31.159 --> 00:45:35.340 pouring out on this 120 and now you have all 00:45:35.340 --> 00:45:37.639 of these Jews which represent all these other 00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:40.679 nations together in one place that when the Holy 00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:43.519 Spirit comes out and 3 ,000 people get saved, 00:45:43.849 --> 00:45:47.590 guess where they're going to go? To the nations. 00:45:50.130 --> 00:45:52.730 They're going to go out into the rest of the 00:45:52.730 --> 00:45:54.590 world from where they came, but they're going 00:45:54.590 --> 00:45:56.869 to go back different than how they were when 00:45:56.869 --> 00:46:01.050 they came. It's interesting how these two loaves 00:46:01.050 --> 00:46:04.690 in the Bible, in Leviticus, Judaism later down 00:46:04.690 --> 00:46:06.769 the line actually began to celebrate this as 00:46:06.769 --> 00:46:09.570 something of representing the two tablets that 00:46:09.570 --> 00:46:11.309 Moses came down with. It's supposed to represent 00:46:11.309 --> 00:46:14.449 the word of God. Now, There's partial truth to 00:46:14.449 --> 00:46:17.250 that. However, what we have to understand is 00:46:17.250 --> 00:46:21.429 that, listen to this. When the holy tablets came 00:46:21.429 --> 00:46:23.510 down, the 10 commandments of God came down and 00:46:23.510 --> 00:46:25.949 there was a rebellion and because of the golden 00:46:25.949 --> 00:46:29.190 calf and the big Oreo that occurred there, you 00:46:29.190 --> 00:46:32.090 had 3 ,000 people that died. How many people 00:46:32.090 --> 00:46:39.130 got saved after Peter's sermon? That's God redeeming 00:46:39.130 --> 00:46:43.480 his people. That is God coming and saying, listen, 00:46:43.639 --> 00:46:47.440 where the law came and these old things came, 00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:50.099 there were 3 ,000 that died. But when now the 00:46:50.099 --> 00:46:53.039 Holy Spirit comes, there are 3 ,000 that are 00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:59.739 saved. So you have this picture of God redeeming 00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:02.289 now. The nations where he says, listen, you're 00:47:02.289 --> 00:47:04.090 going to not just keep things here in Israel. 00:47:04.150 --> 00:47:06.429 You're going to go out into the world and redeem 00:47:06.429 --> 00:47:10.309 the nations that were scattered at the place 00:47:10.309 --> 00:47:12.889 of Babel. And now we're going to be brought together 00:47:12.889 --> 00:47:16.489 and fill the earth. But because of the Holy Spirit, 00:47:16.650 --> 00:47:21.670 it will be done right. This is why we remember 00:47:21.670 --> 00:47:27.050 Pentecost. Because it's the day that God redeems 00:47:27.050 --> 00:47:31.940 the nations. It's the day that God makes his 00:47:31.940 --> 00:47:35.519 spirit available for everyone who calls on Jesus. 00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:42.300 Like, guys, we have it so good. Did you know 00:47:42.300 --> 00:47:45.079 that the Holy Spirit was limited in his operation 00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:47.400 in the Old Testament? That he could only dwell 00:47:47.400 --> 00:47:50.400 on a couple people? He could only dwell on limited, 00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:53.320 only kings, prophets, and priests? and he was 00:47:53.320 --> 00:47:55.940 able to operate in them. Do you know how much 00:47:55.940 --> 00:47:58.820 the Holy Spirit was waiting for the day that 00:47:58.820 --> 00:48:01.300 the prophet Joel's prophecy could be fulfilled, 00:48:01.579 --> 00:48:05.400 that I would be poured out on all flesh? He was 00:48:05.400 --> 00:48:09.579 so eager for the day of Pentecost. Because that's 00:48:09.579 --> 00:48:11.900 what he loves. He wants to fill the earth. That's 00:48:11.900 --> 00:48:14.260 what he does. It's what he did before the earth 00:48:14.260 --> 00:48:17.239 was even formed. He was hovering over the face 00:48:17.239 --> 00:48:20.000 of the deep and now he hovers over the saints 00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.889 and the believers who fill the earth. This is 00:48:24.889 --> 00:48:26.909 why we remember Pentecost, because it's not just 00:48:26.909 --> 00:48:28.650 a day for us to start hooting and hollering. 00:48:28.789 --> 00:48:30.989 It's a day for us to start hooting and hollering 00:48:30.989 --> 00:48:33.610 that Christ and the Holy Spirit have now redeemed 00:48:33.610 --> 00:48:36.469 us and have empowered us, Acts 1, 8, for the 00:48:36.469 --> 00:48:39.190 Holy Spirit will come and empower you to be martyrs 00:48:39.190 --> 00:48:43.070 or witnesses for me and my namesake in Jerusalem, 00:48:43.269 --> 00:48:46.610 in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of 00:48:46.610 --> 00:48:51.489 the earth. This is why we remember Pentecost. 00:48:53.230 --> 00:48:58.289 How beautiful of a day that is. You got God the 00:48:58.289 --> 00:48:59.969 Father in heaven going, man, I love it when a 00:48:59.969 --> 00:49:06.329 plan comes together. I love it when a plan comes 00:49:06.329 --> 00:49:08.630 together. The fact that, listen, they brought 00:49:08.630 --> 00:49:12.170 two loaves to one priest. Now there is the loaf 00:49:12.170 --> 00:49:14.289 that is brought to the one priest who is Jesus. 00:49:14.929 --> 00:49:18.119 There is the... The Passover that happens at 00:49:18.119 --> 00:49:22.000 the cross, which tore the veil and allows us 00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:24.679 access. It's the Holy Spirit who takes us from 00:49:24.679 --> 00:49:27.260 one place into the point of access with him. 00:49:29.059 --> 00:49:31.719 Pentecost is what brings the nations into the 00:49:31.719 --> 00:49:34.480 presence of God. And it's what brings the presence 00:49:34.480 --> 00:49:40.219 of God to the nations. God is building his city 00:49:40.219 --> 00:49:44.679 and his temple. Just as humanity tried building 00:49:44.679 --> 00:49:46.820 their own version of civilization, their own 00:49:46.820 --> 00:49:49.000 version of worship, their own version of religion, 00:49:49.219 --> 00:49:53.380 God builds his civilization within his church. 00:49:53.539 --> 00:49:56.340 He builds his temple within his church. He is 00:49:56.340 --> 00:50:01.500 establishing his way of society, but not through 00:50:01.500 --> 00:50:04.219 the brick and mortar as they did before, but 00:50:04.219 --> 00:50:07.239 through the uncut living stones of you and I 00:50:07.239 --> 00:50:09.599 that are joined together with the cornerstone 00:50:09.599 --> 00:50:13.559 who is Christ himself. I'm preaching. Come on, 00:50:13.559 --> 00:50:20.099 somebody. And not only that, I'm gonna end with 00:50:20.099 --> 00:50:26.099 this. God confused the languages of the people 00:50:26.099 --> 00:50:32.099 of Babel. What was the first manifestation that 00:50:32.099 --> 00:50:34.420 happened on the day of Pentecost of the Holy 00:50:34.420 --> 00:50:37.719 Spirit operating through the believers? A form 00:50:37.719 --> 00:50:43.340 of communication that would not divide, but unify, 00:50:43.400 --> 00:50:47.059 that would break every linguistic barrier, cultural 00:50:47.059 --> 00:50:49.800 barrier, that they were literally, in the Greek 00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.320 it says that they gave utterance, that they were 00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:54.980 able to speak the foreign language perfectly. 00:50:56.639 --> 00:51:02.860 Accent and all. Because of the Holy Spirit. The 00:51:02.860 --> 00:51:06.119 Tower of Babel was that place where now their 00:51:06.119 --> 00:51:08.980 communication is cut off, and now Pentecost is 00:51:08.980 --> 00:51:10.980 the day where their communication is restored. 00:51:11.820 --> 00:51:15.679 But it's not a language of human making. It is 00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:18.460 a heavenly language that operates through faith 00:51:18.460 --> 00:51:25.719 and faith alone. What empowered them to build 00:51:25.719 --> 00:51:28.500 their civilization of wickedness and their religion 00:51:28.500 --> 00:51:32.480 of wickedness was their communication. What empowers 00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:36.940 us to build the church and to build and expand 00:51:36.940 --> 00:51:39.820 the kingdom of God here on the earth is the Holy 00:51:39.820 --> 00:51:43.559 Spirit. who allows us to communicate in perfect 00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:46.320 unison together with God and with one another. 00:51:52.519 --> 00:51:54.840 I got about halfway, so we're just gonna stop 00:51:54.840 --> 00:52:05.380 there. Holy Spirit, we remember what you have 00:52:05.380 --> 00:52:08.639 accomplished through human history, through the 00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:13.739 redemptive story of The scriptures. Holy Spirit, 00:52:13.820 --> 00:52:18.820 we ask for boldness and for assurance and for 00:52:18.820 --> 00:52:25.880 a empowerment. God, when you fell upon, in the 00:52:25.880 --> 00:52:30.300 book of Acts, you fill continually. The word 00:52:30.300 --> 00:52:34.480 fill in the Greek is a continual word. It is 00:52:34.480 --> 00:52:39.179 progressive. It is not just a one and done. but 00:52:39.179 --> 00:52:43.300 a continual. So Holy Spirit, we ask for you to 00:52:43.300 --> 00:52:49.079 fill us. Fill us that we would help be your vessels 00:52:49.079 --> 00:52:53.480 to bring the nations to you. Bring our workplaces 00:52:53.480 --> 00:52:57.039 to you. Bring our families to you. You are the 00:52:57.039 --> 00:53:00.059 one that draws people to you. So Holy Spirit, 00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:03.820 we ask now. for your sanctifying and your incredible 00:53:03.820 --> 00:53:07.619 empowerment to help us deliver the gospel, even 00:53:07.619 --> 00:53:10.539 in the midst of Babylon, even in the midst of 00:53:10.539 --> 00:53:14.119 where the world seems chaotic and the world seems 00:53:14.119 --> 00:53:17.420 completely out of order. Let them see that we 00:53:17.420 --> 00:53:21.179 are a church that is unified by the Holy Spirit. 00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:25.880 Lord, we thank you, God. This is what our world 00:53:25.880 --> 00:53:29.239 needs. The nations need a unified church, a unified 00:53:29.239 --> 00:53:31.420 under the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 00:53:33.099 --> 00:53:36.360 So help us, God, because if we're gonna get unified 00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:38.940 with churches around the world, Lord, we need 00:53:38.940 --> 00:53:42.239 to get unified within ourselves, unified with 00:53:42.239 --> 00:53:45.719 you first and unified with one another. So Lord, 00:53:45.780 --> 00:53:48.739 every place of division, we cast it aside and 00:53:48.739 --> 00:53:51.320 say, Lord, it's not worth it. It's not worth 00:53:51.320 --> 00:53:54.460 the kingdom of God being halted. It's not worth 00:53:54.460 --> 00:53:58.019 the power of God not flowing through me. It's 00:53:58.019 --> 00:54:00.860 not worth it. I'm gonna lay these things down. 00:54:01.780 --> 00:54:03.980 As you taught the disciples to pray, forgive 00:54:03.980 --> 00:54:09.659 our sins as we forgive our debtors. Holy Spirit, 00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:11.880 teach us to forgive. Teach us to live in unity 00:54:11.880 --> 00:54:14.500 because when brothers dwell together in unity, 00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:19.420 it is like the oil that is poured out. Oil representing 00:54:19.420 --> 00:54:24.320 the Holy Spirit. We thank you, God. Let us be 00:54:24.320 --> 00:54:29.460 in one accord. Let us be as one people. As Philippians 00:54:29.460 --> 00:54:32.300 2 even says, let us have one mind, the mind of 00:54:32.300 --> 00:54:34.860 Christ, in all humility, not counting himself 00:54:34.860 --> 00:54:37.300 greater than anybody else, but humbled himself 00:54:37.300 --> 00:54:41.380 to be in human flesh. Let us have that mind. 00:54:42.840 --> 00:54:46.099 Let us have your love. Let us have your heart. 00:54:47.530 --> 00:54:50.570 Let us have your will in control of our own. 00:54:51.369 --> 00:54:57.550 In Jesus precious and mighty name. Amen. Thank 00:54:57.550 --> 00:55:00.250 you for taking the time to listen to this week's 00:55:00.250 --> 00:55:02.929 message. We are so grateful for those who tune 00:55:02.929 --> 00:55:05.769 in each week and have given generously to this 00:55:05.769 --> 00:55:09.010 ministry. If you would like to give, click the 00:55:09.010 --> 00:55:11.630 link in the episode description below. You can 00:55:11.630 --> 00:55:14.449 also help us by subscribing to this podcast and 00:55:14.449 --> 00:55:17.440 sharing it with your friends and family. Lastly, 00:55:17.440 --> 00:55:20.320 if you are in need of prayer send us a text message 00:55:20.320 --> 00:55:25.980 at 541 -625 -1365 We would love to pray with 00:55:25.980 --> 00:55:26.179 you.