Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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I'm Pastor Mark Howard. I'm
here with my co-host, my brother
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Jim Howard who is a pastor also.
We both pastor in the state of
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Michigan and we are studying
the book of Acts. I sure hope
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you have you Bibles with you as
we dive in again to the day of
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Pentecost. Now we have been
building up to this point and
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this is a pivotal point even
though we're right here in the
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beginning of the book of Acts.
It's really kind of a launch pad
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the day of Pentecost where Jesus
had told his disciples to tarry
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and wait for the promise of the
Father and here's where we come
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to the fulfillment of
that. Before we start reading in
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scripture we're just going
to ask the Lord to guide our
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understanding.
Father in heaven, as we're
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reading about the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit on the early
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church we pray for the Holy
Spirit to guide us, the Spirit
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of truth to guide us into all
truth as we study and we ask it
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in Jesus name, Amen.
Acts chapter 2, verse 1.
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The Bible tells us: When the day
of Pentecost had fully come they
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were all with one accord on
one place. Now I want to keep
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reading on here, but I
can't skip past this what the
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scripture is saying and what
I want to look at here about the
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day of Pentecost is something
that a lot of New Testament
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Christians are unaware of
having not studied a lot of Old
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Testament typology. But the day
of Pentecost coming and being
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fully come was powerful
fulfillment of messianic
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prophecy in scriptural types
and you'll see what I mean by
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that when you follow me back to
book of Leviticus. We're going
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to the book of Leviticus
and we're going to chapter 23.
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Now Pentecost was one of the
Jewish feasts that took place
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throughout the year every year.
It was an annual feast of the
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Jews and we read about those
feasts in Leviticus 23. Now I
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want to start with the feast of
Passover in verse 4. Leviticus
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23 and verse 4. The Bible says:
These are the feasts of the Lord
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holy convocations which
you shall proclaim at their
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appointed times. Now I
just want to interject here;
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It's interesting that the
gatherings, I use the word
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gatherings, convocations, a
convocation was a gathering,
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and the feasts of the Lord were
gatherings. The worship services
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of the Lord were intended
to be gatherings and I want to
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emphasize that. Even today
sometimes people today get a
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very independent idea of worship
and they say will I can worship
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God out in nature under the
juniper tree or something you
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know. Where you've got a
gathering God's calling for here
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and there's a blessing
that comes from being gathered
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together. You
know, just prior to this
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verse it talks about the Sabbath
and sometimes when people first
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learn about the Sabbath and the
importance of the Sabbath of the
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fourth commandment they think
well I can do that at home and
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I'll just make sure I care for
that at home. But in that very
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verse it says that the Sabbath
is a day, in verse 3, of holy
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convocation, that's a sacred
gathering. So again and again
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we see the importance of
gathering together as Christians
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like they were
in Acts chapter 2.
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Right. In fact the apostle Paul
says in Hebrews chapter 10 that
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as we see the day of Christ
approaching let's not gather
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together less but more. Now it's
important. I'm glad you brought
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that up about the seventh day
Sabbath. We see that the Sabbath
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of the 10 commandment in verse
3 because there's a distinction
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that we're going to go into
which is the Sabbaths that come
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in conjunction with the feasts
because the feasts also had
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their Sabbaths. Now the seventh
day Sabbath always took place on
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the seventh day. But during a
feast, the feast was driven more
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by the calendar than by the day
of the week. So it would be as
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we read in verse 5 it says: On
the 14th day of the first month
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at twilight is the Lord's
Passover and on the 15th day of
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the same month is the feast
of unleavened bread to the Lord.
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Seven days you must eat
unleavened bread so on the 14th
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day and the 15th day, these
would fall on different days of
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the week depending on the year.
But it goes on to tell us in
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verse 7 on the first day of this
particular feast you shall have
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a holy convocation (again
a gathering). You shall do no
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customary work on it. Now this
is the feast of unleavened bread
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So the first day of that feast
is a Sabbath, it's a rest day.
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The word Sabbath in Hebrew
is just a word that means rest.
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They would do no work on that
day. So there are places in this
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passage that we're going to look
at that will say that they do no
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work and it may not use the word
Sabbath but that's what it means
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and you can read it as you go.
If you read through the whole
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chapter, these were feast
Sabbaths and in this particular
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case on the 15th day of the
first month is when you're going
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find this feast Sabbath.
It could be on whatever day of
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the week. Just
like an anniversary.
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Yeah, like an anniversary
or birthday or whatever. Now it
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goes on to tell us in verse
8 you shall make an offering or
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offer an offering made by
fire to the Lord for seven days.
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This is during the feast of
unleavened bread. The seventh
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day shall be a holy convocation.
This is the seventh day of the
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feast. This feast was blocked
off by Sabbaths, by days of
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rest where God wanted his people
to be able to gather and come
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away from their work and
focus on the spiritual lessons.
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Then he says in verse 9, And
the Lord spoke unto Moses saying
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speak to the children of Israel
and say to them, When you come
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into the land which I give you
and reap its harvest then you
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shall bring a sheaf of the first
fruits to the priest; verse 11,
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He shall wave the sheaf before
the Lord to be accepted on your
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behalf on the day after the
Sabbath the priest shall wave it
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I'm going to make a sense of
this in just a moment. On the
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day after the Sabbath you shall
wave it and you shall offer on
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that day when you offer the
sheaf you shall offer a male
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lamb, etc., etc. Now I'm jumping
ahead to verse 15 where it says,
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in my Bible I have a heading
that says the Feast of Weeks.
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It says, And you shall count for
yourselves from the day after
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the Sabbath from the day that
you brought the sheaf of the
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wave offering, seven Sabbaths
shall be completed. Count 50
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days to the day after the
seventh Sabbath and then you
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shall offer a new
grain offering to the Lord.
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Now this was
speaking about Pentecost.
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That's what Pentecost is, pente
50 and you get the 50 days that
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come after. See here's how
it worked out. You had Passover
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on the 14th day of the first
month. That lamb was slain, the
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Passover lamb at twilight on
the 14th day of the first month.
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And then the Bible says that
the next day began the Feast of
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Weeks and that was a feast
Sabbath; there was no work done
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on that day. Then the day after
that feast Sabbath on the 16th
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day was the day where the wave
sheaf was offered before the
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Lord. Now the wave sheaf was a
first fruits offering. In other
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words it was an early
precursor to the harvest
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that was
coming. It was an early,
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I want to say, harvest.
It wasn't really a harvest,
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it was a pre-harvest and
the wave offering was basically
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thanking the Lord in advance for
the harvest that was going to
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come. Then when you counted the
50 days on the 50th day then you
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had a harvest and you would
take that harvest and you would
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wave it before the Lord. Now
this is all pointing forward to
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different things in the ministry
of Christ. First of all, let's
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go to 1 Corinthians 5. It's
absolutely fascinating when you
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realize that the children of
Israel carried on this custom
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for well over 1000 years every
year; 14th day they had the
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Passover lamb, 15th day,
the feast Sabbath, the feast of
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weeks began, 16th day the wave
sheaf, count 50 days, you have
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Pentecost. Over and over
and over they went through this
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routine. Now 1 Corinthians
chapter 5 in verse 7 notice what
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the apostle Paul says.
Therefore purge out the old
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leaven (which is one of the
things they had to do during the
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Passover) that you may be a
new lump since you truly are
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unleavened for indeed Christ our
Passover was sacrificed for us.
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Now it's not a mystery to
most Christians that Christ was
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typified in the Passover lamb.
But look at the next one in
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1 Corinthians 15; 1 Corinthians
15 and we're going to verse 20.
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And the Bible says: But now
Christ is risen from the dead
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and has become the first fruits
of those who have fallen asleep.
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And later on here Paul says
in verse 23, speaking of the
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resurrection, each one in
his own order, Christ the first
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fruits, afterward those
who are Christ's at his coming.
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So Paul points to the
resurrection of Christ as the
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first fruits offering. Now
follow along here. You come
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down the ages to 31 A.D. On
the 14th day of the first month
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at twilight Jesus Christ is
crucified and hangs on Calvary's
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cross as has been repeated in
type year after year after year
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and right on time he's crucified
On the 15th day, the feast
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Sabbath Jesus rests in the grave
The Bible says in the gospel of
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John, chapter 19, I believe it's
verse 31 that that day was a
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day. Now a high day was when
the seventh day Sabbath and a
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feast Sabbath corresponded on
the same day. On the 16th day,
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the third day since the
crucifixion, Jesus is raised
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from the dead and has become the
first fruits just as the type
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has shown repeatedly. Then the
Bible tells us that Jesus spends
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40 days with his disciples and
then they have 10 days in the
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upper room and when the day of
Pentecost had fully come what do
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we find but a harvest. Jesus
raises from the dead as the
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first fruits, as the evidence
that there's going to be a
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greater harvest on the day of
Pentecost where we're going to
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pick up in Acts chapter 2. We
see the fulfillment of years of
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type, typology, that God
had shown where in a messianic,
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prophetic type we
have a perfect fulfillment.
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So they should have expected
that on the day of Pentecost
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there would have been
a big harvest of souls.
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They should have expected and
when the apostles would preach
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and they were able to use these
scriptures, those Jews could not
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help but see that that which
they had practiced for so many
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years and even I'm sure it had
become formal and routine for
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them, really was pointing
forward to the crucifixion and
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the burial and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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But often they didn't realize
it until it after it was over.
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But certainly it did bring in a
harvest of souls and we're going
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to get to that where 3000 were
added in a day. But we need to
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start right from the beginning
of Acts chapter 2 and dive back
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in and see what it says
here about the setting of what
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happened on the day of Pentecost
50 days after. So it says in
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verse 1: When the day
of Pentecost had fully come
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they were all with one accord in
one place. First of all, that's
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very interesting isn't it.
They were with one accord in one
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place. It's as if it was
saying they were together.
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They were of the same mind set
but they were in the same place
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and this is the atmosphere that
allowed for what was about to
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happen and it's interesting that
as the Holy Spirit is poured out
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throughout the book of Acts as
we're about to see here that it
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happens not necessarily on
individuals but on gatherings of
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people. Convocations, assemblies
It's going to take us setting
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our pride aside and having
humility of heart and love for
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one another in order for us
to see and experience what they
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experienced on this day. So they
were together, together, with
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one accord in one place. Verse 2
says: And suddenly there came a
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sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind and it
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filled the whole house where
they were sitting. Then there
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appeared to them divided tongues
as of fire and one sat upon each
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of them and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began
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to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
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Now this doesn't look
like business as usual for the
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apostles. This was a special day
and it says that the whole house
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was filled with this rushing
mighty wind but to really get
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the fullness of that you have to
look at what it says as you keep
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reading in the next couple
verses. It says: There were
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dwelling in Jerusalem Jews,
devout men from every nation
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under heaven and when this sound
occurred the multitude came
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together. And it speaks about
how they were confused because
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everyone heard them speak in his
own language. But you get this
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picture that this is not
an isolated incident. It is so
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powerful, this noise is
creating such a commotion.
00:13:01.29\00:13:04.82
Something exploded
in town, what happened?
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That's right. I mean we're
talking about people who were
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coming from every nation under
heaven, so they're scattered
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around here, around the
area, and we're hearing this
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incredible supernatural sound.
God is calling the attention of
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all these people to the apostles
in this moment. This is their
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moment to bear witness for
him and to really create the
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birthing of a large crop of
souls to begin that early church
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Now as we keep reading we're
going to learn a little bit
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about some of the special
aspects of the Holy Spirit such
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as the gift of tongues.
But right now we need to take
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a break, so if you'll stick
by we'll be right back with you
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studying the book of Acts.
00:13:44.75\00:13:46.12