Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP180027A
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00:29 The 3ABN Sabbath School Panel welcomes you to our ongoing
00:34 journey through the word of God. 00:36 This odyssey of truth as we study together the word of God. 00:40 Welcome! We're in a brand new quarter, 00:43 and as has been mentioned, we are studying the 00:45 Book of Acts together, and this is going to be 00:48 an exciting time of study! 00:50 I'm in the company of Jill Morikone, Danny Shelton, 00:53 Shelly Quinn and Mollie Steenson. 00:56 These will be your instructors, dare I say, for the next 00:59 13 weeks, as together we study the word of God. 01:02 Now, this is a fun time together, we learn from 01:05 each other and, hopefully, we will have one or two things 01:07 to say to you that will encourage you 01:10 as together we walk this road that leads to glory. 01:13 There are a couple of ways that you can sort of 01:14 work with us on this... 01:16 #1 is to download the Sabbath School Lesson by going 01:20 to ABSG.Adventist.org 01:26 That's ABSG.Adventist.org 01:31 You can download the lesson, and you can study along with us, 01:35 but my preferred way, the way that I want to suggest 01:38 to you is... to go to your local Seventh-day Adventist 01:41 Church. Amen! 01:43 Meet them, greet them and ask them for an Adult Bible Study 01:47 Guide - they may be more accustomed to hearing 01:50 the words "Sabbath School Quarterly," 01:52 but if you explain it, they will get one to you. 01:54 A couple of things will happen when you do that... 01:56 #1, is you can make some new friends. 01:57 They'll be happy to service you and give you 02:01 a Bible Study Guide; may I suggest you stay for church, 02:05 and hear a good sermon, and if the church is large 02:08 enough, you'll probably get a pretty good fellowship meal too, 02:11 so it's a win-win situation. 02:13 You get some spiritual food, you get some physical food, 02:16 you make some new friends, you hear a good sermon, 02:18 and you get fed, so that's my preferred way. 02:21 Go to the Adventist Church, they will be more than happy 02:23 to give you an Adult Bible Study Guide, 02:27 and together you can join with us because this is a 02:29 great study as we look at the formative years 02:33 of the church of God, of the Christian era and we going to 02:37 have a really, really good time together. 02:40 Danny Shelton, would you please pray for us as we launch out? 02:43 Dear Lord, We thank You for Your 02:45 many wonderful blessings. 02:47 We thank You for life and health and strength, 02:49 and we thank You that we have the word that we can go to 02:52 that encourages us. 02:53 We know that You died for us, You rose again, 02:58 You are now ever interceding at the right-hand of the Father; 03:01 You have left us the Holy Spirit that will help us 03:04 to continue in all truth. 03:06 Lord, we want to be able to look up very soon in the 03:08 clouds of glory and say, "Lo, this is our God 03:11 whom we have waited for, and He has come to save us." 03:13 We pray now for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon this 03:16 Sabbath School study... In Jesus name I pray, Amen 03:20 Amen and Amen! 03:21 We do pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 03:25 I want to sort of just launch out and set the culture 03:29 for what we're going to be studying. 03:30 This is a great study... as we look at 03:32 "You Will Be My Witnesses" as our first study together. 03:37 Reading some of the historical material... 03:40 the lesson says many historians believe that the three 03:44 most crucial decades in the world history occurred when 03:48 a small group of men, mostly Jews under the power of the 03:51 Holy Spirit, took the gospel to the world. 03:54 The Book of Acts is an account of those three crucial decades 03:58 which span from the resurrection of Jesus AD 31 to the 04:03 end of Paul's first Roman imprisonment... 04:06 the book must have been written shortly thereafter. 04:09 What is interesting is that the gospel writers, 04:13 particularly Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 04:15 didn't write immediately after the death of Christ. 04:18 Mark was the first to write, we believe, and he wrote 04:22 in the mid-50s, so you're talking 20+ years after 04:25 the death of Christ, followed by Matthew and Luke 04:28 mid 60s, and, of course, John didn't really begin 04:30 writing until the 90s till the close of the first century... 04:33 So it was many, many years after the death of Christ 04:36 that these men began to do their writing. 04:40 But, tradition and the way the book begins lets us know 04:46 that Luke was the author of both Luke and the Book of Acts. 04:52 Now what is interesting about these particular books 04:55 is that these two books, Luke and Acts, comprise 04:58 27% of the New Testament. 05:02 Luke liked to write and, of course, he had a lot to say, 05:05 particularly in the Book of Acts which has 37,933 words 05:11 for both books and the Book of Acts itself 18,451 words 05:17 for 13% of the New Testament is just the Book of Acts. 05:20 Now what is interesting... Paul wrote more as far as 05:24 volume is concerned... He wrote Romans, 05:26 First and Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 05:30 Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians, 05:34 First and Second Timothy, Hebrews and Titus. 05:38 The longest of his books is Romans 7,111 words. 05:43 His total 32,407 words or 23% of the New Testament. 05:49 Now of course, John wrote John, First, Second and Third John, 05:54 and Revelation... Revelation a total of 9,852 05:58 words or 7% of the New Testament, John's total 28,092 06:03 or 20% of the New Testament. 06:07 So just Luke and Acts alone almost a third of the 06:12 New Testament just in these particular books. 06:15 Some interesting history on Luke... 06:17 There is much scholarship that says Luke was a non-Jew, 06:21 but I need to mention there is some scholarship that 06:24 says he was a Jew, but he was a diaspora Jew, 06:27 in other words, he was a Jew living outside of Palestine. 06:30 There is still some debate on that, but the lesson 06:33 tends to take the idea that he was a non-Jew, 06:38 and there is some debate about that. 06:40 The word "diaspora" meaning "scattered or dispersed" 06:44 came into providence when the Septuagint was translated 06:48 in Alexandria. 06:50 So given that history, we have a little culture of the 06:56 Book of Acts and what we're going to study during these 06:59 next several weeks together. 07:01 As we move into Sunday's lesson, let me just touch on one thing 07:07 before I go into Sunday's lesson... 07:08 One of the things that the Book of Acts lets us know 07:11 is that the gospel is for all people. That's right. 07:14 There is... I don't want to say a "social gospel" 07:16 because that terminology is loaded, 07:18 but there is a social aspect to the gospel... 07:20 saying that to say that the gospel is for all people, 07:24 all places, all times, in all situations. 07:28 God is no respecter of persons, God, through Jesus Christ, 07:32 has drawn all people to Himself, and we tend to 07:35 make divisions and those kind of things, 07:39 but that's not so with God. 07:40 God is calling all to the precious, bleeding side of 07:43 Jesus and we see that woven through the Book of Acts. 07:47 Now let's go to Sunday and begin our march together... 07:54 Sunday: "Ye Will Be My Witnesses." 07:57 The lesson says and walks us through this idea 08:02 that there are two views of the Messiah as they come 08:06 from the Old Testament. 08:08 There is the kingly view of the Messiah - we see that in 08:11 Psalms 89, Isaiah 9, Ezekiel and the Book of Daniel, 08:15 and certainly there is this kingly aspect to the work of 08:20 Christ, but there is also what I call the "suffering 08:23 servant motif." 08:24 We see that mostly in the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah 52 and 53... 08:29 the fact that He came to suffer, He came to die. 08:34 It is the synthesis of the two 08:36 that is relevant for our study today. 08:39 What is important is the fact that these two views of 08:42 Christ are not antagonistic, they are not. 08:44 They are one building out of the other. 08:49 The suffering had to precede the glorification, 08:53 but they are part, two sides, dare I say, of the same coin. 08:56 The problem was not what the Bible was saying about 09:01 Jesus because in the Bible, the Old Testament 09:03 was very clear that the Tanach or the Old Testament 09:06 was very clear... the problem was Jewish expectations. 09:10 It was... there was a term that we studied in school 09:13 called "popular culture." 09:15 Popular culture means something that's not really 09:17 written down anywhere, it's not codified, 09:20 but everybody thinks that, you know. 09:22 I guess the most, the closest of the modern 09:25 correlays would be this idea that when you die, 09:28 you go straight to heaven, and you hear athletes say, 09:30 "Well my mom was looking down on me, that's how I got..." 09:32 you know, it's just kinda everybody kind of thinks this. 09:35 It's not biblical, it's not anywhere in the Bible. 09:38 It is a non-biblical teaching, but it's part of 09:41 popular culture - so everybody is saying it, 09:43 and a lot of people believe it. 09:45 I guess the other one would be... 09:47 the idea that the Sabbath is Sunday... part of popular 09:50 culture - it's not biblical, it's not in the Bible, 09:52 but people just - they don't question it, 09:54 they just accept it. 09:55 Well popular culture back in the Bible day 09:57 was that Christ had come to deliver us from the Romans. Yes 10:01 It was just EVERYBODY believed it and Ellen White says, 10:04 interestingly enough, even John the Baptist 10:06 had held that belief. 10:08 EVERYBODY believed it and it was just part 10:11 of popular culture. 10:14 The Western World was Rome. 10:16 Rome was one of the larger cities in the world 10:19 at that time and this idea... you know it seems unreasonable 10:24 that God would take this little, tiny country, 10:28 500,000, maybe 700,000 people and free it 10:32 from the clutches of an empire that stretched from Butania 10:36 to India, including all of Europe and North Africa, 10:40 and somehow it got woven into their minds that 10:43 God is going to free us from the Roman Empire. 10:47 Now today, looking at that, 10:48 how in the world could you think that? 10:49 But it was thousands of years in the making... 10:52 this idea that we are God's people, we are never going to 10:55 be conquered and if we're going to be conquered, 10:57 as soon as we sort of get right, 10:58 Christ is coming to free us from all of this. 11:00 This was part of popular culture and it seems unreasonable 11:04 now, but it was part of it back then. 11:07 Here's what's interesting... You have 30,000 people in 11:10 the city of Jerusalem, 80,000 during the feasts, 11:14 you know, during Pentecost the population more than doubled, 11:17 40 days later, 49 days later you had the Feast of Weeks 11:20 which was the celebration of the giving of the 11:22 Ten Commandments in the wilderness. 11:23 Of the 30,000 people living in Jerusalem, 11:26 6,000 were Pharisees - so when you walk down the street, 11:30 one in every five people you saw was a Pharisee, you know... 11:34 And they had a lot of sway on the popular culture of the day 11:38 because everywhere you turned there was a Pharisee, Pharisee, 11:40 Pharisee, Pharisee, Pharisee, Pharisee, Pharisee, 11:42 and, of course, they had a lot to say. 11:45 Now the Sadducees were the actual priestly aristocracy. 11:49 Those of the guys that had the money, 11:50 most of the high priests were Sadducees, but Pharisees 11:53 were out among the people and exerted a great influence... 11:57 But regardless of who they were, 11:59 they wanted to be free from the Romans. 12:01 Even the Sadducees, they were kind of the mindset 12:05 "Well can we all just get along?" 12:07 You know, "They're here, we're here, let's get along." 12:09 But the Pharisees were hardcore separatists. 12:12 "We want to be free, we want to be #1." 12:14 And so the mindset was, "Christ is coming to do this," 12:21 and so when the New Testament Church began, there was a lot 12:25 of tradition, that it had to disabuse itself of. 12:28 There was thousands of years of tradition 12:32 that they had to get free of. 12:36 The lesson brings out the text, Luke 24:31. 12:40 Even the disciples said... You know, we kind of 12:43 had hope that He would have been the One to free us, 12:46 you know, because that's so much a part of their thinking. 12:49 The lesson asks the question, I think it's important... 12:51 "Why is it so easy to sometimes get stuck in a spiritual rut 12:57 that may not be good for your spiritual growth, 12:59 and may be patently unbiblical." But the Bible 13:02 was clear that Christ is not coming to do that, 13:05 He's coming to set up a spiritual kingdom... 13:07 but we can do that ourselves 13:09 and that's what the lesson is pushing towards. 13:12 Sometimes our desires are a product of things 13:15 that we want - we just want this so bad. 13:18 So sometimes we'll say, "We'll when you come 13:21 to the Lord, all your problems are over, 13:22 you're going to be rich - you know, pray on this 13:23 holy cloth and everything is going to be fine." 13:26 Because it appeals to your flesh and this mindset 13:28 that "We're going to be #1, we're going to be the 13:31 top dog, we're God's people," really appeals to your flesh. 13:34 It's not a spiritual thing. 13:36 I want to be #1, I want to be the top dog. 13:38 So we deceive ourselves into thinking that our desires 13:42 are God's desires and it's not that way. 13:45 God's desires are supposed to be our desires, 13:48 so when the New Testament Church began, it began by 13:52 separating itself from a lot of history which not only 13:56 was not progressive, but actually kept the people 13:59 in bondage and did not allow them to understand 14:02 the burden that Christ's mission was which was 14:06 to free people from that bondage and to 14:09 inaugurate a brand new kingdom... 14:11 a kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of the heart. 14:14 Amen, thank you so much Pastor CA, 14:17 that's wonderful good foundation as we open up 14:20 the study of the Book of Acts. 14:22 I think of Luke and Acts as twin volumes, as it were, 14:25 for the beginning of Christianity... 14:27 Of course, Luke is about Christianity's origin... 14:30 That would be the life, the ministry, the death, 14:33 the resurrection of Jesus, and Acts is about 14:36 Christianity's expansion, the spreading of that gospel. 14:40 I have Monday and on Monday, we look at the 14:44 disciples' mission. 14:47 I have one verse for Monday which was our memory text... 14:50 Acts 1:8, but before we read that verse and we will, 14:54 I want to look at a verse before and CA talked 14:57 about this - about the kingly Messiah versus 14:59 the sacrificial Messiah and the confusion that the Jews 15:02 and the disciples had during that time. 15:05 We know Acts begins right after Jesus was resurrected 15:09 and this was right before His ascension, 15:11 but if we look at verse 6... Acts 1:6- "Therefore, when they 15:14 had come together, they asked Him, meaning Jesus, 15:17 saying, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom 15:20 to Israel?" And that's kind of what 15:22 Pastor CA was talking about. 15:23 The disciples wanted answers, and instead, 15:26 Christ gave them a mission. 15:29 That mission is Acts 1:8, and as we go through this 15:34 one verse, I want to look at four elements 15:37 in Christ's mission. 15:38 Those four elements that are foundational to the mission 15:41 of the early New Testament Church, 15:44 and we also see this at the end time - at the end-time 15:47 church - they would be foundational for us as well. 15:50 The four elements... First, is the Holy Spirit, 15:52 the anointing, the power of the Holy Spirit. 15:54 Second, is personal experience. 15:57 Third, is the structure of the evangelism... 16:00 meaning it began at home and it spread. 16:02 And fourth, is the structure of the mission of the church, 16:06 and we'll unpack those four things here. 16:09 So let's read our verse, Acts 1:8- "But you shall 16:11 receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon 16:15 you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem 16:18 and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." 16:23 Now the first element is the Holy Spirit. 16:25 What does Jesus say? "You shall receive power 16:28 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." 16:30 King James, I learned that in King James it says... 16:32 "After that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you. 16:36 So when I read that, I think... "Does that mean the 16:39 Holy Spirit wasn't present before then?" 16:40 They're receiving power after the Holy Spirit comes on them. 16:44 So what does that mean? 16:45 We know the Holy Spirit was present from the very beginning, 16:48 from Creation - all through the Bible. 16:51 You think of Noah - it talks about the Holy Spirit 16:53 working on the hearts of people in Noah's day. 16:55 The Bible says, in Genesis, how Joseph was filled 16:59 with the Spirit of God. 17:01 We know from King Saul, he prophesied 17:03 when he was under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 17:05 Mary, of course, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, 17:08 and that's when she conceived Jesus. 17:10 The Bible says John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit 17:13 from the womb. 17:14 The Holy Spirit was present working all through the Bible, 17:18 but in a special sense, the Holy Spirit was to 17:21 be given in a special measure, a special outpouring 17:25 to the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended to His Father. 17:29 We see that in John 7:39. 17:31 It says, "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, 17:34 whom those believing in Him would receive, 17:37 for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus 17:41 was not yet glorified... meaning the Holy Spirit 17:44 was not given yet in that anointing and power 17:47 that we see came at Pentecost... 17:49 And also, John 16:7- "Jesus says, "Nevertheless I tell you 17:53 it is expedient that I go away; for if I go not away 17:58 the Helper, Parakletos, the Comforter will not come to you." 18:01 So Jesus says... After I go, you are going to receive power. 18:06 Now the word for "power" in Greek is "dunamis" meaning 18:09 miracle-working power, inherent power. 18:13 So the early church, in order to fulfill the mission, 18:15 the commission that God had called for the church, 18:18 they needed the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. 18:23 The second thing they needed was personal experience. 18:26 You see here, it says, "You should receive power 18:28 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be 18:31 witnesses unto Me." 18:33 In the Greek, the word for "witness" means "an eye 18:37 or an ear witness." 18:39 So if I'm understanding that correctly, they're not 18:42 witnessing about what they heard about Jesus from John, 18:45 and John heard it from Mary, and Mary heard it from Sally. 18:48 They're witnessing something that they actually saw 18:51 with their eyes, that they heard with their ears. 18:54 They're sharing firsthand experience. 18:58 Turn with me to 1 John 1, John says really the 19:04 same thing here in this passage. 19:06 1 John 1:1-3- It says, "That which was from the beginning 19:11 which we have heard... Notice how many senses 19:15 that John talks about here... which we have heard, 19:18 that's the sense of hearing... which we have seen 19:20 with our eyes... that's the sense of sight... 19:23 which we have looked upon and our hands have handled... 19:26 that's the sense of touch... concerning the word of life. 19:30 And then jump down to verse 3. That which we have seen 19:33 and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have 19:36 fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the 19:39 Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ." 19:42 Now if you look at the Greek for that, that which we 19:44 have heard literally means "to give in the audience of." 19:48 So in this case, John is saying, I'm not giving to you 19:52 something that I just heard from my momma or I 19:54 from somebody else, I actually sat in the audience 19:57 when Jesus talked and I heard these words from Him Himself. 20:02 Then it says, "That which we have seen... 20:05 and that means in the Greek, "To stare at with 20:07 wide-open eyes, to gaze upon." 20:11 He says... I saw the lame healed, I saw the blind 20:15 restored to sight, I saw Jesus calm the waves on that sea, 20:20 I actually, literally saw it. 20:22 And then it says, "What our hands have handled, in Greek," 20:25 it means "to verify by touch." 20:27 I reach out, I can touch the table. 20:29 Oh, it's a table, I know it's there by touch. 20:32 So John is saying... They are sharing from their experience, 20:36 and I think that's the same thing if we go back to Acts 1. 20:39 That's the same thing Jesus is saying... 20:41 You're going to receive power, dunamis power 20:44 from the Holy Spirit. 20:46 #1, they need the anointing of the Holy Spirit 20:48 in order to fulfill the mission that God has called them to. 20:52 #2, they are to be witnesses of what they have seen 20:56 and heard, and not only for the New Testament Church, 20:59 I think for us at the end-time church, we are called not to 21:03 share a dead experience. 21:04 We are not called to share somebody else's experience. 21:07 You are called at home, we are called to share 21:11 the experience we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! 21:14 What we have experienced, what we have seen, 21:17 what we have heard, what we know of the Lord Jesus Christ. 21:20 Now #3, we see this process of evangelism 21:24 and how it's going to take place. 21:25 "They are to be witnesses to Me... I'm back at Acts 1:8. 21:29 Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, 21:34 and in the end of the earth." 21:36 We see the progression of Christianity 21:39 as you go through the Book of Acts. 21:41 It goes from really a small sect, 120 believers 21:46 in the upper room and it explodes with international 21:50 religions that go many, many different peoples, 21:54 places and cultures, it really explodes, 21:57 but it begins first at home. 21:58 It begins in Jerusalem, then it goes out to the 22:02 neighboring communities, THEN it 22:04 goes out to the whole world. 22:06 And finally, I want to look at the structure of the mission. 22:11 In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were God's chosen people, 22:16 we know that, and they were called what is to be as it were 22:19 "a light set on a hill." 22:21 The Gentiles, the other people who did not know of God, 22:25 were to come to them... we see that in Isaiah 60:1-3. 22:30 What does it say? "Arise, shine, For your light 22:33 has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you... 22:37 and then it says... Gentiles, what are they going to do? 22:39 ... Shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness 22:44 of your rising." 22:45 So I think in the Old Testament Church especially, 22:49 you see with Israel, the other nations were supposed 22:52 to see what God was doing with Israel. 22:55 They were supposed to be a light to other nations. 22:57 So other nations were to come to them and learn and grow, 23:02 and experience God. 23:04 I believe in the New Testament Church, instead of other people 23:07 coming to them, they are called to go to others. 23:11 We see that in the commission. 23:13 Mr. Danny, you always talk about Matthew 28, Jesus says... 23:16 "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations." 23:20 And so, we are called to go, they were not called to sit 23:24 at Jerusalem in the upper room and say... 23:26 We're going to be a shining light and everyone else 23:29 is to come to us... 23:31 They are called to get out of themselves, 23:33 to get out of their comfort zone and TO GO, 23:36 to take the gospel message to the four corners of the earth. 23:41 So what I see here in Acts 1:8, is Jesus' commission 23:46 for evangelism, #1 and this works for us at the end time 23:51 church as well as the New Testament Church, 23:54 we are called to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit. 23:58 We are called to experience and know the Lord Jesus Christ 24:02 for ourselves so we can share that and His word 24:05 with other people. 24:06 We are called to begin first with evangelism at home, 24:09 and have that spread, and we are called 24:12 not to sit back and wait for people to come to us. 24:14 We are called to GO out and spread the gospel 24:17 to the world. Amen. Amen! 24:19 I don't know how she gets all that in so beautifully! 24:22 Great job, both of you. 24:24 Mine is on Tuesday, "He Will Come Again," 24:27 and all I can say is "Praise God!" Amen! 24:30 We praise God and those of you at home, praise God, 24:33 He will come again! Now that's a promise! 24:36 John, if you go to 14, Jesus says, "I go and prepare 24:41 a place for you, I will. He says, if I go away, 24:44 and prepare a place for you, I will do what? 24:46 Come again! I will come again and receive 24:47 you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also." 24:53 So that is an incredible promise that He will come again. 24:57 My Scripture is in Acts 1: 9-11, and it says... 25:04 "Then when He had spoken these things, while they 25:07 beheld, He was taken up and a cloud received Him 25:10 out of their sight. And while they looked 25:12 steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, 25:16 two men stood by them in white apparel which also said, 25:20 "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? 25:24 This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, 25:28 shall so come again in like manner and do what? 25:32 That you have seen Him go into heaven... while Jesus was 25:35 taken to heaven." This was amazing to me, 25:37 and I thought about it... These apparently two angels 25:42 the way they were dressed, says, "This same Jesus 25:45 shall come back in like manner," but it's amazing to me that 25:48 they asked these men of Galilee, "Why stand you here 25:51 gazing?" My question would be, why not? 25:54 Ha, ha...some laughter... I would be shocked if 25:56 they weren't standing there, I'm sure their mouths were 25:59 opened, their jaws dropped because they had seen 26:02 something never before... now they didn't know about 26:05 Elijah back then, but I'm talking about 26:07 in their own personal experience. 26:09 Now while they had been with the Master, 26:11 they had seen miracles; they had seen healings; 26:14 they had seen resurrections from the dead; 26:17 they had seen things, but this was a whole different 26:20 experience because for 3 or 3-1/2 years, 26:23 they had been with the Master, and any time trouble came, 26:27 guess what they could do? 26:28 They could go to Jesus. That's right. 26:29 When they were out in the ship and the storm was coming 26:32 along and all of a sudden, what did they do? 26:35 Instead of taking command of the... "Lord, wake up, wake up, 26:40 we're about to perish," you know, and so constantly 26:44 for these years, they were with Jesus, they saw what He did. 26:50 So the angels say... Why are you looking so shocked? 26:55 Well, I don't blame them, I would be shocked too, 26:58 but here's the good news... 26:59 The good news is... when they saw Him go up, first of all 27:03 ... the first thought was "Oh no we're alone again." Yes 27:06 Because when He was crucified, many of the disciples 27:10 didn't really understand... as you already covered, 27:12 Jesus' earthly mission wasn't just to build a political 27:16 kingdom, and earthly kingdom. 27:18 We see that when Judas sold for 30 pieces of silver, 27:21 he wasn't selling out Christ, in his mind, he was gonna 27:24 force Christ His hand to come out and show 27:27 that He is the Ruler. 27:28 Peter said... I'll take care of this, after being with Him 27:32 all this time, I'll pull my sword out, 27:33 they're not going to take my Lord and so he cut 27:36 a man's ear and so it shows they didn't really 27:39 understand the Master. 27:41 Now I've been one of those to say, many times I'll read 27:44 and I'll think, "how could they have missed the boat?" 27:46 If I were there or at the cross, you know, I would have said... 27:49 Would I? Do I stand up for Jesus today? 27:53 In other words, we can look back and second guess what 27:55 everyone did, but it's important for us to 27:58 realize that when Jesus was on earth, this was great, 28:03 He was a great teacher, they saw many mighty 28:06 and marvelous things happen, BUT when He died, what happened? 28:11 It says they gathered together for fear of the Jews; 28:15 they had doubts... all kinds of doubting. 28:18 Thomas - you remember? 28:19 All of these things happened, so now Jesus is with them; 28:22 they're looking for this earthly kingdom, but then Jesus 28:26 is crucified - some of them didn't realize 28:30 that He gave His life - they felt like they took His life. 28:33 So now, they didn't know what to do. 28:34 But now comes the great news of the resurrection! Amen! Amen! 28:38 And that's the good news! Yes 28:40 So now, that brought hope. 28:42 So the death brought discouragement and fear, 28:46 but the resurrection brought great hope, 28:50 but something was still missing and that's power. 28:53 That's power to go and do what they had seen Jesus do. 29:00 That power comes from the Holy Spirit, 29:02 but before I go there, I want to read a couple 29:05 of Scriptures here... The angel said, "As you see 29:09 Him go, He will come in like manner in a cloud," 29:12 but this time it will be a cloud of witnesses, 29:14 maybe a cloud of tens of thousands and thousands 29:16 and thousands of angels will surround Him. 29:19 This time, He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords 29:22 and not a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. 29:25 So what happened when the disciples saw Him go... 29:29 I'm sure it was mixed feelings.. We're alone for the first time. 29:33 I remember training Trinity, for years, to drive... 29:36 And so she was comfortable when I was there, 29:40 but we both had... Uh oh, the very first time she got 29:44 her driver's license, and then she says... 29:46 "Papa, can I go to take the car to West Frankfort?" 29:49 I'm like, "What?" You know... 29:51 "Well Papa, I've been doing this for years, 29:53 you started me early and I'm good." 29:55 But I said, "But Trin," you know. 29:57 And she admitted, she had some intrepidation herself 30:00 because she had never been at the wheel. 30:03 So, all of a sudden, Jesus goes to heaven, 30:06 He ascends to heaven and the disciples... it's time for them 30:10 to get out of training and take the wheel. 30:12 But I can't do that, can't take the wheel until I receive 30:18 what Jesus left... was the Holy Spirit. 30:21 But the fact that He ascended to heaven is incredible 30:24 because they say "He will come in like manner," 30:26 so that gives hope - they physically saw it. 30:29 If Jesus had just disappeared, it would have gone along with 30:32 the rumors of the leaders at that time... that the death 30:35 ... "Oh well, somebody stole His body," but no, they saw Him 30:38 after His resurrection, isn't that amazing? 30:40 They saw Him after the resurrection. 30:42 So, He's coming back, so that gives them confirmation. 30:46 Let me give you a couple of Scriptures... 30:47 I'm talking too much, all right? 30:48 So here we go... Revelation 1:7- "Look, He is 30:51 coming with clouds and every eye shall see Him, 30:54 even those who pierced Him and all the peoples on earth 30:56 will mourn because of Him, and so shall it be." 30:59 Matthew 26:64, in which Jesus tells the Sanhedrin, 31:03 "They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven." 31:08 Luke 21:27- "And they shall see the Son of Man coming in a 31:12 cloud with power and great glory." 31:14 Zechariah 12:10... we could keep going... 31:17 which says that Jerusalem's inhabitants will mourn 31:20 when they see the One that they have pierced. 31:22 So when He comes in the clouds, people can make whatever 31:25 they want to make out of that, and there is this big 31:28 theory that goes around that 31:29 says He's coming in a secret rapture - not according to this. 31:33 He's coming, and the Bible says that "every eye shall see Him, 31:36 even those who pierced Him." 31:38 And so the hope and encouragement that we have... 31:41 I want to read Luke 24:51, "And it came to pass 31:44 that while He blessed them, He was parted from them 31:47 and carried up into heaven, and they worshipped Him, 31:51 and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were 31:55 continually in the temple praising and blessing God." 31:59 Now here's the difference... Jesus leaves, He left the 32:03 Holy Spirit... now you have to receive the Holy Spirit, 32:05 so when you ask Jesus into your life and you ask the 32:09 Holy Spirit, great things... He says "greater things shall 32:12 ye do than I have done." We can talk about that at 32:15 another time, but I have some ideas what some of that means. 32:18 He used to go around and talk to people where they could 32:21 hear Him... we can take television and go around 32:24 the world in a matter of seconds, so He has given us 32:26 great and mighty tools that are an advantage 32:29 even over what He had when He was here on earth. 32:32 So here we have - once they receive the Holy Spirit, 32:36 they were in the temple praising God, no more fear, 32:40 no more discouragement; the hope all of a sudden 32:43 became reality and now, guess what? 32:46 They can't wait to tell the world, to be a witness 32:50 to tell the world that JESUS who died and was buried 32:54 was resurrected and now is ever interceding 32:58 at the Father, think about that, for you and me on our behalf. 33:02 So the disciples saw it firsthand, so you know what 33:04 an encouragement that must have been to them. 33:07 So my thing is and I'm running out of time, 33:10 I have a lot more notes than what I should have 33:12 and a lot of Scriptures I could give you, 33:14 but I had a bunch on the Holy Spirit, but I want to 33:16 begin to close with this thought... is that, Molly, 33:20 here we are in a time - how do we relate this to us today 33:25 as a church and its people? 33:27 Are we discouraged? Do we live in fear?... so to speak. 33:31 Because people say, "Well, I wanted to say 33:33 something, but I was afraid to. 33:34 You know, once you receive the Holy Spirit... 33:37 I think right now it's imperative that each of us 33:40 pray and ask the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. Amen! 33:43 Because when it does, all power is given us. 33:46 Jesus says, "All power is given me in heaven and earth, 33:49 go ye therefore." 33:51 So once you receive Jesus and you ask Him for the anointing 33:56 of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will become 33:59 a great witness... not in your own power, 34:01 but in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. 34:04 So today, let's don't be discouraged, 34:06 let's keep looking up because this Jesus, as He 34:10 ascended in a cloud, into heaven, He is soon coming 34:13 back in a cloud, but this time King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 34:18 Very good. I hope I can match your enthusiasm and energy! 34:24 My lesson is Tuesday, "He Will Come" 34:28 Wednesday! How about Wednesday? 34:30 You just did that. I'm glad I didn't do that. 34:34 But "Preparing For Pentecost," and what I'd like to do 34:38 I'm going to back up just a little so that we can 34:41 look at what Jesus told these people and why 34:46 they went to prepare for Pentecost. 34:49 Let's begin with verse 4, Acts 1:4 34:55 "Being assembled together with them, He (Jesus) commanded 35:00 them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the 35:03 Promise of the Father, which He said, 35:05 "You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized 35:10 with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit 35:16 and not many days from now, He says... 35:21 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him saying, 35:25 "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? 35:31 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know 35:34 the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own 35:38 authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit 35:42 has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses to Me 35:45 in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth." 35:50 They had a GREAT PROMISE, the Holy Spirit was coming, 35:56 and He had to come to fulfill their great commission... 36:02 And as you already mentioned, Jesus had already told them... 36:05 He said, Go into all the nations and he said, making disciples 36:12 baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, 36:14 and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything. 36:18 So they've got this great promise... 36:22 I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit to fulfill the 36:25 great commission and the great hope - is that 36:27 Jesus is returning... how exciting! 36:30 And Jesus made no time commitment, did He? 36:35 About, He said, Hey, only the Father knows when I'm coming. 36:40 But the implication was just like Matthew 24:14, 36:43 when He said that this gospel will be preached in all 36:48 the world, then the end will come. 36:50 Alright, so my day begins with Acts 1:12 and let's just start 36:55 there, He says, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the 37:01 mount called Olivet which is near Jerusalem, 37:05 a Sabbath day's journey. 37:06 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper 37:10 room where they were staying; Peter, James, John, Andrew, 37:13 Phillip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of 37:18 Alpheus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 37:22 These all continued with one accord in prayer 37:27 and supplication with the women and Mary the mother 37:31 of Jesus, and with His brothers." 37:34 Luke always mentions the women, I think he wanted to show 37:39 that Jesus regardeth them as equal, so this is pretty 37:42 exciting and then he mentions James and His brothers, 37:46 the brothers of Jesus. 37:49 Well we know His brothers were James, Simon and Joseph. 37:53 And they were either the younger brothers of Joseph and Mary 37:57 or they were the sons of the first marriage of Joseph. 38:00 But interesting to me because during Christ's lifetime 38:05 did they believe in Him? 38:07 They didn't believe He was the Messiah. No 38:10 But then what happened? 38:11 After His resurrection, He appears to James and all of a 38:15 sudden everything has changed. 38:17 So verse 15 says, "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst 38:22 of the disciples, altogether the number of names 38:25 was about 120." 38:28 Now here we have... He's in the upper room, 38:33 they are going to do what Jesus said - Wait in Jerusalem 38:37 until you receive the promise, so they go to the upper room 38:40 and there's 120 and I know that we have all stood in that 38:44 upper room when we were in Israel - it's huge, 38:48 it's like a big ballroom, 120 people wouldn't be 38:51 any problems in that room. 38:54 But here they are, they are waiting and they are in 39:00 persistent prayer, they're in united prayer, 39:03 they are asking - no doubt they were confessing their sins 39:07 and with sincere repentance, no doubt their hearts were 39:10 filled with praise for God resurrecting Christ... 39:15 But the interesting thing is, they were in perfect harmony. 39:18 this was nothing like at the Last Supper when they were 39:21 fighting over who was going to be the greatest, right? 39:24 Because Jesus had prayed for them in the garden, 39:26 when He prayed, in John 17, He said, "O Father, let 39:30 them be one as You and I are one"... right? 39:33 So they're waiting expectantly for God's promise and the 39:39 Holy Spirit comes in response to prayer. 39:43 One hundred and twenty expectant souls there, 39:46 calmed, reverent, but it's a time of joy - you know it was! 39:51 And they are in one spirit and one mind praying earnestly. 39:57 You know, in Matthew 18:19, this is a verse 40:01 that you use quite often... 40:02 Jesus said, "I say to you that if two of you agree on earth 40:06 concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them 40:11 by my Father in heaven." 40:13 So we've got this whole group of Christians who are 40:17 definitely doing what God has asked them to and our lesson 40:27 says - "In our daily choices, what are the ways we help 40:30 prepare the way for the Holy Spirit?" 40:33 Well first, let's do what they did - confession of sin. 40:37 1 John 1:9 says - "If we confess our sin, He is faithful 40:40 and just to forgive us all of our sins and cleanse us 40:43 of all unrighteousness." 40:45 And I suggest that when you confess, you also ask God 40:49 for the gift of repentance. 40:51 In Acts 5:32- He says that He gave Jesus to grant repentance. 40:57 And the reason I think that we should pray for repentance... 41:01 You and I don't have the power to change ourselves. 41:04 Repentance means that you're turning away from sin 41:06 to God - we can only repent by the power of grace. 41:10 It is only as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, 41:13 that then God works in us to will 41:15 and to do His good pleasure, right? 41:18 So that I think is very important. 41:20 Then we should confess our need for His Spirit. 41:26 This is, to me, the definition of humility, 41:32 is absolute dependence upon God. 41:35 In Philippians 2:5-8, I want to read this to you quickly... 41:39 Paul writes and he says, "Let this mind be in you 41:42 which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, 41:47 did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 41:51 but made Himself of no reputation, 41:54 taking the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness 41:57 of men and being found in appearance as a man, 42:01 He humbled Himself and became obedient 42:04 even to the point of death, even to the death on the cross." 42:10 Christ lived a life just like you and I. 42:14 He humbled Himself, He humiliated Himself 42:18 to descend to be condescend and become a man... 42:22 But then He totally relied upon God and that's what we've 42:28 got to do... then you need to ask for the power 42:33 of the Holy Spirit - pray every day that God will fill you 42:36 afresh with His Holy Spirit. 42:39 In Luke 11:9-13- Jesus says, "Ask, keep on asking, 42:45 Seek, keep on seeking, Knock, keep on knocking, 42:49 and this is something that we do on a daily basis 42:54 that we must do. 42:55 And I want to teach you, if there's nothing else you've 42:57 heard me say - If you want to be ready for the Holy Spirit, 43:01 Three R's - Remember in school, the three R's? 43:05 Reading, writing and arithmetic. 43:07 Well in the school of Christ it is: 43:11 "Receive, Recognize and Rely" Amen! 43:16 Receive the Holy Spirit, Recognize your 43:19 total dependence upon Him, I mean recognize His 43:24 constant presence with you and then Rely on Him 43:28 recognizing your total dependence. 43:30 So the other thing that we should do is let us understand 43:37 we are dependent upon Him for both Bible study and prayer. 43:41 Two quick Scriptures... 1 Corinthians 2:14 43:45 "The natural man does not receive the things of 43:47 the Spirit for they are foolishness to him, 43:50 nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." 43:54 Before you open the Bible, ask God to give you the 43:58 Spirit and see this through the Spirit's lens because 44:02 only He can teach you. 44:04 And Romans 8:26- Paul says, "Likewise the Spirit 44:08 helps us in our weakness for we do not know how we should 44:12 pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself 44:16 makes intercession for us." 44:18 He is your prayer partner! Amen and Amen! 44:22 That something that I realize, this Holy Spirit that all of 44:27 you have been talking about is present with us right now. AMEN! 44:30 He's here and He is accomplishing, by opening up 44:35 our hearts and allowing this word to penetrate in us, 44:38 and that is my prayer for everyone that's listening 44:41 and everyone that's viewing. 44:42 Right now, the Holy Spirit is opening up your heart 44:46 that you will receive this good word and plant it 44:49 into you because it's the power of the word that can change us. 44:52 Do any of you need changing? 44:53 Amen! Oh yes, we need changing. 44:55 Well I've got Thursday and Thursday is 44:59 "The Twelfth Apostle," that's the title of it. 45:01 Now where do we have the 120 right now? 45:04 Where are all the apostles? They are in that upper room, 45:08 and they are fasting and praying, they are seeking God, 45:12 but you know the Holy Spirit moved on Peter to take care 45:18 of some business. 45:19 The first administrative action of the early church community 45:25 was - they needed to replace Jesus. 45:28 Now we know what happened with Judas - he betrayed the 45:31 Lord Jesus Christ and he went out and killed himself, 45:37 he was no longer one of the twelve. 45:39 And so Peter is saying... We've got to be scripturally 45:43 sound, theologically correct, we have got to find us 45:46 a replacement for Judas. 45:48 Now Peter set out the qualifications - because don't 45:56 you think qualifications for a replacement for the 45:59 apostle was very important? 46:01 I want you to look at Acts, it's still in the 46:05 first chapter 21 and 22, okay, let's read this... 46:09 "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all 46:14 the times that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us." 46:17 Okay, #1, they are going to choose this replacement 46:21 from Judas out of, you know, with the 12 apostles, 46:29 there's 120 in the upper room, there were many disciples 46:33 that were with Jesus the whole time - did you all know that? 46:36 The whole time. He always had a group of disciples 46:40 that were committed and submitted to Him. 46:42 We find places where when the going got hard, 46:46 sometimes some of those would leave, 46:48 but there were always that core group that would 46:50 stick with Him and so Peter is saying... We're going to 46:54 look in the group of disciples that have been with Him 46:58 the whole time beginning from the baptism of John 47:02 to that day when He was taken up from us... 47:07 One of these must become a witness 47:10 with us of His resurrection. 47:12 So first and foremost, they had to have been with Him, 47:16 traveled with Him and seen His many workings and His miracles 47:21 for the time of His ministry here on earth, but the most 47:26 important thing - they had to be a witness of His resurrection. 47:32 Why do you think that is so important - for this person 47:37 to be a witness of His resurrection? 47:40 It was crucial because the resurrection was one 47:44 of the most controversial points and is viewed as a 47:51 powerful evidence of the Messiahship of Jesus 47:55 and it's foundational to the truth of 47:57 the whole Christian faith. 47:59 Without the resurrection, do we have anything? 48:02 Is there any hope? It's that resurrection. 48:05 Okay, Peter knew that the twelve apostles must know 48:11 firsthand that Christ had risen from the dead... 48:16 had witnessed His resurrection firsthand. 48:19 Jill, you were talking about seeing, hearing... 48:22 Let's see, people can argue with you - any of your doctrine; 48:27 people can argue with you about your beliefs, 48:30 but they can't argue with your personal experience. Amen! 48:35 They can't argue with you of what you have seen, 48:39 and what you have witnessed and what you have heard. 48:41 So they're looking at these men that had 48:45 actually seen the resurrection. 48:47 Now just think about this... Let's say someone 48:50 comes up to one of the apostles - someone that 48:54 was there at Calvary and they say to him... 48:59 "How do you know that this Jesus was actually 49:03 the Messiah?" Well because we walked 49:05 him for 3-1/2 years and, Jill, they saw Him, they heard Him, 49:11 they saw those miracles, personal testimony - they KNEW! 49:16 So this twelfth apostle had to be able to say, "I was there, 49:21 I saw Him - I'm not getting this secondhand from anybody." 49:25 "Well, how do you know He died on the cross?" 49:27 "I was there, I saw them beat Him with stripes; 49:31 I saw them put that crown of thorns on His head; 49:37 and I saw them drive those nails into his hands into His feet; 49:43 I SAW that soldier come and stick a spear into His side, 49:48 and the blood and water gush out; 49:51 I SAW Him die on the cross." 49:53 Are they going to argue with that, can't argue 49:55 with a personal testimony! 49:57 Well how do you know He arose? 49:58 Oh, I was there! 50:00 When He walked up to us and we were just shocked to see Him, 50:05 but He said... and this is a quote... 50:07 "Behold My hands and behold My feet." 50:11 I was there, I saw it... I walked with Him all those 50:15 days that He was with us, still teaching us right 50:19 before His ascension... I SAW Him! 50:23 So, see, you can't argue with somebody's personal testimony. 50:28 So Peter was saying, "We don't want somebody that's 50:30 going to get this secondhand, we want this twelfth 50:33 apostle to be somebody that has seen and heard and knows, 50:38 so there can be no question in your heart. 50:40 You know, the apostle Paul used that same argument 50:43 invalidating his apostleship. 50:46 Also, He hadn't walked with Christ during his 50:50 earthly ministry. 50:52 He had an encounter with Jesus where? 50:56 On the road to Damascus! 51:00 It qualified him to bear witness of His resurrection. 51:05 So, let's say somebody questions Paul... 51:08 How do you know that was really Christ because 51:10 He said to me, He introduced Himself to me. 51:14 He told me, "Why are you kicking against the pricks?" 51:19 "You're kicking against Me." 51:22 "Well, how do you know it was Christ asking Paul?" 51:25 "How do you know that it was this Messiah, 51:27 that it was this Jesus?" 51:28 Same answer - "Oh, I saw the nail-scarred hands, 51:33 and I saw the scars in His feet." 51:35 See, you couldn't argue with Paul that he 51:37 had actually seen Him. 51:38 So that was why it was so vitally important 51:42 and the same question that I always want to ask... 51:46 "How is this lesson important?" 51:48 "How can I apply this lesson in my life." 51:51 Oh, because I see Him, I believe, I now 51:54 receive Him into my heart. 51:55 I believe that there is nail-scarred hands, 52:00 and nail-scarred feet that are sitting at the right 52:03 hand of the Father to ever making intercession for me. 52:06 Well, let me get back to this, verse 23 tells us that they 52:10 had to fit those two qualifications and there were 52:13 two men that they looked at. 52:16 Barsabas, whose surname was Justus and Matthias. 52:20 Now it's interesting the way that they chose the one 52:24 who replaced Judas. 52:27 Verse 24 says, "And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, know 52:32 the hearts of all, show which one of these two 52:35 You have chosen." Verse 26, "And they gave 52:38 forth their lots and the lot fell upon Matthias, 52:42 and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." 52:44 Now how was he elected? 52:46 How was he chosen? 52:47 They cast lots. They did what? 52:50 They cast lots... Well what did they do first? 52:52 First they prayed. 52:55 Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, 53:00 but every decision is from the Lord. 53:07 There is no evidence that there was ever any 53:10 challenge to the decision of Matthias. 53:14 So they accepted that this was a decision from the Lord. 53:19 But we don't cast lots today, why do we not cast lots today? 53:23 Now sometimes, we may do this... 53:25 Let's say, "Hal says to me, "Do you want to go to 53:29 Olive Garden or do you want to go to Ruby Tuesday?" 53:32 Well, either one is great, just like these two men, 53:35 they were both great decisions. 53:36 But we're not going to cast lots, sometimes I might say, 53:39 "Oh, flip a coin." You know, but the reason 53:42 we don't today is because... let me just read this to you... 53:46 How do we make decisions today? 53:48 First and foremost, we pray and ask God to show us. 53:51 Well, let me just read Acts 13:1-2 53:54 "Now in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain 53:57 prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called 54:02 Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been 54:04 brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul, 54:08 and they ministered to the Lord and fasted, 54:11 the Holy Spirit said, "How do we make decisions today? 54:14 The Holy Spirit said, "Now separate Me"... gave them 54:17 instruction on what to do, so the reason after the 54:20 Holy Spirit came into us, giving us that dunamis power, 54:24 it also gives us direction. Pastor CA... 54:28 Very well done, well done! Yes 54:30 In the time that is left to us, I want to take just a 54:33 moment and run over what I got from each of you 54:36 in sort of summation. 54:38 Jill, you mentioned "dunamis," the miracle power, 54:42 and another idea of dunamis is the physical ability 54:47 to get the job done, the dynamite power. 54:50 If you have a stump in your yard Danny, it's your yard, 54:52 you can say "stump move," but that's not enough 54:55 to get that stump to move. 54:57 You gotta get the tractor, you gotta pull out the Kubota, 54:59 and take that stump out. 55:00 Well, the dunamis is that Kubota, it's the physical 55:04 ability to get the job done. 55:05 So God promised them, I through My Spirit will give 55:09 you the physical ability to do whatever needs to be done. 55:12 Whatever you come up against, you will be able to overcome 55:15 that through a gift, a physical Spirit power 55:20 that will get the job done, whether it's healing, 55:23 whether it's raising from the dead, whether it's 55:24 casting out devils... whatever you need, 55:26 I will supply! I will supply, that's the 55:29 dunamis - you will get the job done through the dunamis. 55:32 Danny, we have seen, and I think that was also 55:36 very important - that we have seen... 55:39 When you see it, you know, you know it! 55:44 Paul says, "I wasn't there, as you alluded to Mollie, 55:47 but in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, "Lord, do something 55:50 special for me, so I can claim to be an apostle 55:53 because I, too, have seen, I wasn't with the guys, 55:55 but God gave me a little special something 55:57 so that I can say, "I'm an apostle because I saw." 56:00 And when you're in hot water, being able to say, 56:03 "I saw," goes a long way, you know. 56:07 Not, well I think Danny saw, but I saw. Yes 56:12 You know, that gives you the power. 56:14 Shelley, you said so many things... 56:16 One, the inauguration of the Pentecostal experience 56:20 through a particular behest of the Holy Spirit. 56:22 They needed a whole new kind of spirit, 56:25 a whole new level of spirit, a whole new power 56:29 of the spirit... One - to unite them. 56:31 Two - to educate them and to energize them 56:37 for a whole new ministry. 56:38 They were going to go to places where they are not 56:41 going to be received well. 56:43 There were going to do things that was going to 56:45 aggravate the Jewish community and as we 56:49 talked some months ago, the early church was Jewish, 56:52 you know, it was Jewish and we have that. 56:55 Mollie, I want to touch on this... 56:57 Everybody needs Jesus for themselves. 57:00 No apostle died in his own bed. 57:03 You know, they all died horrible deaths. 57:05 When I'm in trouble, Mollie's God can't save me. 57:09 Shelley's God can't save me. 57:11 My God has got to save me, so I need to know 57:13 Jesus for myself and that's what happened 57:16 in that upper room experience. 57:18 They knew God for themselves, so that when they were 57:21 tested, when they were tried, they could say... 57:23 "He is my God and my God will keep me." 57:27 Well, we're at the end of our time. 57:28 Hopefully if you have learned something, 57:30 you've got something that will help you. 57:31 We'll see you again next time. Great study! 57:33 God bless you. |
Revised 2024-07-22