Transcript of Unstoppable Part 8

Unstoppable Part 8 The Church Triumphant Acts 2:22-36 The pattern for a triumphant and unstoppable church is found in the Book of Acts. The world is looking on. They’re wondering, do we, indeed, know something? Do we, indeed, have the answer? They want to know. The world has tried everything, and nothing is working. And, nothing will work, dear friend, because you can’t make a good omelet out of bad eggs no matter how you try. I mean, we can mix it this way, mix it that way, but the only answer—and I mean it with all of my heart—is found right here in this book. Now, I want you to see what a New Testament church is to be. We will look at the message Peter preached. He preached the manner of Jesus’ life, the meaning of His death, the miracle of His resurrection and the majesty of His reign. A Christ-Centered Message And, may I tell you without the shadow of any doubt one of the elements in a church triumphant is a Christ-centered message? I want you to see the message that Simon Peter preached on that day of Pentecost, at the birthday of the Church. “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with powerful works and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know. You have taken Him, who was handed over to you by the ordained counsel and foreknowledge of God, and by lawless hands have crucified and killed Him, whom God raised up by loosening the pull of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬-‭26‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now, I’m telling you, folks, that when Peter got up to preach on the day of Pentecost, he did not preach philosophy; he did not preach self help. He did not preach new thought. He preached Jesus. He preached the Word, even quoting Joel and David. This is the heart of the letter Paul write to his young pastor, Timothy. There are twenty seven explicit commands given in 2 Timothy. In twenty seven words Paul tells pastors what to focus on. You have to be blind to miss the thrust of Paul’s instructions here, because eighteen of those commands, two-thirds, have to do with the ministry of the Word. Peter did not preach a social gospel. This is a popular message among theological liberals. Rather than discussing the gospel as “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16), these individuals speak about the gospel as though it was meant to bring so-called “social justice” and the redistribution of wealth. But Peter, on the day of Pentecost, set the standard for us all, and he preached a Christ-centered message. He preached the Word which testifies of Jesus. He preached… I. The Manner of Jesus’ Life For example, he spoke of the manner of Jesus’s life. Look in verse 22: the Bible says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with powerful works and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ That is, Jesus Christ lived among men. “Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with powerful works and wonders and signs…” Jesus performed supernatural miracles. Supernatural merely means “above nature.” God is not bound by the laws of nature because there really are no laws of nature. What men call the laws of nature are in truth the laws of God that nature must obey. God is sovereign over nature. The law of gravity is overruled when a magnet picks up iron filings. The superior law of magnetism has taken over. In like fashion, the superior law of divine sovereignty overrules the lesser laws of nature. The patriarch Job said of God: “For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven, to make the weight of the wind, and He weighs the waters by measure. When He made a decree for the rain, and a path for the lightning of the thunder, then He saw it and declared it; He prepared it, yes, and searched it out.” Job‬ ‭28‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬ Jesus performed seven signs in John’s gospel proving He was God so that people would believe in Him. These miracles were supernatural proving He was nature’s creator. Turning the water to wine demonstrates God’s joy for your disappointment. The noble man’s son demonstrates God’s assurance for your doubts. Healing the impotent man demonstrates God’s strength for your disabilities. Feeding the 5,000 demonstrates God’s satisfaction for your desires. Calming the storm demonstrates God’s peace in your despair. Healing the blind man demonstrates God’s light for your darkness. Raising Lazarus from the dead demonstrates God’s life for your death. There is one greater miracle. The miracle of the new birth. Remember that John’s purpose for recounting the seven miracles in his Gospel is to bring us to Jesus and the abundant life He alone can give us through the new birth. Listen again to what the apostle wrote: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” John‬ ‭20‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬ You are saved by believing. Miracles done by the hand of God glorify Him and do not glorify men. They will validate the claims and the identity of Almighty God. They will advance God’s work significantly. Someone wrote these words: “Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today He (Jesus) is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader in the column of progress.” And then, this person eloquently said, “I am far within the mark when I say that of all of the armies that ever marched, and all of the navies that were ever built, and all of the parliaments that ever have sat, and all of the kings that have ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that one solitary life: Jesus of Nazareth.” II. The Meaning of Jesus’ Death So, Peter preached on the manner of His life—verse 22 (Acts 2:22). And then, in verse 23, he preached on the meaning of His death: “You have taken Him, who was handed over to you by the ordained counsel and foreknowledge of God, and by lawless hands have crucified and killed Him,” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now, notice what Peter said: “It was God’s plan, but men did it (the Crucifixion).” May I tell you that Jesus Christ did not die as an incident or an accident? Jesus died by divine plan. The Bible makes it plain here that Jesus was not a martyr. The Bible says that He died by the “foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). The death of Jesus Christ on the cross for my sins and your sins was planned from eternity. And, what is the meaning of His death? It is substitution. He died for us, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Sin had to be paid for; and, therefore, God, from eternity, planned that there would be a substitute. Some people say, “Well, God is too good to punish sin.” You’ve got it backward. He’s too good not to punish sin. God is a righteous and a Holy God. He’s the judge of the universe. They say, in a court of law, when a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. If a judge knowingly, willingly, deliberately, lets a criminal go free, he becomes a criminal. If God were to let sin go unpunished, God would topple from His throne of holiness. But, God knew that sin must be punished, but He loved the sinner. And so, God let His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, die a substitutionary death on the cross. III. The Miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection In 2009, Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision, published a book titled The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? Stearns stressed the importance of putting the Christian faith into action, particularly as it relates to caring for the poor and downtrodden around the world. For Stearns, the “hole” in the Gospel for many Christians is that most American believers think that Christianity is primarily about a personal relationship with God, and they neglect a public relationship with the world designed to transform the culture. He drifts into the message of the “social gospel.” Popular pastor and blogger, Kevin DeYoung was asked to write a review of Stearns’ book. In his critique, DeYoung acknowledged that Stearns’ book had many strengths, and then he highlighted some of its problems. For example, DeYoung states, “I can’t count all the times in the book we are told to change the world, start a social revolution, or usher in the kingdom of God. If only we gave more or had the will, we could eradicate hunger and win the war on poverty.” DeYoung closes his review with the following words: “We must use words if we are to preach the gospel, because the gospel is a message we must proclaim. If we never live like Christians, we are not Christians. But to tell people that they must repent and believe in Jesus for the remission of sins, to tell them that God sent His Son in love to bear His just wrath, to tell them that they must receive the kingdom in faith like little children, is not a gospel with a hole in it.” Yes it is but it’s a different hole. What did he miss? The resurrection. The resurrection is what worried the religious leaders in the book of Acts. It was because the Apostles preached the resurrection that they were in trouble with the authorities. “As they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly troubled, because they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ This is the message Satan wants to remove from our preaching. Notice what Peter preached. Peter preached the manner of His life—verse 22 (Acts 2:22). Then, he preached the meaning of His death in verse 23 (Acts 2:23). And then, he preached the miracle of His resurrection in verse 24: “whom God raised up by loosening the pull of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Boy, I love that. You know, there were those who said, “We’re going to kill Him. We’re gonna put Him in the grave, and we’re gonna be rid of Him.” But friend, the corpse has outlived the pallbearers. Amen? It’s not possible that death could hold the Lord of life. Remember, one of the requirements for the Apostle to replace Judas was they had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection. All of the sermons recorded in Acts focus on the resurrection of Jesus. It might initially seem like there is one exception in Acts 7, but in fact that sermon was interrupted when the risen Jesus himself opened heaven and appeared to Stephen while he was preaching! Let’s see what was first in importance for Paul. What was his primary concern? 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ESV Paul reminded the Corinthians of the gospel message he preached to them, and by which they were saved. He said that this message was “of first importance.” Years ago, I read a fable—just a fable, but a beautiful story—of a lion, the monarch of the jungle, who was sleepy, and he saw a cave. And so, he said, “I’ll go into that cave, and I’ll take a long summer’s nap.” And, the old lion with his massive mane went into the cave, gave a yawn, and lay down. There was a spider who saw him, and the spider says, “This is my chance. I will imprison that lion in here.” And so, the spider, at the mouth of the cave, began to spin a web. Up and down, back and across, and around, and around, and around, and around, the spider spun ’till he almost spun himself away. And finally, there was the spider’s web. And, he said, “Now, I have the lion as my prisoner. No longer will he stalk his prey in the jungle. No longer will he strut through the mighty forest. He is my prisoner!” But, the old lion arose from his nap and stretched himself, shook himself, and the dust went off his mane. He stretched one more time and let out a roar that echoed through the valley. And then, he walked out of the cave and never even knew that the spider’s web was there. Death said, “I have Jesus. I’ve got Him! I’ve got Him in my hold now!” My friend, I want to tell you the Lion of the tribe of Judah is alive and well today. Death could not hold is prey—Jesus, my Savior. He tore the bars away-Jesus my Lord? Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph of His foes He arose a victory from the dark domain and He lives forever with His saints to reign He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose! Why is the church unstoppable? We have an eternal Savior. He defeated our greatest enemy. Death. We have been delivered from the fear of death. We overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and love not our lives unto death. The gospel isn’t the good news only because Jesus died for our sins; it is good news because He died for our sins and He conquered death, which allows Him to perform His present and future ministries and give us resurrection life now and for eternity. IV. The Majesty of Jesus’ Reign What is the ingredient of a New Testament church? It is Christ-centered preaching: the magnificence of His life, my dear friend; the meaning of His death; the miracle of His resurrection; and the majesty of His reign, for Peter’s not finished yet. Look, if you will, in verse 36: “Therefore, let all the house of Israel assuredly know that God has made this Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭36‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ He is the head, we are the body. He is the groom, we are the bride. He is the vine, we are the branches. He is the foundation, we are the stones. He is the shepherd, we are the sheep. He is the High Priest, we are the priesthood. We talk about “making Jesus Lord”—you’re too late! He already is. Now, you can get in on it if you want to, but you’re not gonna make Him Lord. Friend, He is Lord and Christ! He’s risen from the dead. He has ascended. And, one day, He’s coming back again. Any church that calls itself a church that is not presenting this kind of Jesus is not worth the real estate that it occupies. It’s a bogus church. Its apostate. Every church is to be a Christ-centered church that is preaching a sinless Savior, who died a substitutionary death; who came up out of that grave, literally, bodily, actually; who’s gone into the heavens; and who is coming again. His name is Jesus. And, my dear friend, I want to tell you that a New Testament church has a Christ-centered message. This makes the church unstoppable. The church is triumphant!

Unstoppable Part 8

In this message, we look at what a Christ centered message entails. We also see the hole in the modern gospel.

Transcript: Unstoppable Part 7

Unstoppable Part 7 The Last Days Scripture: Acts 2:12-21 Now, this to me has just been a fascinating study. And I want to go over Peter's sermon with you on the day of Pentecost. Let's review very briefly. In Chapter 1 of the Book of Acts, Jesus spent 40 days after his resurrection with the disciples. And then he ascended back to heaven. And 10 days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the 120 followers who were in the upper room. It was the initiation of a new age. It was the age of the Church, the age of the Gospel, the age of preaching, the age of grace. And so this created quite a commotion in Jerusalem on that morning, at 9 o'clock in the morning, when the sound of the violent wind came and tongues of fire spread through the crowd and people began, these believers began speaking in other tongues…languages they had not learned. And so people ran together to see what was happening. And it says in verse 12,” “They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now the crowd that day asked two questions. And this is the first one. What does this mean? Later on, they're going to ask the second question. “Brothers, what shall we do?” And that's down in verse number 37. But let's begin here with verse number 12. It says amazed and perplexed, the crowd ask one another, what does this mean? Some however made fun of them and said they've had too much wine…Verse 13. Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now the prophet Joel is a man who prophesied during a locust invasion. Israel was being devastated by the locust. The economy was being ruined. And the locust invasion also, I think, portended or predicted the time of tribulation at the end of history before the Lord will come. And there were some eschatological elements to it. Joel used the locust invasion to teach about the last days, and his language previewed Revelation 9. Several years ago I took my family to visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I can still feel our slow descent into the bowels of the earth and smell the musty air of the caverns. The trip is an exciting adventure from start to finish. But the highlight of the trip is watching the nightly exodus of the bats from the cave at dusk when they feed on the insects in the surrounding area. As the thousands of bats fly out of the hole in the earth, the little light that remains at dusk is darkened by their flight. The scene is awesome in its beauty and uniqueness. One of the strangest texts in Revelation is the description of a swarm of locust-like creatures rising out of the abyss in the end times. Revelation 9:1-12 describes the event. The tribulation is about to enter a new phase in which overt warfare will spill over from the invisible realm into the visible world with massive squadrons of malevolent demonic forces. Revelation 9:2-3 describes the opening of the abyss, the release of the smoke of a great furnace, and myriads of locust-like beings swarming out on the entire earth and darkening the skies. Smoke billows forth from this prison of wickedness, and these locusts ooze from the abyss. The apocryphal book of Enoch (which the epistle of Jude quoted and John would have known) describes the Abyss as “the prison house of angels.” Apparently some of the most brutal and heinous of the demons are incarcerated here. What, then, is the Abyss? In simple terms, it’s a supermax prison where the most malicious and malevolent demons are incarcerated until Revelation 9. Revelation 9:2-5 reveals that these locusts are demonic beings in material, visible form. They are the uncanny denizens of the abyss, locusts of a hellish species animated with infernal powers. Just think of the unbelievable appearance of these invaders from the abyss. They are long-haired, horse-shaped flying locusts with scorpion tails and golden crowns above human faces covered with skin like a coat of armor. They are infernal cherubim—a combination of the horse, the man, the woman, the lion, the scorpion, and the locust. Their size is not given, but they are clearly much larger than ordinary locusts. In the ancient world, nothing was more destructive than locusts. They were symbolic of destruction. The fifth trumpet judgment describes nothing less than the bowels of hell belching forth a horrid host of foul, fiendish demons to afflict unsaved people with excruciating pain and torture in the last days of the coming tribulation period. They torment people for five months. Their torment was like the torment that stings a man. I’ve never been stung by a scorpion, but I’ve read it’s extremely painful. A combined team of researchers from the United States and China conducted research to explain the intensity of pain inflicted by a scorpion. Scorpions have stingers on the ends of their tails that pierce the skin and inject a particular venom that contains one hundred toxins, some of which chemically cause pain to be magnified in the way it sends signals to the brain. Picture what the world would be like if the doors of the jails and penitentiaries of the earth were opened and the world’s most vicious and violent criminals were set free, giving them full reign to practice their mayhem upon mankind. The scene in Revelation 9 is much, much worse. What will it be like when countless thousands of demons who have been chained in the abyss for thousands of years run rampant throughout the earth in visible form during this time of tribulation? It will be unspeakable! The earth will literally be teeming with swarms of dreadful demonic beings. The diabolical forces from hell will be unleashed to practice their unimaginable atrocities upon mankind. And in the middle of Joel’s book, actually in chapter two of Joel verses 28 through 32, he broke out under this particular passage that Peter is going to use now. As I've read it, I've wondered, how did Peter know to turn here to the book of Joel and to chapter number two? Why is it that on this day of Pentecost, he immediately went to Joel chapter two? How did he know to do that? And I think the answer must be because Jesus explained all of this during the 40 days and prepared the disciples and said, now, here's what's going to happen. The day of Pentecost is going to come and it's going to be in fulfillment of Joel chapter two. So I don't think Peter just thought this up on his own. I think Jesus just pointed this passage out to Peter during the 40 days in between the resurrection and the ascension, and Peter was ready, and he knew to go to Joel chapter two. Now, let's read this together and then I want to deal with it. It's a fascinating thing. “And it will be that, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even on the menservants and maidservants in those days I will pour out My Spirit. Then I will work wonders in the heavens and the earth— blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awe-inspiring day of the Lord comes. And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved...” Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭28‬-‭32‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now, this is a very significant passage, and it tells us three things here about the last days. I know if you're like me, you're wondering if we are living in the last days, and I can answer that very definitively. The answer is yes. We are living in the last days. I don't know if we're living in the last hours of the last days. I do believe we're living in the last days of the last days. I'm not sure if we're living in the final hours and the final minutes of the last days, but according to this passage, the last days began with the day of Pentecost. God has a calendar for, a prophetic calendar for all of human history. The last great period of time before the end, before Jesus comes again, is called the last days. And it begins with the descent of the spirit. Chapter 2 and verse 17 again. “In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all people; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now there are other passages that tell us this as well. “God, who at various times and in diverse ways spoke long ago to the fathers through the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the ages.” Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ So He says the times we are living in now are these last days. Peter also refers to the days in which we are living as the last days in 2 Peter and chapter 3. This is the same man who is preaching on the day of Pentecost. And that was really his great inaugural sermon in the age of the church. And his last words are in chapter 3 when he says in verse 3, “Know this first, that there shall come scoffers in the last days who walk after their own lusts, and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were since the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ In other words, people are going to say, well, why doesn't Jesus comes again? And Peter says that the days leading up to the second coming of Christ when there is skepticism, these are also a part of that period of time known as the last days. And Paul says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, in the last days perilous times will come. Deception is the number 1 marker and characteristic of last hours of the last days. Even Christians seem to be put under a spell. I haven’t seen anything like it in all my years of ministry. Many Christians have let their guard down or become complicit in this world wide demonic deception. There is an uptick of demonic activity. But I want to show you one other passage from the writings of Paul. “Now all these things happened to them for examples. They are written as an admonition to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭11‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ He says about the Old Testament events, these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings to us on whom the culmination of the ages has come. We are the people on whom the culmination of the ages has come. Everything that God did in Genesis 1 through 11 was leading to what he would do in Genesis chapter 12 when he called Abraham. And then out of Abraham came the patriarchs and the tribes and the nation of Israel, and out of that eventually came the Messiah who was born in the Gospels. And after 33 years of life, Jesus died on the cross, he rose again, he ascended the Father, and then he poured out the Spirit on us, on whom the culmination of the ages has fallen. So it's no wonder we're living in very dangerous and difficult days. It's no wonder the world is as unhealthy and as frightening as it is. We are living in the last days. They started at the day of Pentecost. When is the end time. The phrase “end times” means everything that starts with the Rapture and goes all the way through to the New Heavens and New Earth. The end times comprises all the unfulfilled prophecy in Scripture. One-third of the Bible is prophecy and about half of that has not been fulfilled. Therefore, roughly one-sixth, or sixteen percent, of the Bible relates to prophecies that await future fulfillment, that is, the end times. 1. The Inauguration of the Last Days (17-18). And he says, going back to the book of Acts in chapter 2 and verse 17, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters will prophesy. They will preach. Everyone will be an evangelist. Everyone will be a preacher of the gospel. Everyone will go with the message of God. It's not just going to be the priests like it was in Judaism who served around the temple. It's not just going to be prophets like Elijah and Elisha. It's going to be everybody is going to be a messenger. And your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. He goes on to say in verse 18, even on my servants, both men and women. Women are going to be as active as men in these last days for serving Christ. I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will preach. So we have in verses 17 and 18, the initiation, the inauguration of the last days. 2. The Conclusion of the Last Days (19-20). Now, when will these last days end? Well, verses 19-20 say, “And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious day of the Lord comes.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ And this is clearly a reference to the second coming of Christ. Jesus said that when he comes again, it will be lightning flashing from the east to the west and there will be strange signs in the heavens, the stars will fall, the sun will turn to blood and so forth and so on. And we also have this in the book of Revelation as being a characteristic of the return of Christ. So Peter here is saying, I want to tell you what's happening. If you want to know what's happening, here is what is happening. The last days, the culmination of the age has now inaugurated. It has come upon us and it will only be concluded when Jesus, who we just saw go to heaven 10 days ago, when he comes again. The last days, therefore, represent God's great age of grace, the age between the descent of the Holy Spirit and the second coming of Jesus Christ. So in verses 17 and 18, we have the inauguration of the last days. In verses 19 and 20, we have the conclusion of the last days. And then in verse 21, we have 3. The Purpose of the Last Days. (21) And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The purpose of the last days is to take the Gospel to the world with evangelistic fervor and for the saving of the nations. This one passage of Joel's, in Joel's preaching, pointing towards time yet to be is so enriching. And Peter here quotes it, and I think Jesus gave it to him, and he tells us the conclusion, the beginning of the last days when the Holy Spirit is poured out. That's the day of Pentecost. The conclusion of the last days when the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood and the great and glorious day of the Lord will come. And the purpose of the last days that in between those two events, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is why we are living as we are today. With uncertainty in the world around us, with the world in peril, with weapons of mass destruction popping up everywhere, with rogue nations, with plagues that could wipe out entire populations, with the rise of this powerful empowering China that seems so aggressive, with all of the political division and turmoil we have in the United States, with the atheistic secularism that is sweeping over the Western world, with the persecution of Christians on every side, and with the violence in the world, with warfare and tribal regions of genocide occurring in parts of Asia and Africa. How do you explain it all? Well, these are the last days. They began on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came down and indwell the 120 believers and baptize the church, and now the family of God exists on this planet. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the Gospel to everyone in the world. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to be sent out as witnesses. That is the one great thing we are to do. We're not to get caught up in our lifestyles. We're not to be entertained all day long. We're not to be so riled up with political divisions that we forget our spiritual significance. We are to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to share the Gospel, and we are to support financially those who are going to the ends of the earth. We're to be behind those ministries we believe in, and we're to be building up our local churches and being involved in them and doing everything we can to represent Christ and the world in these last days. And then we are to be looking forward to what lies ahead, because there is coming a day when Jesus is going to come again, and the sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, and the great and glorious day of the Lord will come, and that will be the consummation, the conclusion of the last days, and the purpose, the great commission of the last days, is that we are to go out with the Gospel and everyone. Now, Peter didn't really fully understand this yet. Not until Caesarea, in Chapter 10, did he realize that this was referring to Jew and Gentile, to slave and free, to man and woman, but everyone, every single person in the world who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I think the beginning of this message on the day of Pentecost will suffice for what I want us to look at, because it really does give us three tremendous helps, three applications to us. 1). It gives us, first of all, a Clear Vision for why things are the way they are in our world today. Remember what Paul said in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3. He said, In these last days, you must know this, don't forget this, that perilous times will come.” “Know this: In the last days perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, unrestrained, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such people.” 2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ This is the way that he describes the last days. So when we see all of this happening around us, we're not taken by surprise. Every message I preach seems to grow in importance because of these last hours. We say, well, after all, we're living in the last days of the last days. This is the way the world is, and it gives us clear vision, but it also gives us 2). It gives us a Prophetic Optimism. The Lord has everything under control. He is coming again. History is unfolding at the speed of His will and His providence. And He's going to make everything right. We can be prophetic optimists. But in addition to giving us clear vision and prophetic optimism, this should truly give us 3). Evangelistic Zeal. “I hope that you're as intrigued with the way that Peter began his sermon on the Day of Pentecost as I am. I can't get it out of my mind. And to think that you and I are living in the last days. We are people on whom the culmination of the ages has fallen. Every morning it makes me pray, Maranatha. Oh Lord, come quickly. Speaking of Evangelists I will close with this story. December of 1982, Evangel College in Springfield MO, was dedicated. Evangelist Billy Graham was the guest speaker at one of the chapel services at that time or dedication service itself. I’m not sure. He opened his Bible and asked the capacity filled Chapel to turn to Ephesians 5:15-17, "…15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.…" His sermon title was "REDEEM THE TIME." He preached over 30 minutes and then said, "I need to bring this message to a conclusion, though I have not finished." He brought sermon to an end and then sat down. Following that there was a message in tongues and interpretation given by one of the students, and after that another student gave a prophecy. General Superintendent TF Zimmerman had arranged a television interview following the ceremony. On the way to the television station, Brother Zimmerman complimented Billy Graham on his message. He replied with thanks and then commented, "Because of the schedule, I only got to preach one of the three points of my message. I didn’t get to finish my message, but the Holy Spirit did. I've been studying your belief of the Gifts of the Spirit. I don't know how to explain this, but after my sermon, the student who spoke in tongues and then gave the interpretation actually preached the second point of my sermon! After that, the other student who gave a prophetic word actually preached the third point of my sermon! A chill went down my spine, when I realized that the Holy Spirit wanted to make sure the message was shared in its entirety! You know I love you Pentecostals, and while I don't understand everything you believe, after what I witnessed today I am thoroughly convinced that the Gifts of the Spirit are of God and still active in the church today! During the interview, The interviewer asked him, "You minister to so many people, how are you ministered to?" Billy Graham referred to this event at Evangel College and said, “I was ministered to while at that college. This was a memory stone moment in my life, and so many others.” Well, next time we'll pick up our study with verse 22 of the second chapter of the Book of Acts. I hope these are encouraging to you.

Zechariah part 1

Zechariah part 1 - As we begin the study of this wonderful, strange book, let's familiarize ourselves with Zechariah, and the time in which he lived. Coming on the heels of the Jews' deportation to Babylon and the returning remnant under the decree of King Cyrus, the work on the new temple begins and Zechariah enters the story.

Unstoppable Part 7

Are we living in the last days? What are the last days like? Listen to this important message to clarify what is happening in our world.

The Goal of AI

AI is more dangerous than we realize. In this podcast, we see how far AI has come, and what its programmers hope to accomplish in the future.

Answers to Revelation Questions

Revelation Questions: "Who is the book of Revelation written to?" and "Will people be saved in the Tribulation?" Pastor Mannon's blog: pastorsfodder.blogspot.com

Revelation Short 145

Revelation Short 145 - The last verses of Revelation have a final welcome, a final warning and a final word. This is the conclusion of the Revelation Studies. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pastorsfodderpodcast@gmail.com.

Revelation Short 144

Revelation Short 144 - The book of Revelation is not a sealed book but rather an unveiling. You can study and understand this book.

Unstoppable Part 6

What is Pentecost and what happened on that day? Was Pentecost a day or a season? We also look at the power of prayer because of the gift of our ascended Lord.

Unstoppable Part 5

This message contains valuable information about the inspiration of Scripture and how to handle "apparent" contradictions in the Bible.

Unstoppable part 4

What do you do when you are in a transitional part of life, or you are waiting on the next thing and God has you paused? What do you do when you are waiting? What did the disciples do between the ascension and Pentecost? Listen to this important message.

Unstoppable Part 6

Unstoppable Part 6 Acts 2:1-4 In the Old Testament, when Moses was leading the Israelites through the wilderness, the Lord established a calendar for them. He was creating a nation for this population of liberated slaves, and of course, every nation needs its calendar, its holidays. America has an annual calendar with patriotic holidays and with religious holidays, and certain days of the year when we do this or that, it helps us to organize our lives and gives us a sense of unity. And so God established a calendar for the Israelites in Leviticus 23, and it included holidays or holy days, which the people were to celebrate. One of those was Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which commemorated the night when the Israelites left Egypt. This is the story that we read about in the Book of Exodus, when the Israelites had just grown exponentially as a people and the Egyptians had enslaved them, and the Lord sent Moses, you know, that story, who unleashed a series of plagues against them. And the last devastating plague to strike Egypt was the death of the firstborn. The Lord told the Israelites that every family was to slaughter a spotless lamb and to paint the doorpost of the houses with its blood, and the agent of death would pass over them. It says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And so that's why this evening is called Passover. During that terrible night, Pharaoh was aroused from bed and realized what was happening, and he rather unwillingly liberated the enslaved people and told the Hebrews to flee quickly from Egypt, and they had to leave before the overnight bread was leavened. And so the Lord put a commemoration of that event in the Israeli national calendar, and every year in the springtime, the Jewish people had a holiday to commemorate their freedom, and it was called the Passover and the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, and this is when the lamb was slain. Jesus died and rose again during this festival, and so for us became our holiday of Good Friday and Easter. Well, 50 days later, to mark the harvest season, there was another holiday. During this time, the barley harvest took place, and then the wheat harvest, and then the other crops began coming in, and on the 50th day after Passover, the first fruits of the wheat harvest were brought to the temple and presented to the Lord. Everybody brought the first part of their harvest to present it there to the Lord as an act of worship, and that later went to help feed the priests. And so it was that this next great festival was a harvest festival. It was called the Feast of the First Fruits, or the Feast of Weeks, because it occurred seven weeks after a Passover. And it was also called Pentecost, because it occurred exactly 50 days, that is seven weeks and one day after the Passover. And the word Pente means five.. And so Pentecost was 50 days after the Passover, and it celebrated the harvest season. Well, I'm telling you all of this because of its prophetic nature. In the sequence of Old Testament Holy Days, there was a prophetic pointing forward to the church. Jesus died on the Passover, and 50 days later, the church came into being on the day of Pentecost. The church was birthed. The 120 disciples in the upper room that day were the first fruits of a great harvest of souls, which was to characterize the age of the church. Pentecost is not a single day, but it is the whole time of harvest. The church age is the harvest age. The text says, “When the day of Pentecost came.” That’s a very flat reading, actually. The literal rendering of the Greek here would say something like this, “And in the filling up of the day of Pentecost.” That’s a rather intriguing phrase. What could that possibly mean? It means Pentecost doesn’t end until the last person to be brought into the harvest is safely in. Until the last stalk of grain is harvested. Until the harvest was full. So the church is grounded in the death and resurrection of Christ and founded for the evangelization and the harvest of the gospel. By being established on the day of Pentecost, the church was appointed to go into the harvest fields of the nations of the world and bring about a harvest of souls. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ There were about 120 of them. They are described for us in the prior chapter, as we've already seen. Jesus started with 12, and now there are exactly 10 times that many gathered in the upper room, probably the same upper room where he had met with his disciples during the Last Supper. This involves the 12 apostles and some of their families, and the women who followed Jesus in Galilee, and our Lord's mother and his brothers were there. It says in verse 2,” “Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Phenomenon 1). Wind Tornado survivors often describe the noise that envelops them when something like a freight train, or an enormous waterfall, or a jet engine, something sounding like that descends on their house. It doesn't say that there was actually a rushing wind, but there was a sound like the wind. And I think that that signifies the descent of the Holy Spirit. The word spirit is the Greek word Pneuma, P-N-E-U-M-A, Pneuma, meaning wind or breath. And so the sound of the wind rushing into the room represented the arrival of the Holy Spirit. And I have a feeling, we're not specifically told this, but I think it was such a loud, tornadic sound that everyone in Jerusalem, maybe everyone in the entire city, stopped what they were doing and in panic and bewilderment wondered, what is that very strange, overpowering sound, that reverberating, sustained burst of noise? Maybe you could have heard it a mile or two or three miles away. Well, verse 3 goes on and gives us another phenomena. “There appeared to them tongues as of fire, being distributed and resting on each of them,” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ 2). Fire Not only was there the sound of this rushing wind, but they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of them. Now, this is in keeping with what we read about in the temple and the tabernacle in the Old Testament. When the Spirit of God and the glory, the shekinah of God came down into the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 40, or into the temple in the days of Solomon, it was like a great cloud, a burst of fire that came down from heaven, representing the presence of God and dwelt inside the holy place of that structure. And now these disciples are to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Temples of God. It says in the book of 1 Corinthians, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? And we're told that the church represents the temple of the Holy Spirit. Christians literally represent now the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes, He will be with you and will be in you. And so I visualize this as a ball of fire falling into the room and dividing into 120 tongues of flame, and each of them set these 120 people on fire. It was like the burning bush in the book of Exodus. It was a fire, but it didn't hurt or consume them. It looked like each one of these believers was just a flame, fire spreading all over them, and yet they were not hurt or burned or consumed. I think it meant that each and every single one of them was now anointed with the Holy Spirit. They were each baptized with the Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was one ball of fire representing unity, but it divided into 120 torches that set each of the disciples on fire in a spiritual sense. And then verse 4 gives us a third phenomena. “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Not only do we have the sound of the rushing wind representing the Holy Spirit and the fire representing the fact that now God through the Holy Spirit is indwelling each one of them and setting them on fire, but it says all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, other languages as the Spirit enabled them. There was the sound as of a rushing mighty wind, there was tongues of fire, and their was and the ability to speak in other tongues…languages. Well, what does this mean? It means that now these 120 and all who would follow them, who would be called by the name of Christ, had their job, their commission, their mission to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all of the world as bold witnesses. The Holy Spirit is given so we might be better witnesses. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Then Holy Spirit was given so we might be bold in our witness. “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were untrained and uneducated men, they marveled. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Later on in Acts four the believers are praying for boldness. Listen to their prayer: “and who by the mouth of Your servant David said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people devise vain things? The kings of the earth came, and the rulers were assembled together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were assembled together against Your holy Son Jesus whom You have anointed, to do what Your hand and Your counsel had foreordained to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant that Your servants may speak Your word with great boldness, by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be performed in the name of Your holy Son Jesus.” When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭25‬-‭31‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Let me show you something about the pattern and power of prayer. Let me show you something about the gift of having an ascended Lord. “Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you—the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture —you shall make it just so.” Exodus‬ ‭25‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Then talking about the furniture inside, God says, “See that you make them according to their pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” Exodus‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ God reiterates; God says it over and over again. And, you'll notice that, in the Bible, God repeats things, when He wants to emphasize them. And, God says, "Make it according to the pattern," because, you see, there is a spiritual lesson. Notice in Hebrews 8:1-2. “Now this is the main point of the things that we are saying (this is what it’s all about): We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord, not man, set up.” Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MEV‬‬.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now, the high priest in the Old Testament was just a prophecy of our high priest, Jesus Christ. You understand that all of these things, therefore, that are happening in the Old Testament are but shadows, types, prophecies, pictures, predictions, illustrations, amplifications, and things that point to great spiritual truth in the New Testament. Above us right here is another Tabernacle. It is the Tabernacle of heaven. What happens in this building matters very little. What is really important is what is happening above us because as gathered believers we are under the shadow of another Tabernacle. Jesus the High Priest walks in this Tabernacle. What happens here that is significant, lasting, and eternal, is bound to what is happening in that Tabernacle. Jesus walks above us and casts His shadow over someone in this place and begins to speak to them in the spirit and quickens their heart and makes you a completely different person. Every piece of furniture in the Tabernacle of Moses shows up in the Revelation of John. We are not really talking about the Tabernacle of Moses. We are only using the Tabernacle of Moses as a means to see into the heavenlies. We are not worshipping down here on earth. We are worshipping in heavenly places. We are worshipping in heaven’s Tabernacle where Jesus serves as our High Priest and part of that role includes intercession for us. Let’s look at what happens when we pray. “I saw a Lamb in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” Revelation‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ The incense being burned on the golden altar in heaven are the prayers of the saints. Your prayers and mine. Now, I want you to notice something that will get a little sweeter. Every piece of the furniture represents Jesus. Remember. Jesus is our golden altar. He is our supplication, our intercessor. Now watch what happens. “Another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.” Revelation‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Jesus comes with hands full of incense. And, He takes that sweet incense of His worth, that sweet incense of His fragrance, and it is mixed with our prayers and together they are offered at the golden altar before the throne. Isn't that wonderful? We pray to Jesus and through Him at the same time. And we pray. Watch this promise of Jesus. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭KJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ We pray and Jesus prays for us and with us. And when earth’s prayers meet heaven’s prayers they move heaven and earth. When Jesus adds His prayer to mine! Well let’s just say it is unstoppable! While those gathered in the upper room are praying for the promised Holy Spirit, Jesus is praying, “Father send the Holy Spirit. Father fill them with the Spirit. You promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The Holy Spirit descends and there suddenly came the sound of a rushing mighty wind… Then they pray for boldness. Jesus takes that prayer mixes it with His, Father give them boldness. And they spoke the word of God with boldness. The same is true for us.Jesus fill me now with your Spirit. Jesus adds His prayer to mine and the Holy Spirit descends and we are immersed under the power and in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus fill me with boldness. Jesus takes that prayer mixes it with His, and we have a new boldness to witness to and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. But why stop there? Jesus fill me with a fresh anointing. Jesus adds His prayer to ours and a fresh heavenly anointing falls on us. Jesus fill me with heaven’s wisdom and Jesus adds His prayer to ours and we begin to see things from heavens perspective. Jesus I want to grow in knowledge of you, Jesus adds His prayer to ours, Father they want to know me more, and heaven begins to give us greater revelations of Jesus. Jesus I want to love like you love. Jesus takes that prayer and adds His prayer to it and the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit, a burning love greater than we had before. When the prayers of the saints mix with the prayers of the Son places begin to shake, God comes down. God shows up, things begin to happen. God begins to manifest. Just when you think it can’t get any better, it gets even better because we are His Temple. Jesus by His spirit walks back and forth in His earthly Tabernacles. In us. In our spirit. Jesus doesn’t walk just above us, He walks in us. And His Holy Spirit helps us in our prayer life. Romans 8:26-27. This is what John 17 talks about. John 17:20-21 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You. May they also be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. When the prayers of the Spirit of God within us mixes in with the prayers of the Son of God above us…they become a sweet smelling incense to the Father. No wonder Jesus says if we ask anything according to His will…not always right away, but in His perfect time, we have the petitions we desire of Him. “Now dwelling in Jerusalem were Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, the crowd came together and were confounded, because each man heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to each other, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each in our own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages the mighty works of God.” They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?” Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭12‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ The wind…the breath of God represents the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The fire represents the outpouring and power of the Holy Spirit. And the languages represent the compelling purpose of the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Now, this is true for us individually. It's true for us collectively. The tongues came down on the whole body of believers and broke out in tongues of fire on each individual. All this was possible because of our ascended Lord. God is unifying a church. This is the opposite of the Tower of Babel. Well, this is to me the great meaning of the Day of Pentecost. And it's what makes the Church different from every other institution in the world. This is why the Church is unstoppable.

Unstoppable Part 5

Unstoppable Part 5 Last week we found the disciples in a time of transition. While waiting they were staying, praying, and weighing (a heavy decision). Then Peter gets up to speak. We pick up there today. Look at verse 15-16 “In those days Peter stood up among the disciples (the number of people together was about one hundred and twenty), and said, “Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide to those who seized Jesus.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ I want to pause here because we have something very important to learn about how we got the Scriptures. It was the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that they were waiting for. The same Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised them is the same person of the Trinity that inspired the writers of the scripture. Peter would later say that the writers of the Bible were born along, carried along, by the Holy Spirit as they recorded their words. But what you see in verse 16 is a beautiful example of what we call dual authorship. As Peter is referencing these songs, look at how he describes the Psalms. “which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” So who wrote the Psalms? Well, David wrote the Psalms. But wait a minute, it says David wrote the Psalms, but it also says the Holy Spirit wrote the Psalms. It’s right there in the passage. Both are mentioned. So what we believe in is what is called dual authorship. A divine author, capital A, who carried along a human author, little a, and as capital A carried along little a, capital A did not subjugate the human author. Did not subjugate the human author’s temperament. Did not subjugate the human author’s personality, background, etc. but strategically used it, to carry him along in penning God’s word. I mean, it’s an amazing thing what God did in the inspiration of the Scriptures- how He worked in this way. And so as you read the Bible, you’ll see the personalities of the biblical writers coming out. And yet at the same time, it’s understood that God, somehow- I’m not sure exactly how He did it- but He guided them along in such a way, respecting who they were, that they ended up penning God’s Word. In second Timothy 3:16-17 it says all Scripture is inspired by God. And basically what it means is God-breathed. And when it says God breathed, what it’s speaking of is the dual authorship of Scripture. Capital A guiding little a to record God’s Word in such a way that in the original manuscripts, there’s not one single mistake or error in it. And yet somehow God sovereignly used the individual to write His word. This is what second Peter 1:21 means when it says, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men,” not subjugated, “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Now that Greek word moved is pheró. And that is the same word that you’ll find in Acts 27:17 concerning wind that comes into the sails of a sailboat. “When the ship was overpowered and could not head into the wind, we let her drift. Drifting under the leeward side of an island called Cauda, we could scarcely secure the rowboat. When they had hoisted it aboard, they used ropes to undergird the ship. And fearing that they might run aground on the sands of Syrtis, they struck sail and so were driven.” Acts‬ ‭27‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬ And when that wind comes upon the sails of a sailboat, the boat is propelled. That basically is how the Scripture came into existence. The Holy Spirit, just like when filling up sails on a sailboat, thereby propelling the boat, the Holy Spirit came upon David and every other writer of Scripture and somehow supernaturally moved them, not overriding them, but using who they were in terms of their life experiences, characteristics, temperament, etc. So Peter said, Verse 16 Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide to those who seized Jesus. For he was numbered with us and took part in this ministry.” Verse 18 is a parenthesis, (Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle and all his organs spilled out. It became known to all the residents of Jerusalem. So this field is called in their dialect Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬-‭19 ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Why do I care that his organs, intestines gushed out? Oh, Luke was a physician. Yeah. Colossians 4:14, says “Luke, the beloved physician.” So dual authorship of Scripture. Do you see how Luke’s personality comes out here? I mean, if I was writing this, I wouldn’t care about intestines because my background has nothing to do with medicine or biology or anything like that. There is also a lesson here on how to handle contradictions. Slide: Another view is that Judas defiled the city when he hanged himself, so the priests threw his body over the wall facing the Hinnom Valley,” and when they threw his body out of the city, that’s when his abdomen was ripped open and his guts or his intestines gushed out. This was the time of the Passover and Jewish law talked about how you can’t have a religious activity in a defiled city. So what we have on the table are a lot of different ways for trying to harmonize these alleged contradictions. Therefore, they do not fall for the law of contradiction that something is both black and white at the same time. The Scriptures do not contradict…they harmonize. Which is further proof of inspiration. You can tell they did not calibrate and rehearse their stories. They wrote from their personalities, backgrounds, etc. This is the end of Judas. “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation become desolate, and let no one live in it,’ and, ‘Let another take his office.’” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Now, Peter here is going back to the book of Psalms, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit through David, to give us a prophetic word to tell us that what happened to Judas was not unexpected to God. Peter took this, and maybe Jesus had pointed this out to Peter during these 40 days, as a prophecy that the Lord Jesus would be scorned, he would be given vinegar to drink, he would be abandoned, but the one responsible for it, his place would be deserted, and no one could dwell in it again. So that was from Psalm 69. And now he's going to quote from Psalm 109, let another take his place of leadership.” “I'll not take time to look at that, but it's the same sort of context. If you want to look at Psalm 109 verse 8. So Peter here is very burdened that Judas be replaced and that the number of apostles once again be 12. So in verses 21-22 he says, “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the very day that He was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness of His resurrection.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ So they nominated two men. “So they proposed two, Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was named Justus, and Matthias.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭23‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Then they prayed.‬‬ “Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two You have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, to go to his own place.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ And then they cast lots. This is the last time that lots are cast in the Bible, because, of course, after this, the Holy Spirit is going to come to guide us with all wisdom. But in this case, the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the 11 apostles. “Then they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. So he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ So I just have one last question here. Why was Peter so burdened, so concerned that there be 12 apostles?” “Some people say Peter acted presumptuously here that Paul was actually supposed to be the twelfth apostle, that Paul was the one who was chosen to replace Judas. But no, I don't think so. I think that Peter here knew exactly what he was doing, and I think he was probably acting on some instructions that Jesus gave during the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension. Peter was looking forward to the kingdom. He did not know the times or the seasons. He is still thinking it was literal. Because 12 in the Bible is the number of completeness. There are 12 months that complete a year. And interestingly, this is not only true on Earth, but it's going to be true in New Jerusalem. We're told in the book of Revelation, Chapter 22, that the tree of life is going to bear 12 rotations of fruit, monthly fruit, 12 crops of fruit every month for the healing of the nations. And Jesus talked about there's 12 hours of sunlight in which somebody can get something done, and 12 hours of darkness, which makes up a 24-hour day. Jesus spoke for the first time in terms of his recorded words when he was 12 years old.” “We're told that heaven is going to be 12,000 stadia in length and width and height. And so the number of 12 in the Bible, 12 completes a year, it completes a day, it completes a night, it shows the completed city of New Jerusalem. So now think about this. The Church of Jesus Christ that will be in New Jerusalem forever and ever is made up of both the Jewish redeemed channel of redemption that God the Father developed in the Old Testament and the Jews of all of the ages represented by the twelve patriarchs and the Church which is represented by the twelve apostles. Jacob had twelve sons which became the twelve tribes of Israel. God built a nation made up of twelve tribes of Israel and Jesus built a Church on the foundation of the twelve apostles. You see, replacement theology cannot be right. And so you put twelve and twelve together and you have twenty-four. Now look with me at the book of Revelation and chapter number four. “Revelation and chapter number four, This Great Worship Service in Heaven. “After this I looked. And behold, there was an open door in heaven. The first voice I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, there was a throne set in heaven with One sitting on the throne! And He who sat there appeared like a jasper and a sardius stone. There was a rainbow around the throne, appearing like an emerald. Twenty-four thrones were around the throne. And I saw twenty-four elders sitting on the thrones, clothed in white garments. They had crowns of gold on their heads.” Revelation‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ “Now, who are these twenty-four elders? They can only be New Testament saints who have already enjoyed the resurrection. In the fourth and fifth chapters of Revelation, we are given five bits of information that limit the identification of the twenty-four elders. 1—They are blood redeemed. “You have redeemed us to God by your blood” (Rev. 5:9). They can’t be angels because they are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. 2—They are seated on thrones. “Round about the throne were twenty-four thrones, and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting” (Rev. 4:4). The biblical precedence for twenty-four men worshipping God in his throne room is found in the account of King David establishing twenty-four courses of priests for the temple service, in obedience to the command that the Lord had given Aaron (1 Chron. 24:1-19). As there were twenty-four courses of priests for the temple service in the Old Testament, so there must be twenty- four courses of priests in the New Testament priesthood. This is not the New Testament copying the pattern seen in the Old Testament. It is actually the other way around. The arrangement and order of the temple in the Old Testament was patterned after the arrangement and order of the true temple in heaven (Heb. 8:5). Which serve as an example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: See to it, he said, that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mount. The twenty-four elders, therefore, are likely the heads of the twenty-four courses of the heavenly, New Testament priesthood. The courses will maintain a continuous presence in the throne room of God for all eternity. Each course will serve two weeks of the year in temple service. Four times per year all of the courses will be present. Whether the head of each course is a permanent post or a rotating post is uncertain. 3—They are wearing reward crowns. “They had on their heads crowns of gold” (Rev. 4:4). They are not wearing the royal crown (diadēma) but the reward crown (stephanos). 4—They have their resurrection robes. “Clothed in white robes” (Rev. 4:4). This is the literal robe that all the believers receive in the resurrection, which symbolizes their justification. 5—They possess all the aforementioned blessings in heaven before the tribulation starts. This is clear from the fact that they are seen in the throne room of God, seated on thrones, wearing their robes and crowns, before the first seal is opened and the antichrist revealed (Rev. 6:1).‬‬‬‬‬‬ The timeline of the twenty-four elders absolutely demands a pretribulation rapture. They have been before the Judgment Seat of Christ and received their righteous garments and their reward crowns. And go over to Chapter 21 as we close out, the Book of Revelation and Chapter 21, and look at this, talking about the great and glorious city, the city of New Jerusalem in verses number 10-14. “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, her light like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites were written: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭10‬-‭14‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬ So there had to be a twelfth apostle, because the city of New Jerusalem has twelve gates and twelve foundations, and it represents all of the redeemed of Israel, who have come through the channel of Israel, and through the channel of the church, to make up the great eternal city of God. And what comes next is that of Pentecost, and we'll look at that next week.”

Transcript: Unstoppable (Part 4) What to do in Times of Transition We are in a series of studies called Unstoppable. We are going through the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And today we're looking at Acts, Chapter 1, Verses 12, through the end of the chapter. Our front page headline today is, “Judas Successor Chosen”. The key verses are, Acts 1:21-26 Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the very day that He was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness of His resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two You have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, to go to his own place.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. So he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And I think of this passage as what to do during in-between times. The Apostles here were in-between the ascension of Christ, which had shocked them, and the day of Pentecost, which had not yet come. There was a ten-day window, a margin of these ten days, between those two great events. I'm not sure why the Lord had a ten-day period marked out for them. It would have been wonderful if Jesus had ascended to heaven and immediately the Holy Spirit had come down on them. But there was some preparation that needed to be done. And it seems to me that sometimes we find ourselves in in-between moments of life. Times when we're sort of stuck, or we are stalled, or things are paused, or something is not happening as quickly as we want it to. And we just have to wait. Well, what do we do during that time? What did the apostles do during that time? Well, this is the subject of our study. And I want to look at three things they did before we consider today’s headline. Let's look at verse 12-13. “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is a Sabbath day’s walk from Jerusalem. When they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ This is the 11 surviving apostles. Judas of course had killed himself. But now we have the 11 apostles. We have the first thing they did in this time of transition. 1). They Stayed And it says in verse 14 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ These people stayed together. They stayed in the same house in the same vicinity. They went back and forth in groups to the temple. They were fellowshiping. They were supporting one another. And when we are in in between times in life, when we're a little disoriented, when we've lost someone, for example, that we love, when we're in between points in life, where we have routines and orientations, when we are in between jobs or in between relationships, then we need a group of people around us that will support us. That's no time to go off by ourselves and be very much alone.” And 2). They Prayed. Verse 14 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ They prayed together. So this is very wonderful. Here you have not only the 12 apostles. You had others who had been following Jesus from the very beginning, disciples that aren't necessarily mentioned by name in the Gospels, but they were following him. Some were probably married and some had children. You also have a group of women, and these are mentioned, some of them in the Book of Luke chapter 8.” “Luke is very good about making sure that women and the role of women are placed highly in the accounts of the Gospel. And you have Mary, the mother of Jesus. We last saw her at the cross, sadly gazing at her dying son, but now she knows he is alive. And I wonder if he met with her personally after the Resurrection. We aren't told one way or the other, but surely he probably did. And then his brothers are there, and we know one of them, James, Jesus certainly met with. So I think it's possible that Jesus met with his family. His brothers had not believed on him, but now they were believing in him. So something dramatic had happened, and his mother and his brothers are there with the disciples, with other disciples whose names we don't know.” “Maybe with children and young people, it's almost certain that there was a great intergenerational group here, and they were praying together. They had been with Jesus in his flesh and they had talked to them, and they had communicated with him, and now he had gone up to heaven, but they could still talk with him and still communicate with him. And so can we. Now, I wonder what they were praying for. I suppose they were praying that the Lord Jesus would send down the Holy Spirit as he had promised. Lord, send your Spirit in your timing. In fact the Greek supports this. In Greek there’s a definite article in front of the word prayer. They just say “to prayer.” They were devoting themselves to prayer. But what it reads in Greek is they were not just devoting themselves to prayer, but they were devoting themselves to the prayer. In other words, they were praying something very, very specific. And so the issue is, well, what was the prayer? What was the one thing they were of one mind, one accord, praying for? And in the prequel, the Gospel of Luke, I think you have the answer in Luke 11:13, where Jesus tells His disciples what to pray for. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke‬ ‭11‬:‭13‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Lord, give us the Spirit. And I believe that this is something that we can pray for. Now, I believe, as we have talked about, that the moment you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit who comes to live within you. But we're also told to be filled with the Spirit. So, presumably, we can say, Lord, fill me with your Spirit.” “Jesus said, and Luke put it this way in his Gospel, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? And during the in-between phases, when we have to reorient our lives or get used to a new routine, this is a great time for us to pray, Lord, give me a new experience with the Holy Spirit, a new anointing with the Holy Spirit, fill me with your Spirit, do something new in my life by your Holy Spirit today. So they were staying together, they were praying, and then thirdly, 3). They weighed a very great decision. They were going to have to chose someone to take the place of Judas. Look at verse 15-16 “In those days Peter stood up among the disciples (the number of people together was about one hundred and twenty), and said, “Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide to those who seized Jesus.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ And so why mention these 11 names earlier and now say there were 120? Because this is where it all started. What is going to be tracked through the Book of Acts as the birth of the church and its growth. And one of the ways Luke, in the Book of Acts, is going to track its growth is through progress reports where Luke is actually going to give a numerical count concerning the development of the church. We’re jumped from 11, a few verses earlier to 120. And then by the time Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, the number goes up to 3000. And as you keep moving through these progress reports, you’ll get the number 5000. And by the time you get to the Antioch, the ministry up north, it doesn’t even give you a number anymore. There’s so many people by then. So pay attention to those as we move through the Book of Acts, because Luke is including these for the benefit of his addressee, Theophilus, to show him the birth of the church and the maturity and the growth of the church. The first progress report started with 11 people. And this is going to be developed by God into a world-wide phenomenon.

Revelation Short 143

Revelation Short 143 - We are looking at the last section of the book of Revelation. Jesus is coming! We find here the last words of Jesus. Last words are lasting words.

Revelation Short 142

Revelation Short 142 - We continue our guided tour of heaven. You will be amazed by its size. You will also discover what you will do there.

Presidents and Hymns

Presidents and Hymns - Did you know many of America's presidents had favorite hymns? In this episode, we explore incredible stories of how great hymns influenced president's lives and as a result, impacted the country. Resources: "Then Sings My Soul" and "100 Bible Verses That Made America" - both by Robert J. Morgan. "Presidential Praise" by Edward Spann and Michael E. Williams. Pastor Mannon's blog: pastorsfodder.blogspot.com

Transcript Unstoppable Part 3 In His final 40 post-resurrection days on earth, in the book of Acts, Jesus gave his followers five parting gifts: 1. Many Convincing Proofs of His Resurrection 2. Insights into the Nature of His Kingdom 3. A World-Wide Work 4. An Ascended Lord 5. The Promise of His Return We started number 3 last week. Today, I want to continue that and then cover both 4 and 5. III. Jesus Gave Us In This Passage A Global Mission, A Worldwide Work. Verses 4-8 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me. For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The commission changed from only going to Israel (These twelve Jesus sent out, and commanded them, saying, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭MEV). … to be His witness throughout the whole earth. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Jesus gave them a world wide work to do. The Commission, the sending out has been expanded.The focus is not just on Israel but is to be global. And the focus is not the kingdom but to preach the gospel and make disciples. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Matthew’s purpose 1. To explain that Jesus was the long awaited Jewish Messiah 2. To explain why the kingdom had been postponed even though the King had arrived. 3. To explain the program of God in the King’s absence.‬‬ And only God the Father knew when in the future, but between now and then there would be a special age, a period of time in which his people would take the message of the gospel to the very ends of the earth and after he said this he was taken up to heaven and that brought to a finish our Lord's earthly teaching in the flesh. This is what happened. Scope of 29 years. Jerusalem: Acts 1-7, A.D. 33-34 or 2 years Judea, Samaria: Acts 8-12, A.D. 35-48 or 13 years Remotest part of the earth: Acts 13-28, A.D. 48-62 or 14 years And that is still where we are. We are still in the process of living in the church age, taking the gospel to the world. But during this age the kingdom (Messianic) is on hold. This present age is not the development of the Davidic form of the kingdom. It is postponed until the nation of Israel turns to Jesus in repentance. Until they say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. “For I tell you, you shall not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭39‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ If the kingdom was not going to be literal like the Apostles thought it was, Jesus would have said at this time, it is going to be a spiritual kingdom. It is only in the heart. If the kingdom was going to be transferred to the church, Jesus would have said that right here. This is a personal command to be a witness. Dr. Orr explained in one of his sermons how he had come to realize the personal command that we have in verse 8. He said that when he was a student at Purdue University, his best friend, Lloyd, had mentored him and discipled him and was helping him to grow in the Christian faith. One day he said, Lloyd, ask me, how would you like to share this message with someone else? I said to him, you know, I'm enjoying my Christian life, but I really don't want to share it with anybody else. Loyd said, well, just come with me. I'll do the sharing. And so they visited a friend and Loyd patiently explained the Gospel. But the young man didn't want to give his life to Christ. But Loyd kept saying, well, here's some information. If you do want to make that decision, this would be good for you to know. And the experience of seeing his friend sharing the Gospel deeply impressed Dr. Orr. And he prayed, Lord, if there's anyone you want me to talk to, just let me know. Well, a few days later, they were sitting in the cafeteria.” And one of the students, he said, stood up and said to those around him, you know, I would kill myself if I didn't think that this school and this society would be glad to have me gone. And the students around him sort of laughed and told him to sit down and shut up. But Dr. Orr, he wasn't a doctor then, but Rodney, felt that he should go over and talk to him. He went over to the young man and he said, Can I share my testimony about Jesus with you? And the young man said, Yeah, yeah. So the fellow listened, and that day he received Christ as Savior and began growing in his faith. Dr. Orr said, I began looking at my friends and my classmates and I began wondering, is the only reason that they're not accepting the Lord Jesus because no one has taken the time to share a simple message with them? Well, that's the question posed to us by Acts chapter 1 verse 8, this great, great commission missionary verse. Notice that Jesus prescribed his command according to concentric geographical zones. The Gospel was to begin in Jerusalem, spread to the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria, and then progress on to the furthest corners of the earth. And that verse also, incidentally, gives us the progress of the story as it unfolds through the Book of Acts. Now just think with me, think with me how remarkable all of this is. Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter, a stonemason, knowing full well that his kingdom's work was planned in advance in the deepest councils of the Godhead, appeared for three years in a small impoverished mountain region with villages dotted around a lake. And he preached and then he allowed himself to be killed and afterward he told his twelve traumatized followers to take what had just happened and to use it to change the world and then he left. And today, two thousand years later, we're still at it and we're closer to finishing the task than any generation since then, all because of the foreplanning of God the Father, the sacrifice of God the Son, and the empowerment of God the Spirit.” IV. Jesus Gave Us An Ascended Lord. Verse 9 says, When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight. This is the second time that this writer, Luke, has described the ascension of Christ. He ended his Gospel and he began his Book of Acts by describing the ascension of Christ. So at the very end of the Gospel of Luke in chapter 24 and verse 50, he said, When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they stayed continually in the temple praising God. I've come to believe that the ascension of Christ has been badly overlooked in our Bible studies and sermons. On this particular day, Jesus returned to heaven. Oh, the applause he must have received, the fanfare, the happiness, the joy among the angels as he resumed his place on the throne. He rose physically and bodily from the grave. And so I think that we can infer that the throne in heaven is physical and real, not just a symbol or a visualization. And there's a lot in the Bible about this. In John 10:28, Jesus simply put it this way. I came from the Father and entered the world, and now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father. And the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians, Chapter 1:19-22, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, 20 which He performed in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet and made Him the head over all things for the church, Ephesians 1:19-22 Boy, there is a lot there to unpack. And there is an incredible verse in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 10.” “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. Colossians 3 tells us to set our hearts on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Hebrews Chapter 1 says, after he had provided purification for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, and so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. Peter, who saw the ascension with his own eyes, said in 1 Peter 3:22, 22 He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. And in Revelation Chapter 5, we see the Lamb upon the throne, being worshipped by every living being in the heavenly realms and getting ready to unleash the events of the last days. So Jesus is our ascended Lord. What's he doing in heaven? He is overseeing the universe. He is overseeing and guiding and directing and accomplishing the work of his church. He is interceding for us. He is our advocate before the Father. He is preparing a place for us and preparing to unleash the events leading to his return. So Jesus returned to heaven not to rest or to retire, but to engage in activity directly affecting the affairs of this world and the affairs of his church and the course of history. And that leads us to the final thing. He not only gave us convincing proofs of his resurrection, additional truth about his kingdom, a worldwide work to do, and a heavenly advocate for us at the right hand of the Father, he finally left us with V. Jesus Gave A Promise Of His Return. 10 While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10-11 Now notice those words, in like manner or in the same way. He went up, he will come down. He went up into the clouds of glory, and he will come back in the clouds of glory. He went up from the Mount of Olives, and according to the Book of Zechariah, his feet will again stand on the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem. And from east to west the Mount of Olives will be split in two halves by a very great valley so that one half moves to the north and the other to the south. Let me share some history about the Mount of Olives. The demon god Molech influenced Solomon to build a high place for him that overlooked the Temple Mount: “On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.” 1 Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ “The king also desecrated the pagan shrines east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites; and for Molech, the vile god of the Ammonites.” 2 Kings‬ ‭23‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Note the name given to the Mount of Olives by the author of 2 Kings: The Mount of Corruption. Molek was worshipped there. He was the god of necromancy and child sacrifice. He was the most detestable pagan god in the Old Testament. He was called, “The Destroyer”. Molech’s first appearance in the Bible is in Leviticus 18, where God told the Israelites that they were forbidden to give their children as an offering to the dark god. Molech was associated with the darkest of sins—the sacrifice of human beings and, in particular, the sacrifice of children. Even darker, Molech is associated with the sacrifice of children by their parents. The Bible speaks of the act as the most grievous of “abominations”. There were two major aspects of Molek’s death cult. The first was child sacrifice and the second was consulting the spirits of the dead. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Again, you shall say to the Israelites: Whoever from the Israelites or from the foreigners who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him.” Leviticus‬ ‭20‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ “The person who turns to spirits through mediums and necromancers in order to whore after them, I will even set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.” Leviticus‬ ‭20‬:‭6‬ ‭MEV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ A similar passage is found in Deuteronomy 18. The true meaning of the name Molek was “King of the Underworld.” This entity was the god worshiped by the Moabites, and perhaps by the people of Sodom in the days of Abraham and Lot, as Baal-Peor, a name that may mean “lord of the gates of hell.” The connection between this entity, necromancy, and the cult of the dead, not to mention the sacrifice of children, establishes this entity as one of the great enemies of God. Jesus paid special attention to the Mount of Olives—especially during the final days of His ministry. Jesus met Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus at the village of Bethany on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives. It was there that he raised Lazarus from the dead, which certainly got the attention of the spirit realm. John notes that when Jesus learned of Lazarus’ illness, He deliberately “stayed two days longer in the place where he was” so that He arrived at Bethany when “Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.” This was not a coincidence. Jesus deliberately waited so He could glorify God by raising his friend from the dead on the fourth day. Why? Besides there being pagan rituals associated with the third day after a death, there was a Jewish tradition that the spirit of a dead person lingered in the tomb for three days, hoping to rejoin its body. Jesus delayed to show the assembled crowd that Lazarus was well and truly dead, and that He had power over death. When Jesus returned to Jerusalem for the Passover from Caesarea Philippi and the Transfiguration, as they neared Jerusalem Jesus sent two disciples into Bethphage, a village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, to obtain a donkey and her colt. The meaning of his gesture was clear in that time and place: Jesus signaled to all who watched that He was the true and rightful king. (And note that He acquired the donkey on the Mount of Olives!) In the modern world, we assume that kings rode horses—noble steeds worthy of their riders’ royal image. But that wasn’t true in the ancient Near East. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey was a clear message to the principalities and powers behind the Amorites, who’d dominated the culture. Amorite kings never rode horses. In their world, as odd as it seems to us, donkeys were the symbol of royalty. Horses were for soldiers, who were usually commoners. Around the time of Isaac and Jacob, an Amorite official in the kingdom of Mari, based on the Euphrates River near the modern border between Syria and Iraq, offered advice to his king, Zimri-Lim, which was still understood in the time of Jesus: “May my lord honor his kingship. Since you are the king of Hanean (tribesmen), and also are the king of the Amorites, may my lord not ride horses; instead, he ought to ride a chariot or mules, so that he could honor his kingship.” Therefore, when Christ entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the population, as well as the authorities, knew how to read the symbolism at stake. The Bible tells us that Jesus will ride a white horse when He returns, but that’s because He comes back as a soldier. And He’ll lead the greatest army in the history of the universe. From His triumphal entry, Jesus proceeded to the Temple Mount and chased the moneychangers from the Temple, which, despite being rebuilt by the wicked King Herod, was still His Father’s house. After the events of that day, which no doubt had all of Jerusalem (if not all of Judea) talking, Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives and lodged at the village of Bethany. It was during the week between the Triumphal Entry and His arrest that Jesus shared with His disciples key information about the last days. The Olivet Discourse, recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21, contains Jesus’ most detailed descriptions of the signs of the end times and His return. Matthew and Mark specify that these prophecies were delivered on the Mount of Olives, hence the name of the sermon. The gospel accounts agree that after the Last Supper, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem to Gethsemane, a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives within sight of the Temple Mount. It was there that He was betrayed by Judas to the authorities. Understand what this means: Jesus spent the final week of his life living and teaching in two places—in the Temple and on the Mount of Olives, where almost a thousand years earlier Solomon built a high place for the “king-god” of the pagans, Molech. Jesus died, was buried, but on the third day He rose again. Then one day He took His followers back to the Mount of Olives and ascends to heaven right in front of their very eyes. You have to go further in Acts to 1:12 to see that this place of ascension was the amount of Olives. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is a Sabbath day’s walk from Jerusalem. Jesus did it from the very mountain on which Solomon erected a sacred place to this being: And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:50–51) Yes, Jesus Christ departed this world from the Mount of Olives. And to put an exclamation point on His message to that fallen gods, it’s where He returns on the Day of the Lord: If Jesus hadn’t called attention to it, we might not have given the Mount of Olives and Solomon’s high places there another thought. Jesus emphasized the point He’d made at Caesarea Philippi just a few weeks earlier: The gates of Hell will not prevail against His ekklesia—His assembly—and the mountain where it will gather after His return. Until then, we have a lot of work to do. It is an unceasing work, and it is unstoppable. The only one that can stop it in your life is you. I want to make an application before I let you go. The word “witness” The Greek word for “witnesses” in verse 8, is where her get our word “martyr.” There’s a story about a man who dreamt he was carrying a heavy cross on his shoulder. He was exhausted; he wished that his cross was lighter. In the dream he saw a woodsman with an axe, so he asked that a good part of his cross be chopped off. After that, the man happily resumed his journey, thankful that his cross was so much lighter. On his journey, he came to a chasm between two mountains. He wanted to continue but found that he couldn’t bridge the gap; if only his cross had been longer, he could have laid it down and used it as a bridge. But the cross was short—by just the length that had been chopped off. When the man awoke, he was glad this was only a dream. He now realized that only those who are willing to carry a heavy cross are able to scale the next mountain. Those who are constantly in search of a lighter cross will never go far in claiming territory for Christ. At some point, they will conclude that the price of obedience is too high. The obstacles too formidable. Have we, as Christians, forgotten that we are asked to gladly bear the full weight of the offense of the cross? Sometimes we hear Christians say things like, “I have cancer. That is my cross.” Is this what Jesus was referring to when He asked us to take up His cross? I don’t think so. To carry our cross means to accept the trouble that comes along with believing and following Jesus. This means the willing acceptance of ridicule, shame, and often the persecution that comes with being identified with our Savior. In short, it means we gladly identify with Jesus at the points of tension where we conflict with popular culture and even with our friends. Often, the heavier our cross, the more powerful our witness. Unfortunately, we often prefer to make our cross lighter by bowing to cultural pressures. We carry our cross into to the world when we witness to our faith. “Evangelism,” someone has said, “is one beggar telling another we have found bread.” Let us invite a hurting world to the table where we ourselves have found food for our weary souls. There we will find those whom God has already prepared for our witness. I hope the first 11 verses of the Book of Acts have motivated you. In His final 40 post-resurrection days on earth, in the book of Acts, Jesus gave his followers five parting gifts: 1. Many Convincing Proofs of His Resurrection 2. Insights into the Nature of His Kingdom 3. A World-Wide Work 4. An Ascended Lord 5. The Promise of His Return They set the stage for the entire Book of Acts, but they also set the stage for our work and for our labor for him. They send us into all the world to share Christ with the nations and with our neighbors in the power of the Holy Spirit until he returns again in the clouds of glory.