 So today we look at chapter 5, we've completed chapter 4, the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' time, the kind of teachings that the Lord taught about the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit and Christ's death and resurrection and also His work prior to the ascension. So we looked at all that. So let's look at chapter 5 today. For online students, let me share the notes. Work of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. I've just put out the scripture there for the online students. So let's turn to the Book of Acts. So some basic questions. Who wrote the Book of Acts? Luke. So let's turn to Acts chapter 1. So Acts chapter 1 and verse 1, Luke writes and he says, The former account I made, both theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. So Luke is referring to the gospel and he's saying the former account I made of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach and so on. And then he says that to whom he, until the day in which he was taken up after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the Apostles whom he had chosen. He gave commandments to the Apostles through his disciples through the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on to make a given account of all that happened, all that happened in the early church, everything that the disciples did by the power of the Holy Spirit. So in the Book of Acts, we see it's very exciting to read through the Book of Acts because it's about the early church. What happened to the early church? And it is the New Testament church, which means that this is the church. What is the church? When we say church, what do you mean by that word church? Can anyone tell me? Church. Church, pastor, church means ecclesia. Church means? Ecclesia. Yeah, so what does that mean? It's body of Christ. Sorry? The believers, the believers, the body of Christ. All the believers make the church. All the believers, body of Christ. Okay, somebody said something. We were saying something. Same thing. Call out. Okay. Anyone else? Jordan, Jayram, you said something? Call out. I'm sorry, we can't hear you. Call out. Can you repeat that please or put it on the chat? Sorry, your audio is not very clear. Okay, so you're right. The word is ecclesia, which means the called out ones. Ecclesia or the sent out ones, the called out ones. So it refers to the people who are called out of a particular environment, called out for a particular purpose. Okay, so we need to understand that church is not a building. Okay, so now when we actually, suppose we go down the road, we look at a building and we say, hey, that's a church. That's a church, right? We see, okay, maybe a cross, maybe they put a board with scripture. So we identify and say, that's a church. Well, it's come to mean the place where people actually gather together or the building where Sunday services and all that happen. But actually church means the people. It's not the building, but it's the people. So it's the people of God who gather together or who are the called out ones who gather together for a purpose. Okay, so it refers to the gathering. Yes, and nowadays we are talking about the church building more in terms of, you know, in terms of what church means, right? Nothing wrong, but actually it means the gathering of people. Okay, so what did, so the book of Acts is actually fully about the church, the people and what God did through the people. Okay, specifically what the Holy Spirit did through these people. So there are a lot of references to about the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Okay, so when we read that, again, we understand that, okay, this is what the Holy Spirit did or this is what he, you know, he did in the lives of people in the early church. So what he did then, he can actually do now in our time because we are the same church, right? We are the church of God, right? Okay, so let's look at a few verses here. So let's look at, let's turn to Acts chapter 1 verses 5 to 8. Okay, so I'm just going to read out and I'm going to ask you what you understood. Okay, I might, you know, maybe point to one person and ask what do you understand from this? Okay, so let's read Acts chapter 1 verses 5 to 8. But John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Okay, so what do we understand from here? Okay, we see that the Lord Jesus is referring to what happened during his earthly ministry. The timing and the context is this. He's resurrected. He was dead. He was crucified dead and he's now resurrected and he's talking to the disciples around him. Okay, now if you read through, you see that immediately after this conversation or after this incident, he ascends into heaven. So that is the timing. Just before that he is speaking to them. So he's telling them that John baptized with water. Okay, what does baptism mean? To immerse completely. The Greek word is baptizo which means to immerse completely. So John baptized with water but he says you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Not many days from now, you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Okay, so now you tell me, so what is the reason or what is the outcome of being baptized with the Holy Spirit? Why did the Lord Jesus want the disciples to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? What do you learn from here? Anyone? You can just read through the text versus 5 to 8 and tell me, what was the objective? Or what is the... Okay, it's to receive power. So he says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Power for what? Sorry, power to be witnesses. So that is the whole thing, what is called as Holy Spirit, baptism. So the Lord is telling his disciples, now this is something that will happen to you. You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. And you shall receive power and you will be witnesses. So you will be, in other words, you're saying you will witness, what does witness mean? Proof? You're saying, when you say I'm a witness of this event, what does that mean? That means you saw it. Okay, and what you're saying is based on what you saw. Testify. Sorry? Testify. Yeah, a witness testifies, which means talks about something that has happened, which they saw beforehand or experienced beforehand. So the Lord is saying, you shall be witnesses. You shall be witnesses. In other words, he's saying you will be witnesses with power. Why? Because you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will be endured with power. Okay, so another thing that we learned, another important thing that we learned from this passage, can you, any other observation? They were looking for the second coming. Sorry? When will you restore the kingdom to Jerusalem? I mean, the, when will you restore the kingdom to Israel? Right? So they were talking about the natural kingdom and he is talking about times and seasons. He said, that's not, yeah, that's one thing that you observe. But particularly about the Holy Spirit, something that we observe there. So we got witnesses. Thank you, Shekhar, Lucy. Yeah. Okay. What other thing that we observe here? Holy Spirit promise. Okay. Yeah. Actually, if you see, this is what is mentioned in Luke chapter 24, the last chapter of Luke in verse 49. You know, we looked at five to eight, right, except the one five to eight. If you look at except of one and verse four says, but being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. Okay, so this Holy Spirit baptism is actually the promise of the Father. Okay. So he's saying disciples, you wait, you will receive something, you will experience something, you will go through this experience, which is called Holy Spirit baptism. And this is the promise of the Father. If you look at Luke chapter 24, the last chapter of Luke and verse 49. Okay. You will see the Lord Jesus telling them the same thing. Luke chapter 24 verse 49 says, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but carry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endured with power from on high. Okay. So this is Luke, you know, writes that and captures that and this is before the ascension. So basically the same incident. Okay. So we see that the promise of the Father. Okay. Right. Okay. What else do we observe here? What else do we understand from here when you see these verses? Okay. One thing that we see is that the Lord Jesus, who was he speaking to? Huh? To his apostles. Sorry? To his apostles. To the apostles, to the disciples. Basically, he was talking to those who are following him. Right. To his followers. And now he's telling them those who are actually following him as Lord and Saviour. He's telling them that you wait and there is the promise of the Father. Okay. So which means that for the followers of the Lord, for the disciples of the Lord, the Lord Jesus is promising something and experience. I don't want to call it an event, but he's saying this is the promise of the Father and this is something I have. In other words, he's saying this is something I want all my followers to receive and to go through. Can we say that? Yeah. Right. Seeing is because he's telling the disciples, you wait there in Jerusalem till you are endued with power from on high till you receive the promise of the Father, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So we can conclude that this is for every disciple or every follower of the Lord Jesus. What is for every follower of the Lord Jesus? This baptism of the Holy Spirit, baptism with the Holy Spirit, baptism in the Holy Spirit. You know, the Greek is the same. The usage can be used interchangeably. Right. So this is for every believer, this baptism with the Holy Spirit. Okay. Let's move on to another one. Verse 16. Same chapter. Verse 16. We read something else. Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to all who arrested Jesus. Okay. So what scripture? What was he referring to? Okay. This scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David. Okay. So he's referring to what the psalmist, the David, the psalmist, what he prophesied in one of the psalms about the kind of death that the Messiah would die and about how he would be betrayed. Okay. So he's saying this had to be fulfilled. This scripture was actually fulfilled. How was it brought about? The Holy Spirit, let's look at verse 16 again. Read through. Okay. Acts chapter 1, verse 16. Okay. The scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. So the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. Okay. So which means that David was prophesying. The Holy Spirit caused him to prophesy. The Holy Spirit spoke these words out through the mouth of David concerning Judas. Okay. So the way in which the Messiah would die, how he would die, how he would be betrayed was prophesied in the psalms. Right. So he's referring to that and he's saying this is what, this is how it was. It was already prophesied. Okay. Okay. It was by the work of the Holy Spirit. So which means that Holy Spirit who knows the end from the beginning. Right. Who knows everything. He's God. He's Omniscient, all knowing. So he knows the end from the beginning and he will, you know, the Lord Jesus, what did he say? The Holy Spirit, when he comes, he will teach you. He will remind you of what I teach you. And he also said that he will tell you of things to come, what will happen in the coming days. Okay. So Holy Spirit being God, he knows what is in the future. He will, he's well able to tell us of what is to come. And he did so in the life of David. He, who David actually prophesied about the Messiah and about his betrayal and so on. Okay. Okay. Let's look at another verse. Okay. Acts chapter two verses one to four. Okay. Acts chapter two verses one to four. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly they came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and one sat upon each of them. Verse four. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Okay. So this is, you know, what we have studied before about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and how the disciples who were waiting in that upper room, about 120 of them, right, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay. It says they were actually there and it was the day of Pentecost. Okay. Day of Pentecost, which means it's 50 days. Pentecost meaning 50 or 50 days from the day of the Feast of First Fruits. Okay. So it was a Jewish Feast, right? So they were 50th day, which was the Feast of the Pentecost. So they were waiting there. Now on that day, something supernatural happened. What happened? They were all in one accord in one place, it says. And they came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. So they were indoors and there was the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which means it's like, you know, it's like a storm, which is blowing outside, but it was actually indoors. Nothing was happening outside, but it was in the house. There was this sound of a rushing mighty wind. And then what else do we notice there? Something supernatural happened. What else happened there? See, huh? Yeah. Before that? Before that, what happened? So you said something? No. Rushing mighty wind? Then? Yes. Before that. Before that, what do we see there? Yeah. They were tongues of fire, right? Which means it's like flames of fire. Okay. Just imagine, flames of fire. Okay. One flame of fire upon each head. Okay. It's like that. So they're looking, maybe they looked around and say, hey, I see a fire on top of your head. And the other person's saying, on your head also, right? It's like that, right? So the tongues of fire upon each person's head. So that we see, right? Divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Somebody raised a question. Yeah. Yeah, Shani, go ahead. Yeah. Can you say what is Pentecost again, the Day of Pentecost? Can you repeat that again, please? Just one second, Shani. Yeah. Go ahead. Tell me again. I said, can you repeat what Pentecost is, the Day of Pentecost? Can you repeat that? About the Day of Pentecost. Yes. From the Feast of the First Fruits. This is another Jewish Feast. So on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples experienced this. They were all there, gathered together. That's what we read about verse one. They were all in one accord. And this is the Feast of Pentecost. So, you know, when we read through Acts chapter two, we see that there were people from all over, from the surrounding areas. They had come to Jerusalem to observe this Feast. So we read about that. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Okay. Okay. So then the third phenomenon that we see, supernatural thing that happened, is that they all spoke with other tongues. Okay. So which means, what does other tongues mean? It means they all spoke in another language. And it was, it says here, oh yeah, thanks. So it says here that they all spoke with other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. Okay. So what does that mean? That means the Holy Spirit gave them the words and they spoke it out. Okay. Very simple. Holy Spirit gave them the words and they spoke out those words. Okay. And it happened to be other tongues or other languages. Okay. And then, of course, when we read through, we see that people that were there who knew these languages were amazed. They were surprised because these Jews who had not learned this language were actually speaking their language. And it talks about the kind of people, the group of people who were there, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, you know, Pontus, Asia, all these places and they were, they had gathered to Jerusalem for this feast and then so they were all amazed. They were all amazed. They were perplexed and, you know, all kinds of... In fact, it says they were also Cretans and Arabs and so on. Right. So all of them, they heard this... What did they hear? They heard these people speaking about the wonderful works of God. It says verse 11. Acts chapter 2 verse 11. We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So that's how we... That's something that's supernatural that happened. Okay. Okay. Important point to note. Yes. Yeah. Go ahead, Shani. Yeah. Did you say that they were speaking... You said they were Jewish people there. So they were speaking their language. Is that what you were saying when they were speaking in tongues? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So they spoke in different tongues, different languages and we also... We can also know that, you know, something that we notice here is that that other people, some others also felt that they... See, the various kind of reaction. Some were amazed. Some were troubled. It says they were perplexed. And also verse 13 says that they were mocking, saying, these people are drunk. Okay. So various reactions. They were making fun also, saying these people are drunk, which means what they heard was as if people were drunk and blabbering something. So they said these people are drunk. So all kinds of reactions to this supernatural event that happened when they had gathered together. Okay. Then let's look at verse 17. Okay. So verse 17, verses 17 and 18. Now, this is actually spoken by Peter. Okay. So when people say, hey, these guys are drunk or they were... When they were afraid, when they were amazed. So Peter stands up and he addresses the crowd that has gathered. He stands up and shares a word or gives a sermon. Now, Peter is referring to an Old Testament scripture here. Okay. And this is from the book of Joel. And Peter says, verse 17, and it shall come to pass. In the last day says God, that I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my maid servants, men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. Okay. So he's referring to that Old Testament scripture and he's saying, in verse 16, if you see, he's saying, this is what was spoken by Prophet Joel. Okay. So he's referring to what has happened just now, the outpouring, the supernatural event that has happened because of the Holy Spirit and this thing of rushing, mighty wind, tongues of fire and praying and speaking in other tongues and he's referring to that and he's saying, this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel. Okay. And he's saying, he's just quoting that scripture and he's saying it shall come to pass that God says, I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh. Okay. So what will happen as an outcome of that? Can somebody read through and tell me? As an outcome, as a result of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh, what do you see there? Verses 16 and 17. What is happening there? Yeah. Are they speaking in tongues? Yeah. So that's what is happening there. But if you refer to the text, like what is the prophecy? What will, sorry, visions, dreams, prophesies. Right. So these three things are, he says, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. That's one. Your old men, sorry, your young men shall see visions. That's the second thing. And the third thing that, and your old men shall dream dreams. So as a result of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he's saying there'll be prophesying, there will be visions, there will be dreams. Yeah. How do we distinguish between vision and a dream? Well, dream happens when we are asleep. That is the definition of a dream. You know, you are sleeping and then you have a dream. So vision can happen when you're awake as well. It's a vision. Something visual, it can be when maybe you're praying and you have a vision. It's like something visual. It could be a still something picture like based on scripture and you're saying, you know, it could be a still thing or it could be something moving. Like the Old Testament prophets had this vision. I saw this. So it could be that. But the vision can also happen in a dream. You know, that's in the dream. They have a vision, et cetera. But dreams are when we are asleep. So that's the basic difference. Okay. So we see this, this phenomena that is because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Okay. So maybe we are saying, you know, I don't believe in visions. I don't believe that God can speak in dreams. Well, you know, he has a proof, right? It's an outcome as a result of God pouring out his Holy Spirit and also we know, you know, this vision is the purpose. The dream is a purpose. You know, it's got communicating something, some truth. It has purpose. It has direction. Maybe it has warning. It has, you know, all these things, right? And prophecy, you know, they will prophesy, meaning that they will speak forth as the Holy Spirit gives them the message they will speak for. They will prophesy. Okay. So all this because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Okay. Okay. Let's move to verse 33 then. Same chapter, verse 33. Okay. So here, Peter is still speaking and he's again talking about the Holy Spirit. Verse 33. What does he say? Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Jesus, right? Jesus' death, burial, resurrection. And he's saying he's exalted to the right hand of the Father. And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this, which you now see and hear. Okay. So he's referring to, he's still talking about what is happening to them, what has happened to them. And he's still talking about that. Peter is saying, you know, he's talking about Jesus and how you crucified him. But he was resurrected. Now he's at the right hand of the Father. And then he says, he sent the promise of the Father. This is the promise of the Father. Father, promise that the Holy Spirit will, you know, the Comforter, he will come. So this is the promise of the Father. And he says that he poured out this, which you now see and hear. Okay. So he's saying this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is what you now see. Okay. It's, you see some people doing some things. They are speaking in other tongues. Yeah. You're seeing that. You're thinking that they are drunk because they are so caught up and then they are praising God. You know, maybe they're, I don't know, you know, what made them think that this person is drunk? No, that's a question. Right. What do you think? You know, when you see somebody who's drunk, how do you decide this person is drunk? Huh? Sorry? They are actions. Okay. The words, their behavior. Okay. So, so when, when these people saw they, they said, these guys are drunk, which means that they were so caught up in worshiping God, because that's what it says. No, they were actually talking about the praises of God or they were praising God, talking about the wonderful works of God in other languages. So they were so caught up in doing that that people, for some reason, they thought that, hey, these people are drunk. Okay. So, so that is what, so he's, so Peter is still talking about that. He's saying, you know, not the work of spirit, but it's work of the spirit. It's not the work of alcohol, but it's the work of the spirit, the Holy Spirit. And this is what you see and this is what you also hear because they are speaking, they are praising in other languages. Right. And so, and so this is what Peter's suggesting. I mean Peter's stating, right? Verse 38, and verse 38, Peter says something in response to a question. Okay. He's giving an answer. Okay. What is the question? We see in verse 37. Okay. Now when they had heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and rest of the Apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? So they hear the message that Peter shares. Peter starts by saying, this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was already prophesied by Prophet Joel. And then he talks about Jesus, why he came, what he did, etc. He was prophesied already, you know, in the Psalms and so on. And when they heard the message, the Bible says that they were cut to the heart, which means they were convicted. Right. They felt, oh, we've done something wrong. And they asked the question, what shall we do now? Is there anything that we need to do? What shall we do? Right. And then Peter answers. Verse 38, then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 39, for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. Okay. So he's again saying something which is very important. He's saying, in response to, what shall we do? He's saying repent and be baptized. Repent. Right. Turn from your ways. What does repentance mean? It means to turn from what we are doing. That is all. Right. It means there could be remorse. Yes. There could be, you know, there could be tears and there could be remorse and so on. And he's saying, repent, make that turn. You're going in one direction. You go in the opposite direction now. Repent. Turn away. Okay. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Now you repent, but you need to believe. What does baptism mean? That means that you're giving your whole life to Jesus. You're believing that what he did for the on the cross, you believe that it's for you and you receive him. Right. And that's what precedes baptism. So Peter is actually saying, you know, you need to believe that. You need to repent. You need to believe for the remission of sins. Baptism follows that, of course. Then he says, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay. So he's talking about the same thing. He's saying, you know, we have received, we have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and this is for you also. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now it is for everyone who would repent, who would believe in Jesus. Repent and believe in Jesus. So he said, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now these are all the Jews and you know, who could be speaking other languages, surrounding areas now. He's saying, this is for you. And then verse 39, he says something. What is it? He says, this promise is referring to the promise of the Father. He's referring to the this whole thing of outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He's saying this promise is to you and to your children. Okay. But what do the children need to do in order to receive the promise? Is the promise automatic? I believe and then my children, you know, it's for me and my children, but what do they have to do? They also have to believe. They have to repent and believe. So this promise is to you and to your children and then he says all who are far off as many as our Lord, our God will call. Okay. So which means that people who are there in that vicinity, people who are not there, this promise of the Holy Spirit is for everyone. Which means that this experience or you know, this truth, this experience is not only for the disciples, is not only for those who are living at that time. Very important. Because we might say, you know, this is for them. Right. I'm now in the 20th century, in the 21st century, this is, you know, how can you say it's for me? Right. Like we just saying, you know, this is for you, your children and all those who are far off whom the Lord, our God will call. Okay. Okay. We'll take a break here. I think there's a question by Sunny. Is there any difference between Holy Ghost, Spirit and Holy Ghost? Yeah. They mean the same thing. It's just the language, some of the old language. Yeah. It's the same thing. Okay. We'll take a break and we'll come back. Thank you. Hi everyone. Welcome back.