 So here we are chapter 2 acts we'll look at verses 14 through 21 and begin our study Luke writes but Peter standing up with the 11 raised his voice and said to them Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem Let this be known to you and heed my words For these are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel and It shall come to pass in the last days says God that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy Your young men shall see visions Your old men shall dream dreams. I've been doing that a lot lately And on my men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy I will show wonders in heaven above Signs in the earth beneath blood and fire vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness the moon Into blood before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord and It shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved now. I'm going to give you a little information some information. I didn't give you last time we're together Because there are a couple of things that I didn't even touch on that I want to touch on and then we'll move on in to this Pentecost sermon and all of that But as I lay a foundation I'll remind you that the the day of Pentecost is fully arrived And the promise that God had made in the Old Testament as well as reiterated through the mouth of Jesus that promise has been fulfilled in Chapter one verses four and five Jesus had commanded his disciples to tarry in Jerusalem and they had He said there being it says they're being assembled together with them He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said You have heard from me for John truly baptized with water But you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now and so Something that is very simple, but important to remember and if you write this down, it'll be a blessing in your life Very basic thing obedience results in blessing Just remember that obedience to the Lord results in blessing It was such a basic thing It's interesting how Jesus's call for obedience is repeated over and over again in the New Testament It's such a basic teaching But it seems that the Lord from the Old Testament to the New Testament has to repeat this one thing over and over Again, he says to obey is better than sacrifice Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments And so it's it's a central theme of a of a person's walk with God simple obedience You see when you when you're obedient to the Word of God when you're obedient to God He shows up in wonderful ways In John 14 Jesus said it like this at verse 21 John 14 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them. He is the one who loves me He who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and show myself manifest myself To him I will manifest I will show myself to the one who obeys me because if he obeys me he loves me So it's a very basic thing and yet in the body of Christ It has to be repeated over and over again Obey me to obey is better than sacrifice obey me You see that from the old to the New Testament and Jesus has said it. He had simply said to them Just don't depart from Jerusalem Wait for the promise of the Father John baptized with water you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. It's a simple command Just wait Terry in Jerusalem in an obedience God is going to pour out a blessing on you and so as we've seen they waited obediently and they waited Expectedly for the promise and the promise was fulfilled now One of the things I didn't really speak to you about and I'm going to point it out very quickly is found in chapter 1 verse 13 as well as verse 15 in verse 13 chapter 1 When they had entered they went up into the upper room where they were staying Peter James John Andrew Philip Thomas Bartholomew Matthew James the son of Alpheus and Simon the zalot and Judas the son of James These continued It's one accord in in prayer supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers And so I wanted to speak to you a little bit about that and share a little bit about this because what we have is We actually have a hundred and twenty people who are awaiting the promise that the Lord Jesus Christ had given There's a hundred and twenty that are waiting It says in verse 15 In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples all together the number of the names was about a hundred and twenty And so I didn't even mention to you who those hundred and twenty were You know so I'm going to give you their names one at a time. No, I'm not I'm just teasing But I didn't mention that There were a hundred and twenty and the question would be asked who were these a hundred and twenty people we know That the Lord Jesus Christ intended to fulfill his promise to the Apostles But the Apostles who had remained faithful at that time were numbering only 11 Then they added as we know the the new Apostle to take the place of the one who fell Matthias Took the place of Judas. But so who are these hundred and twenty and where do we get the number? Because it mentions that again in verse 15 there was about and it's a word about there were about a hundred and twenty Who were they? Well, all we need to do is remember some basic things in Scripture One you need to remember that in Matthew chapter 28 Versus 16 and 17 it speaks concerning the fact that Jesus had spoken to his men and said that he would meet them on a mountain in Galilee and The men went there, but the men were not alone there There were others who had shown up alongside of him it speaks concerning in verse 17 that it says this they Worshiped him, but some doubted and so not amongst the 11. It wasn't amongst the 11 faithful that had this This is too good to be true attitude, but there were other people who were there now. How do we know that? well in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 6 That verse mentions that there were over 500 eyewitnesses of Jesus after his resurrection When you look at Luke chapter 8 verses 1 through 3 Those verses speak of women who followed Jesus and financially supported him in Luke chapter 10 Verses 1 through 17 those verses mentioned 70 disciples that Jesus has sent to preach the kingdom of God is near and so the number 120 would include the 11 apostles The 70 disciples the women who followed Jesus They would include even as we read a moment ago Mary Jesus's brothers and many of the eyewitnesses that were spoken of in 1st Corinthians 15 6 That's where the 120 that are mentioned here, and it's almost off hand in verse 15 That's where those numbers would have come from So the 120 disciples in the upper room who are awaiting in obedience Were baptized by the Holy Spirit and as we saw last time we were together The result was a supernatural gifting with tongues languages that were unlearned And as we saw they began praising and magnifying God in languages that they had never learned Now it had stated in verse 5 of chapter 2 Here's something else. I didn't share with you in verse 5. There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews notice the word devout Devout men from every nation under heaven. I didn't point out something about that the word devout What does that mean? We don't use that word very much anymore But the word devout literally speaks of being cautious and careful as To the realization of the presence and claims of God it speaks of reverencing God It speaks of fear and love combined Which produces reverence the Old Testament placed emphasis on fear But the New Testament emphasizes love Though there was love in the fear of God saints then there must also be fear in their love of God now and So these devout individuals were careful and cautious is what it's speaking about and these were individuals Who would not necessarily be taken in So they were careful and cautious as it pertains to their walks with God and what God has said But when this takes place when these hundred and twenty were baptized by the Holy Spirit and spilled out and began to Speak in these unlearned languages. We read that these people were confused as well as amazed and they began to question amongst themselves What is happening? So as some of these people are beginning to say what is happening others as we noted last time began to mock Thinking that had they had been drinking wine and had gotten themselves drunk Now I have to say this and this is all just laying a foundation for you. The disciples Were not staggering around They weren't laughing hysterically like some drunks I've been around happy drunks And I've been around angry ones If you got to be around a drunk, I guess a happy one's better than a mad one But what this is and there's really a reason I'm going to tell you this because Not that long ago There was a movement and it's still around. I mean you still see it. It's not quite as much now as it was before Where people were beginning to say that when you were baptized with the Holy Spirit Perhaps some of you are aware of this perhaps you saw this or me me even have experienced this yourself they would say that you are drunk in the spirit and All kinds of outlandish things began to happen There were people doing crazy things. I don't even want to go It's not even decent to express to you what was taking place sometimes in church services and people were blaming the spirit of God for these things You know it was bad enough. Some were barking like dogs in church services and Some were meowing like cats and I'm not making this up And I often wondered what if that dog was married to the cat does that mean that they fight like cats and dogs? I But it was just an odd It was an odd time in the church where the most outlandish things were being blamed on God and the Holy Spirit and They would point to this particular portion of scripture when it says in chapter 2 verse 13 Others mock and said they are full of new wine And so what was being said and it is still repeated not as much now as it was just a few years ago That you can become what is called drunk in the spirit and perhaps some of you are familiar with what I'm talking about And you would see them stagging around staggering around and in the church. I've seen it I have seen it with my eyes those kinds of things and they're blaming God saying God Made me do this because I'm drunk in the Holy Spirit like in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 13 But I want you to notice there's a reason that I bring these things up to you So you're equipped to answer these things should you ever encounter it? I want you to see others mocking said they're drunk and So this was a slam. This was something they were saying against them as a way of simply mocking them What you need to remember is that the fruit of the spirit according to Galatians 5 23 the fruit of the spirit includes self control Self control is an evidence that you're filled with the Holy Spirit and a lack of Self-control can actually be one of the evidences that you are unsaved According to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 3 where he speaks of the unsaved as being without Self-control so when the Holy Spirit is moving in your life He is actually producing the fruit of self-control Not a lack of control keep that in mind because if you watch any what is called Christian TV You might still see these kinds of things being perpetrated in the name of Jesus Christ You see what you have here is people who are confused and they're making an observation in order to dismiss what they're seeing So Peter is going to bring a scriptural explanation for a spiritual manifestation Now we believe that God gives us direction through his word and we examined the Bible to find God's explanation on anything that is Spiritual like the Bereans who when they heard what Paul had to say Examine the scriptures to see whether these things are so in first Thessalonians 5 21 It simply says test all things and hold fast what is good and So we need to have directions through the Bible through the word of God And that's why you'll hear me every time I open the word in one form or another. I will say to you Spend time in God's word Personally not simply here, and I thank God that you bring your Bibles and you open them of course of course But make a habit of doing that when you're by yourself Reading God's word and getting imbibed with the things of God Because that helps you to not be conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind and so that's what happens when you yield yourself as a living sacrifice to God and so What we have here is a very interesting thing. I want to point this out notice verse 14 Peter Standing up with the 11 raised his voice and said to them Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and heed my words For these are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day this to me is so important that I could almost easily pass it up because of I just read it so very often. I don't really let myself meditate on one to stake in place, but let me remind you Who is this speaking the Apostle Peter? Peter now wait a minute. You're the one who denied the Lord and It wasn't that long ago Sometimes we don't realize that these kinds of things that are taking place were in within two months of one another From his denial of the Lord to standing in front of everybody from his hiding for fear of the Jewish authorities To him standing up in front of all of these people and preaching something happened Something happened. Listen Do you want to be used by God? I'm gonna speak to some who do do you want to be used by God get filled with the Spirit? Because if you walk in the flesh, you're not pleasing to God and you will not be used by the Lord But Pentecost is fully arrived guys the Holy Spirit in the shape of Flaming tongues landed on each individual and the result is the man who denied the Lord is now Confessing him openly Where does this boldness come from? from the Spirit of God It comes from the Spirit of God Do you want to be used by the Lord? I have had people say this to me in the past You know, you're pretty you're pretty bold. How did that happen? Be getting up be filled with the Spirit. You don't even realize that you're bold You don't you don't even realize that people call you bold and you don't even know that you don't even know if they're kidding You're joking. Well, how come you how come you speak so easily? What do you mean? How come you speak so easily? It seems so natural. It's not Naturally, I'm shy Naturally, I'm reserved Naturally, I'm to myself naturally my opinions are mine. I don't want to give them to anybody else Why would I give my opinions to people so they can tear them up and no, I don't do that keep it to myself But you're not that way of the Lord You want to be used by the Lord? Ask God fill you with the Spirit Fill me with the Spirit Lord. I want to be used this man who denied Jesus. This is so important You see if there's anything the church needs today at Spirit Field believers to start opening their mouths We need that desperate. No, I'm not saying be rude and I'm not saying be argumentative No, I'm not saying we should go out and with the bullhorn yell at people in cars passing by I'm not saying that if the Lord leads you to do that say you go to another church Where's your confidence come from? It comes from God Peter denied the Lord less than two months before three times and Now he's standing in front of everybody and preaching in front of as you'll see a great number of people Where'd that come from? It came from the power of the Holy Spirit And if there's anything that pastors need today It's much more than their natural abilities and capacities. I Thank God for the humorous pastors. I have many friends who are very funny You know my friend Raul I've had to pull over Years ago. I was listening to him. I would have to pull over. I'd be laughing so hard at the things he said I remember once I'll give you one instance He was saying this it's really important He said write this in the margarine of your Bible and I thought He just used to make me laugh. He still does. He still he still does when I lost my memory a few years ago I lost my memory. He called me at my house. He said David. He calls me David. Not David David David he says You lost your memory and I said yes, I did he goes. Do you remember you owe me $200 that was He's terrible. He's terrible So so where does your confidence come from? Where do where does your ability to communicate without fear come from? It comes from the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit Open God's is open your mouth and I will fill it It is the spirit of your father who speaks take no thought as to how you're going to answer these when you stand before Counselors for it is the spirit of your father who will give you the words What you do is you prepare your heart and say here on my Lord you use me and that's what Peter Basically, it's doing the Holy Spirit has fallen on the hundred and twenty. They're baptized of the Holy Spirit They pour it out of that upper room They're speaking concerning the mighty works of God Some people are confused and amazed others begin to mock The Apostle Peter seizes on that opportunity to explain a spiritual thing with scripture And he preaches with a boldness to people who just a couple months ago He'd have been afraid would have taken him and put him put him to death And so he stands according to verse 15 to give an explanation He stands it says with the 11 that should speak of course of the Apostles And he immediately dismisses the mocking and he enters into his sermon He says in verse 16. This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel and so The prophet Joel wrote some 835 years before Christ When he says this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel I need to say that this prophecy that is being spoken of here has Not been totally fulfilled and will not be totally fulfilled until the 1,000 year reign and final judgment And at at that time it will all be completely Fulfilled because at that time all will be filled with the Spirit what this is he's saying is a Fortaste of what is yet to occur and so he begins to speak And he says in verses 17 and 18 it shall come to pass in the last days 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 men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. They shall prophesy and so This is the present era when he speaks concerning the last days Joel wrote it shall come to pass in the last days This is the present era where God is saving men the last days include when Jesus first came up until his return But in this context his spirit is being poured out on all flesh that word poured it means to be Gushing out it speaks of an abundance It in Acts 10 verse 45 You'll see the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out Even on the Gentiles. It's a gushing forth an abundance if you will and God had said in Isaiah 44 verse 3 I will pour out water on the thirsty land streams on the dry ground I will pour out my spirit on your offspring my blessing on your descendants So this is a prophecy that was fulfilled Where the pouring out of the spirit happens and as this is happening You shall come to pass in the last days says God that I will pour it out my spirit on all flesh He goes on to say this your sons and your daughters shall prophesy God is going to be moving He's going to be moving through men and women. It's a picture of God directing them. So sons and daughters will prophesy sometimes We don't even realize that the Lord is moving in a prophetic way where we're speaking concerning an event That that will happen. Let me give you an example Many years ago Probably 36 years ago at least maybe 37 years ago I was an assisting pastor in another fellowship a friend of mine named Larry and his wife Donna Murray my wife and I had known them from prior to me Going into a full-time ministry. I'd known them for a long time and Donna and Larry went to Calvary Chapel Downey Donna was infertile, but she had made arrangements to adopt a child and so she Had the baby, but they had yet to formalize the adoption and So she calls me and she says Dave. She said I have a child. I'm adopting the child small baby an infant and She said to me can you dedicate my my little girl and I said I'd be honored and So we made arrangements for her to come on a Sunday morning and When she came to church with her baby I Had never done this before and I've never done it since When she handed me the baby this adopt this baby to be adopted She handed me the baby as actually I'll give you a second, but anyway It happened in a different way some other time, but anyway, I was holding the baby and I was holding the baby. I looked at Donna the adoptive mother and As I was sharing I looked at her and I said a sword is going to pierce your soul Where'd that come from? We're dedicated in a baby You don't say stuff like that and I shook my head and she's looking at me puzzled and I said and a sword shall pierce your soul And I prayed for the baby Within I don't remember how long within a few months They took the baby from her they took the baby from her That was a prophetic word. I Said you don't hold on hold on a Sword is going to pierce your soul Donna I've never done anything like that when my son Joseph was born and I was in the hospital room Marie gave birth And they brought the baby to me and handed me Joseph I still remember looking at this baby saying and I lifted the baby in my hands like this Before the Lord and I said in this one Shall serve the Lord my son Joseph has an anointing and I've watched him 35 years I'm watching God's work in this young man. He's a reader a Communicator loves Jesus and I know God uses that young man He was the one kid the other three, but this one here Just kidding quite obviously But there is this time of speaking forth God at this is this isn't something made up. This is what the scriptures says The scriptures makes it very clear your sons your daughters shall prophesy Your young man. He said shall see visions Visions are also called waking dreams No, I don't pretend to have experienced all the things that are being said here, but I Can give you one instance of this too. I was laying in bed and It was it's like Five in the morning and The the room became you won't believe this, but I'll say it anyway. It's true the room became Bright, but only in a certain area and I remember opening my eyes and in front of me were two young people and I looked at them and I said this is anyway, I don't know why I don't like to tell you these things because it sounds crazy But it's true and I I looked at them and I said, who are you? They're in my room. What are you doing here? I didn't have ADT at the time. How'd you get in here? And it was glowing and They said we are angels sent from God to anoint you For the pain that you're about to go through And I looked at them. I said if you're sent from God is Jesus Christ God the son Second person of the holy trinity is he God in the flesh and they laughed and said of course he is and One reaches over I'll never forget this and touches my forehead and a warmth that went through my body and they disappeared and I turned and I woke up and I shook Marie you remember this I shook Marie. I said we had angels in the room She goes, okay, honey You did okay, honey go back to sleep and I did and Is this true or is this not true? We went through some of the deepest pain We've ever gone through shortly after that remember and we made it through Because the Lord was with us. I Believe these things. I don't believe it happens to everybody. I don't know why these things have happened to me I really don't I don't talk about them because I don't elevate them above scripture in the spirit of God But these things are true These things are true your sons and your daughters they shall prophesy Your young men shall see visions Your old men they dream dreams well Look in your scripture, and you'll see that God used dreams It was in the Old Testament one of the ways that the Lord would speak you see it I'll give you names some you'll recognize others you may not But God had had spoken through dreams to a man named Abimelech to Jacob to Laban to Joseph Jacob's son He used a dream to speak to Pharaoh to Solomon in the New Testament he spoke to Joseph and He did use the medium of dreams in the Old Testament in the book of Job 33 verses 14 through 16 Job 33 14 through 16 It says God may speak in one way or in another Yet man does not perceive it in a dream in a vision of the night When deep sleep falls upon men while slumbering on their beds Then he opens the ears of men and seals their instruction In numbers 12 verse 6 he said here now my words if there was a prophet among you I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision I speak to him in a dream And so this is not something unusual that you find it was actually something spoken of in the Old Testament Now dreams could be used by the Lord and were used by God to communicate but they can also be a means of deception and That's why anything that you think the Lord is seeking to you in a dream needs to be tested by scripture In Jeremiah 23 32 God warned the nation by saying I am against those who prophesy false dreams Declars the Lord they tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies. I didn't send or appoint them They do not benefit these people in the least declares the Lord and so you always test whatever by scripture But he goes on in verse 18 on my men servants and my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days God's spirit is going to move he says on all flesh. He's speaking forth God's word. It's going to occur during that time In verse 19 he says I will show wonders in heaven above and signs In the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke All of these signs obviously are intended to point to the power of God Blood and fire vapor and smoke the sun will be turned into darkness These events are the events that are spoken of that surround the second coming And the signaling of the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus And it gives us insight into how long god will pour out his spirit. He's going to do it until the return of christ So those who enter into millennial reign with jesus will be a fulfillment of this word So this is his proof text Then he moves in begins to preach verse 22 Men of israel hear these words Jesus of nazar the man attested by god to you by miracles wonders and signs which god did through him in your midst As you yourselves also know him being delivered by the determined council and foreknowledge of god You have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death Whom god raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it For david says concerning him our foresaw the lord always before my face for he Is at my right hand that i may not be shaken therefore my heart rejoiced my tongue was glad Moreover, my flesh will also rest in hope because you will not leave my soul in hades Nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption You have made known to me the ways of life You will make me full of joy In your presence And so now he addresses The people who are listening and with authority. I want you to see what he does He calls them to listen and to listen to him very carefully. He speaks concerning jesus of nazarith Mark this in your heart Jesus of nazarith is the center of all true preaching Jesus of nazarith is the center of all true preaching When paul was speaking in first carinthians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 He said when I came to you brothers I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about god I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except jesus christ and him crucified Jesus christ This is so basic, but the church is forgetting it This is so basic We've turned things around. I don't want to belabor this. I might share a little bit on saturday about this We have turned things around guys in our day In a way that I really believe god is dishonored. I really do I was watching a well-known television preacher the other day marinai for just a moment I don't watch them very long because I become critical and then I bring it to you and then But let me use this as an illustration He was teaching out of a book That I'm familiar with He gave an opening And I sat to listen to see what he was going to do with those verses And it was an opening that related To god To his glory To his causing people to look to him for their future. That's what the passage speaks about But his message hinged on On on the people who were speaking to and what you end up with is a message That is about man and not about jesus and not about god But people flock to hear this guy speak because he makes them feel good When they do The problem is is he's not teaching the passage He's using it as a launching pad To cater to the whims fancies and carnal desires of his audience That concerns me It concerns me deeply Because on the one hand. Yes, god wants to heal our broken hearts. Jesus came to do that And yes, god has our tears in his bottle. He doesn't forget them And I thank god for the comfort of god But christianity doesn't hinge on me It hinges on him And when I know him I'll be okay But when I spend time trying to make me well I will work the rest of my life and never be well When I look at him he heals my soul He's the one who brings me to the place that he wants me to be. He's the one who's my comforter That's very important and we're forgetting that. Thank you very much. That's that's that's true That's that's true. That's absolutely true Briefly and I'll move on because we've got a lot of verses to cover One of the things that I love about When I got saved and by the way yesterday was my 46th anniversary So I was thinking about this just yesterday of coming to faith in christ one one of the things that that was true That I've never stopped believing and some people by the way Believe this is old-fashioned and out of date and I have to speed up To where we are now and I don't think that's gonna happen It can't When we would go to worship I was taught this from the day I got saved Yes, there was joy and yes, you know clap your hands all you people shout unto god with the voice of triumph That's something that happens in jewish worship if you go to the western wall and they're having a bar mitzvah or a wedding Whatever there's a lot of clapping and shouting You know that's part of the jewish culture and that was an expression of the joy that they have yes I'm 100 behind that but we were also taught That it's not about whether you like the band or like the song Because it wasn't about you it was about him and what I was taught to do from the beginning was just to do this That was one way The the worship teams would tell us don't be clapping for us It's about him. So you see that's in my blood That's who I am I'm a person who believes in giving him all the glory And it doesn't go to man It goes to him see a man didn't die a man just an ordinary man didn't die for me the man son of god He died for me. That's why I give him glory. That's why I worship him. That's why the band, you know can be a Worshipful or it can be a distraction. It just depends on who's being glorified That's how it works It's not Boy It's not the quality of musicianship It's the power of the holy spirit Upon a surrendered life I was listening to a worship team once And my worship leader went with me and he spoke to me afterwards and he said did you think that god was present in worship today? And I said absolutely He said let me he said I listened to that music On tape and the lead vocalist voice was isolated And not a single note was hit Every note that that worship leader sang was off tune He said and as a worship leader that's reminding me. It's not about the quality of my voice But the quality of my heart That god honors and that's where worship really happens. Don't forget that It's the quality of the heart Has god done something for you? Has he if he has you couldn't worship him But what if the person doesn't sing? Well, let me distract me. You know what then you're looking at them and not him, right? Let's keep our eyes on him Because that's how it works and and in the in the teaching of the word of god It's all about jesus christ and he says jesus was a man attested by god to you by miracles wonders and signs Which god did by supernatural means he's saying and it works god validated jesus as messiah In verse 23 he says him being delivered by the determined council and foreknowledge of god Notice this you have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death. That is a powerful statement Jesus's death was not by accident. It was god's determination Jesus's death was determined by god for redemption But it gives a call to accountability Notice what he says you have taken by lawless hands. You've crucified him. You put him to death now. These are unbelievers They instigated the death of messiah and he is saying directly. This is so So powerful so bold. He's saying you are guilty before god He's saying you need You need jesus christ verse 24 god raised him up having loose the pains of death It wasn't possible for death to hold him He says in verses 25 through 28 david says and he's speaking concerning the lord speaking prophetically through david in psalm 16 And so he uses this psalm as a proof text for the resurrection of jesus christ Now We're living in a time and i'll say this briefly, but it's true Where where a lot of times ministers of the word are afraid of offending sensitive hearers How many times can a person? Try and teach the word only to watch people get up and walk out And it can be so distracting and it can be so discouraging They won't even give a moment of their time to hear something they disagree with They like the gospel as long as it agrees with their own opinions But when something happens or is said they don't agree with they just get up and walk out never go back Why was it untrue? Well, I don't like the way they said it Really? Are you going to do what was said? Well, no, why would I because I don't like the way we it didn't form It didn't align with my opinions and therefore I'm not going to give them a moment I used to teach at this one church quite often I was invited quite often the pastor left that church. They never asked me back but Years ago. I still remember coming out and is doing their midweek And I said something like this. I said Listen every time I teach someone gets up and they get mad and they walk out Would you do me a favor today? Could you sit through the entire message and give me an opportunity to minister to you? Could you do that? Now that's kind of open. Don't you think that's kind of honest? Halfway in there's a guy off to my right stands up Storms out. It was a metal door I still remember him slamming the metal door as he walked out and I thought It was the pastor. He shouldn't have been such a bad example to the church No, I mean That's what we have today That's what we have today in the church people who just Forgive me. None of you are doing this. I'll just be open with you rude just rude When I was growing up my mom taught me something she said this when your father speaks you listen That's what my mom would say when your father speaks you listen And do you know even until my father went home to be with the lord and I was already in my 50s when he died We would be together for family things And my dad was a very quiet man very quiet And he would sit there. He kind of just glowed with the family around he just loved his family being around And we'd be talking and we're adults. We're older My dad was quiet. My mom would be talking people would be My dad would say, you know and instantly the room got quiet Instantly all four kids at the same time shut up and I was my dad's pastor And when my dad spoke I listened I learned a long time ago when your father speaking you listen The church needs to learn that too When the spirit of god is moving in a bible study listen Because god has something to say to your heart You may not understand much But what you do understand will bless your life That is so important And so he's speaking here and he's speaking concerning david and he's using the proof text Of this psalm as a proof text for the resurrection And he says in verses 29 through 36 men and brethren. Let me speak freely to you of the patriarch david That he is both dead and buried his tomb is with us to this day Therefore being a prophet and knowing that god had sworn with an oath to him That the fruit of his body according to the flesh he would raise up from the fruit he would raise up He would raise up the christ to sit on his throne He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the christ that his soul was not left in hades nor did his flesh See corruption This jesus god raised up Of which we're all witnesses Therefore being exalted to the right hand of god and having received from the father The promise of the holy spirit He poured out this which you now see in here for david did not ascend into heaven But he says himself the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies Your footstool And so this psalm was not fulfilled by david because david died and did not experience that resurrection at that time He's saying this is a prophecy related to messiah. This is what is called a messianic psalm and this was speaking concerning jesus christ Therefore verse 36 let all the house of israel know assuredly That god has made this jesus whom you crucified both lord and christ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles men and brethren What shall we do? Peter said to them repent Let every one of you be baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins You shall receive the gift of the holy spirit 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 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying be saved from this perverse this twisted this crooked generation Those who gladly received his word were baptized That day about three thousand souls were added to them Three thousand at one invitation again, peter Brought the point home with very strong and very direct words He said in verse 36 you crucified Jesus who was lord in christ that listen if a person's going to get saved They need to take personal accountability for the death of christ Jesus god so loved the whole world that he gave his only begotten son Jesus is the potential savior of all men the actual savior of those who believe and so I had to see myself as The reason if you will That jesus died on the cross It wasn't mental error It wasn't a bad upbringing It wasn't my economic status It wasn't my ethnic heritage It wasn't any of that It was a sin question The question of sin needed to be answered I had to see myself As a sinner lost and on my way to eternal judgment Again one last thought And we'll close My daughter brought My three grandchildren Into my office yesterday my daughter cring three of my grandchildren My josiah who's 13 my sophie was eight and My stela who's four And they came walking him and they said happy spiritual birthday papa That was sweet Happy spiritual birthday papa and they all came and gave me hugs and kisses And I smile at them And I started sharing with them And I started saying you know and I started giving my testimony I said you know your papa was not a good person I said I was arrested three times all because of related to alcohol. I was a drunk I got arrested put in jail overnight Three different times I said you know your papa Was a very very lonely young boy And I started to cry And josiah is looking at me And his little eyes began to well with tears And my sophie they're looking they've never I don't cry around the family. I cry in church. That's why I cry That's a fact That's a fact They've never seen that in me never other than when they've been in church and they've seen my papa's Touched by something right There I am sitting in my office And I said I was lonely And I was hurting And I started to cry And I said but jesus christ Saved me and transformed me And look at what he's done And I pointed to my kids and I said he gave me grandma He gave me your mama And he gave me you And how grateful I am for all that god has done And that came because one day 46 years ago. I said I am the reason Jesus died on a cross. It was not that person or my dad's fault or my mom. It was me He died for me for my sins I was separated and he drew me back with cords of love and that's a god I will worship forever forever Because he is good The only way to be saved is to personalize that and peters boldness To point to them you crucified him as a powerful statement Coming from a man who less than two months earlier had denied even knowing him What's the difference the difference was the power of the holy spirit and the anointing that god gives And the proclamation of the word of god And if you have the power of the spirit the word of god He can give you boldness and god can use you to see others saved. Is there anything greater than that? No Nothing is greater than seeing a life that was at one time going to hell Turned around and now proceeding to heaven. What is greater than that? What is greater than that? Nothing