1 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:11,360 This was Pentecost. It was also known as the Feast 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:12,920 of Weeks. Now the Feast of weeks was a 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,800 celebration of the completion of harvest and the keyword 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,200 completion of harvest. And so I find it interesting 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,960 that the Holy Spirit is chosen by God to descend at the 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:29,520 completion of his work on the cross and also the completion of 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,439 what was promised in chapter 1. Flip to chapter 1. 8 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:35,400 We're going to look at verse 4 and 5 S Acts chapter one, verse 9 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:36,720 four and five. And we'll read that together. 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:38,240 I'm reading from the new King James. 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,000 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,440 to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,480 Father, which he said, you have heard from me for John truly 14 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,520 baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy 15 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,680 Spirit not too many days from now. 16 00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:01,400 So that's the context of Jesus telling his disciples to wait. 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,519 Now back to our text in Acts chapter 2, we read the first 4 18 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:08,720 verses. Acts chapter 2, when the day of 19 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,360 Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in one 20 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,680 place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven. 21 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,200 I've underlined suddenly in my Bible and I'll tell you why in a 22 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,000 little bit. There came a sound from heaven 23 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,360 as of I've underlined that as well. 24 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,280 A rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,840 they were sitting. Then there appeared to them 26 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:40,560 divided tongues as of fire, and one sat on each of them and they 27 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,440 were all filled verse four with the Holy Spirit and began to 28 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,320 speak with other tongues as a spirit gave them utterance. 29 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,360 Couple of things, like I said, underlined verse 2 suddenly as 30 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,040 of and I've got all sorts of underlines there because it's 31 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,200 things that jumped out to me. First one I want to look at is 32 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:02,120 the word sudden in verse 2 sudden. 33 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:08,400 I looked it up in the original means unexpected suddenly, and 34 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,400 this tells me it emphasises that the arrival of the Spirit was as 35 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,920 we read in chapter 1 was expected, but it also caught 36 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:19,600 them by surprise. Why is that important? 37 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,280 For me, it really highlights the fact that these guys weren't, 38 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,440 and maybe this is familiar for some of you who've been around 39 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,280 church culture for a while. They weren't holding a tarrying 40 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:28,960 service. Anybody heard of that before? 41 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:30,760 A tarrying service? Yep, there we go. 42 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,280 I remember that as a kid in our denomination that we grew up in, 43 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,480 it's a tarrying service was just waiting for the Holy Spirit to 44 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:45,640 fall as if by our waiting the Holy Spirit would come or they 45 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:47,760 weren't even holding an afterglow service. 46 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,160 And I know that's something that's familiar to use. 47 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,480 An afterglow service, for those who don't know, is basically 48 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,000 just where you have some songs pretty good on retreats and 49 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:58,960 camps. You have some songs you sing and 50 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,200 you just give some time and space for the Holy Spirit and 51 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,640 the gifts to work. They weren't even having that. 52 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,400 They weren't having any type of service that was geared to bring 53 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,320 heaven down or to set an atmosphere because that's how 54 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,960 the modern church would do it. We would get chairs set up in a 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,000 circle like tonight. You walk in and everything's 56 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,120 different. The lights are low. 57 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,560 We'll maybe even move this carpet out into the middle. 58 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,320 We'll have everybody in the worship team maybe sitting down 59 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:31,400 on chairs, maybe a bit of smoke. If you're lucky, the worship 60 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,000 leader might even have his shoes off then and that, but that's 61 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,200 probably not that unfamiliar. And everybody walks in and goes. 62 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,520 Things are different and things are going to be cool. 63 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,800 And that's how we do it is we try to manufacture a intimate 64 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:54,000 lighting, an atmosphere where perhaps by somehow with our 65 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,560 actions or with what we do with our lighting, with our smoke, 66 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,760 with our shoes off, with our worship team on guitars. 67 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,560 Let's do an unplugged version Is we have manufactured an area 68 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,600 where the Holy Spirit will actually come Now, like we've 69 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,880 prepped, like something we have done would actually bring the 70 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,120 Holy Spirit down. That's wrong. 71 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,279 I think that's wrong. And I was speaking to somebody 72 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,279 in the church. I won't point out who it is, but 73 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,320 I was speaking to somebody in the church a little bit ago, 74 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,320 just a couple of weeks in regards to this. 75 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:30,320 And we were talking about how as a worship leader, music is so 76 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,680 powerful. Anybody watched any movies when 77 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,040 the audio isn't working? Suddenly those movies become 78 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,600 quite eerie. I find every movie, even the 79 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,680 funniest movies when there is no audio to it becomes like a 80 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:47,760 spooky movie. Power of soundtrack, power of 81 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,800 score, and that behind is able to manipulate emotion. 82 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,440 And as a worship leader for since the age of 17, I've found 83 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:59,080 that I have the ability with picking songs and arranging 84 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,200 certain things that I actually had the ability to manipulate 85 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,920 emotional response from people. And that's really sad. 86 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,840 And I had to deal with that myself is through the crescendo 87 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:12,440 of our band and the crescendo of hitting the right moment or 88 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,920 pausing at the right moment, I was able to elicit a response 89 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,480 from people. And for that, as I sang, I'm 90 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,920 sorry Lord, because it's powerful. 91 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,600 Music is powerful. There is a guy on YouTube which 92 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,640 you can watch and it's, I wouldn't say you you should 93 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:33,600 watch it, but there's a non Christian response to listening 94 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:35,160 to Oceans. Anybody seen that clip? 95 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:36,840 Have you seen that? It's got millions of views. 96 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:39,400 It's like over 2 million views. And so it's this non Christian 97 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:44,600 who sits there and just watches Christian music and he cries and 98 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,440 it's people watching that for 2 million people. 99 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,360 So a music has the power to move somebody with just that. 100 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,120 He's not saved, he's just been moved by the music. 101 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:58,200 As I said, I think this is wrong. 102 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,520 The word sudden tells me that it was not because of anything that 103 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,520 these people were doing, but rather that it was exactly as 104 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,400 God promised and perfect timing of God. 105 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,560 So if they weren't having a tarrying service, if they 106 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,400 weren't having an afterglow service, if they weren't doing 107 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,840 something that was manufacturing the Holy Spirit to come down, 108 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,360 what were they doing? First one, when the day of 109 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,960 Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in one 110 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,280 place. That's all we're given. 111 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:33,160 And then verse 2 tells us a little bit more detail. 112 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,200 It says, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a 113 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,800 rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house. 114 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:40,960 Here's the posture. What were they doing? 115 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:47,200 They were sitting kind of like tonight. 116 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,960 They were just sitting. It doesn't tell us that they 117 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,360 were doing anything amazing or anything wonderful. 118 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,840 They were just sitting, and then the Holy Spirit came. 119 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,720 A posture. Sitting is a posture of 120 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,880 obedience. And I commend you guys tonight 121 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,560 because you're here on a pretty stormy night and you are doing 122 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,840 exactly that. You are sitting in the presence 123 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:12,520 of the Lord, obediently showing up when God has instructed us to 124 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,080 come and do not forsake the assembling together. 125 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,280 So big deal. They are obedient. 126 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,560 They're waiting. Then what we read it in verse 2, 127 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,320 it says the sound as of and I want that particularly because 128 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,040 it's not rushing wind. It says as of rushing wind. 129 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,680 It's not wind. Specifically, the author of our 130 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,240 text who is Doctor Luke, one of the disciples, he uses a 131 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,080 metaphor to describe something that has no earthly description. 132 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,120 How do you describe something that is divine using earthly 133 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,120 words? So he goes, it sounded like 134 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:51,640 wind. It's not wind because notice the 135 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,360 wind or the sound of the wind filled the whole house. 136 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,520 Now I've been, we live in Secret Harbour. 137 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,560 I've been in some stormy places where it is wind, but I've never 138 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,520 had the wind fill the whole house. 139 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,520 The wind that I've had on a stormy day that has come in 140 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,160 through, you know what it did, It busted through my front door 141 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:09,840 and pushed up through the manhole. 142 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:14,080 It's trying to find a point of entry and then a point of exit. 143 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,960 It doesn't fill or envelope the whole house. 144 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,960 Verse 3 says it's tongues as of fire. 145 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,280 Again, not fire, but as of fire again. 146 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,640 How do you describe tongues of fire? 147 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,240 We made those with the kids the other day in Sunday school. 148 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:33,240 We had the little headbands and they had the tongues of fire in 149 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:34,960 there. But again, Luke is trying to 150 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,000 explain something here. There's what appears to be 151 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,720 divided tongues of fire, but it doesn't say it is fire. 152 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:46,040 It says as of fire. But another thing there I want 153 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:50,440 you to notice in that verse 3 or read that this has then appeared 154 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,560 to them. Divided tongues as of fire. 155 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,760 Notice this. And one sat upon each of them, 156 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,640 upon each of them. In Acts 115. 157 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,640 It tells us how many were in the room. 158 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,200 I'll flip over to there for you. It says, and in those days Peter 159 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,880 stood up in the midst of the disciples all together the 160 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,800 number of names was about 120. Why is this important? 161 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,880 Because it wasn't just for the apostles. 162 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:25,720 There were 120 in the room and it sat upon each one of them. 163 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,480 A critical thing in there as well, which I picked up is not 164 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,240 only did it sit upon each person near the 420, but it was 165 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:39,360 everyone in the room. Everyone in the room. 166 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,000 And I think, sadly, we miss out on so much of what God has for 167 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:50,480 us because we simply not found in the room or we are not found 168 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,480 in the place where God has asked us to be. 169 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,960 So, so far we've seen these guys were just sitting. 170 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,840 They were obediently waiting in Jerusalem, not doing anything 171 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,080 magical, not doing anything mystical. 172 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,680 Everyone in the room received the Holy Spirit. 173 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:12,720 Why? Because they were in the right 174 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,240 place at the right time, faithfully obedient. 175 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,320 And you go, OK, good point. OK, point. 176 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,680 Be in the room. I'm in the room tonight. 177 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,000 Have you ever been in a church service? 178 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,240 And I've. I've done that. 179 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,920 Been in a church service, read your Bible, prayed, done 180 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,040 everything faithful. I'm in the room, Nat. 181 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,880 I'm always in the room. I'm here Wednesdays. 182 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:37,760 I'm here Sunday morning. I'm here Sunday night. 183 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:47,840 I'm reading my Bible faithfully. But no wind, no fire, so God's 184 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,600 not moving, right? Wrong. 185 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:56,760 No goosebumps, no Holy Ghost goosebumps, no shaking of the 186 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:58,680 building. I have been in a building though 187 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:00,600 on a Sunday service where earthquake happened. 188 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,280 It was pretty amazing. It's not good, I wouldn't 189 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:10,960 recommend it. We may even move to Christian 190 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:15,440 circles where they're able to manufacture, wind and fire 191 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:20,440 through their elaborate budgets, Polish production programmes. 192 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,760 And I'd say again, as I said, unfortunately this is not the 193 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:25,320 spirit. I would say it's not the Spirit 194 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,000 I know I'm able to manufacture with through music. 195 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,640 I would call that production clever production. 196 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:37,440 In contrast, in our passage today, this particular method of 197 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,600 the arrival of the Holy Spirit was unique. 198 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:43,640 And you know, it's not ever repeated in Scripture again. 199 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,600 This never happens again. No wind, no fire in this 200 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:49,240 particular manner. Why? 201 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:53,320 As I stated at the start, this event is a foundation and not a 202 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,880 formula. A foundation, not a formula. 203 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,800 Do you remember when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus when 204 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,960 he was being baptised by John the Baptist? 205 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,320 What form did he take? A dove. 206 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,520 No doves. In this place, it's different 207 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,320 again, and you find throughout the New Testament, whenever 208 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:17,880 Jesus or God doesn't work in the Gospels, it's different every 209 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,680 time. And I'll explain that. 210 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:23,120 It's because God chooses when he wants to move. 211 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:27,480 God chooses how he wants to move, and God chooses who he 212 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:29,480 wants to move through. Why? 213 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:36,600 It's enough, he's gone, why not? But I also think it's because we 214 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:42,000 have a tendency as believers, as the church, as leaders sometimes 215 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,520 is to worship at the altar of Polish process. 216 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:50,280 We're enamoured with it. And more recently, just look at 217 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,240 YouTube for a bit, popular preachers as well. 218 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:00,760 I found this little quote from one of my favourite writers you. 219 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,960 If you ever pick up a book by AW Tozer, please do. 220 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,160 They're plentiful. But he wrote this back in 1950. 221 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:13,560 He said how shamefully do we exploit the converted celebrity. 222 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,520 Anyone will do. We honour them in our public 223 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,120 meetings and the religious press. 224 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,200 Thus we glorify men to enhance the standing of the Church of 225 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,080 God. And the glory of the Prince of 226 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,040 Life is made to hang upon the fame of a man who shall die. 227 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,120 That's 75 years ago that he wrote this and it's still 228 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,720 happening today. I'll talk about a more recent 229 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,160 one. The modern church did this with 230 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:43,360 a Kanye West or a Yee. Now I'm not going to judge his 231 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,600 character, character, character Yee. 232 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,640 That's that's Yee. Anybody know Kanye? 233 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:53,320 Not personally, right? But unfortunately in 2019 or 234 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,720 fortunately depends, I'll let again God can judge his 235 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,920 character. But he was paraded as soon as he 236 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,840 made a professional faith. All the largest churches in 237 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,640 America that could afford him paraded him in front of their 238 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,280 church. 1 even had him lead their church service. 239 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,400 It was called Sunday service. And I imagine now knowing what 240 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,600 they know, they're probably frantically scrubbing their live 241 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,960 streams to eradicate any reference of Kanye West. 242 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,320 And I think honestly, they'd be embarrassed with him actually 243 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:26,880 being in there. I imagine. 244 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,800 I can't imagine having him lead our Sunday service. 245 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:31,920 We should be. That would be. 246 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,040 But as soon as he became. Because if, if Kanye got to the 247 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,400 Lord, then surely everybody else would come to the Lord. 248 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:45,520 If Kanye can get saved, then my friend will get saved because 249 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:50,080 now God is cool, right? As if God ever needed our help. 250 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,440 It doesn't need our help to do anything. 251 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,280 There was nothing that these people did in order to bring 252 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,600 down the Holy Spirit. It came exactly when God wanted 253 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:03,440 the Holy Spirit to descend. And I'd say the glory belongs 254 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,120 only to God. Now I want to look at the 255 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,240 different responses to the falling of the Holy Spirit 256 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,280 first. It's really simple because it's 257 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,160 actually broken down. I don't know if your Bible does 258 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:16,320 it, but my Bible does it quite simply. 259 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,080 It says the crowd's response. So we're going to do the crowd's 260 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,600 response because everybody today is enamoured with a crowd. 261 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,480 This read Acts 2/5 to 13 and they were dwelling in Jerusalem, 262 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,480 Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 263 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,600 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and 264 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:39,440 were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own 265 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,440 language, verse 7. Then they were all amazed and 266 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,680 marvelled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these 267 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,920 who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each 268 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:50,800 in our own language in which we were born? 269 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,960 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, 270 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:04,280 Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, 271 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,960 Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from 272 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:11,720 Rome, both Jews and proselytes. So those who can had converted 273 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:18,920 Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we 274 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:23,040 hear them speaking in their own tongues the wonderful works of 275 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:25,440 God. So they were all amazed and 276 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,280 perplexed saying to one another whatever could this mean? 277 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:32,080 Others mocking said they are full of new wine. 278 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,000 Verse 5 devout men. Now, the during this festival 279 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,880 period, estimates put the crowd that were gathered there 280 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,880 between, I know it's huge because they weren't really 281 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,600 taking records back then. 150,000 to 300,000 people there. 282 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,120 That's a huge crowd. That's a good crusade crowd, 283 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:53,880 right? That's a lot of people. 284 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,640 If we had a gathering of 300,000 people, you'd be like, OK, we're 285 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,000 in business here, all right, The Flyers worked, promos worked, 286 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,079 we're good to go. Verse 6 says the multitude heard 287 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:07,760 in their own language. What did they hear is critical. 288 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:15,480 What did they hear? Our answer is in verse 11 we 289 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,880 hear them speaking verse 11 in our own tongues. 290 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:27,599 What the wonderful works of God. This was touched on last week by 291 00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:30,360 Pastor Keith and it's critical for us to be reminded of it 292 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:32,200 again. Is a true work of God. 293 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,280 Always glorifies and points to God, especially when a crowd is 294 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,480 gathered. 2nd A true work of the Spirit will move people to 295 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,880 consider the next question that we read in verse 12. 296 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,920 Have a look at verse 12. The next question. 297 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,880 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one 298 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,600 another, whatever could this mean? 299 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,280 See the sport Spirit always draws out a response. 300 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,600 All are drawn. Some are amazed she read in 301 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,560 verse 12, while others mock verse 13. 302 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,360 If we were somehow able to pipe our services and give them 303 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,480 permission to pipe our services into the shopping centre across 304 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:16,640 the way or even the little pub that's there and they were able 305 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,640 to get a live stream and they let us put our services on their 306 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:21,720 jumbo screen or their big screen in there. 307 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,720 Their response, It's a good idea. 308 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,760 I know it's a great idea, but and you were filming them and 309 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,000 their responses were you had some people there recording what 310 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,040 their responses were. I imagine you would see some 311 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,480 people who are intrigued. Some people would be drawn by 312 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,120 the Spirit and go, there's something to this, this is 313 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:40,320 different, there's something that's going on. 314 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,200 And others would just walk past and they would laugh, they would 315 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,160 scoff and they'll go, these guys are idiots. 316 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,840 These guys look crazy. There they are standing with 317 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,360 their hands up. What kind of mental stuff is 318 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,920 this? They must be drunk to be doing 319 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:57,080 this. That is the response that we get 320 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:58,920 when the work of the Holy Spirit is done. 321 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,440 Sometimes you get people who are intrigued and will cause them to 322 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,320 ask another question. Others will laugh, others will 323 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:10,680 mock, others will scoff. It's in the personal response of 324 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,280 Peter that I think we can learn most. 325 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,920 So jump down to verse 14 for me, just verse 14. 326 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,480 But Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to 327 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:29,040 them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be 328 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:36,520 known to you and heed my words. This is Peter, Peter the apostle 329 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,720 who once boasted in Matthew 2633. 330 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:44,880 They all will leave you, I never will. 331 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,120 The same Peter who in the face of opposition only seven weeks 332 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:52,720 ago. This is 7 weeks from when the 333 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,440 crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place, where he stood warming 334 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:01,880 his hands by another fire and he used his voice to deny Jesus 335 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,520 loudly 3 times, even to the point of cursing. 336 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:16,080 This is the same Peter who fled, but now empowered by the Spirit, 337 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:20,560 he is standing, takes the lead and is about to open his mouth 338 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:22,720 to speak boldly. What changed? 339 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,360 Seven weeks is not enough time for seminary. 340 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,880 Seven weeks is not enough time to get a PhD in theology. 341 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:38,320 No attendance in a College of Courage seminar. 342 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,040 Peter who is lacking courage because he fled. 343 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,960 So let's go and take a course, get a cert three, cert 4IN 344 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:46,760 courage. No time for that. 345 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,200 All that was happening in Peter's life was he was 346 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,600 obediently found in the place that God told him to wait. 347 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,880 Now as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 348 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:02,200 Peter is a new creation and in Peter's response I learn that 349 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,280 the Spirit is not interested in renovating the flesh. 350 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:11,120 He comes to wither it. A lot has spoken of the power of 351 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:14,400 the Holy Spirit and the boldness of the Holy Spirit and the works 352 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,720 of the Holy Spirit that are all positive, but there is not a lot 353 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,680 that is preached about the withering ministry of the Holy 354 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,360 Spirit. By that I want to read Isaiah 40 355 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,160 verse 6 to 8. If you want to flick to it, 356 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:28,360 you're welcome to. I'll give you some time. 357 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:31,280 Isaiah 46 to 8. And this is something that 358 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:36,680 really struck me because it's powerful, the work, the 359 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,400 withering work of the Holy Spirit. 360 00:21:44,690 --> 00:21:49,410 Verse 6 of Isaiah 40, the voice said cry out and he said, what 361 00:21:49,410 --> 00:21:53,600 shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all it's 362 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,880 loveliness is like the flower of the field. 363 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,440 The grass Withers, the flower fades because the breath. 364 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,800 Some of your Bibles would say the Spirit because the breath of 365 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,160 the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. 366 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,400 The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God 367 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:16,760 stands forever. When I read that, it struck me 368 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:22,400 that I need to allow the Holy Spirit to continue its work of 369 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,880 withering in my life. Let me explain a little bit 370 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,120 here. I read a quote by Spurgeon. 371 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:28,960 It's a great little book. It's not that expensive. 372 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:33,280 It's $10 at Kurong. It's called Holy Spirit Power by 373 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,040 Spurgeon. If you haven't read it, I 374 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,920 recommend it, especially after we've done this series. 375 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,560 It'll help fill in some gaps. We're only able to do 6 sermons, 376 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,760 but it's $10 from Kurong. It's a tiny little book, but 377 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,160 it's the word just, and I've never heard anybody put so 378 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,360 eloquently the work of the Holy Spirit. 379 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:54,520 But he says it this way. He says the Holy Spirit's power 380 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,440 or the work or the ministry of withering is painful and 381 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,680 mournful work, but it must be done. 382 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,760 He goes on to say, I've noticed that persons who are converted 383 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,200 very easily and who come to Christ with relatively little 384 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,760 knowledge of their own depravity have to learn it afterwards. 385 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,200 Know if grace has begun to build in your soul and any of the old 386 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,560 walls of self trust have been left standing, they will come 387 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,800 down sooner or later. The natural building must come 388 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,040 down, planks and plaster, roof and foundation, and we must have 389 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,400 a house that is not made with the hands. 390 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:34,320 Isn't that beautiful? Peter and his self confidence 391 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,600 had to wither and die, and I believe the Lord demolished that 392 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:40,920 in the night that Peter denied him three times. 393 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,160 And now we look in our passage here, we see Peter indwelled by 394 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,600 the Holy Spirit. He's not preaching in his own 395 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,240 authority anymore. He's not doing anything in his 396 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:57,280 own selfish pride. He is bringing the authority of 397 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,520 the Holy Spirit and he is preaching with the authority of 398 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:04,600 Scripture. Let's look at part of what Peter 399 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,960 preaches on. Let's have a look at his sermon. 400 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,520 I'm going to look at 15 to 21, verse 15 to 21. 401 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,040 Only tonight you can read the rest of it, but I want to focus 402 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:20,760 in on verse 15 to 21. Peter stands up verse 14 and he 403 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,480 says these verse 15. These are not drunk as you 404 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,840 suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day, basically 405 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:32,760 9:00 but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall 406 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,560 come to pass straight Scripture. He gives now verse 17 to 21 in 407 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,000 the last days says God, that I will pour out my spirit upon all 408 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,680 flesh. Your sons and your daughters 409 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:47,360 shall prophecy, Your young men shall see visions, your old men 410 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,680 shall dream dreams. And on my manservants and on my 411 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,600 maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they 412 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,280 shall prophecy. Verse 19. 413 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,520 I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth 414 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,800 beneath, blood and fire and vapour of smoke. 415 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,560 Verse 20. The sun shall be turned Into 416 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:12,360 Darkness now, 7 weeks ago, what happened to the sun when dark, 417 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,720 right? Seven weeks ago, when Jesus was 418 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,200 crucified and he died, it went dark. 419 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,120 So this is familiar for them. I mean, if we saw that the sun 420 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:25,640 go dark at a time it's not supposed to go only seven weeks 421 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:27,800 ago, that'd be very fresh in your memory. 422 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,440 It'd be like, what? This guy is nuts. 423 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:37,320 And the moon into blood before the coming of the great and 424 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,560 awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that 425 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,240 whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 426 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,800 Now I like the King James version. 427 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,760 I was chatting to Pastor Keith a couple weeks ago about this when 428 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,840 I talked about this passage and he highlighted it for me. 429 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,240 So I'll give him credit for that. 430 00:25:55,440 --> 00:26:01,240 But in the King James, the starting of what Peter says in 431 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,400 verse 16, when it says in new King James, it says, but this is 432 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,920 what was spoken by the prophet Joel in the old King James it 433 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,080 says, but this is that. And I think that's critical. 434 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,560 And I've written down that down in my Bible. 435 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,480 This is that because what Peter basically does is something that 436 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,960 we should be able to do with every time that the Holy Spirit 437 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,600 is doing a work in our lives and every time we explaining to I've 438 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,240 got 4 kids. Every time we explain something 439 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,840 that happens in our church service or why we do something 440 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,320 or why we pray a certain way, certain way is we should be able 441 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:43,520 to grab our Bible, open up to the part and point to it and go 442 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:49,040 this what you saw what we were doing in church this well, this 443 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,960 is that. If we can't do that, then it 444 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,840 probably shouldn't be going on. And Peter takes that and he's 445 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,080 he, he brings it up. And as I started looking at this 446 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,840 is that there are more this is that's in the Bible. 447 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,280 There are tonnes of them where Moses says to Aaron when his two 448 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:12,200 sons are destroyed by the fire of God in Leviticus, it's he 449 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:18,400 goes Aaron. This is that that was written 450 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:28,090 about anything that takes place in our gathering should be able 451 00:27:28,090 --> 00:27:31,930 to be this is that Peter gives the gathered crowd Scripture. 452 00:27:31,930 --> 00:27:34,010 He gives them the words of the prophet Joel. 453 00:27:34,010 --> 00:27:37,810 He then gives them the words of the psalmist King David in the 454 00:27:37,810 --> 00:27:39,530 second part that I won't read tonight. 455 00:27:39,850 --> 00:27:44,330 The best thing that we can say to anyone or a crowd or anyone 456 00:27:44,330 --> 00:27:47,610 that the Holy Spirit draws to us is exactly what Peter did Here 457 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,960 you have a look through it. There's not too much eloquent 458 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:52,760 words. There is pure scripture. 459 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,840 If I did nothing else tonight and I apologise for them doing 460 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,320 more than just reading Scripture, I should should learn 461 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,840 from Peter is what we when somebody brings, when God brings 462 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,760 the Holy Spirit, I'm sorry when the Holy Spirit Spirit brings 463 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,680 somebody to us, best thing we can do is give them pure 464 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,800 scripture every time. Why? 465 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,200 Because the result is always so much better. 466 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,840 Jump down to verse 37 and we'll see the result. 467 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,920 So Peter gives scripture word for word. 468 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,720 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said 469 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,800 to Peter and the rest of the apostles. 470 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,200 Men and brethren, what shall we do? 471 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,600 The Spirit always brings conviction. 472 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,280 I was watching one of my favourite pastors, Pastor Gary 473 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,320 Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel. He's a covered Chapel pastor, 474 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:46,440 massive church. Not that that's anything to be 475 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,280 admired, but he's got a large church and he was doing AQ and A 476 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,480 and one of the questions that came up is was on church 477 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,520 discipline. And it was interesting to hear 478 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,640 his response because he says, actually, even though we've got 479 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,280 a Church of a massive size, a large size, they've got between 480 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:05,520 20 and 30,000 people. That's a lot of people. 481 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,000 That's 30,000 problems, right? It is. 482 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,040 And he goes, you'll be surprised. 483 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,760 We really in they've been he's been pastor there for 30 plus 484 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:18,240 years. He said we really had to 485 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,440 actually exercise biblical discipline as in the BAWA. 486 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:26,160 He says, you want to know why? Because in Calvary chapels and 487 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,960 in this church, like they do at the cornerstone, they preach 488 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:30,880 verse by verse through the Bible. 489 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:35,280 And he says, and eventually we get to a part where you'll 490 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:40,120 either be convicted by the Holy Spirit, you'll be cut to the 491 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:45,000 heart and repent, or he said, unfortunately, they are 492 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,960 convicted and leave the church. And that's the sad part. 493 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:51,600 But that's what the Holy Spirit does. 494 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,160 It brings a mirror to our face, like I said, with the withering 495 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:58,720 ministry of the Holy Spirit is it convicts us and we are forced 496 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,600 to have a response to what the Holy Spirit is putting his 497 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,560 finger on in our lives. And it may be painful. 498 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:07,560 I've got a pretty sore shoulder. I want to bring that up. 499 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,720 My kids said if you bring up your shoulder, we know you're 500 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,240 manipulating, but I busted my shoulder, so I'm going to bring 501 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,040 it up. You're welcome. 8 weeks ago. 502 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,640 And it's tender. And that's how I picture the 503 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,960 work of the Holy Spirit is in my life. 504 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,880 There's things as I sit under the word or as I read that the 505 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,640 Holy Spirit is like poking not on my shoulder, but on that 506 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,720 little bit of area in my life that I need the work of the Holy 507 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,840 Spirit. It's a little tender and it's 508 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:38,640 convicting. It's not always you go, oh, wow, 509 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,840 that was good. That felt really good today. 510 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,400 A true work of the Holy Spirit always convicts. 511 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,280 And as I said, there's only two responses to that conviction. 512 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,440 The person is cut to the heart, they repent, or they are 513 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,680 convert, convicted and unfortunately leave the church. 514 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,200 Let's look at verse 38 because I want to look at the message that 515 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,880 Peter gives to this crowd who says what shall we do? 516 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:10,400 And Peter's response is repent and let everyone of you be 517 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:13,920 baptised and in in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission 518 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,760 of sins and you shall receive the gift. 519 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,680 I've circled that, the gift of the Holy Spirit. 520 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:27,800 Peter doesn't say. Come on back next week and we'll 521 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,920 work up some more wind, some more fire. 522 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:34,200 It's cool that you're interested. 523 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,880 Love that. That's good for you. 524 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:39,480 I'm glad that the Holy Spirit's convicted you. 525 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,360 He gives him a straight up gospel message. 526 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,200 Pretty simple. And I've noticed this for me is 527 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,880 it's 33 points. Repent, be baptised, receive the 528 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,520 Spirit. Imagine if that was our response 529 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:59,040 when people ask, oh, there's carriage apple, what do you guys 530 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,800 do? Oh, you know, we kind of sing 531 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:06,480 songs all sorts, you know, a bit long sometimes, old mate. 532 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:11,800 Here goes another verse. You know what if we said, what 533 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,520 must you do? Repent, be baptised, receive the 534 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,320 Spirit Whenever I flick on, sometimes on again. 535 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,560 I mentioned YouTube a few too many times tonight. 536 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,320 I apologise. But you listen to a Billy Graham 537 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:29,320 sermon and it hits differently. Not because he's Billy Graham 538 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,720 and he has a deep voice. It hits because in every one of 539 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,840 his sermons he always says repent, be baptised, receive the 540 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,840 Spirit. It's pretty powerful, those 541 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,640 words. Again, you've got to do 542 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,120 something with that. So when you say that to 543 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:48,440 somebody, they've got to go repent for what, be baptised for 544 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,280 what, receive the Spirit. It elicits a response. 545 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,200 Little bit of a joke. I think I've got time for it, 546 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,240 but I find a bit of humour in verse 3040. 547 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,080 Have a look, have a look at verse 40 and maybe some of you 548 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,000 are thinking this now. It's right at the top. 549 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,640 And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them 550 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:10,560 saying be safe from this perverse generation. 551 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:17,600 Now, I imagine that Luke dozed off during the sermon or he's 552 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,040 giving some critical sermon feedback. 553 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:24,480 No, anybody get that sense of humour? 554 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,840 I'm like, I just imagine Luke's going, I don't know. 555 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:29,920 And with many other words at this point, I dozed off. 556 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,960 So maybe it gives me it gives me some comfort because that's what 557 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,400 happened some Sundays, I'll be honest is I'm there. 558 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,920 And what did the pastor say? He said something about the Holy 559 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,640 Spirit and with many other words. 560 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,160 So you're welcome to use that one tonight. 561 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:46,520 What did Nat say? Something about the Holy Spirit 562 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,480 and many other words I don't know. 563 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,000 Anyways, all right, I found that funny. 564 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:55,560 Verse 41 back to serious part is then those who gladly received 565 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,840 his word were baptised and that day about 3000 souls were added 566 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,440 to them. Again 3000 is a huge number. 567 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:08,600 That's ridiculous. 3000 people baptised and it's never the 568 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,239 number we should be impressed by. 569 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:16,520 For me, I've learnt again, I've been in ministry since age of 17 570 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:26,840 and I'm old now, about to be 45. But I've learnt because I used 571 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:30,400 to be enamoured with numbers. I used to watch those churches 572 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,360 that had massive stadium type structures and I'd see their 573 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,080 hands raised and I'd see those things. 574 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,560 Oh man, that would be awesome to have that happen. 575 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,239 And it would be, it would be. But I would say a lot of those 576 00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,920 churches that I used to worship, which is a bad word to use, but 577 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:50,840 I would be enamoured with, unfortunately disappear Now 578 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:53,920 they're gone. That's how old I am, is they 579 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:56,360 have come to nothing because why? 580 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,720 It was a work of men, unfortunately, which is really 581 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,240 sad. And I if I read about another 582 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:08,640 preacher that I once admired, I've got, I keep throwing away 583 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,960 books because there's some preachers books that I had when 584 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,600 I go, he's gone too. What the heck? 585 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:20,240 Unfortunately, a lot of these works that are happening where 586 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:24,120 it appears by all appearances that it is a great work of God. 587 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,960 Unfortunately, they're dissolved into nothing, and that's really 588 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:33,680 sad. What we should be looking for, 589 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,640 what I now look for is the fruit that follows a work of the Holy 590 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,200 Spirit. And I want us to always evaluate 591 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,000 the work of the Holy Spirit by the fruit that it produces. 592 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,120 And I would ask the question when somebody is saved or 593 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:52,240 professors to be saved, as I did with Kanye or any of these 594 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:54,720 others, There's a couple others, I won't mention their name. 595 00:35:55,040 --> 00:36:00,040 I would say what are they saved to, what are they saved to do or 596 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,600 what are they saved to is really simple. 597 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:12,440 Save to attend church, save to get a baptism insurance policy, 598 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,680 save to feel better about themselves, to get Holy Spirit 599 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:20,640 vibes. No, a genuine work of the Holy 600 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,480 Spirit is what we see in verse 42. 601 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,360 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and 602 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,600 fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. 603 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:32,880 Pretty simple. So you want to know how to judge 604 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:37,520 work of Holy Spirit? Are they devoted to the word of 605 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,680 God? Are they devoted to fellowship? 606 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,120 Are they devoted to the breaking of bread, communion, and the 607 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,280 other commands that were instructed through the Bible? 608 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:52,440 Are they devoted to prayer? Because anyone can raise their 609 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:57,560 hands, anyone can come forward. How do you know the Spirit has a 610 00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,720 hold of someone's life? Pretty simple. 611 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,760 Not hype, but another H word habit. 612 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:14,440 Not emotion but obedience. Another commentator I like, 613 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,160 Matthew Henry, says you should always ask after you read a 614 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,360 passage in the Bible, this question. 615 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,160 So what? So what? 616 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,080 Because So what takes, which again, I'll talk about myself 617 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,200 because I can't speak for you, is there's often a tendency in 618 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,520 when we're under a teaching to go. 619 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,960 I'm glad so and so's here because they needed to hear 620 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:36,200 that. I'm glad Bill's here. 621 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,400 You know who needs to hear this? Your sister in law. 622 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,320 You're so and so I'm elbowing my wife while we're talking about 623 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:43,640 it. You know who this be good for? 624 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:47,280 Reg Reg needs to hear this. But when you ask the question, 625 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,920 So what Matthew Henry says, it takes the pointed finger and 626 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,600 points it directly back at you. And So what is something that I 627 00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:59,520 have written now in my Bible is when I read a passage I go, So 628 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,920 what? OK, so this happened. 629 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,200 This event was great. 3000 people were saved. 630 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:10,960 Peter was bold. The crowd was amazed and asked 631 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,360 more. Some mocked So what? 632 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:19,920 What's the point? Pastor Keith preached this last 633 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,280 Sunday and he said that the acts of the Holy Spirit are still 634 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,040 taking place today and only began at Pentecost. 635 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,440 And I agree with that. The Spirit still convicts, 636 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,800 empowers and transforms. Definitely today. 637 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,320 The question isn't when am I going to hear wind from heaven 638 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,200 or see tongues of fire like they did in Acts, which is spa from 639 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,400 what we do. And it was honest. 640 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,360 If I'm being honest, it was something that I was excited 641 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,000 about when we started this. I'm like, I'm going to tap into 642 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:48,120 that power, right? I'm going to find out as much as 643 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:49,360 I can know about the Holy Spirit. 644 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:50,720 I'm going to read all the books I've got. 645 00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:53,280 I'm going to order some more, and I'm going to figure this 646 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:57,400 thing out so I can have the Holy Spirit work more powerfully in 647 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,200 my life. And that's not bad. 648 00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:02,800 That in itself is a good thing. Who would condemn? 649 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,240 None of us would condemn somebody for doing that. 650 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:08,280 However, what the error was, and I think this is where we go 651 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:12,240 astray, is I was looking for the wind. 652 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,800 I was looking for the fire rather than focusing on the one 653 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,680 who creates the wind and the fire. 654 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,320 Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 38, the wind blows where it 655 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,760 wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it 656 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,680 comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of 657 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:33,920 the Spirit. You want to know more of the 658 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,680 work of the Holy Spirit? What I figured out in this in my 659 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,440 own study, the keyword it's one word. 660 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,640 It's obedience. Obedience. 661 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:46,840 Obedience to hear and trust God's word. 662 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,160 From our passage, the disciples were told they would be baptised 663 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,400 in the Holy Spirit not too many days from now. 664 00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:57,520 Obedience to be where God has asked us to be. 665 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,120 The disciples were told not to leave Jerusalem. 666 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,120 Obedience to wait when God says wait because our disciples, they 667 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,560 were told to wait for the promise from the Father. 668 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:15,240 And lastly, obedience to do what God has asked us to do. 669 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,000 The disciples were told that they shall be witnesses in 670 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:22,280 Jerusalem in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. 671 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:27,800 And I say obedience, though, and immediately some of you may be 672 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:32,600 triggered, may go off because I think trigger not triggered, but 673 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:39,280 obedience is a such AI was going to say something that that's 674 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,560 offensive, right? That's the word that the the 675 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:43,160 kids use and that's how our kids say it today. 676 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,360 And the young kids say that's offensive, that's offensive, 677 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,880 that's offensive, right? It is because you say obedient 678 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:55,160 and immediately you get that I'm not really down for obedience. 679 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:59,160 I don't really do that anymore. We don't do obedience too much 680 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:04,520 anymore, but it's not blind obedience to some cosmic 681 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:09,040 killjoy, even though God in His power could demand it. 682 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,280 Instead, it's obedience to a loving Father. 683 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,760 And as a dad of four, there are a lot of times I ask my kids to 684 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,320 be obedient. Would you get in the car? 685 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,920 Because I want to take you somewhere that is actually cool. 686 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,960 But if you don't get in the car and follow my instructions, 687 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,000 guess what? You're going to miss out. 688 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,640 Would you do again? I was a teacher. 689 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:40,560 Would you study? Would you obediently study one 690 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:42,560 student in the audience here of mine? 691 00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:45,880 Would you study? Because if you are obedient and 692 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,360 would study, then you would actually get results. 693 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:55,440 As I said, God could demand our obedience, but He doesn't. 694 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,480 It's obedience to a loving Father who said to Adam and Eve 695 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:04,840 in the garden, All these trees, all of these you are free to eat 696 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:10,240 from, except this one, because why this one? 697 00:42:11,240 --> 00:42:13,600 The day you eat of it, you will surely die. 698 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:17,160 This one's dangerous. Please be obedient. 699 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,040 All of this you can eat. There's one here, though, that I 700 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,480 don't want you to get hurt by. Pure obedience. 701 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:35,040 It's obedience to our heavenly Father who says in Luke 11, if a 702 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:39,800 son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give 703 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,000 him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will 704 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:44,840 he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 705 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,280 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 706 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,800 If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your 707 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,520 children, how much more will your holy will your heavenly 708 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:03,040 Father give you? Notice this the Holy Spirit to 709 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:04,360 those who ask Him.