The Jewish authoritiesthe Sanhedrin, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadduceesthat authority was intact in Jerusalem, running the temple, running the religious side of the culture and the social life of Judea under the Roman cap, and it too was a very, very powerful force you didn't run up against. We get on to verse 40, the wrap-up: "With many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this perverse generation, that those who were, who gladly received his word were baptized; about 3,000 souls were added to them. Where do we go from here? So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! He had a lot to come back, he was at the back of the pack. And perhaps like you and I would today, we might look at it as a little bit odd. In light of Acts 10:44-48, were the disciples in Acts 2 praising/exalting God in tongues (contrary to the view that they were "preaching" in tongues)? Labor in the Word, meaning to read the Word, and to learn it, and to soak it in and drink it in; and to live the Word, this past year. And the people of God in this period are to be a people born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." People need to see that Spirit within us. John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. And so they didn't really think about that, and yet all of a sudden it came upon them. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. 145 views, 2 likes, 6 loves, 16 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Crossroads Baptist Church: Crossroads Baptist Church Live 02/05/2023 That's what the gift of the Holy Spirit is for us. In the New Testament, Elisabeth, John the Forerunner's mother, was filled with Spirit as she saw the pregnant Virgin, and she prophesied immediately (Luke 1:39-41) and so did the old widow-prophetess Anna at vision of Jesus taken to the temple (Luke 2:36-38); John the Forerunner himself was filled with Holy Spirit from his childhood (Luke 1:15), and of course the apostles, even before the Pentecost, had a degree of presence of Spirit in them (at least no less than John the Forerunner), through which presence they could act miracles; they got even to a greater degree of intensity the gift of the Spirit, when Jesus - before the Pentecost - blew in them the Spirit and added to them (through this new dimension of the presence of Spirit) an ability to forgive sins (John 20:22). And let's look at it beginning in verse 36, this is after His resurrection, "As they said these things," this is the two that He had appeared to on the road to Emmaus, "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, 'Peace to you.' So here are ten ways Old Testament believers experienced the Holy Spirit which in these "last days" of Pentecostal fulfillment ought to be enjoyed by the church. The OT believers were saved the same way we are: they were born of the Spirit, they trusted in God's promises, and they followed his commandments in the obedience of faith. Peter says, "In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy." Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but . That's the famous road to Emmaus experienced from the book of Luke, "and they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either." Now, it was all beginning to come together. I want to show you ten ways the Old Testament saints experienced the Holy Spirit. What happens?". Week 8 to Pentecost. I kind of think that He kind of, you know, elevated, and rose, and they saw Him, and they saw Him and the clouds, and the clouds, and then all of a sudden just like that, [snaps fingers] He was gone, kind of like in a "Star Trek" just a flash of light. It was true then. Afterwards, though, they go about with the boldness described here. 1 Samuel 11:6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. The vision of the Church was coming together and the mission of the Church was being accomplished. "And He said to them, 'Thus it is written, thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and the remissions of sins would be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things. Because they were seeing Christ risen and they saw Him in a bodily form, but then they were attributing something different to that. Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared to them. I don't think it was an intergalactic tour that He was on to get to the third heaven. And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. Seven weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, the risen Lord Jesus fulfilled the promise he had made in John 15:26namely, that he would send the Holy Spirit. We are going to be taking giant steps toward creating that kind of Church that we read about here in the book of Acts, that has been imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, and changes are being made. Jesus was enveloped within a burning bush, but was not harmed. Seventh, the saints of old experienced victory over fear by the presence of the Spirit. How could they have ever submitted to God's law and pleased himas many did, like Abel and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Rahab and Ruth and Deborah and David? What did they do during that 10 days? The Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot in Hebrew, was just starting in Jerusalem as the book of Acts begins. This morning let me close simply by returning to the Aswan High Dam for a moment. Hadn't He told them that He'd come back to life again? And if those are the weapons of our warfare, then we can handle them. If we can learn to take on the divine nature and drink that in, in our lives, then we can banish doubt, uncertainty, and fear, unbelief, that will creep in at various times as we go through our lives, and stages in the developments of life. Surely for a Christian all study and all creative work must justify itself in terms of love. In verse 14, it says, "Then later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked them, rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen." I also think this is true in some way, but in gospels there is record that Jesus 'gave them authority over devils and diseases and sent them to preach gospel, to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. The difference between a historian and a preacher is that the historian says, "Was it so?" But Thomas said, First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? There are two groups of humans: those in the flesh (born of the flesh) and those in the Spirit (born again of the Spirit). "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.". The last holy day season, the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread had seen the death of Jesus Christ, and then three days later He was resurrected and He had appeared to them. "And fear came upon every soul," and this was a different type of fear. The indwelling Spirit permanently dwells in the believer. If these saints experienced privileges and powers in the Holy Spirit before the dam was opened, how much more should we in these billion kilowatt days experience these things or more. And when those come in, how do we process them? But I had to go to St. Louis about 100 miles north of my hometown and pick up what they called an express bus, that would go through the larger cities. And I can't help but think that knowledge for its own sake or art for art's sake is a very callous and unloving motto. We all have signs, we take certain things as signs. Read the Bible, discover plans, and seek God every day. Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. Joh 1:11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. This then begins to be the anchor and the soil into which they can anchor a life of faith that they were to have and to develop. They were alone. The elixir, the antidote to our faith, to every one of our problems, if we could see a miracle; and we like signs, but miracles, well, they're a little harder to come up with. Well, Pentecost is like the dedicatory opening of the Aswan High Dam. That's a little-understood part of what was taking place. It had been organized quite well and in that remote backwater of Judea, the Roman government kept things in order. Prior to Pentecost, the Apostles and disciples gathered in fear, behind locked doors. It was their life. 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ; 39:29) and Joel (2:28) prophesied and longed to see. And of course, one of the most dramatic scenes in all the Bible occurred with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the gathered disciples, and the speaking in tongues, and a mighty rushing wind that we find it hard to imagine what it was like, because it's not part of our custom to try to pray that down today like some other denominations and religious forms do. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. As you read on in Acts chapter 1, one of the main things they did was to choose a successor to Judas. What's the next step?" Put your hand into my side. But first let me tell you why I think it is so relevant. Question 8. We know in Acts chapter 2, when we turn there and look at the story alluded to in the sermonette here this morning, that they were gathered together. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren. He used Deborah and the tribe of Zebulun (the mountain may have been in their land) in the sermon. Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment? " They were able to do the things Jesus gave them authority to do and they found it amazing. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-31). Before that from the OT time onward, the Holy Spirit would come on a person and it is not permanent. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. But on that morning as they gathered, made their preparations, put on their clothes, walked to the location where they all were gathered, and they were about 120 disciples as chapter 1 of Acts tells us, they no doubt had a lot on their mind. The second obvious change in the lives of the disciples was in their spiritual strength. No, He said wait till, wait in Jerusalem, and so they were there and they continued. We take that for the story that it is, and the gift of tongues, and the speaking of tongues that the Scriptures talk about but we don't see that as what we need to be doing in practice or in faith, but it is a dramatic story. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. Let's go into Luke's account. Our sins will find us out. Mt., 47 counts, XII, 30-37)<br> <br> Gospel Reading (Matthew 71 ch., XVII, 10-18)<br> <br>10 And his disciples asked . A halo was seen glowing brightly above Jesus' head. But if you don't forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven. It was by God's Spirit that the prophets spoke to the people God's Word (Nehemiah 9:30), and it was by the Spirit that the people were enabled to grasp and apply the Word. They were going up against a lot, just as we go up against our world today, and ourselves, and what Satan might throw at us. https://www.bible.com/bible/392/JHN.20.19-29.CEV. In Nehemiah 9, Ezra gives thanks to God for all his past benefits to Israel and says in verse 20, "Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them and didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth." Ninth, the Spirit enabled some OT believers to interpret God's revelation in dreams. Those in the Spirit are indwelt by the Spirit and are enabled by him to fulfill the just requirement of the law. People were forgiven, saved and received everlasting life before the cross and before Pentecost (Lk. They had come up against the two most powerful authorities of their day in their world. He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus. This means that the disciples could not have Christ in them, as we born again believers have, until the day of Pentecost. We have to live as well, knowing that there is a God, and to live our life that every day counts. And I didn't know how to make a connection. He said He wouldn't and He didn't, even though there was a moment in time when they thought that they were orphaned, as they stood gazing up and looking and wondering, "What do we do next. . It is I. Don't be afraid.'" And in the book of Revelation, John reports an experience similar to Daniel's. Old Testament believers enjoyed the presence of God's Spirit wherever they went. People should see God in us. How was Simeon able to have the Holy Spirit upon him prior to Pentecost? That is the vision that Jesus has for His Church as articulated by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:16 Ephesians 4:16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love.American King James Version, and they had it at this moment. Jesus showed Himself for 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3). 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