This Bible study was recorded at Calvary Chapel
of the Finger Lakes and was taught by
Pastor Bill Gallatin.
This evening we're in the New Testament book
of Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.
We'll ask the Lord to crank it up
to a hundred, and we'll crank up the
air conditioning and even get more people to
fellowship.
Good to be together again in fellowship.
Let's ask the Lord to bless His word
and give us understanding.
Heavenly Father, You have such gracious and wonderful
things to share with us tonight through the
Holy Spirit and through the beauty of Your
word.
We ask You, dear Father, to speak to
our hearts.
We pray that Your word will not fall
to the ground, as Isaiah stated, and that
each heart would be touched and encouraged and
strengthened.
We pray, dear Father, that You'd speak in
such a way tonight that people would truly
yield to You and not resist out of
doubt or fear.
That they'd realize how wonderful You are and
how glorious it is to be a member
of the true church, filled with Your Spirit,
and having the confidence of our salvation through
Jesus Christ, who gave His life and conquered
death with the resurrection and is coming again.
O Father, speak to our hearts and we
pray that You'd be honored and glorified above
all.
In the name of Jesus, it is burned
in our hearts in a wonderful way, in
a living way continually, automatically, through the power
of the Holy Spirit and the living relationship
with our Savior.
In His name we pray.
Amen.
Chapter 2 of the book of Acts.
We'll try to get through this in an
hour.
There's so much in here and such a
desire to branch off on so many wonderful
things.
You remember before the day of Pentecost, Jesus
was speaking to Nicodemus very early in his
ministry, some three and a half years earlier
in that garden incident.
In John chapter 3, he began to speak
of the life and the Spirit and being
born again.
Now remember, he's talking to a man who
believed in God and believed in the coming
of the Messiah, but he hadn't been born
again yet.
He was under the system of the law,
believing the Scriptures and still not born again
and not understanding some of the things that
Jesus was speaking about.
And in verse 8, you remember he said,
"...the Spirit blows where it wills, or lifts
us, and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know from whence it
cometh or where it goeth, and so is
everyone that walks in the Spirit or is
led by the Spirit."
And so Jesus was beginning to show Nicodemus
there was a brand new life coming because
of His coming to the earth, a freedom
from law and grace and rules and regulations,
and a power that dwelled within now and
a power that would fill us each time
we had the need to live the Christian
life, to walk in the Spirit.
And now He had been telling the apostles
to wait for the promise of the Father,
to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive this
power that you may be a witness.
And again, as we shared before, He was
telling them, "...you don't wait for the power
or the baptism of the Holy Spirit that
I've been speaking of simply to perform miracles
and to speak in tongues.
The issue is that you could be a
witness."
And that's the important thing for the Christian
today, is to be a faithful witness to
Jesus Christ, not a fool.
Not someone who's going to give up.
Not someone who's going to still try and
call the shots and want to follow Christ
under his own conditions.
That's not a witness.
In fact, that individual will suffer and strive
and never quite get over the top in
their experience in life, and never really come
to know the hope of their calling or
know what their calling is.
It's an awful place to be in.
So, it's a marvelous thing to experience the
filling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
and then be free to yield to the
Lord, and then begin to walk in the
Spirit and enjoy the Christian life.
And truly be a witness whether things are
good or bad.
To be able to rejoice in all things,
as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5.
What is the will of God concerning me?
It's to rejoice in everything.
To be thankful for everything.
To be able to endure all things.
To be able to bear up over everything
or under everything through the power of that
Holy Spirit.
Now, in the Jewish law, it was compulsory
for every Jewish male that lived within a
radius of 20 miles of Jerusalem to keep
the feast, principally three main feasts.
There were four, if you count, tabernacles of
Yom Kippur.
But the main feasts were the Passover, then
the Feast of the Unleavened Bread that would
begin on the day at the ending of
the Passover.
That would be a Sabbath, and the next
day began the Unleavened Bread.
Then seven weeks, or seven sevens on the
fiftieth day after that would be the Feast
of Firstfruits that every Jew should keep.
And then after that you'd have the Feast
of Tabernacles, or Butz, or Tzakat.
The fourth feast being Yom Kippur, the Great
Day of Atonement.
Fifty days after the Unleavened Bread.
And that is the day, or Penta in
the Greek, the Pentecost, the Day of Pentecost.
And that's when the priest would take two
loaves of bread, unite them together, wave the
firstfruits after the winter wheat has all been
harvested in June, the time of the firstfruits,
waving before the Lord, all prefiguring Christ's resurrection
being the firstfruits of the body of Christ,
his body, or his bride, his church.
And so on this particular day is the
day that God picked to fulfill that type,
or that prefiguring of the firstfruits, to pour
out his Spirit and then grant something new,
a new body.
Jew and Gentile united together in one body,
the church, by the Holy Spirit.
So when the Day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in
one place.
Remember in Acts chapter 115, about 120 gathered
together after the resurrection, and he had informed
them, said, Now tarry ye in Jerusalem until
you receive the promise of the Father on
high, until you are baptized with that fire,
that Holy Spirit, that you may be a
witness.
And so about 120 of them were still
together in that place.
Now here is the interesting thing.
Jesus had been speaking of that Spirit that
would move involuntarily beyond even the thinking of
the individual.
It was concerning God's will that man doesn't
control.
In fact, the 120 did not even know
what was going to happen.
They were just being obedient to the Lord
and received the blessing.
And I think that's one of our greatest
barriers, isn't it?
We need to have everything explained and understood
beforehand or we're not going to step or
do anything.
And so many of us miss the blessing
because we simply don't step or wait in
obedience on the Lord, trusting.
We have to have it all figured out
in advance.
We never get the blessing.
It's not just trusting and knowing that a
Father in Heaven loves us so much, He's
not going to allow you to be harmed
simply because you don't understand.
You're just being obedient.
And that's one of the most difficult things
to learn to do, is to step in
obedience without understanding, knowing that God's promised to
bless if I will be obedient.
Abraham was obedient and he was so blessed
with God.
Something that would go against the grain of
the natural mind and the human emotions, but
he didn't understand it completely and he didn't
argue with God.
I know so many Christians that are always
arguing secretly, internally with God.
They know what the Scripture has said to
them.
I've done it myself.
I know what the Scripture has said to
my heart, but I don't understand it completely
and I don't want to yield.
I don't want to do it this way,
Lord.
And so I begin to hold out, but
I miss out on the blessing.
These people had no idea.
They were just given a promise of God
and the blessing came.
There may be somebody here tonight that you're
still holding out.
You're not, because you don't simply understand it.
You see, when we deify our own intellect,
that's the trouble.
I deify my intellect and say, I'm going
to figure this thing out and I'm going
to know exactly what it means or I'm
not going to trust.
That's not faith.
God honors faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord.
That's what the writer of the book of
Hebrews said.
Faith is saying, Lord, I believe what the
Bible says that you've declared about yourself that
you're my loving Heavenly Father, that you'll never
leave me nor forsake me.
You're going to keep me.
You will provide for me.
You'll let no harm come to me if
I put my trust in you.
And that's what pleases God so much.
You know, love doubted is a very horrible
thing, isn't it?
Have you ever had someone doubt you when
you say you love them and you get
exasperated?
What do I have to do to prove
to you that I love you?
And sometimes it's so exasperating, isn't it?
And you're doing your best and yet they
still don't believe you.
Well, you see, just think of God.
He loves you so much.
And he's written a record, a personal love
letter to you to declare unto you that
he'll never let any harm come to you.
That he'll provide for you eternally, take care
of you and watch over you.
And you can trust him when he directs
you.
And no good thing will he withhold from
you when you walk uprightly.
He will not allow that evil day to
overtake you.
As he wrote through David, surely goodness and
mercy followeth me all the days of my
life.
And I will fear no evil.
You don't have to worry about what's behind.
You don't have to keep looking over your
shoulder, worried about if the decision you made
is going to work out, that God's going
to let something get you or harm you.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow you all
of the days of your life, God says.
And so, that's really a difficult thing for
many of us, isn't it?
To get to the point where you say,
Lord, I don't have to understand anymore.
I'm just going to be obedient and step
because I know you love me.
I trust you.
You've been so faithful to me over the
years.
Even when I've deserved more difficult times, you've
been faithful to me.
Even when I haven't deserved deliverance or your
rescue, you've been so good to me.
Lord, I trust you.
Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as
of a rushing mighty wind.
Notice, a wind didn't come, but the sound
of a wind.
Very important to know that.
Some members of the church tried to make
it seem like, you know, a tornado came
into the room and everybody flew all over
the place.
And so they justified Pentecost for a lot
of their fleshy actions in their meetings.
But it was a sound that came, not
a wind.
And it came from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind.
And it filled all the house where they
were sitting.
And nobody was knocked out of their chairs.
Not one person.
That always amazes me that maybe God, again,
didn't quite have a handle on what the
real outpouring of the Spirit should do to
people.
On the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit
in the history of the universe, and the
only time it was ever done, it's never
going to be repeated like that until at
the end of the age when it's poured
out on Israel, that their eyes would be
opened to the second coming of Jesus Christ
and who He is.
I find it quite interesting.
I find another thing that's very interesting.
The word rushing there literally means to bear
up and keep from falling.
And the word right there, mighty, is violent.
Now, have you ever been in a strong
wind?
When I was in the Marine Corps back
in the fifties, I had to guard a
great big building in a hurricane from looters.
And they put me in the building during
the hurricane.
But before it hit, we could feel the
winds building up down there in North Carolina
where I was stationed.
And I'll never forget this.
The wind was picking up to such a
degree, it was so powerful, that you could
actually lay into it and not fall down.
It was bearing you up.
It was so powerful, hitting us in the
faces, that you could just let go without
any muscle strain whatsoever, and just fall forward,
and it bore us up.
It kept us from falling.
And that's exactly what the Spirit of God
is.
It's to help you stand, not to knock
you down.
And it literally means in the Greek to
bear you up and keep you from falling.
I know many, many people that are Christian,
and because they aren't baptized in the Holy
Spirit, they keep falling.
The purpose of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, and the Lord filling us and filling
the church like that, uniting Jew and Gentile
alike together in one homogenous, beautiful unit, the
body of Christ, the church, is to keep
people from falling.
It was a mighty wind, and it filled
the house where they were sitting.
I don't know if you remember, but in
Genesis chapter 2, a very interesting thing took
place.
You remember, it says in verse 7 of
Genesis chapter 2, that God formed man out
of the dust of the earth.
Here, God just reached down like the potter
that he depicts himself so often in the
Old Testament, took a handful of dirt.
That's what we are.
I'm just looking at some good-looking dirt
bags here.
I mean, we think so highly of ourselves,
and we're nothing but dirt.
It's amazing how great we think we are,
and we look in that mirror, you know,
and, man, I think, you know, I got
so bad for my age, and God says,
you're just nothing but dirt, Bill.
Don't think too highly of yourself.
But God just molds and shapes, you know,
the body atom, the first atom, and is
lying there lifeless with all the same chemistry,
the same chemicals in atom of the dirt
that you and I have.
We're just nothing but dirt, only it was
rearranged.
Different configuration, different balances of the very same
chemicals and chemistry that dirt is made of.
You too.
But, you see, that disproves evolution.
Atom would still be lying there, and it
would probably dry out by now and be
blown all over the earth somewhere, washed down
the stream with the rain.
But, see, God breathed into him.
It says, and God breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life.
And the interesting thing is, when Adam was
breathed into, it says, in the Hebrew, God
leaned over and blew powerfully with a mighty
blast as though you took bellows into his
nostrils.
A mighty, powerful blast.
And gave Adam life.
He lived.
Now, the last Adam is Jesus Christ.
He didn't suffer a second death.
He's the son from heaven.
But he's been given a bride.
And it's interesting, Adam was put to sleep.
His side was opened.
He was put into a deep sleep.
Death.
And when that took place, that's when Eve
was brought forth.
Jesus Christ was put into death.
Actually died on the cross with his side
open.
The last Adam.
And he lives.
But his bride is Eve, the church.
And God on Pentecost, just as he breathed
life into Adam in Genesis chapter 2, breathed
powerfully life into the woman, Eve, the church.
The heavenly Adam, the last Adam, is to
have a bride.
And it's the body of Christ.
And Jesus, you see, after he gave his
life, God breathed on Pentecost.
And the church came to life.
The bride of Christ came to life.
Filled with the Spirit.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like
as of fire, and sat upon each one.
So just little dancing flames of fire over
each head of the individuals as they were
filled with the Spirit.
They see something new.
They've gone from law, trying to please God
under the law.
Now the church has been formed.
The bride of Christ has been formed.
And God breathed life into Eve just as
he breathed life into Adam in Genesis.
And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost.
Every one of them.
And began to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
Not on their own.
They were motivated, initiated by the filling of
the Holy Spirit.
And they spoke.
And that word tongues is glossolalia, or in
different languages other than their own.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation on earth.
Now, knowing the law required every Jew that
lived within a radius of 20 miles to
attend Jerusalem, plus many of the Jews from
all the surrounding nations.
And they're listed here.
Their backgrounds and their different nations.
You had easily well over a million people
in Jerusalem from all over the world practicing
Jews to be faithful to God.
They're in Jerusalem on Pentecost to celebrate the
Feast of Firstfruits when God did this.
Now, remember, you have believers already in the
midst.
And so you've got Jews from all over
the world that are looking for Messiah, looking
for the promises of the Old Testament prophets.
And you've got a million or more gathered
with their families, close to three million people.
That's what the ranks of Jerusalem would swell
to during the feast days.
From all over the world.
And here's the opportunity of God to use
this small band of people, this new formation,
this new body of believers, the church filled
with the Spirit, to begin to magnify the
Lord and speak the truth of the Lord
under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to
all these people and to do mighty signs
and wonders in front of them all that
they've been looking for and hearing about.
And nothing is more exciting to receive a
miracle from God or a sign or a
wonder when you're not expecting it.
What a blessing it is.
Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude
came together and were confounded because every man
heard them speak in his own language.
Now, the individuals that were speaking in tongues,
as God sent out the 120, as they
were all noised about and heard this, you
see, they weren't understanding what they were saying.
They were just praising God as they were
baptized.
But the individuals that were around that were
non-believers were hearing the mighty works of
God in their language and it amazed them.
It caught their attention.
They were all amazed and marveled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these which
speak Galileans?
In other words, aren't these the people that
live just in the surrounding area of Jerusalem
and some of these people are from Africa,
from Greece?
You had every known type of Jew there
from Hellenist backgrounds to the Falasha Jews of
Africa and how here we every man in
our own tongue when we were born.
In other words, now they were hearing not
only their language but in their dialect.
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers
in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and
Pontus and Asia Persia and Pamphylia in Egypt
and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene
and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes
and Arabians.
We do hear them speak in our tongues
the wonderful works of God.
And so the Scripture is its own best
commentary.
Immediately tells us that when someone is given
the gift of tongues, it is to speak
the wonderful works of God.
Paul, you remember, tells us and clearly teaches
because the Corinthian church was using the gift
wrongly, misunderstanding the gift, enamored with it when
it was the least of the gifts but
it drew attention to the individual that used
it in the meetings and they were going
around and much like today in many circles
saying that God had given them a message
for the church.
Well, Paul clearly corrects that in 1st Transient.
1st Transient chapter 14.
In fact, he spends a whole chapter on
it.
The purpose of the gift of tongues.
We do know that it bypasses the intellect
in the Romans chapter 8 that Paul teaches
that many times we're given situations that I
don't quite know how to pray.
I can pray in the Spirit or I
can pray with my understanding.
I'm told that I can build myself up
praying in the Spirit.
But I also pray with my understanding.
And the Spirit knows how to pray beyond
my understanding.
And I think that's why many, many people
struggle with the gift of tongues and receiving
it by faith is that because they don't
allow their intellect to get out of the
way and accept it by faith.
They have to understand everything they're doing or
they don't accept it.
And see, the gift of tongues bypasses the
intellect.
For we know not how to pray as
we ought but the Spirit itself bears witness
and then begins to intercede for us and
enable us to pray to God and cry
out to God.
But notice what Paul tells us in 1
Corinthians 14 concerning the gift of tongues.
And by the way, there's nowhere in the
Bible that says it ceased during the Apostolic
Age.
It continues even to this day.
Remember, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit began
in the last days fulfilling Joel's prophecy and
it's not going to cease this outpouring or
this filling until the second coming of Jesus
Christ.
Notice Paul says in verse 1 of chapter
14, follow after Agape love which is translated
charity and desire spiritual gifts but rather that
you may prophesy or teach the word of
God.
Enable people to understand the word of God.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue
speaketh not unto men.
I've been around certain Christians and I've seen
some of the things that they do in
their ignorance even on television as though they're
talking to one another in their tongues giving
each other a message from God.
The Bible plainly states that when you speak
in tongues you do not speak unto men
but unto God.
For no man understandeth him albeit the Spirit
he speaketh in mysteries.
Look at verse 3 and 4.
For he that prophesyeth speaketh unto men to
edification to exhortation and comfort.
That's how you can judge a prophecy.
Is it really from the Lord or has
it got me feeling condemned and frightened?
If it's true prophecy from the Lord it
will edify you or build you up.
It will encourage you, exhort you and it
will comfort you.
Very easy to test prophecy.
But then Paul again to correct the Corinthians
and their misuse of tongues.
And that's what I see.
You see so much imbalance in the church
today.
So many people taking extreme positions against.
You have the extreme positions on the glossolalia
or the speaking in tongues the wrong way.
Then you have the reaction of people swinging
way out here want nothing to do with
it and they do everything they can to
teach against it in the church because they're
afraid of it.
They'll even go as far as to blame
it on the devil.
I'd be very careful about that because it's
a gift that God gives and I wouldn't
think that any gift that God gives to
the church is something to be shoved aside.
But notice verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 14.
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth
himself.
But he that prophesieth edifyeth the church.
Now what am I doing when I speak
in tongues?
Look at verse 17.
For thou verily givest thanks well but the
others not edified.
The gift of tongues is given to me
to bypass my intellect to give up perfect
praise and thanksgiving and to declare the wonderful
works of God.
And it's for my personal edification and that's
why the writer in Jude says that you
build yourself up praying in the Holy Ghost.
It strengthens you.
It's not God giving a message to man.
And so when they heard everybody speaking in
tongues it did amaze them.
It bypassed the intellect.
These people didn't know these languages or even
have those dialects and that's what amazed everybody
because they were Galileans.
It'd be like everybody here all of a
sudden just picking up and speaking a second
language in the perfect dialect of that individual
from that country even though you've never been
taught it or raised in that family.
That's the gift that God gives.
Remember, He's the one who designed all the
languages anyhow and gave them to the human
race at the Tower of Babel when He
judged everyone.
But you see, just as He separated people
in their intellect and their languages for thousands
of years He's bringing everybody together in the
Spirit in salvation through Jesus Christ forming the
church.
The unity of the church.
But now notice as they're praising God giving
thanks to God edifying themselves notice what it
says.
They all heard them in verse 11 back
in Acts 2 declare the wonderful works of
God.
That's the purpose of tongues.
And they were all amazed and were in
doubt saying one to another What meaneth this?
Others mocking said These men are full of
new wine.
So they began to mock it.
Now, that's the fulfillment of prophecy.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 28 because God did
say He was going to do something like
this through Isaiah.
And God declared that they would not receive
it.
Many of the multitudes would not receive it.
And even though there was a tremendous response
to Peter's preaching on that day it was
a very small percentage when you compare the
amount of the Jews that were in Jerusalem
for the Passover.
And this very verse was fulfilled by their
mocking and wondering what it was.
Look at verse 11 and 12 Isaiah speaking.
And Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 14
to verify the gift of tongues to the
Christian church as he corrects them in their
misuse of the gift.
Look at verse 11 and 12 of Isaiah
28 For with stammering lips and another tongue
will he speak to this people to whom
he said this is the rest wherewith you
may cause the weary to rest.
Man, when you are filled with the Spirit
of God and you begin to walk in
the Spirit it's a beautiful rest that you
begin to walk into and experience the finished
work of Jesus Christ in your life.
No longer the energy of the flesh self
-effort it's being done now by the Spirit
and you enter into this beautiful rest.
But then notice what he goes on to
say And this is the refreshing yet they
would not hear.
In other words, multitudes of the people even
though they hear the gift would not receive
it not hear it they just hear stammering
lips.
Isaiah predicted it.
Now look at the reaction to many of
the people when they heard these people declaring
the mighty works of God in their prayer
language.
They were all amazed and they were in
doubt exactly as Isaiah said.
They were not hearing it.
Even though the refreshing was there the opportunity
to believe and to receive by faith saying
one to another what mean of this?
Others mocking said these men are full of
new life and usually when you do have
a lot of joy in the Lord you
will be mocked by the unbeliever or they
will call you a fanatic or some kind
of a crazy person if you express your
love openly to Christ.
They always say now there are certain limitations
here you don't want to get too fanatic
and go overboard.
Why not?
If the heathen can sit in 20 degrees
in Buffalo drunk and paint themselves like who
knows what screaming and yelling for three hours
in a blizzard drinking beer and everybody thinks
oh, they are sports fans like normal Americans.
No one seems to, you know a dog
pounding Cleveland when they go when they have
the Cleveland brothers but when a Christian expresses
joy and delight they think oh my God,
he is weird.
Isn't it amazing?
What did Peter say?
Now, they are asking what is this?
And Peter immediately says look at the beauty
and the perfection of knowing the scripture.
Here again, here is this Galilean fisherman who
didn't have an education.
The Pharisees mocked him, you remember and mocked
him later.
He stands up with the eleven lifted up
his voice and said unto them you men
of Judea and all ye that dwell at
Jerusalem be this known unto you and hearken
unto my words for these are not drunken
as you suppose seeing it is but the
third hour of the day it is only
9 a.m. in the morning.
And you see when someone is filled with
the Spirit what is the fruit of the
Spirit?
Self-control not out of control.
Now, a drunk is out of control but
not someone filled with the Spirit.
That is why Paul said be ye filled
with the Spirit.
Be ye being filled with the Spirit not
wine.
When someone feels overflowing with the Spirit it
gives him self-control.
Now, I have seen people claim to be
filled with the Spirit and be out of
control but they aren't filled with the Holy
Spirit.
They may not know it and my heart
goes out to them and you can't make
them receive the truth but the fruit of
the Holy Spirit is self-control.
So, when someone is absolutely filled and empowered
from on high like on Pentecost and filled
with the Spirit they don't act like a
drunk.
They become the most perfect balanced human being
that has ever walked this earth the way
Jesus Christ was.
You remember Jesus Christ was filled with the
Spirit in his water baptism and he didn't
act crazy at all.
He was under absolute control.
And so, Peter is going to tell them
what it really is.
They are not drunk.
They haven't been drinking.
They don't have those problems where they have
to get half in the bag nine o
'clock in the morning because their life is
miserable.
They know Jesus Christ.
They have met the Lord.
They have been filled with the power of
God and that is why they are a
witness.
They have been noticed.
They are a witness.
And they are not ashamed of Christ.
This is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel.
Immediately.
And here is this fisherman from Galilee that
knows his Bible.
Not a seminary graduate.
Not a Pharisee.
He hasn't been to the school of the
prophets.
He was just a fisherman working his, you
know what off earning a living in Galilee.
Didn't have a good education.
Handpicked by Jesus.
And he knew the Bible.
He read his Bible.
Read the scriptures.
You see, you want to be used by
God?
Don't just read the Bible at certain times.
Get into the Word of God and he
will see that you mean business and he
will start to open doors and begin to
use you.
And don't just read the Bible when you
are preparing to teach somebody something.
Have personal devotions.
That is what God is really watching.
You see, a ministry can suffer.
I can suffer if I don't have personal
devotions and love to learn of the Lord
and commune with Him daily.
If I just opened up my Bible and
was trying to study for Thursday or Sunday
there would be no Calvary Chapel.
God wouldn't honor it.
Then it's just a job.
It's just a business.
But when you really are studying the Word
of God like the Apostle Peter God says,
I'm going to use that man.
I'll use that woman.
And the Spirit of God brings all these
things out of recall and immediately says, you
want an answer for what's going on in
your life?
I can show you in the scriptures.
And you know something?
This is my advice.
You don't have to pay heed to it.
But I don't care what your supernatural experience
is.
If it isn't backed up by the scriptures
I wouldn't accept it.
Because the Hindus have supernatural experiences.
The Mormons.
The Baha'is.
The Buddhists.
They all have some kind of a supernatural
experience.
And you know something?
You begin to accept them you've got to
accept them all.
How do you draw the line if you
can't verify it with the Word of God?
So I don't care how great or sensational
the experience is if you can't back it
up with the Word of God it's not
worth even considering.
For your own good.
Don't allow Satan to deceive you.
Peter immediately said, you want to know what
this is?
He goes right to the scriptures and he
quotes Joel chapter 2 when Joel prophesied when
the last days would begin in the last
days that he would pour out his Spirit.
And Peter does not give a teaching on
the gift of tongues.
Whenever there's a supernatural experience it's always to
open the door to preach the cross.
Christ crucified.
Christ risen.
Christ the Savior.
And that's why God honored his message so
powerfully.
He didn't feel that he had to give
an explanation for tongues.
He ignored it completely and it's interesting Joel
never even mentioned that tongues would be the
sign.
Isaiah prophesied that.
They aren't even in Joel's prophecy.
This is what is happening.
It shall come to pass in the last
days.
So right away, Peter's saying, you are in
the last days.
The last days have started.
You remember in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2
the writer of Hebrews says, God who in
sundry times spoke to us in various manners
by the prophets of the Old Testament has
in these last days spoken to us by
his Son.
The last days began with Jesus Christ's advent.
Hebrews 9.26 tells us that Jesus Christ
signaled the end of the world.
We are at the end of the last
two days of time.
Now you know why Satan uses evolution so
powerfully to keep people ignorant that we are
in the last days.
Peter said in Psalm 90 verse 4 states
that a day with the Lord is as
a thousand years and a thousand years as
a day.
Creation took place 4,000 B.C. Jesus
Christ came at 4,000.
That was two days or 2,000 years
ago.
We're at the end of the sixth day.
If you have evolution, you see, that destroys
the second coming.
That destroys the nearness of the coming of
Jesus Christ.
It just knocks out the last days.
And that's why Satan loves evolution to keep
people in awareness that we are in the
last days biblically and chronologically.
Joel said in the last days I'll pour
out my spirit.
It was prophesied by the prophets in the
Old Testament.
Pentecost has been proven.
We have the record of it.
So we are in the last days.
When did Pentecost take place?
2,000 years ago.
Give or take 30, 40, 50 or a
day or two.
We are so close.
It is so exciting to know that we
are in the last days and to be
ready and to be watching.
What did Joel say?
Peter quotes him emphatically.
I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and
your young men shall see visions and your
old men shall dream dreams and on my
servants and on my handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of my spirit and
they shall prophesy.
That's exactly what was going on.
Notice he didn't say one thing about tongues
because that wasn't the issue.
That was just a manifestation that came forth
as they were so overwhelmed and filled with
the spirit they just began to offer up
perfect praise because the spirit of God bypassed
their intellect united with their spirit and they're
offering up perfect praise and declaring the wonderful
works of God and those around them heard
it.
Exactly as the Bible predicted.
But it's the outpouring.
It's the fulfillment of Joel.
So you're asking about what this is?
It's the fulfillment of Joel.
And then he goes on to say and
he describes the first advent and I will
show wonders in the heaven above and signs
in the earth beneath.
Speaking of the wonderful things that took place
at the first advent, look at the wonders
in the heavens.
Look at the star that directed the three
wise men from Babylon all the way to
Jerusalem and then disappeared.
The angelic host, millions of angels appeared over
the shepherds in the fields.
Marvelous signs in the heavens.
And look at the signs on the earth
through Jesus Christ raising people from the dead,
casting out demons, healing the sick, multiplying the
loaves and the fishes.
Messiah had come.
Joel's prophecy began.
The last days began and the signs from
heaven and the wonders and the things on
the earth began with Jesus Christ.
It's going to continue all the way to
the end and then Joel leaves all the
way to the end of the age to
the second advent and he describes the tribulation
period.
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and
the moon into blood before the great and
notable day of the Lord come.
So not only does he start with the
last days but the outpouring of Pentecost is
going to continue to the end of the
age of grace and the coming of the
Lord after the tribulation period.
So he gives the signs before, the wonderful
signs from heaven, the star, the declaration of
the virgin birth, those that saw that star,
the multitudes that heard the angelic host singing
and declaring the birth of Christ and then
the very apostles who saw Jesus Christ ascend
right into heaven into the cloud of the
Father Shekinah and go back to glory.
All those things took place exactly as Joel
prophesied.
They saw it.
And the wonders and the signs on earth,
Christ's ministry.
And then it leads all the way to
cover the whole age of grace the whole
two days before the second coming.
And they described the tribulation.
You can be filled with the Spirit tonight.
Pentecost is taking place.
Never again is that going to have to
take place.
Never again do you see anywhere in the
book of Acts any of the people gathering
together, waiting on it, because it's not necessary.
Now you receive the baptism and the filling
of the Spirit by faith as Jesus taught
in Luke 11.
All you have to do is ask and
receive by faith.
It's been poured out.
Now, I don't know about you, but I
believe like Moody said years ago, I leak
a lot.
I need many fillings.
And there have been many, many, many times
when I've just sat before the Lord and
said, Lord, I need a fresh filling.
And man, He's there.
He just pours out His Spirit.
Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you.
I will send the Spirit to you.
He will abide with you forever.
You can be filled with the Spirit.
You ask and you receive by faith.
You may speak in tongues.
You may have some of the other powerful
gifts begin to manifest in your life.
But just step out by faith.
And nothing initiates it and triggers my faith
more than reading the Word of God on
a steady basis, reading and desiring to know
Christ and commune with Jesus Christ and learn
of Him and be changed and conformed into
His image.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
Word of the Lord.
Studying and knowing the Word of God.
And it shall come to pass that whoever
is called Bill or John or Nancy and
Barbara, if they call the name of the
Lord, shall be saved.
Sorry about the rest of you.
Isn't that wonderful to know that it's whosoever?
Now, some groups may try to leave somebody
out, but not Jesus.
It's whosoever.
Whoever you are, wherever you're from, wherever you've
done, how heinous and black the sin, how
corrupt, perverted, if you call on the name
of the Lord, you will be saved.
He will forgive you.
If you ask Christ to come in your
heart because He wanted the cross for your
sin, for my sin, and now He lives
forever to forgive, to give eternal life.
Whoever, whosoever, shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be saved.
And so, Peter, this ridiculed fisherman from Galilee,
knows his Bible.
Knows Joel and quotes it.
In a situation where people needed to be
instructed, the Spirit of God brought it to
him.
He said, You're asking what this is?
It's the fulfillment of Joel.
The last days are here.
Peter knew it.
Now, we can declare unto you that we
are at the end of the last days.
You men of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God,
among you, by miracles, and now I believe
this touches on verse 19 again, wonders and
signs.
The very thing that was prophesied, Jesus did
it.
And if you look at the life of
Jesus, if you'll take the time, you will
find every miracle, every supernatural act that Jesus
performed in the New Testament, in His ministry,
is found in the Old Testament that is
prophesied by the prophets, that when Jehovah God
comes, He will do that.
If you'll just take the time.
It is one of the most wonderful things
to begin to see where it's prophesied in
the Psalms, or in Samuel, or in Kings,
or in Jeremiah, or Isaiah, some prophecy concerning
the Lord.
I am the Lord.
There's none other beside me.
I am God the Savior.
Beside me, there's no other Savior.
Then He declares what He'll do when He
comes, and here Jesus Christ starts doing it
all when He comes.
Tremendous faith builder.
Tremendous dude to know the Trinity when you're
up against the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses,
or some of the cults.
To share in love, to open their eyes.
The triune God.
That there's no contradiction in the Bible.
And we don't need any other books.
No added books.
You've got the whole counsel of God, Genesis
to the Revelation, that the Spirit of God
wrote through the prophets to you and I.
So, you men of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, amen, approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs which
God did by Him in the midst of
you, as ye yourselves also know.
Peter's preaching now, man.
And again, he doesn't think they need a
lesson on tongues.
He doesn't even touch on it.
See, again, he realizes the importance.
Remember, he experienced the transfiguration.
Remember, he got enamored with the supernatural.
Man, I just saw Elijah and Moses in
glory.
Man, they're alive.
Let's build booths.
Let's just stay here, man.
This will be the greatest retreat until the
Lord comes.
We're staying here.
We're not going back to our jobs.
What's the Lord say?
First of all, Moses and Elijah disappear.
And the clouds, the Shekinah cloud of God
the Father overshadows them again.
And all they see now is Jesus said,
This is my beloved Son.
Hear ye Him.
He's the one you hear now.
He's the one.
He's center stage now.
And so, see, he sees that.
He knows that.
He remembers that.
And so he says, Him, being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you
have taken and by wicked hands have crucified
and claimed.
Gee, I wonder if you heard anybody's feelings.
I wonder how someone might have reacted.
There's no love in that apostle to say
nasty things like that.
You, by your wicked hands, have crucified.
Again, he's letting you know, you guys did
it, you know.
Now, one of the horrible tragedies of the
church have bypassed and not realized the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God.
That God planned this.
And one of the curses of Christianity in
the church is the terrible persecution that much
of the church has placed upon the Jews.
And you can see why many of the
Jews today do not trust Christians.
Because some of the greatest persecution of the
Jews is by so-called Christians who call
the Jews the Christ killers and blame the
death of Jesus upon the Jews.
And they simply are ignorant to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God and the rest
of the scriptures that state that before the
foundation of the world that was planned by
Jesus Christ and God the Father said He
would go to the cross because they knew
Adam would sin.
That God had determined to go to the
cross before Adam was even created.
And again, it's ignorance of the scriptures to
blame it on the Jews.
Yes, they were the instruments at that given
time.
But who was the government of the world?
What was controlling it?
And what could have stopped the crucifixion?
A man named Pontius Pilate that represented Rome
and the Gentiles.
So, the Gentiles are just as responsible.
But what really?
Who is responsible for the death and the
crucifixion of the Jews?
Bill Gallatin and every one of you.
It's the sin of the world.
John said, Behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world.
Isaiah said, The iniquity of us all was
laid upon Him.
It's my iniquity.
There'd be no going to the cross if
God didn't want to redeem us.
We who can't redeem ourselves.
The sinner can't redeem himself.
But God became man and visited this earth
and man rejected their God just as man
does today.
So, it's so wrong to blame the Jews.
It's our sin.
Your sin.
My sin.
The Roman government.
The Gentile powers of the world.
Not just the Jews.
Mankind.
And yet God willingly, as it says in
Hebrews, with joy, He looked forward to that
day that it might bring redemption to us.
You see, we are finite and it's hard
for us to grasp it.
We can experience it.
To grasp it.
That God would love us so much.
That God would love you so much.
And yet, have people believe the lie of
Satan who discredits God and God's love for
people.
And to walk away doubting and rejecting God's
offer of redemption through Jesus Christ.
Doubting His love.
And He knew all along we'd need a
Savior.
Whom God hath raised up having loosed the
pains of death because it should not be
possible they should behold another.
For David speaketh concerning Him.
Now notice, now he quotes the Psalms.
Again, this fisherman is just rolling out of
them.
In other words, he didn't love his job
more than Jesus Christ.
You can see that he had his life
adjusted.
When it came need to bring it out,
man, the Scriptures came out of this man.
I saw it.
I foresaw the Lord always before my face.
For He is on my right hand that
I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue
was glad.
Moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope
because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell or the grave.
Many places in the Old Testament it's the
word Hebrew, Sheol, and it also refers to
the grave.
In the Greek it's translated Hades, which is
translated hell.
And neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one
to see corruption.
You remember in Romans chapter 14, verse 9,
it speaks of the death of Christ.
That Christ was crucified.
He died.
He rose to go to the Father.
And then it says He revived.
It does not say He descended.
He was crucified.
He died.
He rose.
Remember on the day that He rose, He
said, I have not yet ascended to my
Father.
He told the feet from the cross, this
day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.
And He rose.
And then the third statement that Paul brings
out in Romans 14, verse 9, and He
revived.
In other words, then He came back from
the Father after He had entered the holy
place as the sacrifice, as the scapegoat, the
perfect Lamb of God with His own shed
blood and His own garments that He was
going to return in, that John saw Him
returning in with the blood of His own
sacrifice in Revelation 19.
It says then He revived His body and
He came out of the tomb.
He died.
He rose.
He revived.
Death couldn't hold Him because He was that
perfect sacrifice without spot, without sin.
Again, I remind everybody, stop and think, where
would we be if God raised one of
the sacrificed animals from the dead in the
Old Testament?
That would have been it for us.
That means He would have accepted one of
those sacrifices if He had raised it from
the dead.
Not one animal sacrifice was ever raised from
the dead in the Old Testament.
Couldn't be because it wasn't perfect.
It was a substitute.
It was a prefiguring of the perfect Lamb
who would come without spot or blemish, taking
our sin upon Himself and conquering death, conquering
the power of Satan to hold us.
He had no right.
And now God accepts you because of His
risen Son, Jesus Christ.
He sees you perfect because the blood of
Christ is upon your life if you've accepted
Jesus as your Savior.
Thou hast made me to know the ways
of life, or made known to me the
ways of life.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with
thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto
you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried in his sepulcher and
is with us unto this day.
You can visit the sepulcher of David today
when you go to Jerusalem.
Now notice, under the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, not only was David a king, but
now the Bible reveals that he was a
prophet.
He was prophesying concerning Jesus Christ.
Peter is saying, David is still buried, but
when he prophesied and spoke this in Psalm
16, he and the Spirit were speaking of
Messiah that would come out of his loins,
Jesus Christ.
He was prophesying of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ in Psalm 16.
Because he wasn't speaking of himself, he's still
in the grave, and he knew that.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God
has sworn with an oath to him that
of the fruit of his loins, according to
the flesh, he would raise up Christ to
sit on his throne.
And seeing this before, in other words, he
saw it, he understood it, and he prophesied
concerning it.
Jesus Christ was known to David.
He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection
of Christ that his soul was not left
in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus...
Notice here, he's just rolling out, he's preaching
what took place.
The purpose of Pentecost was to preach about
the death and the resurrection of Christ.
Nothing else.
Not the gift of the Spirit.
Even though they are valid and they are
in the church today and everyone should be
seeking them for their own personal life, that
you may be a witness.
But notice what the power of the Spirit
did for Peter.
He didn't feel he had to speak out
loud in tongues to prove to people he
had it.
He preached.
He knew Scripture.
He drew from the wealth and the depth
of the knowledge of the Old Testament in
his own soul, it was hidden in his
heart.
And that was the witness.
This Jesus had God raised up whereof we
all are witnesses.
Therefore, being by the right hand of God
exalted and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, Jesus being the
firstfruits received the Holy Ghost.
Jesus himself, when he went in to be
water-baptized, it showed the example of this
all.
The Spirit of God descended upon him like
a dove and immediately he was sent into
the wilderness and tested by Satan.
And remember, he was baptized in the Holy
Spirit and he defeated Satan by drawing on
the knowledge of God, not by speaking in
tongues.
When Jesus was baptized in the Spirit, he
was driven into the wilderness, a confrontation with
the devil, alone with Satan, and he defeated
Satan by knowing the Word of God.
And it was all out of the Old
Testament.
That's how you can defeat Satan, by knowing
the Word of God.
By being able to quote the Word of
God and identifying every situation you're in because
you have the Word of God hidden in
your heart and then it puts Satan on
the run.
All you have to do is have that
Scripture brought to you by the Spirit of
God and Satan has to depart.
And that's why Christians fall.
Because they're not reading their Bibles and getting
the Word of God hidden in their heart
and Satan attacks the areas that they're ignorant
of and down they go.
He takes them captive.
He deceives them.
You remember Peter, before he was baptized in
the Holy Ghost, denied the Lord.
You'll find out now, since he's been baptized
in the Holy Spirit, later on in the
book of Acts, we'll find that he was
beaten, thrown in jail, and after he was
beaten some more, he got up and he
went to the Bible study, the home group,
and he said, I'm just praying that he's
counted.
He was so thankful that he was found
worthy to be beaten.
Now, before the baptism, this guy, he was
a chameleon.
Remember, he fit in with the crowd.
He went to the party and you couldn't
tell he was a believer.
He picked up the lingo that quick to
fit in.
He wanted to stay at the party and
he denied his Lord.
He fit in with the crowd.
That usually happens with a person.
They're saved.
They think they can withstand the temptation.
They go to the wrong place.
They aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit and
pretty soon they're part of the crowd and
they're denying their Lord.
In the very spot they're in.
Just like Peter.
And then Satan really comes in and condemns
them.
And yet Jesus looks and sucks love and
forgiveness.
That's why he said, Hey, you tarry in
Jerusalem.
You tarry in that area you're at.
You make sure you're baptized in the Holy
Ghost.
And since Pentecost, now you can just receive
it by faith.
Don't pretend you have it if you don't.
Make sure you have it.
And God says, You can have it.
You receive it.
By faith.
I'm so glad it to you.
And so, this promise that was given to
Jesus, the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth
this which now you see and hear.
This outpouring of the Spirit.
Jesus is poured out to us as he
promised in John 14.
I will not leave you comfortless.
I will send the Spirit to you.
Remember, three experiences of the Holy Spirit.
The inexperience, the power experienced with you, and
the happy upon you.
Three experiences.
And he goes on to say, For David
is not ascended into the heavens, but he
saith himself, the Lord sent unto my...
Now he quotes Psalm 110.
Man, he's all over the place.
Joel chapter 2, Psalm 16.
Now Psalm 110.
This fisherman knows the Bible.
He may not know mathematics or science.
He may not know how to work a
computer, but he knows Jesus.
And God's using him.
I'd rather be that way, wouldn't you?
It doesn't bother me not to fit in
anymore.
It doesn't even interest me.
All the latest gadgets and stuff and things
and the stuff you see on television.
I can't even relate anymore.
I don't even know how to work my
VCR.
Rosemary has to do it.
I don't even know how to fix the
clock.
Whenever we have a power outage, that doggone
thing on the TV goes blank.
And I have to call Rosemary or Scott
or Jeff to get to it.
I don't know how to work it.
I know how to turn it on and
change channels.
That's about it.
And beyond that, I'm just a simpleton.
Believe me.
But I know one thing.
I love Jesus, or I can't get enough
of the Bible in me.
And I discern things a lot quicker than
I used to.
I see things a lot quicker than I
used to.
It's not because of a computer in my
house.
It's the Bible that I hold in my
lap.
And they do the same thing for you.
Because I'm not a very intelligent guy.
But boy, Jesus is intelligent.
And His Spirit, remember, describes His Spirit as
wonderful.
A wonderful Counselor.
It's mighty.
It's powerful.
That's the Spirit that's poured out.
It's available to each one of you.
It's described in Isaiah 9.6. The perfection
of the Holy Spirit.
The mind of Christ.
So now he quotes Psalm 110.
For David's not ascended into the heavens, but
he saith himself, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until
I make thy foes thy footstool.
The Second Coming.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now, when they heard this, they were pricked
in their heart.
You see, there were some people listening.
But like Isaiah said, many of them would
not receive.
They'd refuse it.
They just, you know, they just blotted out.
That makes sense to me.
I don't want this.
But there were many that were pricked in
their heart.
And they said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what
shall we do?
And then Peter said unto them, Repent and
be baptized.
And that's interesting.
Have a change of mind and a change
of heart toward Jesus Christ and be baptized.
Now he's talking water baptism here.
Now remember, here's an important thing.
Many of these Jews were already dedicated in
their religion as infants.
That was a custom of the Jew to
take the newborn babies and dedicate them to
the devil.
Mary and Joseph did it with Jesus.
A dedication rite.
But now that you're older and you've been
born again, no matter what your infant dedication
may have been, now repent, change your thinking
and get water baptized.
And these were all Jews that were raised
in the Old Testament system looking for the
coming of Messiah, How can an infant repent
and be baptized?
It's nothing, you see, but a church tradition.
It's not biblical.
And a lot of people think they're baptized
because they were sprinkled as a baby.
It's nothing but infant dedication.
It's not even biblical.
And so he's speaking to adults that saw
this phenomenon that now if you're born again
and you've got a new life in Christ,
you change your thinking toward Jesus.
Give your life to Him for the forgiveness
of sins and be water baptized.
Even Jesus was dedicated as a child.
He went into that Jordan River to show
us the way, the truth, and the life.
As an adult, He was water baptized to
glorify God.
Every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost for the promises unto you and your
children.
Just think what our obedience will do to
our children.
I've seen it happen to my children.
And to all that are far off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall
call, it's available to all if they choose
to be obedient.
It's a promise.
And with many other words, did He testify
and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation.
Don't put it off any longer.
Change your thinking.
Change your direction concerning Jesus Christ.
And now look at those that did have
a heart for the Lord and they that
gladly received His word.
You know, my heart goes out to people
who have to struggle with the will of
God.
Struggle being obedient to God.
It's a wonderful thing.
I gladly, I gladly yield to the Lord.
I gladly follow the Lord.
I gladly want more of Jesus.
I gladly want Jesus to challenge me in
other areas of life, whatever I need to
deny.
Is there anything else, Lord, you want me
to let go of?
Lord, I want You to take me totally.
Everything Jesus.
I gladly love the challenge.
It's the faith that gladly received His word.
We're baptized.
What's the big deal?
The people that wrestle with God over things,
I don't think they really experience the joy
of their salvation, the love of the Lord,
the excitement of Jesus.
The Christian life.
So then they that gladly received His word
were baptized.
And the same day there were added unto
them about 3,000 souls.
Pretty good message.
On the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And notice, yeah, what is this?
And so what did He do?
He really doesn't go way off into the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, does He?
They say, what is this that we've seen?
And He quotes Joel, Psalm 16, Psalm 110,
it's all about Jesus.
And 3,000 people respond.
I think in some churches they get more
excited about 3,000 people being knocked on
the floor.
And they miss it entirely.
They miss it entirely.
Hey, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
wonderful.
The gifts of the Spirit are wonderful.
But I'll tell you something even greater.
The fruit of the Spirit.
I want the power of God from on
high to keep me from falling.
Not to knock me down.
The wind came to hold them up and
keep them from falling.
That's what Jesus does.
And if you get filled with the Spirit,
He will keep you from falling.
And He'll bring those Scriptures to your heart.
And you'll be able to identify and discern
every situation you're in in life.
And it's such a marvelous protection.
Shall we all stand?
Next week, we're going to look at the
divine order of the church.
And the first miracle of the church.
Oh, wait a minute.
We can't.
Next week is communion.
It's the first of the month, isn't it?
Well, maybe we'll do it.
We'll just...
We'll see.
The book of Acts is exciting.
Of course, everything is exciting, isn't it?
Heavenly Father, how we thank you that we
can have our own filling of the Spirit
because of Pentecost.
And Lord, we thank you that the last
days have started and your Spirit is continually
being poured out and will culminate in that
last outpouring on the nation Israel to open
their eyes concerning the Antichrist and the coming
of Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Lord, that our eyes have been
opened.
And we thank you, dear Lord, that whoever
by faith here tonight would open their heart
to Jesus Christ and His giving His life
on the cross, shedding His blood for their
sin, rising again to give eternal life.
If someone will put their faith in Jesus
Christ tonight, they'll have eternal life.
Lord, whoever that individual is, draw them into
the kingdom, Lord, with your cords of love.
And Lord, whoever desires and needs to be
filled with the Spirit, grant them the faith,
Lord, now to ask and to receive by
faith that filling that they might be witnesses
unto Jesus Christ.
In His name we pray.
Amen.
May the Lord richly bless you as you
continue to study His word.
If you'd like more information about study tapes
by Pastor Bill Gallatin, please write for our
free catalog or call 716-398-3550.
Our address is Calvary Chapel of the Finger
Lakes, 1777 Route 332, Farmington, New York, 14425.