Jesus Ascends To Heaven | Frank Brancato

Welcome everyone. It's good to be here with you

today. We have a wonderful crowd, as

has been mentioned, and we have visitors that are among us and

we're grateful for that too. We have some faces in the

audience we haven't seen in a little while and it's good to

see you back with us today. I have personally enjoyed very

much worshipping with you so far, and it is my honor to speak

concerning the Word of God, and I'm very pleased and excited to

talk about the subject that we want to talk about this morning.

As you can see on the screen, we've been building up to it.

We've been getting to it in this series, but this morning, as

we've entitled our remarks, it is simply Jesus Ascends to

Heaven. As an introductory text, we go

to the Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 where the Bible says now when

Acts 1 · chapter mention

he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up in

a cloud, received him out of their sight.

Now we've come to the end of the 40 days.

Remember, this series was the 40 days from the time that the Lord

was risen from the dead on that Sunday morning on that

resurrection Sunday to the time that he ascended to his Father.

And that is in Acts chapter 1. And we're going to get to that.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And I'm just going to say right now, there's a whole lot we got

to talk about before we get to the ascension.

The ascension will be the climax and the conclusion of this

sermon today and this series. OK, Jesus ascends to heaven.

Just briefly though, about the 40 days, interesting.

In the book of Acts chapter 1, and just prior to the verses

Acts 1 · chapter mention

we're going to talk about today, it is the only place in all the

New Testament that records the actual duration of time that

Jesus spent with his disciples after the resurrection.

It's the only place that we say 40 days or find 40 days.

I'm going to say this briefly because we discussed this in

detail in several lessons ago. I'm going to be brief about the

significance of 40 in the Bible, significance of 40 days,

significance of 40 years. Notice 40 days or years in the

Bible signify the period of testing, trial, purification,

and preparation leading to a new beginning, transformation, or

significant divine action. We could sum it up like this.

In general, 40 days marked a time period of change.

A time period of change and we noticed some examples.

How about the flood? God caused it to rain for 40

days on the earth. How about when God gave the law

Moses on Mount Sinai? How about Jonah that preached to

Nineveh and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

How about after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist to

fulfill all righteousness. Then he was in the wilderness

and he fasted and for 40 days the Bible says he was tempted by

the devil. And we know about the three

temptations and maybe there were others not recorded, but 40 days

and finally the post resurrection 40 days that we

have discussed in our series. And in those forty days Jesus

appeared to his disciples during those days after his

resurrection and before his ascension.

It was a time of confirming his victory and equipping them for

their mission. From a theological standpoint,

we might say that these time periods marked a significant

transition of change from one state or task to another, and a

preparation for a new life or for a new purpose.

How about God's divine action and all that?

40 day periods are often associated with direct divine

action, obviously by God, or a major divine event such as the

giving of the law or the confirmation of the

resurrection. OK.

As I said before a few lessons ago though, OK, sometimes a

number is just a number. And remember this, we spend too

much time sometimes on numerology or the significance

of numbers. I'm not even going to get into

any of that. That is beyond my level of

whatever I wanted to say expertise, but that makes me

sound like I'm an expert in anything else.

I'm not doing that, OK? It's beyond.

I don't understand all that. Maybe others do, but I do know

this. Sometimes a number in the Bible

is just a number, just like the number 40.

I think 40 is just a #2. What makes 40 significant in

Bible history is it was a time that God just chose to

accomplish a specific purpose. That is undeniable.

All right, we know and I've said over and over again in this

series, there were 10 post resurrection appearances by

Jesus. 5 actually happened on Resurrection Sunday, one week

later in the upper room with the 11.

Thomas is then present too. Jesus met them there.

Another post resurrection appearance happened at some

point of unspecified time later on the Sea of Galilee where

there were 7 disciples fishing and Jesus has breakfast with

them and then Jesus restores Peter.

Then at some unspecified time later, Jesus meets in Galilee

again, and he meets with the 11 on a mountain somewhere, and he

gave the Great Commission, and that was the last lesson that we

gave in our series. Now, according to First

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 6, which we'll not get into, we

find that in a place that is unknown, Jesus appeared before

more than 500. That's also an appearance of

Jesus in this 40 days. What else?

First Corinthians 15 and seven, at some point in time, at some

place, He appeared before James as well.

Now, beyond the 40 days, there was one other time, and it's

several years later, and it's in Acts Chapter 9 when Paul was on

Acts 9 · chapter mention

the Damascus road and Jesus appeared before him too.

We're talking about the 40 days. And now we come to the end of

the 40 days. That brings us to Acts chapter

Acts 1 · chapter mention

1, and the place is Jerusalem. I'm going to notice with you the

significance, please, of Jerusalem.

Remember this, the Bible, the whole Bible, the Old Testament,

and the New Testament is about Jesus, and the things that were

foretold in the Old Testament pointed not only to Jesus, but

it also pointed to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

It pointed to the time when Jesus would establish his

Kingdom, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, going all the way back

to the Old Testament. So with regards to that, how

about Jerusalem? What is the significance?

Isaiah the prophet a long time ago In Isaiah chapter 2 and

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention

verse 3, the Bible says this. Many people shall come and say,

come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the

House of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and

He shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth

the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

All right. By the way, Zion, which is Zion,

Zoe put it like this. Zion was the chief spot in

Jerusalem after the Babylonians had taken away all of its chief

men and dismantled the city of Jerusalem.

What is the point here? Look on the screen, please.

Prophesied by Isaiah that the law, and that's the law of

Christ and the Word, that's the word of the Lord, would come out

of Jerusalem. That is another way of saying

this. It is the gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ would come forth out of Jerusalem or

from Jerusalem. OK, saying all of that, that

brings us to Acts chapter 1 and verse #4 please.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not

to depart from Jerusalem again, prophesied in Isaiah.

It's going to be in Jerusalem. But there's so much more.

What about what Jesus had already said to them?

Remember that Jesus said in Luke chapter 24 and verse 47.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

This was before this. He said that repentance and

remission of sins should be preached in His name to all

nations, beginning at Jerusalem. In other words, Christianity is

to have its beginning at Jerusalem.

Now, we're going to talk about a few things here, OK?

And I'm going to ask you really closely.

I'm going to ask you to tune in, OK?

We're going to talk about some things now that don't apply to

us today, and we're going to talk about some things that do

apply to us today. Why is that significant?

Because sometimes people misunderstand and they think

what is not applicable today is applicable today.

We want to just notice what that is and have a better

understanding. So I just asked you, please stay

with me. Remember, who is Jesus speaking

to when he said he commanded them not to depart from

Jerusalem? He's talking to the apostles,

He's talking to the 11. Why is there 11?

Because Judas Iscariot had already hanged himself.

And guess what, Matthias, which is our next lesson.

Matthias wasn't added to the 11 yet.

OK, so there's 11. Jesus is speaking to the 11.

So then in the in verses four and five, notice, and being

assembled together with them the apostles, he commanded them, the

apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the

promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me.

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized

with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Notice these two phrases #1 he said to them, The apostles wait

for the promise of the Father. That's number one.

Then he clarifies what the promise of the Father is.

He said you will be baptized the apostles with the Holy Spirit

not many days from now. Notice please.

This baptism of the Holy Spirit was promised in Luke chapter 3

Luke 3 · chapter mention

and verse 16. John the Baptist said this.

John answered saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water.

Little side note here. He was not saying that water

baptism in the future is not significant.

What he was saying is I have baptized you with water and that

was the baptism of repentance before Jesus died on the cross.

But then he says that one mightier than I am is coming,

whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.

In other words, the one that's following me is so much greater

than I am, I can't even latch His own sandal.

That's how great Jesus is. Then he says he will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

I got to tell you first of all #1 and I'm going to prove this

number one baptism of the Holy Spirit that we are speaking

about only occurred 2 times in all of history.

It happened in Acts chapter 2, and it happened in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention

10, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It happened in Acts chapter 2 in Jerusalem.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It happened in Acts chapter 10 with the household of Cornelius.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

But in each one of those two cases, notice, please.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit served as a sign of the imminent

availability of the Kingdom of heaven to the Jews in Acts 2 and

to the Gentiles in Acts 10. And I don't know about you.

I'm so thankful for that because guess what?

I'm a Gentile. So are you.

I am so thankful that that sign was given when Peter was there

to preach to the household of Cornelius, to let the Jews know

the faithful Jews that were converted to Christ, Christians

to know that God had accepted the Gentiles too.

And it came in the form of the baptism of the Holy Spirit only

happened twice. And by the way, baptism of the

Holy Spirit, miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit only happened

twice for sign for those reasons.

OK, but have you ever heard somebody say, I'll tell you

what, you can be baptized in water all you want to.

I want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Man, I've heard that my whole life when a person says I want

to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, their

meaning and they and they mean well.

But what they mean is they want something that is of some great

experience, almost like a recharging inside of them from

the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way of some special way.

My question is, what does it actually mean to be baptized

with fire that John the Baptist said in the previous slide?

Let's talk about that baptism with fire.

There's a numbering a number of interpretations by scholars as

to what baptism with fire actually is.

Some say that baptism with fire speaks of the cloven tongues as

of as of fire in Acts chapter 2 and verse 3, when the Kingdom

Acts 2 · chapter mention

was born and the disposed apostles received the baptism of

the Holy Spirit. And some people believe that the

cloven tongues was the fire that John the Baptist was talking

about. Here's the problem.

Baptism, the word baptized or baptism means to immerse or

submerge. It means to totally envelope.

It means to overtake. But in Acts chapter 2, when the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Kingdom came, it says that cloven tongues get this, They

weren't immersed in it. It says it sat on each of them.

What were the tongues? The tongues were languages.

They were normative languages, a language they never studied, but

they were able to speak, so it can't be that.

What else? Here's another interpretation.

Some people believe that fire represents the purifying power

of the Spirit. And the reason for that, by the

way, is that fire purifies. It does fire purifies.

OK, here's the problem. Nowhere in the New Testament

does it say is the word fire connected to the Holy Spirit in

no place for the purpose of the purifying of a Sinner?

Nowhere. So that can't be.

How about #3 This is one of the most popular ones today, that we

get a common idea from this today, and that is that fire

represents the fiery trials of a Christian.

Have you ever heard somebody say, man, it's like a

quarterback that's a rookie and he gets thrown in there because

the veteran's hurt and he's got no experience?

What does people say? It's baptism by fire.

In other words, throw him in there and he's going to have to

undergo and go through this difficult challenge unprepared.

What about this concept about fire representing the fiery

trials of the Christian? What does the Bible say about

the trials of a Christian? It says the trying of your faith

works. Patience.

Let patience have it's perfect work, right?

In other words, it's a good thing.

And then it says when the trial of your faith happens to you and

you persevere, get to the outside and the other side of

that, what happens that is better than gold?

Sounds like a good thing, right? See what we do in our life is we

try to avoid the trial, remove the trial, get the trial out of

my way instead of praying to God and asking for strength to get

through it, not realizing how good we can be on the other

side. Why am I saying all that?

What I'm saying is trials in the Bible, in the New Testament, are

described as good and of our benefit.

But context, context, context. Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist

Luke 3 · chapter mention

in a prior verse and verse 16 and in the ones following it

verse 9 and verse 17, fire is represented as a destructive

force, a bad thing. So what John the Baptist was

saying when he says baptism with fire, he wasn't talking about a

good thing at all. He was talking about a very bad

thing. He was talking about something

that was destructive. So I must conclude what he's

talking about is fire refers to the coming judgement upon the

wicked and disobedient. That's what he was talking

about. So when somebody says that they

want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, do

not realize what they're saying. You can't be baptized with the

miraculous Holy Spirit. Only happened twice.

Acts 2, Acts 10 as a sign to show that God accepts the Jews

and the Gentiles and one body in that beautiful a sign, and you

don't want to be baptized by fire.

It's a form of judgement. But let me give you some more

proof about that. It's referring to condemnation.

Thayer said it this way. Baptism with fire means to

overwhelm with fire those who are disobedient and do not

repent and to subject them to the terrible penalty of hell.

That sounds horrible. My question is then then why did

John the Baptist make this prediction when he had an

audience of people in Luke 3 and he said some of you will be

baptized with the Holy Spirit and some of you will be baptized

with fire. Why did he do it simply?

Zora said it this way when John predicted the baptism of the

Holy Spirit and fire. He was talking to a mixed

multitude, which included some people that were going to

inevitably reject Jesus and they would die in their sin and

finally be cast into the lake of fire.

Why is that, Friends? I'm saying from the bottom of my

heart, you can't go to heaven without Jesus.

You just can't. And John the Baptist knew that

some of the people that were there in the audience, Jewish

people, would reject Jesus and be lost baptism by fire.

Then in this mixed multitude, in this audience, there were also

others who were destined to become apostles chosen by Jesus

and should therefore receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Again, some people say because Jesus says John truly baptized

you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit

not many days hence and or many days from now.

The O King James says not many days hence, and because John the

Baptist said that and so on, that water baptism is not

significant. That's not true.

Case after case after case after case in every conversion story

in the New Testament was all about being baptized in water

for the remission of sins. OK, now I'm done with that part.

Now I'm going to really ask you to TuneIn, and I'm going to ask

you to do something for me. I'm going to ask you to lay

aside any preconceived idea that you may already have regarding

the Holy Spirit and regarding the connection between baptism

and the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask you just to set

it aside and let's look at the Scriptures just for a moment.

And the reason that I do that is I want to tell you something.

I have studied this in great detail and I think when you

study a subject that may be controversial or a subject that

may have differing opinions, it's very important to do so

with an open mind. And when I say open mind, I

don't mean so open your brain falls out.

I don't mean that. That's not what I mean because

the Bible appeals to our intellect.

That's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is this. As JW Mcgarvey one time said, he

said when wish is father to the thought.

In other words, when you want something to be a certain way in

advance before you study it, then it makes exegesis big word

for understanding the Bible. It makes understanding the Bible

like water off a duck's back. You're not going to get it.

So let's just look to the Scriptures, please.

What about this? What about the gift of the Holy

Spirit? What about the gift of the Holy

Spirit in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts 238 Then Peter said to them, repent and let everyone of

you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission

of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What a beautiful passage. In this passage we have two

commands and we have two blessings.

Here's the commands #1 repent #2 be baptized. 2 commands, Repent

and be baptized. Guess what?

Then there's two blessings. You get remission of sins, and

you get the gift of the Holy Spirit.

My question is this, who's going to receive remission of sins and

who's going to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Simply put, those that repent and are baptized.

Now, I think everybody agrees with that.

I don't think anybody has a problem with that, regardless of

what a person's position is regarding the Holy Spirit.

My question is this though, what's the gift?

What is it? That's a pretty good gift, The

gift of the Holy Spirit. What's the gift?

Some people say, well it's salvation.

Some people say, well it's salvation.

But it also more than that, it is all spiritual blessings in

Christ. In other words, it's the gift

that comes from the Holy Spirit. That's position #1 and my

brothers and sisters in Christ and my friends, I have held that

position most of my life. But in study of it, I'm going to

ask. I'm going to ask the question,

is the gift of the Holy Spirit? Is it salvation?

My answer and please stay with me.

No Why? Because when a person repents

and is baptized, he is not automatically assured of eternal

life or salvation. Obedience to the Gospel, which

is being baptized for their business sins, simply allows one

to run the Christian race. You start on the path, it does

not guarantee the reward. In other words, you don't just

get baptized. And Mr. says they could do

whatever you want. There's more included.

The outcome of salvation depends on the faithfulness of the

individual. Give you Bible, I don't have

time to give you all of it. I'm going to give you 1 passage.

James 5/19/20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from

the truth, what does that say? It says it's possible to wander

from the truth. So you start your path as a

Christian. But, and there might have been

people in our life and all of our life, we have a period of

time in our life where maybe we wandered.

Maybe by the way, you know what we wandered even though we

didn't stop assembling. Oh, we kept coming to church,

but our heart was far from God. Guess what we did?

We wandered from the truth. Just because a person is sitting

in the audience doesn't mean they're good with God, right?

Notice if anyone wanders from the truth and somebody turns him

back, let him know that he who turns a Sinner from the error of

his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of

sins. OK, somebody might say, wait a

minute. Isn't salvation by grace?

And isn't salvation a gift? Because that's what grace is,

it's unmerited favor, a gift that you didn't deserve?

Yes, But Galatians 5 and four says it's possible to fall from

grace. OK, we can fall from grace.

So I don't believe this is gift of the Holy Spirit is salvation.

Let's go further. Fair says it this way.

As we look at the question here, what is the gift?

A gift? It is a a pexigenical.

That's a terrible, terribly, terribly big word.

Let me explain what it is. It is a a pexigenical expression

of the things given. What does that fancy phrase

mean? It means this.

That's what I like too, by the way.

I don't like big words. I just tell you what they mean.

That's why I don't quote. I, I try to try to sound out

Greek words because I'm probably going to say them wrong unless I

go on the app. I didn't study Greek, but I

might. I got those apps that tell you

how to pronounce. I can do a little of that, but

for the most part, you know, people, they don't want to know

how to pronounce the Greek word. They want to know what it means.

So I'm going to give you what it means.

A pexigenical, the word actually means.

It's used to further clarify or explain the subject under

consideration. May I ask your question?

The gift of the Holy Spirit, What's the subject?

The Holy Spirit, that's the subject.

So the word gift is a word that's used to clarify the

subject that's under consideration.

So therefore in Acts 238, according to WE vine the gift of

the Holy Spirit, that clause is apexigentical with the gift

being the Holy Spirit himself. So the word gift is added to

clarify what the Holy Spirit is. It is a gift.

JW Mcgarvey said it this way. This expression means the Holy

Spirit's a gift and the reference is to the Holy Spirit

who indwells the Christian in a non miraculous way and without

which we are not of Christ. You know, if somebody says the

phrase indwelling, a non miraculous indwelling, that's

not a new phrase. That's not a new concept.

That's not a really good new catch phrase.

Everybody believes, regardless of how you believe the Holy

Spirit indwells, everybody believes that he does so in a

non miraculous way. But JW Magwami actually said

that. I don't know, ancient times ago

nothing. That phrase is not new.

He said the Holy Spirit is the gift and the reference is to the

Holy Spirit who indwells the Christian in a non miraculous

way and without which we are not of Christ.

Bruce said it this way, the gift of the Spirit is the Spirit

himself bestowed by the Father through the Messiah.

One more Reese. So the thing received therefore

by baptized believers is the indwelling presence of the Holy

Spirit. And again, I'm saying this

obviously non miraculous, obviously not in a way that is

by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit.

We don't get new revelation from the Holy Spirit.

And may I just say also, we don't get new revelation from

the Holy Spirit directly. That's not in the Word of God.

I'll just say that that's true. We've been given all things that

pertain to life and godliness. That's true.

But the gift of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit himself given

to baptized believers. OK, with regards to how the

Spirit indwells, I know there's a number of different positions

and I'm not here to argue that point.

I'm going to tell you what I used to believe.

I used to believe that the Holy Spirit only indwell to the word

because the Bible says the Holy Spirit indwells and it also says

the word indwells. That's true, it does.

It also shows that the Holy Spirit reveals himself through

the Word and because of all the passages that are connected to

the Holy Spirit and also the passages that are similar

connected to the Word. So because of that, my position

as the position of a lot of people was that the Holy Spirit

only only indwelled through the Word.

I'm not going to debate that. I will say this though.

May I suggest the following about the Word and about this

gift. Remember this in Acts 238 they

were told to repent and be baptized, every one of them in

the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and they

would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Notice in Acts 241 on the day of Pentecost, those that repented

and were baptized had already received gladly the Word before

they were ever baptized. Romans 116 For I'm not ashamed

of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and

salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st, and

also to the Gentile. The Word of God is quick and

powerful and sharper than any sword.

It is absolutely that which leads us to Jesus Christ.

Absolutely. But it seems to me that the gift

of the Holy Spirit is something separate.

How about this in verse 40? Then we're encouraged to be

saved with what many other words before they were saved.

So the conclusion that I have to draw is that one may have the

word of God and not have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So again, I'll just sum it up. And the gift I believe is the

Holy Spirit Himself who comes to dwell in the heart of every

Christian. And regardless of how a person

believes, he indwells. It is undeniable that the Holy

Spirit does indwell. Romans 8 and verse 9.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the

Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the

Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Here's another one, Acts 5 and

32. And we are his witnesses to

these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit.

Notice, please, whom God has given doesn't give, and sound

like a gift has given to those who obey Him.

Sounds like a gift to me. One more passage.

First Corinthians 619 Or do you not know that your body is the

temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,

and you are not your own? OK, Now remember this please,

when I talk about that and we're moving on now, I'm not talking

about any kind of miraculous anything.

I'm not talking about anything like that whatsoever.

I'm talking about the indwelling of the Spirit of God that's

given as a gift to Christians, baptized believers.

Remember there were two specific commands, repent and be

baptized, and two blessings, remission of sins and the gift

of the Holy Spirit. Let's move on.

Then we come to verse 6 of Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying

Lord notice will you at this time restore the Kingdom to

Israel. That's the new King James.

In the old King James it says restore again.

You have the language there is they missed it.

And I got to tell you, I don't want to be disrespectful to the

Lord, but if there was any, if there was ever a time for an eye

roll, it might have been. Now you want to talk about they

didn't get it, all the preaching of Jesus and they said, are you

going to restore meaning this, the Kingdom of Israel exists.

Are you going to restore it? Restore the Kingdom of Israel?

No wonder they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the

miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit to guide them to preach

the gospel of Christ because they didn't have a clue.

Oh, they needed that. They were expecting Israel to

return to its former state. And I'm going to tell you

something right now. It doesn't matter if you're a

Jewish person today, you are not the people of God.

It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile.

By the way, a Jewish person is not the people of God outside of

Christ. A Gentile is not the people of

God outside of Christ, but a Jew and a Gentile is the people of

God in Christ can't go to him without Jesus, right?

OK, so any kind of refurbishing of Israel is not going to

happen. The Kingdom did not exist when

this question was asked by the apostles in Acts One.

JW Mcgarvey said it this way. This Kingdom could not be

inaugurated until the king was crowned in heaven.

This occurred after the ascension and his first

administrative act on the earth was that of sending the Holy

Spirit upon the apostles on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

OK, here's the Lord's response. He said it's not for you to know

the times of the seasons that the Father has put in his own

power. But then he said this.

But you, the apostles, shall receive power when the Holy

Spirit has come upon you, the apostles.

That's the miraculous part. You're going to get it.

Not Frank Broncado, not Chris Osborne, not Terry, not anybody.

Today, the apostles and the apostles only we do not receive

the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We do not receive miraculous

gifts of the Holy Spirit today. We simply have the indwelling

presence of the Holy Spirit when the when we receive the gift at

baptism. Now miracles have ceased.

I'll be very brief about this. Got to give you a couple

passages. Miracles today have ceased.

First Corinthians 13, beginning in verse 8.

Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will

fail. Where there are tongues, this is

miraculous tongues, this is miraculous prophecy.

In other words, something revealed by God directly going

to cease. Whether there's miraculous

knowledge that came directly from God going to stop, it's

going to banish away. For we know in part and we

prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect

is come, then that which is in part would be done away.

Some people say this. Well, that which is perfect is

come as Jesus. So in other words, miracles

going to exist all the way to the end of time till Jesus comes

back doesn't say that. It doesn't say when that who is

perfect has come. It says when that which is

perfect has come. If I can figure out what that

is, and I know exactly when miracles stopped.

James 125 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and

continues in it. And is not a forgetful hearer,

but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in his

deed. So the perfect law of liberty is

what? It's the Word of God.

When the Word of God was completed, there was no more

need for miracles. Now I'm not saying God does not

providentially care for us, take care of us.

I didn't say that talking about miracles and the direct

operation miraculously of the Holy Spirit that is done away

with. OK, now Jesus says you, the

apostles, would receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon

you, and what else? You're going to be witnesses to

me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the

earth. Interesting about this.

This is a small map, I'm sorry about that.

But if you look at this, Jubea is the southern part of

Palestine, which also included the capital city of Jerusalem.

The northern portion of Palestine was where Samaria was.

What Jesus says is when you receive power, which is the

baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's going to guide you into all

truth and you're going to be witnesses to me Where it's going

to be in all Judea, not just Jerusalem, Jerusalem first day

of Pentecost, but also in Judea, all of Judea.

And we find historically it travelled N to Palestine, north

of Palestine, all the way to Samaria when great persecution

fell upon the church in Jerusalem.

Acts chapter 8 in verse one. Now Saul was consenting to his

Acts 8 · chapter mention

death. At that time a great persecution

arose from the against the church which was at Jerusalem,

and they were all scattered throughout all the regions of

Judea and Samaria except the apostles.

Do you know something from that beginning?

The gospel went to the whole world in about 30 years before

the destruction of Jerusalem, by the way, which was predicted by

Jesus, the gospel would go forth to the world.

Those apostles, the Bible says, literally turned the world

upside down. And they didn't have airplanes.

They didn't have ships like we have today, not like we have.

They didn't have cars. They had samples, Chariots,

horses, and I got to tell you, if the Lord will, as I leave on

Tuesday morning to go to Cincinnati, OH, across the

country and hold a meeting, I start preaching on Wednesday

night. You know me, I love horses, I

ride horses. I'm all about horses.

I don't want to ride my horse to Cincinnati.

I'm going to tell you something. If in primitive measures, they

took the gospel to the world in less than 30 years, think about

what we can do. But the fire of the gospels got

to burn deep inside. You got to have something to say

and the burning desire to say it.

And I'm not just talking about out in the world.

I'm talking about your neighbors.

I'm talking about your friends. I'm talking about people who

come in contact with. I'm talking about taking the

gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Our podcast is now in 110 countries.

Can you imagine in the digital age that we have in the form of

communication that we have, how we can take the gospel and

stretch it out so far? Wow.

Here's the climax now in verse 9, all this stuff is said.

All these promises are given. And then when he had spoken

these things while they watched, notice he was taken up.

I've tried to picture this so many times.

Remember how many times Jesus would come and appear and then

he would vanish out of their sight?

Is that what happened? Alexander Campbell wrote this.

I thought it was interesting. The phrase was taken up

indicates the commencement, not the completion of his ascent.

In other words, he, it appears from the terminology here

employed gradually and with great dignity, ascended not as a

flash of lightning nor as a meteor passes away, but slowly

and with majesty that they might clearly perceive and be assured

of his return to his native heaven.

Wow, you imagine all of a sudden he's talking.

He gives them the last answer, He gives them the last command,

and then all of a sudden majestically just starts going

up and they're standing there just looking amazing.

In fact, the next verse, while they look steadfastly toward

heaven as he went up, behold, 2 men stood by them in white.

A paraphraseology there of messengers or angels.

Then they said, who also said, Man of Galilee, why do you stand

gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up

from you into heaven will so come in life manner as you see

him go into heaven. I'm going to tell you something.

What a great assurance. He's coming back.

Our brother prayed for the Lord to come back.

We want the Lord to come back. In fact, the only reason why we

should ever want the Lord to delay, you know it's coming.

There's only one reason is to give people time, to give people

time that have good honest hearts to come to Jesus or

people that have drifted away from the Lord to come back to

Jesus. Otherwise, we all look for this

great day. It's coming.

So you know, here's the point and I want you to ask yourself

the question, not out loud, just to yourself, and I'm finished.

Our lesson is over. Just ask yourself this question.

Jesus ascended to his Father in the clouds.

The angels of those messengers of God said he's coming back in

the same way that he left with the clouds.

Just privately to yourself. Ask this question, MI ready.

That's all. Am I ready?

If you're not ready, this is how you get ready.

We never close the time. We don't extend invitation

because it's important to get ready.

The steps to become a Christian are very simple.

You got to hear the word of God in Romans 10/17.

We've done that today. So faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the word of God. But then there's more, you got

to believe with all your heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.

Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek Him. Then there's more, you got to

repent of your sins. All that means I got to make a

change. I've been going in One

Direction. I need to stop doing that and

going in another direction. Acts 17 and 30 Truly, these

times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all

men everywhere to repent. Then what person has to be

willing to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

Acts 837 that Philip said, if you believe with all your heart,

you may. And he answered and said, I

believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

These are steps that point toward salvation.

But the plan of salvation is to be baptized as we read in Acts

238 for the remission of sins. Jesus said in Mark 1616, he who

believes in his baptized will be saved, but he who does not

believe will be condemned. One final passage about the act

of baptism saving US. First Peter 321 The like figure

where the even baptism does also now save us.

Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of

a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus

Christ. If you've never taken those

steps of obedience, we would love to assist you in that

today. Maybe you have, maybe there's

just something in your life you need to correct.

They just do it. Repent of it, confess it.

We'll pray with you and for you and God will forgive and

restore. If you want to be the class,

come forward while we stand while we stand.