Acts 2. | Thru the Bible Devo. The Book of Acts.

Hello Mercy Church family.

Welcome to our 2024 Pray 365, week 2 of Journey Through the Bible, the Book of Acts.

This week is an extra special chapter because in the Book of Acts, this marks the Day of Pentecost.

The Day of Pentecost was born 50 days after Jesus' resurrection.

The Day of Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit came in power and fire and both dwelt with all believers, but also baptized those in the upper room.

Last week, in Acts 1, we read that Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit.

Really quick.

Let's look at Acts 1, verse 4.

Acts 1:4

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave this command Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Now let's begin at the top of Acts 2.

Acts 2.

When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.

Where they were sitting, they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The word used for wind in this passage actually means breath.

What Acts 2, verse 2, really says is suddenly like the blowing of a violent breath came down from heaven and filled the whole house where we were sitting.

Acts 2:2

The Holy Spirit is the breath of God.

The Holy Spirit has been with us since the very beginning of time.

Genesis 1, 1 through 2 says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The breath of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 2, 7 says the Lord, god formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

God breathed his Holy Spirit into us, the breath of life, and we became living beings.

The Holy Spirit gave us life, but along the way all of us have sinned.

Romans 3, 23 says For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

What did God tell Adam?

The consequence of sin was Genesis 2, verse 16, and the Lord commanded the man you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

Genesis 2:16

Romans 6, 23 makes it pure and simple for us, for the wages of sin is death.

The consequence of all sin, all disobedience, is death.

Romans 5, 12 says Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people because all sinned.

Due to sin, death came to all mankind.

But more than that, sin means separation from God.

Isaiah 59, 2 says but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Due to sin, we cannot experience God.

Occasionally throughout history, the Holy Spirit would come upon certain people for certain tasks.

Let's turn to Exodus 31.

Start at the top.

Then the Lord said to Moses See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Yuri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

Bezalel was only given the Holy Spirit to be able to craft the tabernacle.

The Holy Spirit would only come upon certain people for certain tasks.

For example, when the Israelites were enslaved, the Holy Spirit came upon Moses so that he could deliver the people.

God would raise up judges and the Holy Spirit would come upon them during the period of time they sat as judge.

The Holy Spirit would come upon certain prophets for messages from God or for the people he would anoint as king with his spirit.

Judges 14-6 says the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as he might have torn a young goat, but he neither told his father nor his mother what he had done.

The Holy Spirit would come upon them but would not dwell within them and would leave when the job was done or sometimes due to their actions.

God would take his Holy Spirit, his anointing, from the person.

Samson did not follow the Lord's instruction, so the Spirit left him.

Judges 16-7 says the Philistines are upon you, samson, and he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free.

For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

The fear of the Holy Spirit leaving David was true for him.

He knew that the Holy Spirit had left Saul.

1 Samuel 16, verse 14.

1 Samuel 16:14

Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul.

So David pleaded with God in Psalm 51, do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

One thing you should realize is that the Holy Spirit only came on a small amount of people, and sometimes with hundreds of years in between.

It was 400 years between Joseph and Moses.

The Holy Spirit was with Joseph and then Moses.

The Holy Spirit was last with the prophet Malachi and is seen next in the pregnancy of Mary and Elizabeth.

That is, another 400 years later.

People could pray to God, but they couldn't talk to him like we do, having him inside of us.

The Holy Spirit didn't guide them like he does us.

Moses says this in Numbers 11, starting in verse 4.

The rabble with them began to crave other food and again the Israelites started wailing and said If only we had meat to eat.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost.

Also the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.

But now we have lost our appetite.

We never see anything but this manna.

The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

The people went around gathering it and then ground it with a hand mill or crushed it with a mortar.

They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves and it tasted like something made with olive oil.

When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the interest of their tents.

The Lord became exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled.

He asked the Lord why have you brought this trouble on your servant?

What have I done to displease you that you place the burden of all these people on me?

Did I conceive all these people?

Did I give them birth?

Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?

Where can I get meat for all these people?

They keep wailing at me.

Give us meat to eat.

I cannot carry all these people by myself.

The burden is too heavy for me.

If this is how you're going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me.

If I have found favor in your eyes, do not let me face my own ruin.

The Lord said to Moses Bring me 70 of Israel's elders, who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.

Have them come to the tent of the meeting that they may stay in there with you.

I will come down and speak with you there and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.

They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Tell the people Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat.

The Lord heard you when you wailed.

If only we had meat to eat.

We are better off in Egypt.

Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it.

You will not eat it for just one day or two days or five days, 10 or 20 days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it, because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him saying why did we ever leave Egypt?

But Moses said here, I am among 600,000 men and you say I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.

Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them?

Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?

The Lord answered Moses, is the Lord's arm too short?

Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.

So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said.

He brought together 70 of their elders and had them stand around the tent.

Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke with them and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders.

When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so.

Again, however, two men whose names were Eldad and Medad had remained in the camp.

They were listed among the elders but did not go to the tent.

Yet the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.

As a young man ran and told Moses Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, joshua's son of Nun, who had been Moses's aide since youth, spoke up and said Moses, my Lord, stop them.

But Moses replied Are you jealous for my sake?

I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them.

Thanks to Jesus' death on the cross and his payment for our sins, we have exactly what Moses was talking about available to each of us.

On the day of Pentecost, the Lord put his Spirit on all his people First.

John 2, let's begin in verse 2.

And he, that same Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, the atoning sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God and would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful nature, our worldliness, our lifestyle, and not for ours alone, but also for the sins of all believers throughout the whole world.

Jesus' sacrifice is a gift for all people.

John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

All we have to do is make him Lord of our lives.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Salvation is a free gift.

Romans 6, 23 again, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

All we have to do is believe in him.

John 1, 12 says but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

When we accept his free gift, his sacrifice cleanses us and we become born again, reborn with a newly cleansed spirit.

2 Corinthians 5, 17 says Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The oldest passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

Ezekiel gives us a very vivid picture of this process.

Let's begin in Ezekiel 37.

He starts in a valley of dry bones.

Ezekiel 37, verse 1,.

Ezekiel 37:1

The hand of the Lord was on me and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley.

It was full of bones.

He led me back and forth among them and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.

He asked me Son of man, can these bones live?

I said, sovereign Lord, you alone know these bones represent us, all of his people, who are dead to their sin.

Let's keep reading.

Then he said to me prophesy to these bones and say to them dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones I will make breath enter you and you will come to life.

How did we first come to life?

Through the breath of God, through God breathing his spirit into us.

Verse six I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin.

I will put breath in you and you will come to life.

Then you will know that I am Lord.

So I prophesied as I was commanded.

And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

I looked and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to it this is what the sovereign Lord says come breath from the forewinds and breathe into these slain that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath entered them and they came to life and stood on their feet of vast army.

Then he said to me Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.

He explains it to us.

They say our bones are dried up and our hope is gone.

We are cut off.

Therefore, prophesy and say to them this is what the sovereign Lord says my people, I'm going to open your graves and give you up from them.

I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

Then you, my people, will know that I am Lord.

When I open your graves and bring you up from them, I will put my spirit in you and you will live and I will settle you in your own land.

Then you will know that the Lord has spoken and I have done it, declares the Lord.

He will place his spirit in us and we will come back to life and live.

I want us to go back a chapter real quick, ezekiel 36, starting in 25.

I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

When Jesus sacrifice washes us clean all of our impurities.

Our sin exists no more.

He puts a new spirit, a new heart into us.

Now that we are clean, we can become the temple of God.

We talked about in our Pray 365 and in our Holy Spirit series last year how God is holy, exodus 15, 11,.

Who is like you, o Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome and glorious deeds, doing wonders?

We talked about how God is good, psalm 145, 9,.

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever.

God is righteous.

Let's move down to verse 17.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

God is perfect, absolutely free from sin.

Deuteronomy 32, 4,.

The rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright as he.

In fact, god is so perfect, so set apart, the originator of our holiness and goodness and righteousness, that we cannot step foot into his presence with sin in our lives or his glory.

His goodness would zap us like a bug zapper.

Let's look at what he tells Moses in Exodus 33, when Moses asks to see him Verse 17,.

And the Lord said to Moses this is the very thing that I've spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name.

Moses said please show me your glory.

And he said I will make it all my goodness past before you and will proclaim before your name the Lord and I will be gracious.

To whom I will be gracious and will show mercy?

On whom I will show mercy?

But he said you cannot see my face, for man cannot see me and live.

And the Lord said behold, there is a place by me where you stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take my hand away.

For the very same reason, god cannot come to live with us if we are still in our sin nature.

Until we are washed clean by Jesus's sacrifice, he cannot dwell within us.

It would kill us.

Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, his blood, washes us clean.

1 John 1, 7,.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

We become born again.

1 Peter 1, 23,.

For you have been born again.

That is reborn from above, spiritually transformed, renewed and set apart for his purpose, not for the seed, which is perishable, but from that which is imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting Word of God.

So after salvation, we become born anew in spirit.

God puts a new spirit in us, a new heart.

Before Jesus ascends to heaven, he made a promise to send the Holy Spirit John 14, verse 17,.

John 14:17

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The day of Pentecost is the moment when Jesus' words come to fruition and God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within the believers.

Jesus' blood has made us holy, so now the Holy Spirit can dwell within us.

How much do you know about wine?

What about wineskins?

If you're like me, I knew nothing.

Jesus provides us an example in the Bible when he talks about wine and wineskins.

Wine in the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

In Old Testament times, wine was made in animal skins Mark 2, 21,.

No one sows a patch of unshrunk new cloth on an old garment, otherwise the patch pulls away from it, from the new, from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

No one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise the fermenting wine will expand out and burst the skins and the wine is lost as well as on the wineskins.

But new wine must be put into new wineskins.

New wine cannot be placed into old wineskins.

As the wine ripens, the new animal skins are soft and pliable and they age and they grow and they form with the wine.

When the wine is done the skins have become old and hard.

You cannot place new wine back into the old skins because the old skins would be hard and unable to move and grow with the change in the new wine.

They would crack and the wine would burst forth.

This is the same with the Holy Spirit in us.

Jesus cannot give us the Holy Spirit in His fullness in our old, sin-filled bodies.

Remember what happened if we were to step into the presence of God?

Our bodies would die.

Our old bodies cannot contain the Holy Spirit.

We would be unable to endure the purification process that causes us to grow and change and become new and more and more holy.

The Spirit would burst forth Upon salvation, the Holy Spirit makes us new creation, turns us into new wineskins, so that the wine, the Holy Spirit, can go in us.

Titus 3.5.

He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit washes us, renews us and applies Jesus's sacrifice, the cleansing power of his blood, to our lives.

Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death.

On the day of Pentecost, 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit first came to dwell in all believers.

Today, upon salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.

This marks the end of day one, part two, the end dwelling.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to inhabit his people.

The only way God was able to make this happen was to get rid of our sin debt and put new spirits in us.

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were washed clean, with new hearts and new spirits waiting on the Lord.

Let's begin at the top of Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.

Acts 2:1

Acts 2 1 through 12.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated them and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem, god, fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard the sound, a crowd came together and be wilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

Utterly amazed, they asked aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?

Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?

Parthians, medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, judea and Cappadocia, pontus and Asia, pyrrha and Pamphylia, egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, cretans and Arabs.

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in their own tongues.

Amazed and proplexed, they asked one another what does this mean?

This entire chapter 2 of Acts tells about events that happened on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon people.

In Acts, on the day of Pentecost, two things happened the indwelling and the infilling.

I know I'm using complicated terms, but I want to explain each and the difference.

First, let's talk about the indwelling.

This term simply means God comes to dwell within his people.

The day of Pentecost was the very first day that all current believers received the Holy Spirit inside of them.

Ephesians 1.13 says and now you also have heard the truth, the good news that God saves you and you believed in Christ and he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago.

Today this happens upon salvation, romans 8, beginning in verse 9.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.

Through his Spirit who dwells in you, god's Spirit comes to dwell within us.

1 Corinthians 3.16,.

Do you not know and understand that you, the church, are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells permanently in you, collectively and individually?

If anyone destroys the temple of God, corrupting it with false doctrine.

God will destroy the destroyer, for the temple of God is holy, sacred, and that is what you are.

If someone were to ask you if you have Jesus in your heart, this is simply what the phrase means.

1 Corinthians 6.19,.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have received as a gift from God, and that you are not your own property?

You were bought with a price.

You were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made his own.

So then, honor and glorify God with your body.

The Holy Spirit seals our salvation Ephesians 1.13 and 14,.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it through the praise of his glory.

When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, he is more than just a promise.

He doesn't just sit there dormant, waiting for us to move on to the next life so that he can give us salvation.

He is there as a helper for us.

He told us in John 16, verse 7,.

John 16:7

Very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I'm going away.

Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you, but if I go I will send him to you.

When he comes, he will prove to the world to be in the wrong.

About sin and righteousness and judgment.

About sin because people do not believe in me.

About righteousness because I'm going to the Father, where you can see me no longer, and about judgment because the Prince of this world now stands condemned.

The Holy Spirit shows us the truth, convicts us of sin, gives us spiritual awareness, leads us to repentance, gives us faith, unites us with salvation and applies salvation.

He justifies us, he makes us right with God according to Jesus' sacrifice.

Let's turn back to Titus 3, verse 4.

Titus 3:4

But when the kindness and love of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth in renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life Throughout our life.

God sanctifies us.

This is the process of the Holy Spirit making us more and more Christ-like.

Second Thessalonians 2.13.

Because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth.

Sanctified means to be set apart for a special purpose, to make holy.

This is the transformation process.

This is the process of making us a new creation and we can continue growing and becoming more like him for the rest of our lives.

The Holy Spirit gives us eternal life.

Romans 8.11.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

One day we will be glorified.

This means that one day we will finish our walk on this earth and receive our reward.

Colossians 3, verse 3.

Colossians 3:3

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God.

When Christ, who is in your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

If you want to hear more about the Holy Spirit and the indwelling, there is a 16-week series along with a sermon specifically titled the indwelling.

God placed his Spirit in us to guide us, to reveal truth to us, to save us, to transform us, to complete our salvation.

We will continue to talk about this process through our study of Acts.

Stop here for day 2.

Part 3, living Water.

Jesus taught a lot about the Holy Spirit.

I want to begin this first part in John with his conversation with Nicodemus.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, the teacher of teachers, this, john 3, starting in verse 3.

Jesus answered him.

I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless a person is born again, reborn from above, spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified, he cannot ever see and experience the Kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born again when he is old?

He cannot enter his mother's womb a second time and be born, can he?

Jesus answered, I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot ever enter the Kingdom of God.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, the physical is merely physical and that which is born of spirit is spirit.

Don't be surprised by what I have told you.

You must be born again, reborn from above, spiritually Transformed, renewed, sanctified.

So first we must be spiritually born again.

Then let's turn to what he tells the lady at the well, turn to the next chapter of John, chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

Then the woman from Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus said to her give me a drink, for his disciples had gone off into the city to buy food.

Then the Samaritan asked him how is it that you, being a Jew, ask me, as Samaritan woman, for a drink?

For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritan.

Jesus answered to her if you knew about God's gift of eternal life and who says to you give me a drink, you would have asked him instead and he would have given you living water, eternal life.

She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw, with no bucket and rope, and the well is deep.

Where then do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and who used to drink from it himself and his sons and his cattle also?

Jesus answered her everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.

But the water I give to him will become in him a spring of water, satisfying his thirst for God, welling up, continually flowing, bubbling within him to eternal life.

The woman said to him sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty nor have to continually come all the way out here to draw the living water Jesus is speaking about is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, the living water, will dwell within you and spring up into eternal life.

He is prophesying.

He is foretelling about the Holy Spirit and what is to come in the future, when he comes to live inside of the believers, the indwelling.

Let's keep reading.

Skip down to verse 19.

John 419, sir, the woman said I can see that you're a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim the place that we must worship is in Jerusalem.

Woman, jesus replied believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Yet a time is coming and is now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks.

God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

The woman said I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming.

When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Then Jesus declared I the one speaking to you.

I am he For thousands of years, a peace of the Holy Spirit, a peace of God's presence, dwelt within the Ark of the Covenant, either in the Tabernacle or in the Temple.

I say a peace because God's presence cannot be contained.

Solomon says this when he builds the first Temple Second Chronicles 2.5,.

The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all God's.

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him.

Who am I to build a house for him, except a place to make offerings before him?

The Temple, and before that the Tabernacle, were places where the people could go to worship and the chief priest, one day a year, could speak to God.

The average person couldn't speak to him and they definitely couldn't go anywhere to worship him.

They had to go to his temple, like the Samaritan woman said, to worship.

But Jesus tells her, a time is coming when people will worship in spirit and in truth.

In spirit because God places a new spirit within us and his spirit now dwelling within us talks to our spirit.

Romans 8-14,.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

The spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again.

Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship, and by him we cry Abba, father.

The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children and we don't have to go to the temple to worship him or speak to him, because he has come to dwell within us.

We have become his temple.

2 Corinthians 6-16,.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God.

As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

He now lives within us.

This marks the end of day 3, part 4, the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit did two things on the day of Pentecost the indwelling and the infilling.

The indwelling is where the Holy Spirit comes to dwell, to live within the believer throughout their walk on this earth.

The infilling is also known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Remember what John the Baptist said Luke 3, verse 16,.

Luke 3:16

John answered them all saying I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So there's baptism with water and there's baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Baptism with water is different than baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Water baptism is where you confess before man that Jesus is Lord of your life and you are ceremonially dunked under water and raised up.

If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, the next step in your Christian walk is to be baptized.

You are making your choice to follow Jesus and making it visible for all to see.

You are proclaiming him.

Remember how Jesus talked to Nicodemus about what it means to be born again.

Water baptism is symbolic of dying to our sins, to our old way of life, and being raised up.

With Jesus and thanks to his sacrifice, we are raised up, clean, forgiven, to a new way of life.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is different than the indwelling.

It is separate from when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.

We are submerged, dunked, covered by a spirit.

Let's turn back to Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Let's start in verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting, they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now they were staying in Jerusalem, god, fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken.

Utterly amazed, they asked aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?

Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language?

Parthians, medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, judea and Cappadocia, pontus and Asia, prigia and Pamphylia, egypt and the parts of Libya and near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, cretans and Arabs.

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another what does this mean?

Some, however, made fun of them and said they've had too much wine.

Not only did the Holy Spirit come to dwell within all the believers in the house, but the Holy Spirit also filled them.

This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

You become submerged, dipped and covered in the Holy Spirit that bubbles up out of you.

Let's look at what Jesus has to say about living water in John, chapter 7, verse 37.

John 7:37

Now, on the last and most important day of the feast, jesus stood and called out in a loud voice if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, who adheres to, trusts in and relies on me, as the Scripture had said, from his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.

But he was speaking of the Holy Spirit whom those who believed in him as a Savior were to receive.

Afterward, the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified, raised to honor.

So previously, jesus told the lady at the well that he will give her a drink of living water, the Holy Spirit.

And this Holy Spirit will well up in her and give her eternal life.

So the conversation with the lady at the well is the description of how the Holy Spirit works in salvation.

The Holy Spirit will come, live in you, you take a drink of these waters and he will give you eternal life.

Now he is saying the believer will have rivers of living water continually flowing up out of him.

With the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit becomes the source and dwells within us and flows up out of us.

Now the believer has the source of the living water, the Holy Spirit, in him and flowing out of him.

The water is a description of how the Holy Spirit fills us and the result is rivers of living water will flow out of his belly.

To make this clear, the Holy Spirit gives us new birth and comes to live inside of us.

That is the indwelling.

But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a work by the Holy Spirit.

That comes after the indwelling and after the new birth, and it comes with evidence of speaking in tongues and then gives us power and spiritual gifts.

This is what happens on Pentecost, when the people are filled with the Holy Spirit.

One of the results of this filling by the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues.

A crowd came together and saw that the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

They had never seen anything like it before.

They were all speaking in different languages and all of the people in the house were speaking in tongues All of them, not a few of them, not one or two.

All of the people.

So what did they think?

These guys have had way too much wine.

They are drunk.

Peter stood up with the disciples and preaches a sermon.

Let's see what he has to say Acts 2, 14.

Then Peter stood up with the 11 and raised his voice and addressed the crowd, fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem.

Let me explain this to you.

Listen carefully to what I say.

These people are not drunk, as you suppose.

It is only nine in the morning.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel In the last days.

God said I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women.

I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders and heavens above and signs on the earth, below Blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Peter says wait a minute.

They are not drunk.

They are fulfilling the prophecy God gave to the prophet Joel, saying he will pour out his spirit upon all people.

The time has arrived, the time is now.

Then he explained Jesus Christ makes this possible, verse 22.

Fellow Israelites, listen to this.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him.

As you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him on the cross.

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

He's telling the Israelites.

Even our father, david, foretold the resurrection of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It has come and gone.

Let's continue.

25 David said about him I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.

My body also will rest in hope because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.

You will not let your holy one CDK.

You have made known to me the past of life.

You will fill me with joy in your presence.

Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne, seeing what was to come, he spoke resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

God had raised this Jesus to life, but we are witnesses of it.

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this.

God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

Those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, those who repent and are baptized, will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter says repent and be baptized, every one of you.

This is water baptism and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This is the indwelling and the infilling.

The Holy Spirit is a gift available to everyone.

The only requirement is that they believe.

The Holy Spirit is not a temporary gift that just comes upon you once he says.

It's a promise for you and your children and your children's children.

In other words, all who believe can receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.

The day of Pentecost is special because it's the very first day the Holy Spirit came to dwell within the believers.

But the Holy Spirit also filled those people in the upper room.

After the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in every believer for the rest of their life upon salvation.

He does not leave Today.

Once we believe, the Holy Spirit is deposited into us.

He lives in us.

But there is a second step.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is also called the infilling.

The Holy Spirit fills us and gives us power and gifts.

God said I will pour out my spirit upon all people.

Luke 24, 49.

I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with Power from on high.

You will be clothed with power from on high.

So not only does God live in you in the form of the Holy Spirit, but through the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes the anointing, the power from on high.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the power, it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

This is the anointing that was on the leaders in the Bible, the anointing that was on Jesus.

Through this anointing Jesus was able to do many miracles and signs and wonders and we will continue to talk about this as we continue through the book of Acts.

But this anointing doesn't just come on leaders or people for a purpose, like it did in the Old Testament, like it did before.

Jesus is a sacrifice.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is no longer temporary.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is more than just being born again.

It's a separate step and might not come immediately upon salvation.

We see it come upon all believers, regardless of sex, statured, race, social status, and we'll continue to as we progress through the book of Acts.

The end dwelling comes immediately upon salvation.

We have that deposit of the Holy Spirit.

But the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the infilling, comes after water baptism and most often comes with the laying on of hands and prayer.

Every person's baptism of the Holy Spirit is different.

I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit praying on my own in a church, just me and God.

I was already saved and living for God, but I was in high school and getting ready to go on a missions trip and I didn't want to go without being filled.

No one told me how to do it.

I just ask God.

Most often, we have people who desire the baptism of the Holy Spirit and come up for prayer during service or small group, and Our prayer team will lay hands on them.

I think Bo got filled with the spirit at the movie theater at the end of a Christian movie, when he and some college friends were praying for each other.

If you're a believer and haven't been filled with the spirit, you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Come to service and come up for prayer.

We would love to pray with you.

This marks the end of day four, part five Speaking in other tongues.

The initial evidence of baptism of the Spirit is speaking in tongues.

All of us.

All of us get our own Personal prayer language when we get baptized by the Holy Spirit.

Let's begin in Acts 2, starting in verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.

Where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Notice here it says all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let's continue.

Verse 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God, fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together and bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

I really am amazed.

They asked Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?

Then how is it that each of us hear them in our own native language?

Parthians, medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, judah and Cappadocia, pontus and Asia, phyrgia and Pamphylia, egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, cretans and Arabs.

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another what does this mean?

Some, however, made fun of them, saying they've had too much wine.

Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.

Fellow Jews and all you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you.

Listen carefully to what I say.

These people are not drunk, as you suppose, it is only nine in the morning.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.

And the last days, god says I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions.

Your old men would dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women.

I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in heavens above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and Glorious day of the Lord, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So what is speaking in tongues?

Paul in Romans describes it like this Romans 8, verse 26.

Romans 8:26

In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself Intercedes for us through wordless groans, and he who searches our heart knows the mind of the spirit, because the spirit Intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

The Holy Spirit gives us utterance.

You become filled with the Holy Spirit and then you speak in tongues the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift to us.

With the baptism comes the gift of tongues.

It's for our own personal edification.

All we must do is receive it.

I want to be clear that speaking in other tongues is different than the gift of tongues and interpretation, which I'm going to call here diversity of tongues.

For clarity's sake, when I say speaking in tongues, I'm talking about your own personal prayer language.

From the infilling of the Holy Spirit, all the people in the upper room on the day of Pentecost received the ability to speak in tongues in the form of their own personal prayer language.

All who were filled with the spirit in the Bible spoke in tongues.

This is different than the diversity of tongues and interpretation.

This is a ministry gift and not all people have it.

This is when someone ministers in tongues in a public assembly and someone interprets it.

This is a prophetic gift.

All the people in the New Testament Church that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues for their own personal edification.

First Corinthians 14 for anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves.

Speaking in tongues is like having your own personal prayer language.

It builds you up.

The Greek word for edify means charge.

It's like recharging your spiritual battery.

If you jump down to the first part of verse 14, first Corinthians 14 14, if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays Through speaking in tongues.

We are not praying in the physical realm.

Our spirit is talking to his.

We are charging our spiritual battery.

It is making us strong in spirit.

Jude 120 says but you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, once you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you should be conscious of his spirit at every waking moment, each day.

The Holy Spirit should become more and more real to you.

The infilling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is A gift to us to navigate this life.

Jesus says all we have to do is ask for it.

Luke 11 9 says so.

I say to you ask and it'll be given to you, seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be open to you, for everyone who asks Receives.

The one who seeks, finds.

And to the one who knocks, the door will be open.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

Or if he asks for an egg Will give him a scorpion.

If you then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

So let me ask you, why would you refuse a gift, a promise to you from God?

The baptism of the Holy Spirit gives you gifts your own personal prayer language to God and the power to navigate this life.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a promise, just like healing is a promise, just like salvation is a promise.

We must receive it by faith, just like our salvation and healing.

God has already given it to us.

We just have to receive it and believe that we have received it, and then just start speaking.

God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

If you're a believer, the Holy Spirit lives in you, but he is more for you.

He wants to flow through you, he wants to fill you, he wants to bubble up from you.

He has given it to you already.

You just need to accept it.

I'm going to give you a brief preview of what Paul says further ahead in this book, just to get an understanding.

Acts 19 While Apollo's was at Corinth, paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.

There he found some disciples and asked them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

They answered no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

So Paul asked then what baptism did you receive?

John's baptism, they replied.

Paul said John's baptism was a baptism of repentance.

He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, jesus.

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

There were about 12 men in all.

This marks the end of day 5, part 6, parallel.

Last week we talked a little bit about timeline.

Jesus died on the cross and after three days was resurrected.

He spent 40 days showing himself and then ascended to heaven at the right hand of the father.

The disciples had to wait for 10 days before the Holy Spirit came upon them.

The term Pentecost actually means 50th.

God sends the Holy Spirit to the disciples 50 days after Jesus was resurrected.

Did you know that Easter and Pentecost fall on the exact same dates as the Passover and Shavuot?

Shavuot is the celebration of the giving of the 10 commandments, the law to Moses and the Israelites on the mountaintop.

The Jewish people still celebrate it today.

I would like to talk a little bit about the parallels between the events.

It all began with a covenant.

A covenant is a Formal agreement and relationship between two parties, with commitment and promises made on both sides, like a marriage or a treaty.

Let's turn to Genesis 17, when Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said I am God Almighty.

Walk before me faithfully and be blameless, then I will make my covenant between me and you and I will greatly increase your numbers.

Abram fell face down and God said to him as for me, this is my covenant with you you will be the father of many nations.

No longer Will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

I will make you very fruitful.

I will make nations of you and kings will come from you.

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your Descendants after you, for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

The whole land of Canaan when you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God.

Then God said to Abram as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for the generations to come.

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep.

I, god, gave Abraham and his descendants an everlasting promise that he would be the God of Abraham's children forever, as long as they keep his covenant.

Somewhere around 400 years later, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and they cried out to God Exodus 2, 23,.

During that long period, the king of Egypt died.

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and there cried for help because of their slavery went up to God.

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

God heard the Israelites in Egypt and remembered his promise to his people that he would protect them and call them his people.

So God chose to raise up a deliverer Exodus 3, 1.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him and flames of fire from within a bush.

Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.

So Moses thought I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up.

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, god called to him from within the bush, moses, moses.

And Moses said here I am, do not come any closer.

God said take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

When he said I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

At this, moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering.

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, amorites, parasites, hivites and Jebusites, and now the cry of the Israelites has reached me and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

So now go.

I am sending you to the Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

God raised up Moses and sent him to the Pharaoh to tell them to let his people go.

God sent plague upon plague ten total over the land of Egypt.

It wasn't until the very last one that the Pharaoh decided to let the people go, and that tenth plague was a doozy.

They had already suffered from plagues of blood where their water turned into blood, plagues of frogs and gnats and flies and boils and hail and locusts and darkness, and last, the killing of firstborn children.

If you get a chance to read the story, read Exodus all the way through.

It is a really good story.

Let's take a look at the last plague, the plague of the firstborn, exodus 11, verse 1.

Exodus 11:1

Now the Lord had said to Moses I will bring one more plague on the Pharaoh and on Egypt.

After that he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for the articles of silver and gold.

The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.

So Moses said this is what the Lord says.

About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.

Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, for the firstborn son of the Pharaoh who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave who is at her handmill and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

There will be a loud wailing throughout Egypt, worse than there has ever been heard and or will ever be heard again.

But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.

Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me, and say go, you and all the people who follow you, and after that I will leave.

Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.

Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

This is the plague of the firstborn, which means death will come to all the firstborn in Egypt Children, cattle, animals.

In order for the Israelites not to be touched by the plague when the spirit of death passes over, god gives them further instructions.

Let's turn ahead one chapter in your Bibles to Exodus 12.

Begin at the top.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt this month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year, while the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each of his household.

If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor.

Having taken into account the number of people there are, you are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.

The animals you choose must be year old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or goats.

Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of door frames of the houses where they eat lambs.

This same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with the bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.

Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over fire with the head, legs and internal organs.

Do not leave any of it till morning.

If some of it is left until morning, you must burn it.

This is how you are to eat it with your cloak tucked into your belt and your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand.

Eat it in haste.

It is the Lord's Passover.

On that same night, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

I am the Lord.

The blood will be assigned for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

No destructive plague will touch you.

When I strike Egypt.

Let's move down to 24.

Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as promised, observe the ceremony, and when your children ask you what does this ceremony mean to you, Then tell them it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the house of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes.

When he struck down the Egyptians and the people bowed down and worshiped.

The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of the livestock as well.

Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night and there was loud wailing in Egypt, but there was not a house without someone dead.

God told the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and paint the blood on the doorposts of their houses so that the spirit of death would pass over their houses and not take their firstborn.

The blood of the lamb protected the houses of the people of Israel from death.

Sound similar.

Fifteen hundred years later.

Let's turn to John's baptism, john 1, 29.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is the one I meant when I said A man who comes after me has surpassed me, because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.

Then John gave his testimony.

I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him, and I myself did not know him.

But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

I have seen and I testify that this is God's chosen one.

Jesus also tells his disciples on his last Passover, matthew 26.

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciple as you know, the Passover is two days away and the Son of man will be handed over to be crucified.

Jesus died on the cross on Passover, john 13.

Verse one it was just before the Passover festival.

Jesus knew the hour had come for him to leave the world and to go to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all these things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that he poured out water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Let's turn to Mark, at the Passover meal, and see what Jesus has to say.

Mark 14.

On the first day of the festival of unleavened bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, jesus's disciples asked him when do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?

So he sent two of his disciples telling them Go into the city and a man carrying a jug of water will meet you there.

Follow him, say to the owner of the house.

He enters.

The teacher asks when is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready.

Make preparations for us there.

Let's skip down to verse 22.

While they were eating, jesus took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying Take it, this is my body.

Then he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it.

This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, he said to them.

Let's turn back to John 19, verse 13.

John 19:13

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the stone pavement.

It was the day of preparation of Passover.

It was about noon.

Here is your king.

Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted Take him away.

Take him away, crucify him.

Shall I crucify your king?

Pilate asked we have no king, but Caesar.

The chief priests answered.

Let's move down to verse 30.

When he had received the drink, jesus said it is finished With that.

He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.

Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

The soldiers therefore came down and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with his spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

Paul says it like this 1 Corinthians 5-7, get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new and leavened batch, as you really are, for Christ.

Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Now, through faith, thanks to the blood of the true Passover lamb, death passes over all those who believe.

God led the Israelites out of Egypt after the Passover and on to Mount Sinai, where he gave him the law.

50 days after the Passover, the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments, a law and a system of cleansing themselves with blood sacrifices.

As a foreshadowing of what was to come, the Jewish people still celebrate it today.

They call it Shavuot, exodus 19.

Verse 1, on the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, on the very day, they came to the desert of Sinai.

After they set out from Refinem, they entered the desert of Sinai.

An Israel camped there in the desert, in the front of the mountains.

Then Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said this is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel.

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

Now, if you obey me fully and keep my commandment, then out of all nations, you will be my treasure possession.

Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

The Jewish people celebrate Yahweh giving them the law, the covenant, and their acceptance of it, verse 16.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blasted.

Everyone in the camp trembled.

Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire and the smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

The Lord descended to the mountain.

Moses called Moses to the top of the mountain.

God's presence, his spirit, came to the Israelites on the mountaintop that day and the Israelites were terrified.

So Moses went to the mountaintop for 40 days and received the 10 commandments, exodus 24, beginning in 3.

When Moses went and told the people all the God's words and laws, they responded with one voice everything the Lord has said we will do.

Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

He got up early that next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up 12 stone pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

Then he sent young Israelite men and they offered burnt offerings and sacrifice young bowls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls and the other half he splashed against the altar.

Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people.

They responded we will do everything the Lord has said we will obey.

Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.

In accordance with all these words, moses and Aaron, nadab and Ebihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.

Under his feet was something like pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.

But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of Israel.

They saw God and they ate and they drank.

The Lord said to Moses come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.

In Judaism, shavuot is seen as the moment Jesus received the law, and it's also celebrated as a festival of first fruits.

Today, pentecost is seen as the day the Spirit came to fulfill God's full promise given in the law and by the prophets.

It is the first fruits of the Spirit.

Jesus says this Matthew 5, verse 17,.

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I come to do away with or undo the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.

I didn't come to destroy but to fulfill.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to seal the believer's salvation, their acceptance, and his presence shows up just as powerful as on the mountain top 1500 years earlier.

Shavuot celebrates the gift of the law, pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Both holidays established the covenant.

Shavuot established the covenant with Moses and his people.

Pentecost establishes the covenant with Jesus and his people.

This marks the end of day six, part seven, the early church.

So far, we have read in Acts 2 how the Holy Spirit came upon the believers and filled them.

I want to look at what Peter says about Jesus.

Let's begin in verse 22.

I want to break this down a little bit.

Acts 2, 22,.

Fellow Israelites, listen to this.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him.

As you yourselves know, the Israelites accept Jesus as a man sent from God by his miracles, signs and wonders.

When Jesus met with Nicodemus, nicodemus told him this.

John 3, verse 2,.

John 3:2

He came to Jesus at night and said Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.

Other people saw the signs and then they believed.

John 2, 23 says now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.

Let's keep reading back to Acts 2, verse 22,.

Acts 2:22

Fellow Israelites, listen to this.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him.

As you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge.

So God knew and planned and sent Jesus to sacrifice his life for our sins.

2 Timothy 1 9 says he has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

All of these steps, all of us, jesus Christ, his death, burial and resurrection, the Holy Spirit, all of this was predestined by God Ephesians 1, 3 and 4.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing and heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Jesus even tells us what would happen Luke 24, 45.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

He told them this is what is written the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day before the beginning of the world before us, before man's sin, god had a plan.

Back to Acts.

Peter continues and does not hold back.

Verse 23.

This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

In his sermon, peter is addressing some of the people who had been among the people that had seen many of the miracles Jesus had done on this earth and yet also some of them had been a part of the crowd who sent him to his death.

Some of these people were witnesses of both Matthew 27.

Now it was the governor's custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

So when the crowd had gathered, pilate asked which one do you want me to release to you, jesus Barabbas or Jesus who was called the Messiah?

For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

When Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message to not do anything to that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Which of these two do you want me to release to you, asked the governor Barabbas.

They answered what shall I do then With Jesus who was called the Messiah?

Pilate asked.

They all answered crucify him.

Why?

What crime is he committed, asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder crucify him.

When Pilate saw he was getting nowhere but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

I am innocent of this man's blood.

He said it is your responsibility.

All the people answered his blood is on us and our children.

Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

Ouch right, may his blood be on us and our children.

Gulp.

Some of these people were standing in front of Peter while he was preaching.

Guess what Jesus' response is.

Jesus' response is to this Luke 23, 33.

When they came to the place called Skull, they crucified him there along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

Jesus said Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Jesus does not take away the responsibility of the people who crucified him, but he acknowledges that these people have no idea of his true identity and the true repercussions of their actions.

Peter continues in Act 224.

The God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him, even though you crucified him.

Peter said Jesus Christ, our Messiah, is bigger than death.

The power of death couldn't even hold him.

He continues 25.

David said about him I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.

My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead and you will not let your holy one decay.

You have made known to me the path of life and you will fill me with joy in your presence.

Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne, seeing what was to come.

He spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor to see his body decay.

God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of it.

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear, for David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for you.

Therefore, let Israel be assured of this.

God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles' brothers what shall we do?

The people who were in the party of people who crucified Jesus had just realized, thanks to Peter, what they had done.

They were cut to the heart.

Thankfully for them, it was not too late.

Peter replied in verse 38, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

Can you imagine one day when all of these people realized what they have done?

Matthew 2430, then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory.

They will mourn because they will realize the error of their ways.

Another quick question what did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would do when it comes upon the people.

John 16, verse 7,.

John 16:7

But in fact it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the advocate won't come.

If I do go away, then I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world of its sin and of righteousness and of the coming judgment.

The Holy Spirit is present during Peter's speech and convicts the people there of their sin.

These people did not know the Messiah when he was right in front of them, but now, thanks to the Holy Spirit, they hear the truth in Peter's words in combination with the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and they make themselves right.

Let's continue, verse 38.

Again, peter replied Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The promise is for you and your children and for all whom the Lord, our God, will call.

With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number of that day.

This is the first time we have talked about salvation after Jesus, because when Jesus left.

He told the disciples to wait on the Holy Spirit.

Now Peter says to repent, turn from your sin, be water, baptized, where you made Jesus Lord of your life, and confess it before men.

Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The gift this promise is for you and your children and all who call on the Lord.

3,000 people were saved that day.

They were added to the initial 120 believers that were there waiting with the apostles for the Holy Spirit.

These people marked the birth of the Church.

Let's see how it started by the Spirit, through repentance and faith.

Let's continue in verse 42.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and a fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who was in need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved At Mercy Church.

We want to model ourselves after the early church.

We want to simply help people find and follow Jesus.

It's not who has the greatest building or activities or the best show.

It's simply devoting ourselves to the word and to prayer, joining together for the breaking of bread, meeting together in homes and praising God and learning how to follow Him for the rest of our lives.

The first Christians even went to church at the temple courts.

Now it's not about the building.

It's about the believers joining with other believers.

It's about the community and the ability to take the journey together.

There's a strength and encouragement in praying and reading and worshiping and studying together.

I'd like to close real quick in prayer.

Dear Jesus, we thank you.

We thank you for the study and the willingness of each believer to follow you, to learn more about you, to put you first at the beginning of this 2024.

We thank you, lord, for your word.

We thank you, lord, for your Holy Spirit that is revealing the truth to us, that is guiding us and opening our eyes and giving us understanding.

We ask, lord, you continue to work in us and to teach us in the ways that we should go.

We thank you, lord, in Jesus' name, amen.

This marks the end of week two of our devotional.

If you need prayer or have questions or would like to know more about being filled with spirit, you can find us on our website, wwwmercychurch, or on social media under Mercy Church, colorado.

Send us a private message.

We love you, mercy Church family, and we hope you have a wonderful week.