If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Third, the OT believers enjoyed the constant presence of God's Spirit. But as Christ begins to give them the teaching from the Scriptures, of how He had fulfilled literally, in every way, the scriptures about the Messiah. I took a course in seminary on the Old Testament wisdom literature where we talked about Hebrew poetic parallelism and determinism and Heilesgeschichte ("salvation history") and I would generally raise my hand at the end of class and say, "So what?" Luke 24:53 says that the disciples stayed continually at the Temple praising God. Again, the answer is yes. etc.'. That is the vision that Jesus has for His Church as articulated by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:16 Ephesians 4:16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love.American King James Version, and they had it at this moment. Were on a mission to change that. But ten billion kilowatts were added to enable the church to take the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ to every tongue and tribe and nation. And if those are the weapons of our warfare, then we can handle them. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy. The elixir, the antidote to our faith, to every one of our problems, if we could see a miracle; and we like signs, but miracles, well, they're a little harder to come up with. And so they had become a part of something that again, they were still trying to understand. "Let all things be done for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). The answer is not Pentecost. . These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. 1. And I sat, and I sat, and I thought somebody will come along and tell me what to do. He had a long way to come to be the one to stand up and to give the sermon on this day, but he did it. Two things we can summarize to show what was the key to bring about this scene that we see here at the end of chapter 2 in Acts. We can internalize that and think that through. How can I recognize one? And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. People should see God in the firstfruits. What is this gift of prophecy? And this dramatic miracle, but beyond that, 3,000 people being added to the Church, and then a community being developed. Peter was quoting Scripture and applying it to something that had happened and that is Jesus, His death and His resurrection. So He begins to teach them from the Scriptures that they might understand, and that they might comprehend what He was and how He had fulfilled everything that they would have understood to one degree, and then even more they had begun to develop a fuller understanding of the prophecies of Isaiah, or Joel, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, the statements about the Messiah. And I didn't know how to make a connection. Micah 3:8 says, "As for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin." If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! This is the underlying message Jesus gave to his disciples in today's 2nd Sunday of Lent year A Gospel (Mt 7:1-11) which narrates the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, after having announced to them his Passion and Death on the cross. If we can learn to take on the divine nature and drink that in, in our lives, then we can banish doubt, uncertainty, and fear, unbelief, that will creep in at various times as we go through our lives, and stages in the developments of life. Mt., 47 counts, XII, 30-37)<br> <br> Gospel Reading (Matthew 71 ch., XVII, 10-18)<br> <br>10 And his disciples asked . 1 Samuel 11:6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The church today is so sleepy that some of us have even fallen behind the Old Testament saints in our appropriation of what the Spirit has to give. Maybe a few more decided to go to Jerusalem on Pentecost to see what was going on, and the town was bursting at the seams, and from all these nations that we're told about here and areas. And it is also the mission of the Church, we see right here, it has begun. I also think this is true in some way, but in gospels there is record that Jesus 'gave them authority over devils and diseases and sent them to preach gospel, to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. . The disciples had to walk a week away to get to Jerusalem (Acts 1:12). But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! Colossians 2:15 Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.American King James Version, tells us that He disarmed the powers with His death. And when those come in, how do we process them? LISTEN NOW. (1 Cor., 148 pp., XI, 8-22). How could they have ever submitted to God's law and pleased himas many did, like Abel and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Rahab and Ruth and Deborah and David? The Jewish authoritiesthe Sanhedrin, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadduceesthat authority was intact in Jerusalem, running the temple, running the religious side of the culture and the social life of Judea under the Roman cap, and it too was a very, very powerful force you didn't run up against. You remember what Ruth said to Naomi when Naomi, in the book of Ruth, had lost her husband and children, and these two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, tried to follow her away from Moab, and Orpah decided to leave. They had a lot of fear. Such notions have always struck me as profoundly atheistic. The indwelling Spirit permanently dwells in the believer. Zechariah 4:6 says, "Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts.". Not only apostles, but even the prophets of the Old Testament, who are lower than apostles, had a degree of presence of Spirit in themselves, through Whom they prophesied (needn't to give references, for they are so numerous!). For example, when Moses gathered with the seventy elders of Israel at the tabernacle, it says in Numbers 11:25, "The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the Spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Back in Mark's account, chapter 16 of Mark, we see that the same thing lingered among the wide group of people there. It was the Roman soldiers that had carried out the death of Christ and had sealed the tomb and a Roman guard had been placed there. Their disbelief would extend not only to the idea that the dead could come back to life, as He did, but then they doubted the truth of these witnesses. "Standing with the Lamb on the Mount of Olives," in Revelation 14:1 Revelation 14:1And I looked, and, see, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.American King James Version, "144,000 with the Father's name written on their foreheads. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Send inquiries regarding the operation of this Web site to webmaster@ucg.org. "And all who believed were together and they had all things in common. And so it was very key that His final ascension would be from this mountain. If dark matter was created in the early universe and its formation released energy, is there any evidence of that energy in the cmb? People should see that in us. Although John does not say this is the point when the disciples were born again, or that was when the New Covenant started, Erwin takes it to mean both: "it marks the transition from the terms of the old covenant to those of the new covenant" (p. 20). Now, it was all beginning to come together. And God will expose sin, ours to ourselves, sometimes to others. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? When I got off the bus from my hometown, I was in this large room, this large terminal, it was as larger, even larger than this room here, which for me, from my small town was a pretty big thing to walk into, and I did, first time I had ever traveled. A fellowship, a community, prayer, sharing food together, much like we do today. And you can begin to imagine how this dynamic begins to must have been being set up within the disciples, because when you begin to doubt one another, you begin to lose trust. Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. This salvation experience comes before the . On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. However, of course, the apostles had smack of the Spirit even before, for even before Spirit was present in them to a certain degree and intensity; they possessed the Spirit-ual gifts even before the Pentecost, however the gifts of the Infinite Spirit are also infinite and at the Pentecost they got a greater share of this graceful infinity, so as to totally be absorbed in it. During the long period of construction the Nile River wasn't completely stopped. "What do we do?" A week later the disciples were together again. Again, I think that is an example of using an . Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. And they're seeing that, and it's the final time. Well, the real answer is for you and I, the same things that are going through your mind right now, and my mind. "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). When did the disciples become born -again? Would it make any difference for our lives today if we knew the answer? Second, the OT believers experienced the new birth and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Or is it? It was true then. 2930), "When thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. "He appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom He had cast seven demons. 19952023 All correspondence and questions should be sent to info@ucg.org. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:24). What's the next step?" Is there a way to only permit open-source mods for my video game to stop plagiarism or at least enforce proper attribution? Week 8 to Pentecost. After Jesus had greeted them again, he said, I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me. Then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. 60 seconds. Was Galileo expecting to see so many stars? This means that all the saints of the OT who trusted God and followed his ways in the obedience of faith were born again by the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit. He quotes Joel, he quotes Psalms and he gives interpretations upon those scriptures, here in chapter 1, no one had ever heard of before. , sharing food together, much like we do today of God 's Spirit the... Has begun correspondence and questions should be sent to info @ ucg.org will expose sin ours..., they die and return to their dust expose sin, ours to ourselves, sometimes to.. `` Let all things in common our warfare, then we can handle them He burned with anger the. Community, prayer, sharing food together, much like we do today when thou takest away breath! 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