Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs, from thistles, are they? But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also, for indeed what I have forgiven. If I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes, in the presence of Christ, in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. Our dearly father, we thank you for your absolute faithfulness. for the provision of your word, we might be engaged in discernment. We might grow from a status of childhood and baby condition, Lord, to a status of maturity with discernment. And we thank you that we are able to test the spirits, that is to test the teaching, test the doctrine that we might see whether or not it conforms to your word. We praise you and we thank you for this opportunity to study your word, your precious word, which will change and transform us. And we thank you that this is a time of worship as we focus, Lord, on the person and works of Jesus Christ. We focus on the revelation of who and what you are and what you have brought us to. In Christ Jesus, we thank you for all these things in his name. Amen. So today's study. Big long name I've been giving these just so I can keep them categorized in my head. This is our study of Pentecost or Shavuot. the new church, tongues, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then Peter's preaching on the uniqueness of Yeshua, Jesus. Actually, that should be changed. Peter is preaching on the witnesses of Yeshua, Jesus. We're gonna start out with review this morning. Last week, we worked our way through the weekly review of Peter's sermon. And we made our way all the way up to verse 32 of chapter two in the two services. And we reminded ourselves that Peter was answering the genuine question of the devout Jews who had witnessed the sound, a sound like a hurricane wind of the Holy Spirit blowing through over Jerusalem so that all who were bringing their sacrifices on this holy day, Shavuot, They were bringing their sacrifices and they heard this loud, very loud, very distracting, very obvious noise of a hurricane conditioned wind. And yet there was no wind, but they heard it all. And they noted what was actually the Holy Spirit in his arrival. He arrived at the Feast of Shavuot to pour himself upon the followers of Yeshua Jesus, the Mashiach, which is the Hebrew pronunciation of Messiah. And then these followers, our 12 disciples, particularly out of the 150 or so followers, Having received the pemplemi filling of the Holy Spirit, when we discussed pemplemi versus pleuro, And pleuro is more akin to what we consider today, the filling of the Holy Spirit. So when you and I speak to each other about the filling of the Spirit, or confessing our sin that we might have the filling by means of the Spirit, when we're talking about living our lives under the filling of the Spirit, we are thinking of that term pleuro. But that's not what we have here in the book of Acts. We have templemi, which means the coming upon or the endowment by God, the Holy Spirit, that these individuals might be capable and equipped and empowered to speak forth from their mouth spiritual things, including prophecy, And that's what Pimplemi is all about. And so we reviewed that, took a couple of weeks to go through and make sure that we have that straightened out. We keep going back and touching on it. So these disciples had the Pimplemi filling of the spirit, and then they spoke in tongues, your English text says, but the Greek word here is glossa. And this means that they spoke in other unknown to them, but actual Gentile languages, not in Hebrew, not in Aramaic, which is a form of Hebrew, but in Gentile languages. And they were speaking these known Gentile languages. which Jews who are scattered amongst the Gentile nations and are visiting Jerusalem for Shavuot, for this festival, one of the three in which all Jews are commanded to come and worship. And perhaps some even living in the metropolitan capital city of Jerusalem. which is the capital of Judea or this version of Israel under Roman occupation. Some having moved there heard these Galilean Jews speaking in the language of their homelands, the wonderful works of God. The Megalaios Theos is the Greek term. Megalaios Theos. We see this in Acts chapter two, verse 11, where we read, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works, which is Megalaios. Megalaios means great. glorious, wonderful, magnificent, or splendid. All of those are good translations of Megalaios. The wonderful, glorious, magnificent, splendid, great works or things of God, which is theos, And theos simply means of God. So the megalos theos, the things about God, the things of God or the works of God, the accomplishments of God, the divine policies and involvement of God would absolutely be included in there. And we can also include in there the protocol plan of God towards mankind. Wonderful, great, magnificent things. God's plan towards mankind included in there. Now, we haven't studied this word, so I thought I'd throw it in at this point. The only other place that we find this in the Greek New Testament, this word, megalaios, is in Luke chapter 1, verse 49. Now, it's interesting, because Luke is written by Luke, and Acts is written by Luke. So we have the same vocabulary word that's used twice by Luke and not by anyone else. Now there are other forms of the root word that we have as megalaios that are out there and we have a couple of occasions Peter uses it talking about the transfiguration and the great work or the revelation of who and what Jesus Christ is that he witnessed. So we have that. But today I want to look at Luke 1 49 since that is the corresponding place where we see that term. And we see this. This is Mary, the Virgin Mother Mary who is speaking. For he who is mighty has done great things, and that's our term. Megalaios, great, glorious, wonderful, magnificent, splendid, wonderful works. He has done great things for me, she says, and holy is his name. Now, we're not Catholic. We aren't gonna venerate Mary as someone to worship. The Catholics believe that she is worthy of veneration, that she has a special place that we are to pray to her. All of that is extra biblical. It is part of the heretical teachings of a church that usurps its own authority over biblical truth. And like any institution that asserts its authority over biblical truth, we find that they can get away with any and every heresy that they happen to embrace. And so the Catholic Church having roots going back to paganism and having incorporated that paganism into the church in part to be able to rule and reign over a land of pagans and impose via dictate of the of the emperor Constantine over all of the Overall, the empire, they said, basically, this is our new religion and everyone is going to worship and everyone must worship this Jesus. And so they incorporated lots of paganism and pulled it in. We still have much of that today and many pieces and points of paganism that they picked up along the way. and other just aberrant things that were put in place to either try to control the people or to bring money into the coffers of the church itself. All of that aside, we find that Mary and her prayer is inspired and it is worthy of attention. It is one of the most beautiful prayers that we find in all of scripture. and it is edifying to our soul and it is instructive doctrinally for us. So Mary does us here an extraordinary favor we're going to find and she elaborates for us what those wonderful works or great things might be which these 12 disciples, and now they are apostles, who are sent ones of Yeshua Jesus, might be testifying of in other Gentile languages. So she's speaking here of the Magalhaus, the same thing that the apostles are testifying in front of all of Israel. And she, in her prayer, addresses Magalhaus. Now, as you might recall, Mary was given the word of the Lord by the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Messiah via a supernatural miracle of the Holy Spirit. That is, she would conceive by means not of man, not of sperm, but of the overshadowing of God, the Holy Spirit, taking one of her ovum and causing it to be formed so that it might be complete, that it might be a zygote, that it might become a man, that it might become an embryo, that it might grow in the womb, and that she would birth the God-man, Jesus Christ, who is free from sin. It was necessary that she be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that this individual, this God-man who she is told to name Yeshua, which means Joshua in the Hebrew, Um, you should know that jesus is simply the greek version of joshua And joshua is not pronounced joshua. That's how we put it into the english. It's actually yeshua So yeshua just means joshua. His name is to be joshua or yeshua, which means god or yahweh Yahweh saves, that's what Jesus means, or Joshua or Yeshua in the Hebrew. God saves. So she births this Messiah, this messianic individual who is free from sin, who is completely God and yet is completely man without revoking either one of those. Every one of the attributes of God he is and every one of the attributes of man he is. And yet in his time here in his body on earth, he puts forward what we understand and we term as the kenosis k-e-n-o-s-i-s, kenosis, and what this means is that he lays aside his deific privilege, that is, his privilege as God to intervene on his own behalf at any point or time. Now you'll find that many people debate over that and many times go through scripture and they interpret things as being his omniscience and his omnipotence and he's doing miracles, but we find with the careful reading of the text that all of these are done in the power of God the Holy Spirit. But he, as a man, depends on God the Father and His plan for direction, His word for provision and insight and knowledge, and on God the Holy Spirit to be the provider of power for every aspect of his life and his living. You see, he is the prototype human living that which we call the prototype life For us as believers as church age believers, we have the opportunity to live a very similar life. The difference being we are not sin free. So for us to live the life. the same life that Christ did, we have to be involved in confession of sin that we might be restored to depending on the system of God and the divine dynasphere, as we call it. That just means that we are in the realm of God, provided for by God, enabled by God, but dependent upon God, the Holy Spirit. And when we sin, we step out of that equipping and enabling living in the divine dynasphere and confessing our sins. We step back into that place of equipping and provision to live the supernatural spiritual life that we're called to live in the New Testament. That's by the enabling of God, the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ showed us the way. This is the reason why the Holy Spirit must overshadow Mary and she must be born, not of man, not of a sinful man, but this child must be born of God, the Holy Spirit. Mary finds out in this same conversation with Gabriel that not only is she going to be pregnant and have a child who is the Messiah, but that her cousin, Elizabeth, had conceived just prior to her via a different supernatural event in which there was restoration from her barrenness in her old age even and that she and her husband conceived and so she went to see her cousin. Naturally, isn't that what you would do? My cousin is going to have a child right before me. So off she goes. So we're going to look at that. Starting in Luke chapter 1 verse 39, we read, Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste. to a city of Judah. She didn't linger. She didn't stop to smell the flowers along the way, but she bee-loined it straight, too. See, here's how it works with bees. While they're out gathering the nectar, the pollen. Then they smell the roses. Then they see what's going on with the flowers. And they check out this pollen and that pollen. And they stuff all that pollen down in their leg sacs and their leg fibers there. And they carry as much of it as they possibly can. And when they're all filled up, and then it's time to go to the hive, time to go back to the family. they're all ladies so it's time to get back to the other girls and they hightail it straight back and it is a uh There's a point of amazing, almost mystery and providence that they have an uncanny ability as far away as they get to just go straight back to the hive. They can meander all over the place. Check out this flower and that flower and these flowers on the trees and these flowers down in the clover, in the grass. And when they're all filled up with all the pollen, kabang, they head straight back. When they get there, and then they do a little dance, where all their sisters are doing this little dance, saying, this is where I found this pollen, and this is where I found this pollen. And those other bees can watch that dance, and they can go zipping back to exactly where that bee found those trees with flowers on them, and the clovers that have the flowers on them. An amazing, amazing process. And that's what Mary is doing here. going with haste. A bee line, that's where we get the term from. It is an exact, straight, rocketing, zipping of the bee straight towards the hive. And she does a beeliner with haste to a city of Judah, verse 40, and entered the house of Zacharias, who is Elizabeth's husband. And we've studied this a few months back, and we got into the issue of Zacharias and what happened at the birth of Christ. and the birth of John the Baptist, et cetera, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth, my sister, my cousin, she says, there to do the dance and to interact and to have that connecting time. By the way, guys, that's an amazing thing about the women, the females in our midst, is they are connectors. They connect one another. They connect to the children, to the grandchildren. They connect to other individuals. And we are not really connectors. We might enjoy the connection. We might be those who actually I enjoy being social. I'm actually a fairly social person, I found out. And I'm more encouraged, I'm more positive when I go to a business meeting, interact with individuals, when I talk to customers on the phone and interact with them, when I'm out and about and do things. But that's not my tendency. My tendency is just stay in the house. I stay in the house and I read my books and I study my studies and I do my things and I'm quite fine and happy with that, but I don't realize that I have this social aspect that needs to be fed and needs to be dealt with. And the women of the family are the connectors who bring that which guys don't know that they need. Some guys do, most really don't. We're kind of, can I say it? Guys, we're dumb. We're kind of clueless in many ways, but women are the connectors of bringing everything together. So here they are connecting, verse 41. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary. but the babe leaped in her womb, that is, the child in her womb leaped, hearing the voice of Mary. Is there any debate about whether that child in the womb is an actual person, is actually alive? There's absolutely no debate from a biblical standpoint. This child is there, it is alive, it is a person, it is an individual. And we read Elizabeth was filled, and here's our word, pimplemi. And as we went through the list of pimplemi, this is one that we looked at, was filled with the Holy Spirit. So what's gonna come next since it's pimplemi? Pimplemi is the equipping for speaking forth something. Yep. So verse 42, then she spoke out loud with a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. What a wonder. What an amazing thing is happening here. Elizabeth, having received the prophetic gift of God, having a child being birthed within her that is going to be the prophet who announces the coming of the Messiah, instantly knows that here in the voice of her cousin, that this is the mother of he who is going to come right after her child. Her child will be the announcer, will be he who trumpets forth the call to repent and be baptized because the kingdom of God is at hand. Verse 43, but why is this granted to me? Elizabeth says, but the mother of my Lord should come to me. What joy she is having at this point. Blessed, blessed, blessed is the mother, blessed is the child. And why in my humble estate should I even be permitted this? visitation, verse 44, for indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe, notice she doesn't say the zygote. She doesn't say the embryo. She doesn't say that which is inside, which hasn't been born yet. We're not gonna call it a child. He says, the babe weeped in my womb for joy. Verse 45, blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. She is perceiving in an instant that Mary has believed that she has heard the word of Gabriel, that she has with confidence embraced what the Lord has said to her and about her. Verse 46 and Mary said then. My soul magnifies the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. We call this the Magnificat. What is going to come next, which is the prayer of Mary and we call it the Magnificat because magnify when we bring it into the Latin is Magnificat. That's where we get the term from and it means to magnify only in the Latin. Let's read Mary's Magnificat, the worship response. By the way, I have sung dozens and dozens of Magnificats. Every great classical composer out there has written a mass, whether it be Protestant or Catholic, And in that there is almost always a magnificat. And many times there are magnificats that are just separate to themselves, a magnificat that is written to this great prayer that Mary speaks here. There's a few things we're gonna learn along the way. We're basically gonna read it, but I'll give you a few comments as we go. And Mary said, my soul, magnifies the Lord. It is her soul. It is the inner place of her being, the place of her thinking, the place of her volition, the place of her norms and standards. It is her soul that magnifies the Lord. verse 47. In other words, this is a form of worship. And my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. Now there are those who say that we are not trichotomous, that is spirit doesn't mean that we have a spirit and yet they have a hard time explaining verses like this. My spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior. That is the part of the believer that is connected to, aware of, and able to interact with God, the Father. My spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior. Verse 48, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. She's perceiving rightly. She is seeing with no filters on the reality of the situation. What we might say about this whole prayer is she is seeing things from a divine viewpoint that is incomparable. is unparalleled and is rarely seen throughout scripture. There's a couple of places where we see it. We actually see it in the prayer of Hannah. as Hannah is praying, and she takes on the divine viewpoint of God, and she looks what other people may do in a cold and harsh manner at her situation, but she instead takes on the grace orientation of her God in heaven, understanding that in her barrenness, God will answer her prayers, and she talks about how God changes the state of all people. Those who are wealthy will be without and those who are poor will be Promoted and she goes back and forth and back and forth and shows how God is the one who changes the estate of man and she is appealing to God for the birth of her child who will be Samuel the prophet who will be the one who anoints the king the one who He's going to bring the anointing oil and place it upon the king. Now Israel didn't want to wait. And so they called for Saul to be anointed as their king because he was good looking and tall and he had a deep voice and he had a presentation and everyone just looked at him and said, well, that's obviously king material. But in his heart, he was not. And so Samuel ended up anointing as Saul demonstrated his lack of qualification for the role of king. Samuel went and anointed the younger child of Jesse who was a sheep herder, a shepherd out in the fields and probably not a child like we often depict, probably not an eight-year-old, probably more likely a 16 to 20-year-old who was out there who had wrestled with lions, who had wrestled with wolves and bears and had slain them all with his slingshot and with his sword. Had saved his sheep and God looked at him and says this Is he who has the heart of a shepherd? Therefore I will place him over my sheep the people of Israel And he is known as the friend of God that is they had a deep and intimate Relationship this was king material Here we have Mary speaking forth those same types of things as Hannah, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed. Verse 49, for he who is mighty has done, and here it is, our word, great things. Megalaios. great, glorious, wonderful, magnificent, splendid, what's translated in Acts chapter two as the wonderful works of God. But here he has, he who is mighty has done megalios for me, and holy is his name, that is, he is holy, he is above reproach, and yet he has chosen to do this for me. Verse 50, and his mercy, and here we begin to see what megalios means, how it is expressed. His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. What does that mean to fear him? It means those who call upon the name of the Lord and have respect. and have understanding of his place and his authority over all creation. Therefore they call out to him." And we read the first characteristic here that his mercy is on those who fear him. Verse 51, he has shown strength with his arm. strength with his arm, that means he is the giver of strength. We are not the getters of strength. We are not the portrayers of strength. We are not those who develop a strength of our own, but we learn to exercise and live through the strength of God himself. We depend on his strength. That is, he works in the weak. He confounds the wise. He moves in a way that is so different from all of mankind. And he has scattered, we read, the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Funny, that is a apt description of what it means to be proud. Paul tells us to cast down our vain imaginations, vain imaginations. Imagination means are trying to analyze and come up with the idea of how to make these things happen. It's oftentimes what we do in our times of anxiety. To use a term of someone I know, we scenarioize. We come up with this scenario and that scenario. And if I do this, and if I said that to them, and if I do this over here, we see a line of dominoes that we think we can influence. And we come up with these great imagination schemes. And it is a sign of the proud. And when we do that, we're not functioning in humility before the Lord. We're trying to stand up in our own way and find the solution to the issue. When we know what we need to do is go, Oh Lord, I need your help. I need you to be the one who works this out. I can't work it out. I can't do this or that. I can't manipulate in this way or that way. It must be you who opens the door of provision. It must be you who works out this relationship that I can't solve. I can't settle. I can't get to the bottom of, but you can do it, Lord. So we bring our actual real prayers about the real situation to the Lord. And he shows his strength in that way. Verse 52, he has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. And here we begin to see that contrast, which is figured throughout the prayer of Hannah. Here, Mary, and you must think every young woman, woman who grows up in the Jewish household must instantly connect to the amazing story that is Hannah. So the amazing reality of how she has absolutely nothing but depending upon God, she is given the prophet who is he who leads Israel to their king. Why? Because she was barren. Why? Because she was put down and looked harshly upon by those around her. And yet she appealed to God instead of fighting for her own reputation, instead of bringing out a sharp tongue and trying to retort back to them, trying to outwit them with their ridicule, instead, She appeals to the Lord God in heaven, and he is the one who protects her reputation, who redeems her, who shows her to actually be the one of favor, the one who produces the prophet that anoints the king. Amazing story. He has put down the mighty, we read in 52, from their thrones an exalted lily. Those who are high are brought low, but those who are low are raised up. It's a constant story throughout the entire length and breadth of scripture. Verse 53, he has filled the hungry with good things. That means those who are hungry, he provides for. And the rich, he has sent away empty. That means with no food in their stomach, nothing to bear, nothing to, they, would you think be able to buy their way into any situation? And yet God as a provider looks to those who are in need and provides for them. And he is not providing for those who are self-dependent, dependent on self. So if you are rich, if you have means, then what God is saying here via Mary is those who depend on me, I take care of. Those who depend on self, they leave empty. And I think we should take that a step further in our understanding in the principles and doctrines that are to be drawn here and applied to our lives. There is a point of satisfaction in life that can't come by any means other than dependence upon God. If you are independent from God, then you have established yourself as one who will not benefit in fellowship and relationship with God because you are arrogant. depending on self as a form of arrogance. Now, that doesn't mean you can't take care of your life. You can't solve your problems. You can't be the handyman around the house or handywoman around the house. You can't hire people to take care of things for you. You can't take initiative. I'm not saying any of that. Absolutely all those things you can do, you should do. You should be responsible. You should exercise your volition. But when it comes to reality, you need to know And we have awareness that God is the provider of all these things. Many people get locked up into the concept that it is my working that provides the money. It has never been your working that provides the money. It's been the grace of God who put you in a situation, who gave you gifts, who gave you an employer that was willing to employ you. That's a big one right there. Or gave you the gifts that you might be able to be self-employed, an investor, et cetera. God is the one who does all of that. He is the enabler, the empower. It is because of his grace that you have anything that you have Therefore as those of means whether they be in our midst or otherwise They need to be aware and they need to be investing in God's kingdom because it was not given to them for themselves Titus tells us that God gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify us unto himself a people of his possessions, zealous for good works. Everything that we are, everything that we do is to be zealous for the works of God, for the things of God. This is part of maturity. It is the purpose and the reason of God's redemption of us, we are told in Titus, not to leave us as we are, not to say, oh, I'm saved. No, I can't be bothered by you, God. And there are many who do that. but that we might be those who grow and become zealous of good works. We are called to that. Verse 54, he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. You see, Jacob, who became Israel as he wrestled with God, found himself in a place of dependence upon God. And even before that, we find that Jacob, under the life of trying to get his wife, his beloved wife, Rachel, worked for all these years and then in a trick by his father-in-law was given the sister that he didn't want to marry Leah who the Hebrew tells us she made the eyes water. that means she wasn't the best looking gal in the village. And dad thought there's no way I'm gonna marry her off. There's no guy who's gonna come wooing for her. So he had Jacob working and working and working for seven years. And then kabam, there's a blind marriage. He steps into the tent and realizes afterwards, oh good grief, I got eye water girl. That's who he is married to. Then he works for more years and he ends up getting the woman who he really loved, Rachel, and he's able to marry her. So during this time, God prospered him. And in the agreement, every goat that was born that had spots uh was to be his and the goats that were born with the clear skin those would go to his father-in-law and he was bountifully blessed with great great spotted flocks and then uh his father-in-law says let's change the plan uh all the spotted animals go to me this time around in the next arrangement And so then from that point forward, all the animals that are born are clear-skinned instead of spotted, and they still go to him. So we see that God is prospering him in the midst of this situation. And he finds that God has been merciful to him, verse 55, and so he is he who births a nation as Israel, and verse 55, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. God is merciful. He spoke to Abraham. He spoke to Isaac. He spoke to Jacob and to all of his seed forever, which we are, is part of the point that Mary is making here. And then verse, oops, That was the end of verse 55. Now, and that's the end of her prayer. It is a simple, really short and yet magnificent prayer. It is giving all glory to God and understanding that He is the enabler. He is the prime mover. Now, it's interesting that we have this word, megalaios, one other time. So now the two instances in the Greek New Testament were both written by Luke, but it turns out that in Psalm 71 in the Septuagint, that word is used one time. In Psalm 71 verse 19. Reading, also your righteousness, O God, is very high. You who have done, here comes our word, great things is, in the Hebrew, it is gadol, gadol, which means great, mighty, or wonderful. Funny, that was one of the words that was in my memorization the last couple of days as I'm going through with this computer app on my phone that helps me to memorize Hebrew words. And it's one that came up. And so I learned gidal, hopefully. And here it is in our text. And it is translated in the Septuagint into the Greek. So the Septuagint is the Greek translation that occurred 300 years before the life of Christ. And it is used extensively by the Hebrews who are Greek speaking at this time. They speak Latin, they speak Greek, they speak Hebrew, they speak Aramaic. And we have many quotations as the New Testament is written in Greek, which is the language of commerce, the language of education, across the land at this time. And so we find this word used in that translation. Megalaios again is great, glorious, wonderful, magnificent, splendid, and it means the wonderful works. Splendid, glorious, magnificent works. Oh God, who is like you? No one else produces these works. Nothing else can produce these types of works. Now, our disciple slash apostles in Acts chapter two are speaking of the praise and wonders of God. And I want to read Psalm 71 to you. And I think you're going to be amazed at what is spoken of here that might seem very relevant to the moment in our narrative of Acts chapter two and how evocative or similar it is to the prayer of Mary that we just reviewed. Interesting. I love a coincidence when I see it. I'm being facetious when I say coincidence, that means that there's probably something of God's purpose involved here. For those of you who don't know me, I need to hold up my facetious sign. Psalm 71, verse one. In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be put to shame. He's starting out on the exact same foot as Mary in her prayer. I trust in you and those who trust in you are blessed. Elizabeth cried out, you put her trust, you believed, you put your faith in the message that was brought to you that you might be the Messiah's mother. Verse two, deliver me in your righteousness and cause me to escape. Incline your ear to me and save me. Now I want to point out that we've already reviewed in Acts chapter 2 that the tongue speaking, the speaking in Gentile languages is a sign of a curse. It is a curse upon Israel. It is the sign to them that they are going to be overthrown as a nation, which will occur in AD 70, about 35 years later. And the reason that they are going to be cursed, that they are going to be destroyed, is because they rejected the Messiah. They rejected Jesus Christ as their King. They said, we will have, we will not have you over us. You will not be our king, pound pulpit. They made it quite clear again, and again, and again, they wanted nothing to do with this Jesus. In fact, he was so dangerous to them that they arranged in a false trial, an illegal trial, for him to be tried, found not guilty, but still taken forward, and in his innocence, sentenced to death. That's what they thought of him. Therefore judgment is coming to Israel Judgment is coming to Jerusalem and the Apostle speaking in tongues is actually signifying that there is a judgment coming This is the end of Jerusalem, of the temple and of temple worship. And it will be the end of temple worship for thousands of years to come. We see in retrospect, as we look back through history. Verse three, be my strong refuge. to which I may resort continually. You have given the commandment to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress." You see, there is a remnant that comes out of this situation. Now, right now we're looking at Psalm 71 and this is talking about a situation here and yet how interesting how parallel it is to what's going on in Acts chapter 2. There are those individuals who are going to cry out to the Lord, and He is going to be their strong refuge, their rock and their fortress, and they will be delivered from the destruction, as we have heard from contemporary historians of Israel and the Titus 80, 70 destruction that comes upon them. Verse four, deliver me. Oh God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Repeat the same thing I just said. Here they are crying out that they might be delivered. Verse five, for you are my hope, oh Lord God. You are my trust from my youth. Verse six, by you I have been upheld from birth. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of you. That is, my birth is thanks to you. You brought me forth, you did it. It is not a result of the process of evolution and the ongoing change of the species. It is God who oversees the exact sperm, the exact egg that are joined together, that brings together a unique individual formed and assembled by God for his purposes. And he says, my praise shall be continually of you. You did this, you made me. One of the things we need to be aware of as we have this great debate going forward in all 50 of our states dealing with the issue of abortion is the uniqueness of the individual that God has formed in every single case. Let me repeat that. Every single case God has uniquely joined together. See, the idea of a termination of a child based on rape and incest is morally sound to us. We're like, this is an attacker, this is an invader, like an invading army, it should be killed. And yet we overlook this idea here, this simple idea. I'm not saying this is doctrine, I'm saying consider this, think about it. The God uniquely joins a specific sperm and a specific egg to create an individual. God does that regardless of the circumstance. Verse seven, I have become as a wonder to many, but you are my strong refuge. He's saying I'm unique. I am a wonder, people wonder that I exist. How did I get here? I've related to that over the years as a child growing up in my family. I have some unique things about me. I ended up talking at a very, very young age. I was walking at nine months, talking in full sentences. And so over the years, I've asked my parents occasionally, I said, so where did you adopt me from? Where did I come from? I'll use what to me are just normal words. And my mom says, why do you use that word? And I say, because it's the right word. She says, what does it mean? And I'll tell her what it means. She says, why don't you say that? And I'll say, because I'm using the word that's in my mind. It's the simple right word that pops into my head. And so I use it. And then I say, so where did you adopt me from? And dad used to, Reply because I was born over in Wairika, California says well We were out the one by a hamburger stand and we stopped and you know, they threw in a baby with the fries. So They're not Verse eight, let my mouth be filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. You are unique. You are the one worthy of all praise and glory. You are the one who forms our souls, our personalities. Verse nine, do not cast me off in the time of old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails. I have known you forever. From a youth, I have known you and worshipped you and loved you. I was born uniquely by you. I can relate to this. At a young age, I, because my mother was in child evangelism, my parents got saved when I was six months old. So very early on, the gospel and the person and work of Jesus Christ was all I heard, all that I knew about. We sang songs and hymns, spiritual songs to the Lord constantly. God filled my soul with knowledge of him. And I have the same thought, don't cast me off when my strength fails. Oops, I have already been there, failed strength. A little renewal with the triple bypass that I have. I have more strength. I can go back. I'm looking at projects, cleaning up things that have been difficult for years and years. And now I'm thinking I can take it on. I can do that. I can get these things cleaned up. Yeah, pray for me because the eyes are ambitious, but maybe I'm not ready, so. Verse 10, for my enemy speaks against me and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together. Verse 11, saying, God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him for there is none to deliver him. There are times and moments where it seems like we're outside of the protection of God and people who are the enemies of God or who are our enemies will take note and they go, oh, now while he's awake, let's try to destroy him. Can you think of one of those? the enemy of your soul. See, he's not looking for your best day to attack you. He's not looking for the day when you wake up and you're walking with God and you are singing praises in your soul and you're praying constantly like soap bubbles ascending from the depths of the water. Or in the pond, my mom's koi pond, we put these little bubblers in there and her waterfall stopped, the pump wasn't working and so I got this. extra big electric pump and this bubbler that's down in the bottom of the pond. It just looks like all these little air bubbles coming up which oxygenate the water for the fish. Wonderful thing. Our prayers are to be like that. Constant bubbles going up. It's not on that day that the enemy of your soul attacks you. He waits until you're down. He waits until your husband or your wife is down, and then he attacks. He waits until the situation in your family appears where you feel like a sword has been run through your heart, and then he attacks. He waits for the day when your business is out of sorts, when your body is not working correctly, when the doctor can't figure out what's going on, let alone who you are. When the insurance isn't paying for things, when the problems are coming in, then he attacks. Verse 12, oh God, do not be far from me. Oh my God, make haste to help me. This is a cry of the soul. Lord, I feel like you're too far away. We do have those days when we have to operate by faith, not by feeling Whether or not we think God is far away He says that he is not so make haste to help me is our cry of deliverance Sometimes we wake up and we're like it's too much can deal with it. I can't process. I'm not thinking doctrine help That's all we can get out and yet he is faithful to do that verse 13 Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries of my life let them be covered with reproach and dishonor who seek my hurt, a valid prayer of David. Verse 14, but I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. The praises will come. I will choose to praise you. The more I go through life, the more I learn of God, the more doctrine that fills my soul, the more relationship that I learn to experience, the more and the more and the more I will praise God. And yet we will praise God into eternity. Verse 15, my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day for I do not know their limits. There is no limit to your righteousness and your salvation. It is the eternal nature of every aspect of the universe. essence of God, of the character of God. Verse 16, I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of your righteousness, of yours only, only your righteousness matters. My righteousness is not worthy. That's why at the moment of salvation, when God saves us, the very next thing he does, having saved us from the judgment of sin and death, the power of death, He imputes us with the righteousness that he himself owns and possesses. He imputes us, gives us his righteousness. You're covered. You are imputed. You actually have the righteousness of God, which is why you will be Enabled to live forever in eternity with him because you have been made righteous with righteousness not your own and secondly God has established a Landing for grace in your soul and in your life and God will abundantly Pour out his grace upon you. Why? because you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ and there's nothing more that God the Father wants to do than to bless and pour out prosperity upon the person of Jesus Christ and those who possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ as well. A couple more verses here. Oh God, you have taught me from my youth, and to this day I declare your wondrous works. Verse 18, now also when I am old and gray-headed, oh God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation. You might think that the people who are on TikTok only want to hear from other people on TikTok. And yet scripture teaches us that the gray headed have the power to speak into the lives of the TikTokers. Don't forget it. Don't lose track and don't lose sight of that idea. God has appointed those who are in a place of age to speak into the lives of those who are younger. your power to everyone who is to come. We are to be witnesses, as the apostles learned, and then we have our verse. Also your righteousness, O God, is very high. You have done great things, O God, who is like you. Verse 20, you have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again. James 1, as we go through trials and tribulations, count it all joy, my brethren, knowing Based on knowledge, based on doctrine, we persevere understanding that God has given us a strength. He is equipping us with a patience and ability to bear up under pressure via the power and the gifting of God himself. And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Verse 21, you shall increase my greatness. Now again, we have a variation of that word gadol. Here it is gadula, which means greatness instead of just great works. Here it is greatness and comfort me on every side. Verse 22, also with the lute, I will praise you. By the way, the lute and praises, we're talking an expression from the mouth. And your faithfulness, O my God, to you I will sing with the harp, O holy one of Israel. He is proclaiming the absolute fact that there is a speaking forth of the mouth, which is exactly what the apostles are doing. Again, the parallels here are uncanny in a sense, but not really. Verse 23, my lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to you and my soul which you have redeemed. Verse 24, my tongue also shall talk of your righteousness all the day long, for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame who seek my hurt. What are the apostles doing in Acts chapter two? They're talking of the righteousness of God all day long. They are singing as it were, their lips rejoicing, Speaking of the works of the Redeemer, Mary talked about the works of the Redeemer and what he does. And so that is our review of Metaleo. Now, to clarify before we close, I'm not trying to say that Psalm 71 contributes to the context of what we are reading in Acts chapter two. But I am pointing out, in other words, don't interpret Acts chapter two based on Psalm 71. But I am pointing out that in all of the places where we read of the term that is translated as the great works of God or the great things that God does, it is a context of the proclamation from the lips of those who worship God by proclaiming his great deeds. So in the other cases, it's about the proclamation of God's great deeds, as we just read in Psalm 71. Let's close this service, go to the Lord in prayer. Dear only Father, we thank you for this time. May your word make our heart accountable would you do your work in us the doctrine that you have revealed here the proclamation of truth May it awaken our hearts and our souls to respond to you, to see things from a divine perspective and not a human one. May we be those as well who speak of the Megalaios, Lord, the great works of our God, wherever we go, in every situation, especially when we feel like we are accosted or we have enemies surrounding us, may we speak forth of your great deeds. In the midst of that situation, we praise you and thank you for this time. We pray and praise you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.