Good morning, everyone. If you grab your handles and turn to page 339, 339. I will sing the wondrous story of the nights that came for me. I will dance in the glory of the ones that Sing it with the saints in glory, Gathered by the crystal sea. I, the crystal sea, I was bruised as the sea of me. Faint was I from when you fell. Sight was gone and hair was as me. Yes, I'll see what days are done 3 He will keep me till the river flows its waters at my feet, and he will bear me safely over where the love of my life shall lead. Selah Great singing! Our next song will be 384, 384. now is reconciled. Yes, the world is healed of the sinful way, and is born anew in ransom child. Glory, glory, all the angels sing. Glory, glory, all the loud horns ring. Great singing. Your next song will be 531, 531. And if you stand with me on this one. Amen. Brother Brandon, if you would, open us in prayer. Yes. Yes. Amen. Please do be seated. Well, praise the Lord again for the rain. And it's good to have our visitors here this morning. We're glad you're here. Amen. So we praise the Lord for that. I praise the Lord for the meeting last week. I think it was very helpful for us as a church and individuals and families. And so I praise the Lord for that. But we're entering the crazy season, that busy time, the holiday season and all that, hunting season and all the things that accompany those things. Let me make a couple, we have in the bulletin, we have it wrong, but a couple activities. First off is Friday night at the Welters, is having a team activity, I'm assuming 6.30? Okay, so 6.30 at the Welters. And bring your own chairs? All right, so bring your own chairs. And so please do remember that. I would imagine it's going to be starting to get a little bit cooler, so you might want to address that, you know, with coats and everything. And I intended originally to have a fellowship Sunday on the 10th, and then we moved to 17th, and then realized that that's hunting. And so we thought that might not be the best day to have a fellowship Sunday. And so we've moved it back to the 10th. And so we're having a fellowship Sunday on the 10th. The fellowship Sunday means we have an early service. We have lunch and an early afternoon service, and then we go home. And so that'll be next Sunday. So when is the fellowship? Thank you, very good. And we have up there chili, but that's just because I said I wanted to make green chili and that's the way I can force my wife to make it. Amen. So I have a message on manipulation tonight if you want to. Just joking about that. And then the rest of that you can see there. We will say this, that November 26th is a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And so we'll have a Tuesday evening service on the week of Thanksgiving. And then there'll be no Wednesday night that week, just so that you all remember that. Also, yeah. Oh, on Tuesday. We're having a pie service, so bring pie. And we all voted peach pie, apple pie. We like fruit pies. No chocolate pies. I just got voted out as pastor, didn't I? Pecan pie. There you go. Amen. All right. Amen. Amen. So we will be having a pie fellowship then. Also, I'm forgetting. This afternoon, we will be having Baptist history, and if you want to get yourself in the mindset, just because we're doing it so fast, we're going to have to skip ahead a little bit. And I want to skip up to the time of John Wycliffe and of William Tyndale, okay? So we're going to be talking about how we got our Bible a little bit here this afternoon. So I encourage you, John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, if you want to bone up on that before. And then next week, we'll be going into the Reformation. So the people, the leaders of the Reformation, some of the big names to know in that. So you know which direction we're heading there. Then also, if it's okay, it's folks, Christmas is coming fast. And if you'd like to practice with the choir, we'd love for you to come. And we could have the youth choir, but anybody who wants to sit in the choir, come tonight after the service. We'll work on a couple of Christmas songs. And then we're doing, I want that mountain with the teens, and so just have that mindset. We'll work on that here tonight. All right, any other things? All right, we'll receive our morning tithes and offerings. Look around, we got quite a few folks out. Some for health, some might be traveling, some are having activities, but just lift them up and let's keep them in our prayers. Brother Wade, if you would, ask the Lord's blessing. I want to thank you for the freedom to be here this morning, Lord. I want to thank you for all those who fought for our freedom, Lord. Lord, I just want to thank you for the rain. Lord, just pray for all those who are hunting this weekend and upcoming weekends, Lord. Just be with them and their safety, Lord. I just pray for all those who are sick and can't be with us today, Lord. Give them your healing touch, Lord. Also pray for this upcoming election, Lord. Continue to pray for our leaders, current and future leaders, Lord. Just be with Israel, Lord. Continue to give them the tools they need, Lord. We're just grateful for everything you do in our lives, Lord. In your name we pray. And for our last song, we'll sing 801. 801. This is me. I'll break down my scarce can take it in. Then on the cross my burden had been carried. He pleaded, God, to take away my sin. Joy shall fill Breathe now Well, amen, well get your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Acts chapter one. I gotta tell you that third verse of how great thou art. Good for us to meditate on that, amen. When I think about God's not sparing his only begotten son to pay the price for my sins, amen. I think we ought to be more happy about it than that. Amen. But it's been a busy week, and so it's just good to be in the Lord's house. I'm glad you're here. Hopefully, y'all took advantage of that extra hour of sleep, didn't you? Amen? I gotta be honest with you, I did. So I enjoyed myself. Get that extra hour in, so praise the Lord for that. We're going to be in Acts chapter 1, we're going to begin in verse 4. And we introduced the book of Acts last week. And so now we're going to delve into it here a little bit. And in verse 4 the Bible says, and being assembled together with them, commanded them, he's talking about Jesus here. He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And when they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they into Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey. And when they were come in They went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Judas, the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. Let's pray. Father, we do love you. We thank you that you are a great and mighty God. You're our great God and our savior. And Father, I pray that if there's one here today that doesn't know you as Savior, Father, I pray that you convict their heart, Father, that you would introduce that relationship to them and they would call upon you so that they could have a no-so salvation. And Father, we just praise you and thank you. We just thank you for the privilege and the freedom that we have to assemble here. We do pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders. And Father, we pray for your will. Father, we pray for our servicemen and those who service in society. Father, our emergency folks, the fire folks, police folks. Father, we just thank you for this time and this space of refuge where we can come, sing your praises. and hear your word. Father, just speak to our hearts, help us to respond, and Lord, help your will to be done in all our hearts and lives. Father, we love you, and we thank you now in Jesus' name, amen. Now, I've entitled this message here, Learning to Live by Faith Alone. Learning to Live by Faith Alone. You know, these apostles here have had a wonderful privilege to take and to walk with Jesus. There's some debate about the time frame, but it's essentially about three and a half, four years he's been able to walk with these men. And so, if you will, what we see here is we see the first church. composed of the 12, which at this point is the 11 that later in the chapter, they'll make it 12 or and and about 108 members. How do we know that? Well, the Bible tells us in Acts chapter one of verse 15 that there were about 120. And so you take 11. So I guess that would be 109. So it says about it's not giving you an exact number. He's just giving you an about number, OK? And so we got about, you know, 11 apostles and 110, if you will, people in the church here. And Jesus is giving them, if you will, his final, if you will, instructions before he leaves the earth, okay? And what has he done for three and a half years? He's walked with them, he's talked with them, he's comforted them, he's ministered to them, he's taught them, he's answered their questions. They've been able to run to him in every type of happenstance in life. And now he says, I'm getting ready to leave. You got to realize that one of the things that's going on, and we'll address this here in a second, is they thought he was going to be the king, that he is the anointed one, he is the Christ, he is the Messiah who was to come, he is the son of David, and they were expecting him to sit on a throne, and now he's getting ready to leave. And so if you will, they do have this question. Are you going to establish the throne now or establish the kingdom now? And he answers their question, by the way. It's one of the advantages of reading the Bible in context. It's very important for you to say, Lord, what are you trying to say? Here's what I want to say. You all understand that? And for the first time, reading through this portion of scripture, he answers their question if they were listening. By the way, how many of y'all know sometimes God answers our questions if we're listening? If we're listening, God answers our questions. You see, in a sense, the Bible says that he was gonna give them another comforter. In John 14, verse 16, he says, I'm going to give you another comforter, and it's good that I go away. The Holy Spirit can then come, and he can be in you, and he can be with you everywhere you go, if you will. So it's expedience, it's a wonderful thing, and they still didn't understand, but now he's getting ready to go. And folks, get a hold of this. We talked about it in my Sunday school class. We have a very real relationship with the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is God. But now he's saying, instead of having God the Son who you could see and touch and handle and hear, you're gonna be led by the Holy Spirit. The world's getting ready to change in a major way here. And he gives, if you will, these final instructions before that he gets ready to go. And so the first thing that we see here in verse four is they were given a command. And what was the command? I want you to look in there, just look, don't answer, but just look and see if you can come up with the command. The Bible says, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, you heard of me." I want you to know they were given a command that they were to go into the city of Jerusalem and they were to wait. If you study it out, you'll see that Jesus, after his resurrection, has been walking and giving evidence and ministering to people for 40 days. And Pentecost is the 50th day after his crucifixion, okay? And so if you will, he says, I need you to wait 10 days, okay? Now, I want you, how many of y'all good at waiting? You know, just for fun, I can stand up here for five minutes and not say anything. Would that be fun for y'all? Do y'all like waiting? I'm gonna ask that again, because you're gonna wait for me to have a response here. Are y'all fond of waiting? It's interesting, if you think about it, it's the hardest word people of action can hear. And we're these people of action, folks, can you follow the life of Peter? Peter always wanted to be doing something, did he not? And so here's what Jesus said to him, he says, Peter, he says, I want you to take the apostles and the church, and I want you to go to Jerusalem, and I want you to wait there for 10 days. I want you to think about this. Fortunately, if you will, he had learned some lessons. What do I mean by that? Listen, he had learned to stop questioning Jesus, meaning this, and if you ever study the life of Abraham, Abraham wasn't fully blessed until he learned to fully trust God and to fully follow God, to stop helping God out. Y'all understand that? God wouldn't fully bless him until he just said, take your son, your only son. and go sacrifice him. And the Bible says he got up early the next morning and he did exactly what God told him to do. He didn't try to come up with a different answer. He didn't try to come up with a different plan. He didn't say not so, Lord. You all understand that? Can I just tell you this? It's easy for us to understand when somebody gives us a direct command, okay? But how does the Holy Spirit speak to us? Yeah, and that still small voice in our conscience, in our heart, never in our ear, unless that maybe through the preaching or the witness of somebody, God uses that, you all understand that. And my whole point is this, is it's so easy to ignore a whisper. And yet Jesus is saying this, I'm not gonna be here, you gotta learn to follow the Holy Spirit. And so he gives them, if you will, a near impossible command. And Peter, in his habit and the past, would have said, not so, Lord, not so, amen. And yet Jesus took and turned to him in Matthew 16, verse 23. And Jesus, the Bible says, but he turned and said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. There are an offense to me, for thou savorest not the things of God, but those that be of men. I went to seminary with a young man, and he was in the college, and this guy was fastidious. If you don't know what that means, he's very clean and neat, and everything was perfect. You all understand that? And up there at Baptist Bible College, they had German cockroaches. Aren't those wonderful? You guys know what I'm talking about? And if you've ever seen German cockroaches, they get everywhere, okay? I mean everywhere. And so this guy, we had those drop-down acoustic tile ceilings. He took silicone and silicone-ed every panel. I mean, this guy spent days and weeks getting this apartment that he lived in so he could live there. He was there one semester and he started packing, he's leaving. And I said, what are you doing? And he says, souls are dying and going to hell, and I gotta get out there and I gotta save them. He's a man of action. Here's my question to him. I said, don't you think the Lord knew that when he called you to preach? My point was this is, if you're here to get training, get training. God knows when he called you, where he called you. Listen, that's one of the biggest, when I say that to people, that's one of my biggest motivators. God knows when he called you, where he called you, who he called. And listen, he knows way before you do to just follow the commands. Not so, Lord. We gotta be doing things. We gotta be out fishing. We gotta be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's Peter. And Peter stopped, and God said, wait. So you know what Peter did? He went, and for 10 days, he waited. Now I'm not saying it was pretty. You guys know what I'm talking about? You ever been there? Walking in a circle, pacing the floor, amen? Or you could be like Jesus, knowing that you've got to get to the other side, so you might as well take a nap. Why? He's resting in the will of God. Amen. Just think about it. And so, if you will, he told them, I want you to wait. Can I just tell you this? That's the last thing Peter wanted to do. You know why? Because he says, I'm going fishing. And you remember that whole conversation? At the very end of it, he says, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Then here's what I want you to do, Peter. I want you to feed my sheep. Meaning what? I don't need you to fish anymore. I need you to pastor the flock. Y'all got it? And so if you will, this command landed directly on Peter where he came and he says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to wait. And he did. Praise God. You guys ever prayed for direction from God? And then God went, will God answer all your prayers? Now listen, is that just a platitude or do we have conviction? God will answer all our prayers. But how does he answer? Yes. Oh, he said yes. We like that one, don't we? It all depends on what you're asking for, but you all understand. Amen. No. Well, he said no. And can I just tell you this? No can be understood sometimes, but how many of y'all realize very seldom does God answer yes or no? God's other answer is the one we can't stand. The same answer that he gave to Peter, here's what I want you to do, I want you to wait, okay? Well, how do you wait? Well, you can fret. Or you can just go about your business until God opens the door for you. You guys understand that? I want you to think about this. Why does God say wait sometimes? Yeah, God's timing is perfect. He knows when we need things. Amen. By the way, is God always on time? We might want to learn that in our waiting. Amen. God, I'm ahead of Him. I'm ahead of him, so I need to wait to let him catch up to me." Why? I'll tell you why. For one thing, God could be working behind the scenes on someone or something, amen? You know, He taught us that in the beginning of the book. In Genesis 15, verse 16, in that passage of Scripture, He's getting ready to tell Abraham, Abraham, I'm going to give you all this land. Every place you set your foot is yours. Every place your eye sees is yours. I'm going to give it to you, but... Not yet. See, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have your family go into Egypt for 400 years. He told them that. Amen. And he says, and then I'm gonna bring him back. And by the way, did God have a reason for it? Yeah, there's a great reason for it. He was just a family. He wasn't even a tribe yet, amen? He needed to take and grow and prosper, and he had to become a nation. Why? Because listen, if Jimmy comes over to my house and says, this is my house, he better find the guns before I do. Understood? But if he comes over with an army and says, this is my house, I say, is it okay if I pack a bag? Y'all with me? And he says, here's the reason you can't have it yet. The iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. Meaning this, when God says he's not willing that any should perish, you know what that means? I'm gonna give them time to keep misbehaving. God, why do you do that? Can I ask a question here? Did anybody here misbehave before you got saved? How many of y'all are glad God had patience with you? And God is saying this, he's saying, Abraham, you gotta wait. I'm not gonna fulfill my promises. And by the way, he didn't fulfill his promises 400 years later. He just started to fulfill. He's even now fulfilling those promises. Amen. Okay, so wait, wait. I'm working on something behind the scenes. I need somebody to be prepared. I need somebody to be saved. I need, by the way, how many of y'all glad he waited for Paul, Saul to get saved? 30-year New Testament's responsible from Paul to Saul alone. Amen. I'm glad that he took and he waited. I want you to think about this when it comes to the space for repentance. God sent a guy named Jonah. You guys remember Jonah? And he said, in 40 days, God's gonna destroy this city. Woo, he went in, he went to the middle city, he preached for three days, and then he walked on the side of a hill and waited for God to destroy him. But deep in his heart, he knew, he knew, he knew. Matter of fact, remember how mad he got? And there's one thing he said to God, I knew you were gonna show mercy on him. I just, that's why I didn't want to do it. And by the way, give him a benefit of the doubt, that's a whole other series of messages, but he had a good reason why he didn't want them, because he knew God was gonna use them to destroy Israel. He knew that. And he's like, destroy them before they can destroy us. He said, no, for some reason, God knew, because he's God, that king has a heart to believe. The king of Nineveh. The king who sent out armies to torment the nations around him. The king who terrified nations by skinning people alive and letting them die. By taking and burying people in anthills, literally, putting honey on them and having the ants devour them. Can I just tell you this? That was an awful human being who had a heart to believe. Come on. Can I ask you a question? Any awful human beings in this world today? Amen. But you know what? God's not willing that. And I'm doing a work on him. And in all your hurry, you need to wait because I'm doing a work. Amen. By the way, 130 years later, the Assyrians got theirs. None of it got theirs. You know why? Because that king didn't have a heart to believe. He was unrepentant, amen. And so if you will, we've got to learn to wait. God is working on things. God's not willing that any should perish, amen. And by the way, God might be working on them, if you will. We already talked about them becoming a nation. You know, think about this. They were given a command to wait. And when that lesson is learned, to wait. By the way, again, how many of y'all like waiting? I didn't expect any amens. Amen. But how many of y'all realize this? Sometimes we need to learn to wait on God. I could preach a whole message on the lessons God's taught me, saying if you're not gonna wait, this is what's gonna happen. Amen? Anybody else here are impatient? Let me say it faster for you. Anybody else here are impatient? I'm just joking. You all with me? Well, when the lesson is learned. Could you go to Psalm 27, please? Psalm 27. In Psalm 27, look at verse 13. It says, I had fainted. I had fainted. If you go up in verse 12, it says, deliver me not over to the will of my enemies. Folks, he's in a war. He's in a battle. And God's letting his enemies win. Amen. Please take this the right way. David had some wonderful promises given to him. Amen. And God basically said this, here's what I need you to do, David, wait, okay? Read the context here, it'll help you. He's saying this, I would have quit, except I learned to wait. Wait on what? Well, let's read it. The Bible says this, it says, It says, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord, say it with me, in the land of the living. Y'all get it? This is a present promise. This is a present promise. This is a right now promise. Come on, this is a today promise. Y'all get it? So what do I need to do? Wait on the Lord. Be of good, what's the Bible say? Courage, God's got this. Folks, I've noticed that a lot of Christians have been so disappointed in the elections in the past that maybe we finally learned our lesson. Politicians aren't gonna deliver us. Now, having said that, pray, educate, get out and vote. Amen, okay? But no matter who gets elected, folks, that's not our Messiah, that's not our Savior. Amen. And can I tell you this? I think Christians are finally learning that lesson. You know why? Because I remember all the days people used to cheer Ronald Reagan. I do. Ronald Reagan get bigger amens than Jesus would. Used to make me mad. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. And can I just say this? With a lot of Christians, Donald Trump gets more cheers than Jesus does. Amen. And folks, we're not waiting for the leadership in Washington to change. We're trying to be faithful until Jesus comes. Because even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We just preached that, did we not? Amen. And so what do we need to do? Wait. Wait. How many of y'all want him to come today? Have some courage, man. I want him to come today. Amen. But if he doesn't come today, I'll wait. Amen. The Bible says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage, say it with me, and he shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say unto the Lord. We see the command that they were given is the same command that will bless us today if we'll learn to just take and wait and anticipate on the things of God, sit at the feet of Jesus, listen to the word of God, take and wait and have confidence and courage in some very difficult times. And by the way, He's saying that to you with that still small voice. You got it? What's it competing with? Fox News Channel. News radio, Twitter, X, whatever they call these things nowadays. Y'all with me? Just constant, come on now, amen? And God says, wait. Be encouraged in me. Amen? I'll bring it to pass. I'm in charge. Come on now, amen? God's in charge of all these things. We need to learn. The second thing that we see here is that they were given a promise. Go back to our text, if you will, Acts 1, look at verse 5. The Bible says, For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Now I want you to know for many people this is a very controversial subject. It's not controversial to me at all. Because all you've got to do is break down that verse and it eliminates all the bad theology, okay? And so if you will, notice who's he talking to in verse five. Go to verse four and it'll tell you. It says, and being what? What's the root word for church? assembly. So they are churched. You all understand that? They are assembled together. He is not talking to an individual, he's talking to a church. It wasn't just Peter that had to go to Jerusalem and wait, it was the whole church that had to go to Jerusalem and wait. Are you all with me? And so if you see there, if you will, the context here, he's talking to not individuals, but he's talking to, if you will, the body. Holy Spirit baptism is not for the individual. Amen! And by the way, you say, well, why are you focusing on that? I'll tell you why, because most Christians today believe Holy Spirit baptism is for the individual. Say amen, I'll move on. That just means that's what they believe, that's true, okay. Y'all with me? Holy Spirit baptism is not for the individual, it is for the church, it is for the body. How can I show that? Well, I'll preach a whole message on it one of these days soon. Notice this, who's gonna do the baptizing? The Bible says, I will baptize you. Jesus is gonna do the baptizing. You all with me? And the Bible talks about, and you can go back, and if you wanna do a good study, look up the Holy Ghost and look up baptism. And if you will, it talks about Jesus baptizing them in, or excuse me, with the Holy Ghost, okay? It's the word en or in in the Greek. But help me now, if I baptize you with water, where are we gonna do it? How am I gonna do it? So we'll be in the water. So if I baptize you with water, you'll be in the water. Are you all with me? If I baptize you with water, you'll be in the water. And what is the whole purpose? It's not to be sprinkled with water, it's to be immersed in the water. Why? To picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what does that do for you? It identifies you with Jesus Christ. I identify with His death, burial, and resurrection. Amen! And the Bible says in the book of Ephesus that there's only one baptism, and that's the baptism it's talking about. Everybody say amen, and I'll move on. Now, by the way, don't let me be preaching to the choir. If you don't believe it, go back and study it. Go back and study it, but I'm telling you the truth here, okay? So if you're to be baptized with water, you're gonna be in the water. Y'all understand that? And so if I baptize you with the Holy Spirit, you're gonna be submerged in the Holy Spirit. Who's gonna be submerged in the Holy Spirit? An individual or a body? of assembled believers, which we call the church. Y'all with me? Very important. Why? Because Holy Spirit baptism is not some kind of second blessing. I'm not trying to ridicule, I'm not trying to make fun of anybody, but there are some that believe that when you're baptized, you gotta come out speaking in tongues, okay? I'm just telling you that it's not in the Bible, okay? I'd be glad to have somebody have that conversation. It's not in the Bible, okay? And so my whole point is this, is Holy Spirit baptism was for the body. I'll move on, okay? And so if you will, we see he says, stay and you will be baptized. Jesus is gonna do the baptism. The Holy Spirit is gonna be the element in which they are baptized, and the church is the one being baptized, okay? Notice what he says. So what's the purpose? By the way, what would the purpose be for People who believe in Holy Spirit baptism as a second blessing. Well, you're filled with the Spirit. Please take this the right way. You're filled with the Spirit the minute you trust Christ as your Savior. Okay, you get all the Holy Spirit you're ever gonna get. Okay, well, you have gifts and abilities. Yes, you, okay, all right. Well, we have those things. Here's the deal. That word power there, what verse is it in? Somebody help me, is it verse eight, seven? And the Bible says, you shall receive power. Now there's two words for power. There's authority and ability, okay? They're both translated power, okay? Can I ask you a question? They were to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. How do I know that? Because in verse eight, what are they supposed to do? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the other most parts of the They're supposed to preach the gospel. Did they already have the authority to preach the gospel? Where'd they get that? Go to Matthew chapter 28, look at verse 18. And Jesus tells them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Do they have the authority to do it? Do they have the ability? The answer is, at this point, no, because Jesus said, wait until you be endued with power, ability, from on high. And who is he trying to get to preach? Not the individuals, the church. Okay, very important. Who was in charge of, if you will, the oracles or the word of God when Jesus came? What institution? Jews, essentially in the nation of Israel, with the temple and the priests and the word of God, y'all with me? And if you will, now that's getting taken away, okay? Now, we do not believe in substitution or replacement theology. Church did not replace Israel. But stewardship for his word changed. Stewardship for his word went from the nation of Israel to the church. And how's everybody gonna know that? Jesus has to take and identify the body and say, this is my body. If you go out before this, everybody's gonna think you're just Jews. Amen, he says, but now I'm gonna identify you, and you 12, and you 109, you are the church, and they were saved on that day when they preached on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 got saved, and they were added to the church. So then they went to 3,120 or about. Y'all with me? Okay, folks, this is so important. This is so important, because we believe so different than most people. You gotta know what you believe and why you believe it. And know what he says? Until the day of Pentecost, you don't have the ability, you don't have the ability, come on now, you don't have the ability to preach my gospel. Why? Because I have to identify you as my new institution who has been given the oracles or the word of God. What's the word of God that we've been given? The gospel. Go again to all the world and preach the gospel. You all with me? And so if you will, on that day of Pentecost, he says, you wait until I identify this group, amen. And what was their very first question after that? Go to verse six. Will you restore the kingdom at this time? You all see it? You all with me? Can I ask you a question? Who's looking forward to a king sitting on the throne of their nation? Israel? Say it louder. Israel? Are you getting it? He's saying this, guys. I'm not coming to sit on a throne. Y'all with me? And remember how I'm always teaching about the parenthesis? And there's a parenthesis between when Messiah is cut off, Daniel chapter nine, And then the Tribulation, and that whole parenthesis is called the Church Age, where the Church is given the Gospel, amen. Jesus Christ calls out, Virgin Bride unto Himself, amen. But the adulterous wife, Israel, being put away for a time, then they'll start dealing with her again. You all understand that? And by the way, is Jesus Christ coming to sit on the throne? Oh, wait, is He ever? He is, isn't He? Interesting. Notice what he says. He ascends up. If you go to the book of Luke, it literally means he was here, he's talking to them, and they can watch him go like this. You all with me? In there. I mean literally, okay? Until two angels come up and say, what are you looking up in the heavens for? This, what's this Bible say? Same Jesus. Come on now, this what? Same Jesus will come unto you again in like manner. Meaning the next time you see Jesus, by the way, can Jesus sit on a throne till you see him again? on earth. You guys keep thinking I'm asking trick questions here. I'm not asking trick questions. Can Jesus sit on a throne on earth until he comes to the earth again? Interesting. When are you going to establish your kingdom? He says, don't worry about that, you just get busy. Okay? Alright. and he ascends up into heaven, amen, and then he gives them a prophecy, the next time you see me, I'll establish my kingdom. Y'all with me? Do you remember how he comes next time? He comes down the same way, but folks, this time he's riding a white horse, and on his side it says, King of kings and Lord of lords. He has a sword that proceeds out of his mouth, and it defeats the enemies of God, amen. And then he comes and he takes his rightful place, and he sits on that throne, amen. He answered their question. He answered their question. Next time you see me come in the sky, that's when I'll sit on my throne. That's when I'll be the king of kings. That's when I'll be your king. Amen. He answered their question. Folks, sometimes we gotta realize that God is working a bigger plan than we are. And we see that Jesus is getting ready to leave. He's leaving us with the Holy Spirit. He gives us certain commands. He gives us certain promises. He gives us certain answers. And by the way, I already told you this, they were given a deadline. When is it gonna happen? And he told them. He told them. By the way, what are we looking forward to as a church, as believers? We're looking forward to a rapture. Do we know when that's gonna happen? No man knows the day nor the hour. Please take this the right way. Jews can know when Jesus is coming. The Jews can know, why? Because there's gonna be a rapture, and people are gonna go, where did everybody go? You might wanna take your clock and go, He's coming. He's coming. Amen. Why? Because He told them exactly when He's coming. Amen. And if you really want a Messiah, if you really want a Savior, if you really want a King, this is the way you ought to be looking. I was talking with a friend this last week and he said the same thing that I've been telling you. 90% of people in Israel are atheists. 90% of Jews in Israel are atheists saying we don't believe any of that. Please take this the right way. They're going to. They're going to. And he gave them a direct answer to a direct question if you're willing to receive it. Can I ask you a question? The answer, wait. The command, wait. Nobody? How many of y'all realize that a lot of times, that's the answer God gives us? What should we be doing? Just continue what you know to do right until he gives you an answer. And he answered your question, he just didn't answer it with the one you might have wanted to hear. Amen. Friend, if you're here and you don't know Christ as your Savior, a lot of what we talked about today doesn't apply to you yet. But I will say this. You need to call on Jesus while you have time. Jesus is coming again. Amen. And please take this right away. It's not the purpose of this message. But if you've heard the gospel and rejected the gospel, when the rapture takes place, you say, well, I'll get saved in the tribulation. No, you will not. The Bible tells us otherwise. Does it not? You'll be sent strong delusion that you should believe a lie. That's what the Bible says. So when is the day of salvation? Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Amen. And so friend, if you're here and you don't know Christ your Savior, get saved. Christian, if you're a little frustrated with God because He keeps telling you to wait, maybe you can see that that's what He's been telling believers kind of from the beginning. You gotta learn to get a hold of that wait command.