Look back in chapter two. I've noticed as I've studied the scriptures through the years, it just keeps radiating within me. And as we was reading in the last couple of days, also as we was reading in Luke's gospel, I couldn't help but notice that there's a pattern that we find that happens when God gets involved And for anybody to be delivered and saved, number one, God's got to be involved. He's got to be involved in the person that is being used, the proclamation of what's being said. It's not the act of preaching that saves men. It's the content of the message of the gospel that rescues You know, through the foolishness of preaching men shall be, men are saved. Preaching is an act of proclaiming a message, but it's the message of that reconciliation in Christ Jesus that actually does the redeeming. But it's the presence and the power of God upon that Just like how these men had the ability to communicate with all these different 15 different nations that are mentioned from different areas could all hear in their own dialect each man speaking in his own language. That was a supernatural work of God. That was the power that took place at Pentecost. And what we find here is that this pattern that we see when God is involved and that men are delivered There's a couple things that takes place. Number one, that how the Word of God is revealed to people. It's revealed with power. It's revealed with the presence of God's Spirit upon it. And we see that. Peter was what? When he preached that day, he was what? Full of the Spirit and what he proclaimed had the power of God upon it because it was rooted in God's message. It was rooted in everything in it was about Jesus. And he was telling them that what you have witnessed today was God pouring out His Spirit upon His temple, upon His people. And you have witnessed that evidence of it. But this is what God said He would do. This is what God has done. And what God has done has been done in Christ Jesus. This is what He, the one that you rejected, the one that you pushed away, This is Him. He's the one who's done this. He's the one who poured out His Spirit upon us. And the Word always comes with much assurance and power. We find that with Zacchaeus. Remember when Zacchaeus wanted to find out who Jesus was? So he heard Jesus was coming, obviously, we believe Zacchaeus heard testimony about Jesus. He wouldn't have been looking for Jesus had he not heard about Jesus, had he not been provoked and compelled to search for. He had heard, and he had heard enough witness that stirred in him that God was in this, that the man tried to get to a place where he couldn't see Him, he couldn't see Him, so Zacchaeus did what? He got up in a tree. Nothing was going to hinder him. from seeing Jesus. He wasn't gonna use an excuse, well there's too many people out here today. He didn't use an excuse, I'm too short, I can't get involved, I'm just gonna go on home. No, something supernatural was going on within Zacchaeus' life and that man was gonna encounter Jesus that day and there was not one person, there was not one thing, there was not one devil, there was not one enemy that was gonna get in his way. OF SEEING AND HEARING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THIS IS A DIVINE WORK OF GOD. THAT MAN CLIMBED UP IN A SYCAMORE TREE WITH FIGS IN IT AND HE POSITIONED HIMSELF SO WHEN HE CAME BY HE WAS GONNA LAY EYES ON THIS ONE THAT HE HAD HEARD ABOUT. THIS IS A DIVINE WORK OF GOD. THE SAME THING HAPPENS WITH PEOPLE IN LIFE WHEN GOD IS AT WORK. LIKE JESUS SAID IN JOHN 6, NO MAN CAN COME TO ME UNLESS THE FATHER FIRST draws him. Zacchaeus was drawn by the Father to Jesus. And every living soul, Jesus said, hey, those that he's given me will come to me. Zacchaeus was given to Jesus, given to Jesus by the Father. He was coming. And Jesus told his disciples, what is mine that the Father has given to me, the Spirit will give to you. He told him that. What is mine, the Holy Spirit's gonna give to you, meaning the body of Christ. So that which is God's, that which is Jesus, the Spirit's gonna give to it. We just wanna be faithful and do what he's called us to do. God's gonna do the drawing. God's gonna do the delivering. God's gonna do the discipling. We just wanna be in position to proclaim what he's given us, amen? And let him do the work. Well, it's also found, look if you would, Let me just read this, verse number 36, Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, what has he made him? Both what? Lord and Messiah, anointed one, Christ. Now when they heard this, they were what? pricked in their heart. They were, some translations say, cut to the heart. What's some of the other translations that y'all may use? What do they say? This is verse number 37. Cut. Chapter 2, 37. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, cut to the quick, pricked to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we want? This is a divine work of God. These men's hearts were cut. They were penetrated. Very similar. Remember, we're gonna read about it in Acts when Paul was preaching on the riverbank and Lydia, God opened Lydia's heart to hear the things Paul was preaching. preaching. When Peter preached to Cornelius, his heart was cut. It was opened. This is a divine act of God. The word came with spirit power and penetrated a heart. Very simple. Remember the sower, the seed, and the soils. You have the soils, the four type of soils. Some soils, seed falls by the wayside. Some falls among The thorny ground. Some falls among the shallow ground, among the cares, the weeds, and all that, and some falls upon, the scripture says, in Luke's gospel, a noble heart, a good and noble heart. Well, we know up front, the Bible's pretty clear about the condition of the heart of man without God. And what is it? It's fallen. corrupt, it's polluted, it's desperately wicked. So a good and noble heart is a heart that something has happened to that heart. Something's been changed about that heart. That's that supernatural work of God that does a work in a man's heart that that heart goes from being shallow, from being thorny, from being among the wayside on the hard ground to a good and noble heart that the seed of the revelation of God can fall in that heart and find Soil and moisture to root and grow and produce a harvest. This is a work of God. It's a pattern that we see It's a pattern and we see it here Go if you would and look in Go to first Thessalonians first Thessalonians. Let's look at this. We see this with Zacchaeus and We see this on the day of Pentecost. We're gonna see it throughout the book of Acts. Anytime men responded divinely to the message of the gospel, we see this work of God happening. 1 Thessalonians chapter number one. This pattern's here, Paul brings it out. Verse number two, 1 Thessalonians 1,2 says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your works of faith, your labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of our God and Father. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God, for our gospel did not come to you in word only. It didn't come in just WORDS. IT DIDN'T COME IN JUST A LANGUAGE. IT DIDN'T COME IN JUST LETTERS. IT CAME IN WHAT? VERSE 5, IT CAME ALSO IN WHAT? POWER AND IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND IN MUCH ASSURANCE AS YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF MEN WE WERE, WERE AMONG YOU AND YOU BECAME FOLLOWERS OF US AND OF THE LORD, HAVING RECEIVED THE WORD IN MUCH AFFLICTION WITH JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. with joy of the Holy Spirit. See, the Spirit was at work. The Spirit revealed the Word and the Word was received in the Spirit. So 1 Thessalonians 1, 5 tells us for our good news, the same good news Peter preached. The same way Peter preached at Pentecost did not come to you in mere words, but it came in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance. That is just saying God came with much affirmation. UPON THAT WORD, AND YOUR HEARTS WERE PRICKED. YOUR HEARTS WERE CUT. YOUR HEARTS BECAME FERTILE FOR GOOD SEED TO FALL ON IT. LOOK IN CHAPTER NUMBER 2. LOOK IN CHAPTER NUMBER 2 AND VERSE NUMBER 13 OF 1ST THESSALONIANS. 1ST THESSALONIANS 2, 13 SAYS, FOR THIS REASON WE ALSO THANK GOD WITHOUT CEASING BECAUSE WHEN YOU RECEIVE WHAT? The Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth. The Word of God, which also effectively works in you who what? Believe. Notice that. Something happened. These men just didn't hear men speaking. Something supernatural took place where when they heard that revelation that day because it came in power in the Holy Spirit, because God was on it, they didn't hear it just as men. They heard it as if the voice of God spoke to them. That God had a message. They received it as a word from God, not a word from men. That's a supernatural thing. Why? Because the Bible says the natural man can't receive that. The natural man can't. Something's gotta happen in a person for them to welcome that kind of word. We'll go back to the book of, hold your spot in Thessalonians, because we're gonna come back for a moment. But look in the book of Thessalonians, I mean, excuse me, Acts chapter two again, and watch this. This is the pattern that I'm talking about. It begins with how the word was revealed. How the word was received. Thessalonica, Paul said they received it as the breath of God, that God spoke to them. Same thing happens with everybody that gets saved. Anybody that gets born again, God showed up in it. Men knew God showed up in it. They heard from God, they know it. This ain't something a man told me. God told me my condition. He told me who Jesus is and what he's doing, amen. God spoke life and light into me. Notice what verse number 40 says. Verse 40 of chapter number 2 of the book of Acts. And with many other words, Peter testified and he exhorted them saying, Be delivered from this perverse generation. Notice verse 41. Then those who what? Oh man, see this is the pattern. gladly received His Word, were baptized. And in that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. They gladly, that means that they welcomed the Word with no restrictions. They opened their life to this message. THAT'S A SUPER NATURAL WORK OF GOD. THAT'S A PATTERN. YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS TOLD ZACCHEUS? HEY, ZACHEUS, COME DOWN THAT TREE. I MUST WHAT? Let's go look at it and see. Come on, let's go look at it. Y'all gotta look at it with me. Hold your spot there in Acts. Hold your spot in Thessalonians. If you got another finger, go to Luke, amen? Luke 19, let's go look at it. This is a pattern. Y'all don't wanna miss this. You're gonna see it throughout Acts. You're gonna see it throughout life. You're gonna see it as God uses you as a witness for him. These things are gonna be evident Verse number five, and by the way, y'all are all right, I'm just, I want you to look at this though. Verse five, and when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and he saw old Zacchaeus, who wasn't gonna be denied that day. God was at work. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. Zacchaeus made haste and came down and what did he do? Say it again. Say it one more time. He did what? What do we see in Acts? They received the Word glad-heartedly without any restrictions. They welcomed it in. What we see in Thessalonians, they received it not as a Word from man but they received it with joy that God spoke to them. Amen? Why? Because this is a pattern that we see with God every single time that he does a work in somebody's life. When his presence shows up in power in the Holy Spirit, and he cuts the heart, they open themselves up and say, take it, take me whatever your word has for me, here I am. And they receive it with glad heartedness. They receive it gladly, joyfully. And that's what Zacchaeus did. He came down and received him joyfully and then everybody began to complain and then Zacchaeus automatically says, hey Lord, look, look, look, I'm going to give up half of my stuff and if I've taken anything, I'm going to restore it fourfold. What happened to Zacchaeus? God drew him. God spoke to him. He knew God was speaking to him. He received him, even though he was an old sinner, even though he was a reprobate, even what he was doing, God was in it because God was doing something with him. And man, he couldn't help but accept what Jesus had just said and invited him. He's taking him back to his house. Now ain't no telling what he was going to see when he got there. Are you with me? He ain't had time to go home and clean it all up yet. BUT HIS HEART SAYS IMMA CLEAN EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE UP TO GET IN LINE WITH WHAT YOU JUST DID IN MY HEART. WHY? BECAUSE THE PATTERN IS THIS. WHEN GOD REVEALS THE WORD TO US AND WE RECEIVE IT AS FROM GOD The Word is redeeming. The Word is redemptive. It redeems. People turn to the Living Word. They turn their trust, their life to Him. And when they do that, they turn away from other things. That's the pattern. That's what we see in Acts. They turned away from their entire way of living to submit themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to sit down at their tables and break bread with them so that they could learn more about this Jesus to go make him known. And with glad heartedness, they shared everything they had with everybody that was there so that they could know this Jesus who they just received, who just changed their life so that they can go live and make Him known. That's redemptive. That's what happened to Zacchaeus. That's what happened at the day of Pentecost. That's what's gonna happen with Cornelius. That's what's gonna happen with Lydia. That's what happened at Thessalonica. Go look back at Thessalonians again and you'll see what I'm talking about. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, here it is, verse 6, and you became what? You became followers. What happened at Pentecost? They followed who? Of course, they followed Jesus, but to follow Jesus, they followed those that had handled Jesus, those that seen Jesus, those that walked with Jesus. The body of Christ, which was the church of the living God for which Jesus was living in now as his temple upon this earth, the people of God, you became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in spite of the trouble and the affliction you in, you received it with what? Good, you're not gonna get away from it, you can't. joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to everyone living in your region and beyond who believe it says for from you that word sounded forth not only in your region But also in every place your faith toward God has gone out so that we don't even have to say anything. God changed your patterns of life. He changed your position in life. He began to change everything about you. Why? You begin to follow Him, amen? Look what verse number nine says. For everybody tells us, they declare concerning us what manner of entry we had with you when we came to you, how you what? Turned to who? You turned to God. And when you turn to God, that meant you turn from something else. Remember, God never delivers us from something without delivering us to something. He delivers us to Jesus to follow Him. You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to what? Oh man, and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, specifically Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. That's redemption. That's the redeeming work of salvation. That's what happened at Pentecost, that's what happened at Thessalonica, that's what happened with Zacchaeus, and that is what has happened to every single person that's ever been born again. They heard from God, welcomed his message, and they turned to serve the living and true God. Can't get away from it. It's a beautiful picture. A pattern that we're gonna find throughout the revelation and the work of God's Spirit in His people throughout the book of Acts. Now what did the witnesses of God need? They needed God's power on them. They needed the Spirit on them, amen? They needed the Spirit in them. The Spirit needed to speak That's what Peter's doing when he stands up to speak. The Spirit is speaking through Peter. And God's going to transform lives. They're going to hear a message from God. They're going to receive it. from Him and that message is going to be redemptive. They're going to turn to Him and they're going to serve Him. And that means they're going to turn from other things. Does that mean that they're not going to slip and fall and do other silly stuff and the flesh is going to be a problem for them? Of course the flesh is still going to be an issue for them. But the pattern is that they're turning themselves over. They're giving themselves unto God. That's why they submit themselves to the apostles in their teaching, in their doctrine. They wanted to know Him, amen? They wanted to know Him. They wanted to know Him so that they can walk with Him. And that's what we see. And that's the essence of the Spirit's work, Jesus' work, in the book of Acts, in the body of Christ, and as now they are His representation on the earth going to proclaim His message no different than He dealt with Zacchaeus. Now they're dealing with the multitudes that way of proclaiming this word and the people are going to hear it. As He said, He's going to be a light to the Gentiles. He's going to be a revelation to the Gentiles. Remember the Jews eventually keep pushing away and every time Paul would go somewhere eventually we're going to see Paul went to the Jews first and when they rejected him what did he do? And he said, Gentiles are going to hear it. And when they hear it, they're going to welcome it as the word of God, and God's going to do a work in them. And they're going to become dangerously strong for the truth upon the earth because of how they deal with this Jesus. And remember, especially in chapter two with Pentecost, it's not going to ever be repeated, just like Passover wouldn't, like crucifixion or the resurrection. But being filled with the Spirit is something that we see repetitively again and again and again and again throughout the book of Acts and throughout the people of God. Why? Because we always need to be filled and filled again and again to do the work of the witness of God for God's glory. Amen? So that God would make His message known, affirm His messengers, people would receive it, and God would rescue people and turn them to Himself. So just neat things to look for as you journey in life. You're looking for that in your walk. When you're witnessing the people on the streets, you're looking, you wanna be filled full of God, proclaiming God's message. You look at how they welcome the word, and then you're looking for evidence of how they turn in to God and turn in from themselves. And it's not about what they've been doing, It's not about their transgressions. It's about how they've dealt with Jesus. How they dealt with Jesus. For the convictor, the Spirit, will convince them of their unbelief that they have not trusted Jesus with their life. Jesus took care of their sins. Took care, at the cross, took care of what the problem with the sins and what they've been doing. The problem is they hadn't believed Him. You see, for salvation, you gotta believe him, amen. Yeah, trust him. He's the prophet from whom God sent and that we're to hear. So it's important for us to see that when they turn to Jesus, the evidence of that's gonna follow and you'll be able to recognize it and see it and give glory to God, amen? That's what we've been called to do. We are his witnesses, amen? Amen. Father, we thank you tonight. We bless you. We praise you. Thank you for the day. Thank you for the privilege of being yours, getting to tell this story again and again, and to retell it, to repackage it, to rearrange it with different times and different seasons and different people, but always bringing it back to you and what you've done, the life you lived, the righteousness that you grant to us based on your grace, your mercies toward us because you loved us and you laid your life down for us. Help us go tell the story, preaching it and teaching it and living it. We do ask that you would continue to affirm your witnesses so that your witnesses would just continue to point people to you. Help us, oh Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night.