What else was I going to say? It was brilliant. I just can't remember. Maybe that's why it escapes me. I don't know. I guess that's it. So let's take a look at Acts chapter 2 tonight. You might remember week number one, we discussed the first century understanding of the word church. And last week, before our wonderful meal, we discussed the understanding of us being a church, all saved people, being a church in Christ. We're all assembled in Christ. We talked about that last week. And so this week, we're going to take a look at the one and only local church in existence at Pentecost, and we'll see if there are any implications for us today, which I would hope there are. Somewhat vain. So Acts chapter 2. So Pentecost. That is a word that means basically a festival of 50. It comes 50 days after the Ascension. And you take a look at Acts chapter 1 and you might notice in verse number 3. Can you take a look at verse number 3 and tell me how many days transpired between the resurrection of Jesus and the Ascension of Jesus back to Heaven? Yeah, 40 days. So if Pentecost means 50, and it occurs 50 days, according to Leviticus, after the Sabbath, after the Passover. Okay, that's what Leviticus says. 50 days after the Sabbath, after the first day of the week, following the Passover. Jesus got up from the dead on that first day of the week, following the Passover. So that's his resurrection. Pentecost is a festival that came 50 days after that. So if 40 of them transpired and Jesus went to heaven, that leaves how many between his ascension and Pentecost? 10. 10, thank you. Yeah, that's algebra. Solving for x, I love it. Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, you're solving for X. I don't know. X keeps getting involved and we solve for him. So 10 days between the ascension of Jesus and the descending or the dissension of the Holy Spirit. So we have 10 days. And so when you see in verse number 15 of chapter 1, in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. And their errand there in the last part of chapter one is to do what as you look over it? Their errand is to replace who? Yeah, Judas according to verse number 16 and you find out from verse number 17 that he He was numbered with the 11 or with the 12 and verse 18 He with the money he threw back at the at the priests. He actually purchased the field indirectly the priest purchased it, but he purchased it with blood money wages of iniquity and Let's see here. So you might notice in It says in verse number 18 that he died in a very, somewhat gory, his bowels burst open in the middle of a field. And that's interesting, isn't it? So anyway, and that was the fulfillment of Scripture. And so you might notice in verse 25, Judas, by transgression, fell from his office that he might go to his own place. And so Peter's again, preaching to the church here. These are Christians. You might notice in verse 15, how do we know? Because he's with the midst of the disciples. Where are they? They are in, they're in an upper room. Verse 12, they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. And so anyway, you might notice that Mary, the mother of Jesus is there, end of verse 14. So anyway, a meeting of the church some 10 days after the ascension of Jesus. And in chapter two, verse one, when the day of Pentecost had fully come. Okay, so in verse number two, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. So, in the house where they were meeting and praying, there was praying taking place, and the Holy Spirit came, and the sound of it filled the house, and they were all, verse four, filled with the Holy Spirit. So, we see from verse five, there were lots of people there from, look what it says, every nation under heaven. Now, you have to decide whether that's figurative or general or if that's literal, because in the verses that follow, 16 different ethnicities are there. Can anyone remember why we have 16 different ethnicities present in Jerusalem right here at Pentecost? Anyone remember? Say again, please. Yeah, they were there since Passover. So as you read through Deuteronomy, all male Jews were highly encouraged to be in Jerusalem for three major festivals of the Jews, and two of them were in the spring. Pentecost, Passover, followed by Pentecost. And since they were only seven weeks apart or so, usually if you made that big journey from Rome, what would you do? You'd just stick around. So these folks are in town, a lot of them male Jews, since Passover. Which means they were present when what occurred? Yeah, when Jesus was killed on what day? Anyone remember? Yeah, but what was the holiday? It was a holiday. Say again. Yeah. Yeah. Say again, please. He died on Passover. Yep. Huh? No, on the beginning of Passover. Passover was an eight-day feast. Actually, the feast was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it began with Passover proper. And the Passover began on the 14th of the month, and it continued for eight days and ended with a Sabbath. It began with a Sabbath, ended with a Sabbath, and Jesus was killed on the 14th of the month. And so he was the Passover lamb. It just so happened he was killed on the very day that the Passover lamb was killed in Israel. And so he died on Passover, the very first day of the Passover celebration. Yes, it's also why the Jews couldn't kill him because it was a holy day, holiday, and so they couldn't stone him. What's pretty clear is a lot of people say, oh, they couldn't stone anyone. That's not true. They stone people all the time. If you want an example, look at Stephen, right? So they stoned people all the time and Rome just wanted peace. So why didn't the Jews stone Jesus? They weren't allowed to. Now think about being so righteous that you want a criminal dead who's guilty of blasphemy. Somehow, you're a kangaroo court, you're going to get them dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. But you can't do it because it's a holy day. So they let the Romans do it. And the Romans do it by way of what? Stoning? Yeah, Romans don't stone, Romans don't burn, Romans crucify. And so it just so happened that Jesus is hung on a tree, Deuteronomy 21-20, becomes a curse for us. The only way a person can be a curse is by being hung on a tree, according to Deuteronomy chapter 21. And Jesus is hung on a tree only because the Jews cannot kill him that day. So this is God's doing. fulfills the typology of a Passover lamb dying in Christ and fulfills the requirement of Jesus to be hung on a tree if he is to become a curse. I mean, just perfect planning from our Heavenly Father. Perfect planning. So anyway, These people in verses 5 through 13 are from those nations and they were there. And so Peter addresses them in verse 14. He says, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let it be known to you and heed my word. So he quotes a verse from verse 17 through 21. He quotes Joel 2. And then he explains it in verses 22-24. And then he quotes a psalm in verses 25-28. And then he explains it in verses 29-33. And then he quotes another psalm in verses 34-35. And then he applies it to them and says in verse 36, Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. So you might notice he has people with him. How many? According to chapter 1 verse 15. Yeah, about 119 others, maybe, who knows if 120 is a good round number. In any case, 120 or so are part of this assembly, this ekklesia, that apparently Jesus started because he said, I'll build my ekklesia, and he calls out Peter and Andrew, he calls out James and John, and they assemble around Jesus. Then in chapter 18, he gives them a thing, of Matthew, he gives them a thing known as church discipline. It's funny that the Lord would say, hey, if you guys have a problem with each other, tell it to the church. And the church wasn't even in existence then? Very, very, very far-fetched. So here we have, by definition, the beginning of this church. It's here in Jerusalem, they're meeting. Are they a mature church of what we would call today's type of New Testament church? No. For one thing, there's no sign that they have pastors. They have something different called apostles. And here's the reality. As the New Testament goes on, the apostles become less and less because there's way too many churches for there to be an apostle in every church. And not only that, we've discussed several times about Jesus on Sunday morning. The reason He did miracles is what? The reason. Come on, take a stab at it. Authenticating yeah, he's off the same reason disciples had miracles to authenticate new truth Right okay, so all right Who is Jesus supposed to represent or who is Jesus supposed to be like or who is Jesus supposed to remind the reader of? Okay humanly speaking who was Jesus to remind them of with his miracles Elijah and Moses. Both of them did miracles. When you think of the Law, you should be thinking of? Moses. When you think of the Prophets, you should be thinking of? Elijah. And who do we see on the Mount of Transfiguration? Moses and Elijah. Moses and the Prophets there. The Law and the Prophets on the Mount of Transfiguration. There's a lot of great patterns in Scripture. Moses is the first author of the Old Testament, right? There is no Old Testament before Moses. So Moses comes and he bears witness to his truth by doing miracles. Jesus comes. There is no Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John written when Jesus comes. And so he comes with a new covenant or a new testament. And what does he come doing? Miracles that remind the New Testament audience of the Old Testament Moses and Elijah. So that's the fundamental reason, as Jack points out, why Jesus did miracles was to remind the reader that he is bringing a new covenant. There's only two covenants, old and new. And Moses is the mediator of the old covenant. He's up on Mount Sinai twice for 40 days. Remember, talking to the people on behalf of God and talking to God on behalf of the people. He's the mediator of the old covenant. And Jesus says on the Lord's Supper, this is the new covenant of my blood. He is the mediator of the New Covenant. Moses, mediator of the Old Covenant. Jesus, mediator of the New Covenant. They both come doing signs because they both come with a new body of truth. You have this group of apostles, this group of disciples, this church. There's only one church, and so far, apparently Luke, who's not here. We don't have any evidence that Luke is here, but behold, he is the author. And for some reason, the author of Acts felt it necessary to tell you how many people were meeting already in the upper room. We've gone from 12 to 120. In how long? About 10 days. That's not to say that there weren't other people besides the disciples following Jesus around. Remember, if he wanted free food, he could have had how many? Yeah, 5,000. If you want to give out free food, you know potlucks bring lots of people, right? And especially if you don't have to bring the pot. All right? So Jesus provides the 12 baskets. Jesus is the potluck cook. And there's plenty of food and plenty of people. When he wants to whittle it down to disciples to go out and do signs, he finds 70. When he wants apostles to be sent out by him and to understand truth, he finds 12. When he wants to find people for a prayer meeting, Peter, James, and John are the only ones. When he wants to find one that will follow him to the cross, there's just one. His name is John. So the higher the commitment, the smaller the group. Yeah? So here we have 120 in the upper room. And you might notice that they start speaking in tongues in verse 4 of chapter 2. And in verse 13, they're accused of being drunk. And Peter says in verse 15 of chapter 2, it's way too early to be drunk. Give us time. The shamrock shakes were amazing at that time of day, apparently. I have consumed alcohol only twice, and both of them were accidental. One of them was behind an eggnog ice cream in Germany. And I want you to know, it really cleared my sinuses really well. So I am pretty sure that in some parts of the world, shamrock shakes are for late night consumption only. But anyway. I tell you, it cleaned my sinuses right out. And then the other one was at Texas or Logan's. I think I had a roadhouse tea. How hard could that be, right? A tea, a tea. So I took a big old swig of that. And I mean, my eyes started to water and it was just amazing. A real experience. I mean, an emotional, spiritual experience there. Yeah. So those are there. Your pastor really knows how to live it wild, doesn't he? So. All right. So, uh, Sometimes I get extra espresso in my coffee, too. I'm just living on the wild side. All right, so at the end of the sermon, when he basically incriminates everyone who's there, in verse 40, it's Pentecost, Peter says in verse 40, with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, be safe from this perverse generation. Now, he's not doing this with a PA. Dot Myers asked me if I ever get hoarse yelling like that. First of all, I don't mean to yell so much, but the truth is, I just want everyone to hear me well, and I think it happens, but here's a guy that's delivering a message to more than 3,000. And somehow, there's no quartet, no piano, no hymn books, and no PA. So, it's impressive, to say the least. So, verse 41, Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added, and then if you have a Bible like mine, it's in italics, to them. Now that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have to them in it. Who has italicized words to them? Okay, thank you. That means that in the Greek language behind those two words, there are no Greek words. But the Greek word behind added implies, because it's in what we would call the dative Forget it. The point is, it's supposed to be there in translation, but behind it in the Greek, there are no static word-for-word equivalents. But, be that as it may, they are added to somebody, so we have to finish the sentence. Added to who? added to the number that's meeting in the upper room, 120. At least the disciples, because you see in Acts chapter two and verse number 14, Peter standing up with the 11. So at least these 3000 are added to the 11, but probably added to the 120, which contains the 11. So I just want us to notice here that this idea, if you have a study Bible, and man, I'm so thankful for study Bibles, but some study Bibles have it just as wrong as it can be when they say that the church began on Pentecost. We can say many things, but we don't have the ability to say that the ecclesia that Jesus said he was going to build, isn't built until he's gone. Okay? Now there are some ways we can play with that. Talk about the Spirit of Christ working in the Ekklesia and it's Jesus doing it. He's the head. I get that. But how natural are those church references in the Gospel of Matthew if they don't even exist or have an application for another year or two when Jesus dies, rises again, goes to heaven, and then Acts 2 happens? So, consider this. You all ready? I'm sorry about that. That's why we're recording. It's wonderful. So when the tabernacle is produced by Moses and the craftsmen there in the wilderness, remember when it was completed in the last chapter of Exodus? Do you remember what happened to that tabernacle when it was set up? Matt, what'd you say? Yeah, he descended on it and smoke filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40 says. So the Spirit of God moves down, fills the tabernacle as a sign that God will now appear to the world through Israel, specifically the tabernacle of Israel. Then, they have a place they call home. And David has a dream that he wants to build a house for God. He says, I have this beautiful house. I want to build a house. And remember the Lord shows up to him and says, you're better known for death. Why don't you just gather the materials? And we'll let your son build the house. And so Solomon builds the temple. He takes seven years to do it. It takes 13 years to build his own palace, seven years to build the house of God. And during the dedication of the temple, which is supposed to be, he says in his own prayer, in 2 Chronicles 7, where we usually pull verse 14 out around May 1st or so, right? Whenever the national day of prayers and if my people which are called by my that's right in the middle of the dedication prayer for Solomon's temple Solomon prayed that and God responded with verse 14 that I just quoted but Solomon after he prays and God responds what happens to the temple and Say again? Yeah, the same thing that happens to the tabernacle. It's filled with the presence of God. It says that the Holy Spirit was basically so thick that the priest couldn't even stay in the temple to minister. Okay? So now God is going to minister to the world through a new house, a spiritual house. So instead of a tent, instead of a building, now it's a group of people. And on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fills the group of people called the church. So, just like David gathered the materials for Solomon to build the house of God, well, where did Jesus get his disciples? John 1 tells us. Someone who's read the first gospel of John. Where did Jesus get the first several of his disciples anyway? They were fishers, but they also were John the Baptist's disciples. So Jesus got several of his own body of disciples from John the Baptist. So work with me here on this parallel. King David gathers the materials, Solomon builds the house, the Holy Spirit fills the house. John the Baptist gathers some materials, Jesus builds the house, the Holy Spirit fills the house. See that parallel? This is a wonderful book from Genesis to Revelation. Just amazing, these parallels. As you read from cover to cover, you notice them more and more. It's just fantastic. So, here you have 3,000 Acts 2-41 being added to a them. And they continued, verse 42, steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, we have two couplets, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So doctrine, that's teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, which could be shorthand for what? Breaking of bread. Yeah, potluck or or communion. And there are good godly people on both sides of that debate. There are people that say, no, that's absolutely communion. Might be. It might also be a potluck. Breaking a bread, let's just be honest, is shorthand for eating. So I don't want to be a bully about just telling you which it is. I don't think we can be clear I could be wrong, but from what I've come across so far, I don't think you can be clear that that's definitely the Lord's Supper. It might just be sharing food. And in prayers. So, teaching, fellowship, either communing or enjoying food together, and prayers. So, who? Who? Who is doing this? Yeah, the Ecclesia made up of at least 3,120 people. And by the way, if you go to the end of day 10, that's pretty good growth, right? I mean, we're talking about 12 to 3,120 with one sermon. Is that only counting the men as they usually did in the Bible? Well, I would say it is not intended to be just counting the men. And the reality is, oh, this is fantastic. The reality is the reason that they often only count men is because only men are present. So, for example, we talk about the feeding of people, right? And people say, well, Both feedings, both of the 4,000 and the 5,000 were men plus women and children. Well, the reality is only one of those miracles was plus women and children. One of them really was just men because they were on a pilgrimage. And the closer you got to Jerusalem, the more gatherings you found of Jewish men on their way back in the spring of the year for Passover and Pentecost. So why would we say that this is primarily male church membership? Yeah, because they're mostly male Jewish attenders or travelers. But I don't think that's the intent of the language here is to exclude women. It just so happens that a great majority of these under the 16 nations listed in verses 5 through 12 are mostly traveling men. Mostly traveling men. Yeah, that's right. There were all kinds of women that followed Jesus during his ministry even. Luke chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 list them. Some of them as close as the chamber of Herod. if memory serves, while Chamberlain of Herod was following Jesus around. That's bold. But anyway, in chapter 2 and verse 41, notice how often they're meeting. Verse 42, they continued steadfastly in doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers, Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now let's stop there. There's a lot of enthusiastic churches out there that want this kind of thing happening. Tongues speaking and miracles. But don't forget the reason why we have tongues speaking and miracles. It is because there is no New Testament scripture. Only a New Testament message. So why do you believe this guy? Hopefully it's because I give you the Bible. Well, if we're talking 2,000 years ago, I don't have a New Testament to preach to you. So why should you believe me? Because I'm going to reach over here and make Rolf 30 years old. That's why. I'm going to do a miracle. And I'm going to reach up and cure my own baldness. I don't think any of those miracles were in there. I think it's an infirmary. Oh, shoot. Maybe so. All right. Fear. A lot of people say they want Pentecostal power, but do you want Pentecostal fear? Do you realize that in just a few short chapters, people are dying in church services from lying? Is that something that we want back? Better think carefully before you start asking for X power in the church. You know, a lot of people say, I want some of the power of the Old Testament prophets. You're nuts. Do you have any idea? Ezekiel laid on his side for three and a half years and cooked his food over cow dung. You sure you want part of that? All right. So let's be real careful when we start talking about what kind of Bible experiences we want. All right. Yes. That's true. I think that's primarily true. You don't remember because I think about it, I suppose, because I'm the one preaching it. But in 2nd Corinthians 12.12, Paul says that I had the signs of an apostle. So these signs were indicative of the office of the apostle. So, when you drive up and down these roads and you have Jericho, Tabernacle, Praise, House of Worship, and the Holy Ghost, pastored by Apostle and Mrs. Apostle, you know, Bert and Gert, all right, let's get them up to the hospital to heal people if they're apostles. Seems easy enough, right? And then let's see the new body of scripture they're bringing to us. See what I'm saying? So if you want a good reason of why these miracles disappeared until 1904, then a Sousa Street prayer meeting out there with the Pentecostals got their jumpstart in California. I mean, 1900 years of no miracles? We should be really suspicious about why they're back. You know? Maybe they really disappeared for a reason. Maybe it's because the last apostle died. See what I'm saying? Those things go hand in hand. A completed New Testament means that the preacher has less to prove when he preaches it. So he has less miracles to perform to validate what he's saying. Again, put it up against Moses. Moses goes up against the children of Israel, convincing the elders of the children of Israel that he's called by God to lead them out of Egypt. Why should they believe him? There's no Genesis or Exodus to believe and read. They're living Exodus and he hasn't recorded Genesis yet. Right? And if Job is in existence, it's nowhere in a Hebrew's hand traveling through Egypt. So what are you going to do Moses? Well, I can turn my hand leprous. What do you think about that? You know, I can get my stick to turn into a snake. What do you think about that? You know, I can turn this river into blood. How do you feel about that? So you see that there is an entirely good explanation of miracles and why we Baptist folk don't necessarily believe that they are for the... The normative church practice. See what I'm doing there? I'm leaving the door open for God to do whatever he wants. But you need to know that the reason that they were in the first century is because we have an entire body of scripture that's about to be written in a matter of decades. Okay. Any questions about that? Okay. Comments? Disagreements? How about a disagreement? Go ahead. It's like somebody saying to a preacher on TV, I have a new revelation. Right, and yet we have a forecast that there's going to be a real miracle worker at the end of days and he's going to convince lots of folk because he's coming with a new body of truth and we're talking about the beast in the book of Revelation. So the miracle hungry will have their miracle worker in the end of days. They sure will. All right, so we're... If that's all they're looking for is the sign. What? If that's all they're looking for Well the sign of the beast were told by both Jesus and Paul is that he'll sit in the temple of God claiming to be God the abomination that makes desolate but Revelation tells us that he will come with deceivableness and all powers and wonders and signs Yeah Sure, sure. Yeah, okay, yeah, good point then. My apologies. Thank you. Verse 44, all who believe were together and had all things in common. So do you get the idea here that these people are meeting regularly? Right? They sold their possessions and goods, divided them all as anyone had need. Now how do you do that if you're not meeting regularly? How do 3,100 people share their possessions if they never see each other? Okay, sure. And notice how they do this in verse 46, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. Now, maybe you have a background like mine, but there was a day when I was guilt tripped into knocking on doors for soul winning because of this verse. But you notice this is not a verse for finding lost people at their front doors. This is a verse for proving to you that 3,120 people met in a lot of different houses every day. Okay. I don't want to be nitpicking. I like nitpicking. Go ahead. The 3,100 people. Yeah. Was that counted after the Holocaust happened when there were all kinds of Jews from all kinds of nations? Those Jews are not going to stick around in houses. Yet a lot of them did. For how long? Well, I don't know, but if you'll take a look in chapter number three, and chapter four and look at verse number four. However, many of those who heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. Now we're one or two chapters later and there are 5,000 believers in Jerusalem. So I don't know how quickly they left town, but this could be, once we get to chapter eight, there's a horrible persecution thanks to who? Paul. Paul. Think about Paul the apostle. Think about how he is doing world evangelism as an unsaved man through persecution. And then he gets saved and he does world evangelism as a saved man through preaching. It's magnificent. God is using Paul even before he's saved because he tells him in Acts chapter one, verse eight, go to the uttermost parts of the earth and they hang around until chapter eight, verse one, when Saul. soon to be Paul, regularly known as Paul, is making havoc of the church in chapter eight, verse three, mostly in the regions of Judea and Samaria. Paul, that's an impressive, I tell you, the book of Acts is just, it's genius because you keep seeing these themes show up and Luke, You have 30 or 40 years of church history recorded here, and he shares only what we need to know. And it is magnificent, okay? It's beautiful. So, we get to chapter 2 and verse 46. How often did these 3,000 plus believers meet? Daily. And where did they meet? Publicly in the temple because that was a huge place, big old place. Up the top of the mountain that Herod took 40 years to flatten basically with one platform, right? A house of prayer for all nations is what Jesus called it. And they also broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added, now I have in my Bible and some of you won't have it in yours. The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. And now you can see why I'm pretty bodacious about saying the church was already existent. Because this verse says it did. if you have my version of the Bible. If you have a King James, if you have a New King James, I don't think the ESV has it. I don't know if the New American Standard has it. The reality is that that's a conversation for a different kind, but there have been many translation committees that believe church belongs in chapter 2 and verse 47. Again, I'll read it from my version. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church Daily those who were being saved so I Understand already that some of your versions of the Bible don't have that and again that should tell you that differences in translation Do matter okay, it doesn't affect doctrine. Okay. Here's a great example of how it do I'm not sure is anyone have an NIV Alright, does it have church in there? Add it to their number. So, let's take a look at number two and we'll take questions in just a minute. We'll help you fill in some blanks here. A church is when the local body of Christ recognizes a person as a Christian. A person is a Christian. If you're like, wait, wait, wait, how do you get that from the text? Well, chapter 1 verse 15, it should be pretty clear. that if you weren't a disciple, you would not be in the upper room with the other Christians, yeah? Now, I'm not saying, brothers and sisters, pay attention please, I'm not saying they were called Christians here because they were not yet called Christians. Being called a Christian was a derogatory term, and they were given it in chapter, I believe it is, 11. The believers are called Christians first at Antioch. I believe it's Acts chapter 11, verse 40 or something. I don't know. Now I need to look. No, there's not 40 verses in there. It's verse 26. So, no one is being called a Christian yet, as far as we can tell. But they're called followers of Christ. They're recognized as Christ followers. So if that makes you feel better, put Christ follower in the first blank, although I doubt it's long enough. In Acts 2.37-47, there are several characteristics that are demonstrated by those who are in the same church. All right, now remember, there's one body of believers. So this is the very most simple way to see what a church is, is look at the one and only church in existence at the time. So there are several characteristics that are demonstrated by those who are in the same church. First, a person must, what, verse 38? Repent. and be baptized, yes. So there's no, they weren't added to the church before they were baptized, they weren't added to the church instead of being baptized, they were added to the church because they were baptized. Y'all get that? Let's take a look at it again, look at verse 41. Those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. So again, let's consider this with what we've been shown and taught in our days when, all right, we're going to have an invitation. If anyone would like to be saved, come down here and chat with the preacher or chat with one of these altar workers or office workers or whatever, altar workers. And if you'd like to make a profession of faith, come on down here and let's make your profession of faith. Or if you'd like to be baptized, we'll have someone speak to you about baptism. You see, what we've done there is we've added something that doesn't belong. It's that strange thing we called a profession of faith. What is the New Testament profession of faith? Baptism. How do you show that you received the word? Verse 41, you were baptized. So we start understanding the function of baptism when we get all the other junk out of the way, right? Nehemiah says, I could build a house once we got the rubbish out of the way. And sometimes we have to talk about what the truth ain't before we can talk about what it is. And the truth is, you don't get saved by being baptized, but you also don't make a profession of faith without being baptized. You don't get saved by being baptized, but you don't make a profession of faith without being baptized. Furthermore, you're not added to the church until you are baptized. It's as plain as this big German nose on my face. Second, an individual must affirm the same core what of the Bible? Now we're getting this from that word Apostle's Doctrine, right? So, same core doctrine of the Bible. Okay, let's work through this. Why did they call it the Apostle's Doctrine? There wasn't a Bible to read. You know, so Jesus Christ is the risen lamb, he was raised from the dead, he's at the right hand of God right now. How do you know that? Well, look at him, he just healed the sick, he just... Talk about the apostles. The apostles' signs accompanied the apostles' doctrine. Why did you believe the apostles' doctrine, verse 41 and 42? Because you had apostolic signs. in verse number 43. So it's called the Apostle's Doctrine. Today, we have no apostles, but the Apostle's Doctrine is written down for us in the New Testament. And so instead of me impressing you, or Brother Walter, or Brother Rick, or any of the other able teachers in this room, instead of us gaining your confidence by doing miracles, we gain your confidence by being true to the New Testament. Third, the believer will both in and out of church with other believers. What do you think that word is? Fellowship. Or as they say in some parts of the country, fellowship. I'm learning. More comfortable. And they don't have hollows. It's not the legend of sleepy hollow. It's a legend of sleepy hollow. That's right. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. All right. So, third, the believer will fellowship both in and out of church with other believers as well as what for them? Pray for them. Yes. So this is a consistent thing. And brothers and sisters, it's not just Sunday. Okay. They're continuing in the apostles doctrine and we're led to believe that it happens, verse 46, daily. we should have no mystery as to why we as, not our church of course, why we as so many churches in America know almost nothing about our Bibles. They're meeting daily to go over the Apostles' Doctrine, and we're happy to get half our membership out for one hour on a Sunday morning. We should not be mystified. That's why we don't have any issues having a worship service, Bible study, Bible study in the evening, Bible study on Wednesday night before prayer time. We encourage Bible study, and hopefully, if I didn't make that clear this morning, I'm all for Bible study. I didn't learn what I learned in the Bible by accident or tripping or sleeping on a Bible. I read my Bible, so I'm all for studying the Bible. And so I think that we need to realize that a major reason why we don't have the power or the fire of the first century church is because we don't study the apostles' doctrine like they did. It's not because of the miracles. All right, so any questions on that? I have a few more blanks to help us fill out before our time is concluded. Well, that's impressive. I don't know how you did that. Any other questions about what we've talked about tonight? Again, affirmations or disagreements are allowed. If you want me to explain something or want to at least get me to admit that I don't know something, feel free to ask a real stunner. I don't mind. They'll make me study. All right, Randy, let's hear it. Back when Jesus was crucified and all, back in those days, would they consider their time 24 hours in a day? back then, or how did they do their hourly days? How did they do their hourly days? They had 24 hours in a day back then? Yeah. How did they consider their time? Yes, I'll answer that in three minutes, OK? So look down under number three and look at the third one. Looking back, we're looking at number three, is church membership biblical? We're looking down at the third question. Looking back to Acts 2, 37 to 41, we see that there is a what record of those who believed on Christ? I heard a groan back there. Numerical, that'll work. Yup, numerical record. The church at Jerusalem was keeping a record of growth or a recording of growth. Now, To be fair, I don't think it was so that they could have their egos pumped up. By the way, this morning we had the largest crowd since I've been here. I really appreciate the Lord being so kind to us to give us a good number. But we're far more concerned about people that are being helped and touched in the building, more than just building a crowd. Jesus is building a church here. If we wanted to build a crowd, we could figure out a way to do that. I mean, we could have activities coordinators, and we could have Binky on the bus, and we could have hot dogs at a bowling alley. We could do all kinds of things if we wanted to. I mean, we could have baptism drives and festivals and, you know, just a good old time and you could actually have a good preacher and we could build a crowd, but we're trying to build a church. So we're really interested in doing the things that we like. I had an old preacher. I got to tell you a story. So, I was preaching at a preacher's fellowship when I was newly married, so I guess that'd make me 20 or 21. Because there's my first wife over there. And I preached at a preacher's fellowship, and I quoted about every verse I could think of for about 20 minutes, and I said everything that was wise that I could think of, and that took really, you know, no more than really 15 minutes probably. And I preached everything, and I was trying to get people to say amen and everything. And I went and had a seat, and I thought, boy, I really set the tone. That was really something. I think that they're all very happy with the way I preached. And then another pastor got up behind me. And Pastor Ted Everly is like 70 years old. And he went up there, and he just preached. And the Holy Spirit fell. Everything dripped off his words. I mean, it was like you were reading a book. It was fantastic, wonderful. And he shared one verse. wept a little bit, had a seat. Third preacher got up, Mike Robbins is his name, and he says, well, Brother Sturm, let that be a lesson to you. And I was waiting for the lesson. He said, you can pull more weight in a lower gear. So we're going to pull lots of weight, brothers and sisters. So we've got to stay in a low gear, all right? We're in a low gear, sister. All right. Is that only compared to the speed of light? No, sir. No, sir. No, sir. So let's flip to the back of our page. We're making some ground here. So we filled in all of number two, some of number three. Now we're going to fill in all of number five. And then that'll leave the rest for next week and the week after. So Acts 2 verses 4-47 of number 5, those who were added to the church had first, we should be looking at verse 41 of Acts 2 for this answer, received his word and then were baptized, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So a person must profess Christ as Savior and then of course be baptized to be entered into the membership of the church. So all I want you to see is that as early as Pentecost, there was a group of people that were understood to be a part of the believerhood. And people were added to that. Does that prove that we should have an official church role? Not necessarily, but it proves that there was an established expectation that all Christians meet regularly, even daily. Yes? So, I'm not going to crank it up, we're not going to have seven days a week service, don't worry, please don't worry. But what I am trying to get us to see is that there was an expectation. There were no three groups of people in the New Testament. Unsaved, saved but not really in church, and saved and right with God and in church. No, that's crazy. It was a lost person who does everything you would expect a lost person to do, and a saved person, and everything you would expect a saved person to do. There weren't three groups, brothers and sisters. A Christian who can't find enough Christianity to be faithful to a church shouldn't expect enough Christianity to find themselves in heaven. Well, I don't like that. Well, look at your New Testament and find the first book written to a not-church member. Find a Christian in the New Testament who's being treated as if he's part of that middle crowd. Galatians to the churches of Galatia. Corinthians to the church of God in Corinth. Ephesians to the church at Ephesus. Over and over and over and over again, brothers and sisters, you're gonna have a very hard time. Even James, written to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, what does he say in chapter two? If there comes in a man in your assembly, Is it? I mean, he talks about the assembly to a bot. You get the idea. All right. How about 1 John? Not written to a particular church, but he says, if they've gone out from you, it means they were never a part of you. For if they were a part of you, they never would have stopped being with you. Walter taught that back in July. So we know that that's just a fable. Now, the question about the hours during the time of Jesus, particularly as it pertains to the crucifixion. Let's take a look at Mark 13 together. And then I'm going to see if I answered your question, Randy. And if not, we'll take another stab at it. Mark chapter 13. It's a surprise. Mark 13. And, uh... We'll get, uh... You can only pull a stump in low gear. So, all right. So Mark 13, look at verse 32. We're going to talk about the coming of Jesus, but it, by the way, answers a question that I think we're talking about. How do they account for particular hours of the day? Okay. So take a look at Mark 13, verse 32. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. And he gives you four options. When does a thief come? In the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning. Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch. So at the nighttime, there were not considered as we would consider 12 hours of darkness or 10 hours of darkness, there were considered four watches. And each watch was labeled after the event that ended the watch. So you might notice, for example, the second watch is called what? Verse 35, midnight. So that ends when? yep midnight top of the night so at midnight at the crowing of the rooster so that well I'm afraid not dear sister there's four watches in the night which is exactly why the crowing of the cock is at two or three the crowing of the rooster is at two or three in the morning Yep, Sister Sue and I were talking about that just the other day. I had an early riser when I was a kid. He was up at two. Now you know why there was approximately one hour between Peter's second denial and third denial, because the rooster crows at two and three, depending on what kind of rooster, apparently. And I learned that from my Bible. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So that's the night. They didn't have hours at night, but during the day, let's look at Matthew 22. During the day there were not four watches, although I think I might have said that to someone recently. I didn't mean to say it. There were not four watches during the day. There were, however, four watches at night, called evening, midnight, cock crowing, or rooster crowing, and morning. So, in other words, when you read in your New Testament, it says, in the morning, you should be thinking, morning watch, getting done around sun up, or six o'clock-ish. All right? Which I have to tell you, I think it's incredibly funny that we're having a sunrise service 40 minutes after the sun comes up, but anyway. So, Matthew 22. Yeah, we want people here. I heard what you were thinking. Alright, so Matthew 22 gives us a proof that the days were accounted differently. Jesus tells a story and he says in verse 2, "...the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged marriage for his son, sent out his servants to call those who were..." Wrong, look at chapter 20. Chapter 20, forgive me. It's a good passage though. So chapter 20, look at verse one. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them out to his vineyard and he went out about the third hour. Others standing idle in the marketplace, he said, you also go into the vineyard and whatever is right, I'll give you. So they went. And again, he went out about the sixth hour. So he goes out right away in the morning, in verse number one and two. And then in verse number three, he goes to the third hour. Then verse number four, verse number five, rather, he goes out the sixth hour and the ninth hour. In verse six, he goes about the 11th hour. And he says to them, why have you been standing here idle all day? And they said, because no one hired us. So there's a proof that there are probably 12 one hour intervals during the Jewish day. And then John 1 also gives a reference to the 10th hour of the day. So it looks like, based on what I see in the passages of scripture, is that the night was divided into four watches, probably built around the four watches of city guards provided by the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. And it appears that the days were split into 12 hours. Now, is that anything even close to your question? Okay, good. Thank the Lord. Alright. Are there any other questions or comments? Disagreements? Mark 1335 provides for us four watches. Evening, midnight, rooster crowing, and morning. You're welcome. Any others? All right. Well, let's pray then. No other questions at all? That's not healthy. That's not healthy. We need you to think. All right. Let's have prayer.