Our king is still on the throne Okay, so in Acts chapter 2 we saw that the Holy Spirit baptizes the church you know God keeps his promises Jesus promised that the church would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and God shows that you know he can work in a powerful way through a church that is united on his agenda the kingdom of God not our own so God empowers his people And this is something that we have that the Old Testament saints don't have. Okay, the Old Testament saints would be regenerated by the Holy Spirit when they trust in Yahweh, the God of Israel, to provide salvation for them and they awaited the coming of the Messiah. God would save them through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, but they were not indwelt. by the Holy Spirit, nor were they baptized with the Holy Spirit. This started on that Pentecost 2,000 years ago. The response of the crowd, they heard the gospel being preached in their own languages. And so some even thought the apostles were drunk, but Peter defended the actions of the disciples as the work of God. He said, hey, even though we're Galileans, it's too early to be drunk. And then he quoted from Joel chapter 2. Now, Joel chapter 2, the ultimate fulfillment when the sun is darkened and the moon turns red like blood and the stars fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens are shaken this happens right before the coming of the day of the Lord so it happens right before Jesus' return and it happens immediately after the tribulation, those same signs Jesus said uh... immediately after the tribulation of those days, Matthew 24, 29 the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken But what Peter is basically saying is, look, you're seeing a manifestation of God's Spirit, the dreaming of dreams, the seeing of visions, the proclaiming, the prophetic proclaiming of God's truth, and so you're actually seeing, so in other words, with the Bible, the last days actually begin. with the life, ministry, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So we've technically been in the last days for two thousand years but the ultimate fulfillment will be immediately after the tribulation when Jesus is about to return and anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved and the Jews will cry out to God and then all Israel will be saved at that point. So Peter defends the actions of the disciples as the work of God and he defends it with the word of God. Okay? Remember I mentioned, only defend yourself when necessary to defend the gospel. Outside the context of sometimes you gotta defend your actions in the home or the job site or whatever, but in general, don't really, your number one emphasis should not be, well I'm gonna defend my character today. When you wake up in the morning, you ought to wake up saying, I'm going to defend the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? Live for Him, not for yourself. If people think Phil Fernandez is an idiot, I don't care. It's what they think about Jesus that really matters. Okay? In fact, usually when I get criticism and some guys will say, well, I don't think you're that good of a speaker, I don't think you know what you're talking about, I don't think this and that, blah, blah, blah. I could say, okay, I'm going to make that guy a lifelong enemy and spend the next 20 years debating the guy online about whether or not I know what I'm talking about or I can acknowledge that the Lord has shown me the areas where I fall short and so usually what I do is I add to the list. I say, well, you're making some good points there and here's a few other areas where I think I'm missing the boat and more times than not uh... the guy either just leaves me alone or he starts supporting the institute and and says wow maybe this guy's not not a bad guy and stuff and uh... but I tell you if you have to defend your actions all the time I don't know how you can claim to be humble okay because you know and I know we still deserve hell heaven was one for us by a beautiful Savior and we still deserve help. So if you gotta always, if you live to defend yourself and your actions day in and day out, 24-7 just defend you, I don't know how you can be humble and to be totally honest with you, from my understanding of the Bible, God just does not use people who will not humble themselves before the Lord. It's our job to humble ourselves, it's God's job to exalt us and whatever the case, if you're gonna defend your actions in the ministry and serving the Lord, you've got to defend it with what? The Word of God. And that's exactly what Peter does. Peter says, you know, you're not seeing a bunch of drunk guys here. You're seeing God's Word, God's prophecies being fulfilled in your midst. Now Peter goes from there to proclaiming Jesus' resurrection in verses 22 to 36. And so here we're going to see the first sermon preached in the history of the church, since the church started on that day, on the Feast of Pentecost. And so look first at verses 22 to 24. Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs. Three different words for miracles. "...which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. Whom God raised up having loose the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it." Okay? So, he's basically saying, look, Jesus of Nazareth, God put his stamp of approval on his ministry by miracles, wonders, and signs, and then God raised him from the dead. Now, it was God's predetermined plan for Him to die. It wasn't something that shocked God. Throughout all eternity, God knew He was going to send His Son to die on the cross for our sins. He knew we were going to fall in the garden. He knew we were going to need a Savior. He knew He was going to send His Son to provide salvation for us. And then He said that God raised Him up from the dead. Now, He's going to give the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, to support that, to show that this is biblical as well. Not just what happened at Pentecost is biblical, but also what happened at the last Passover. when Jesus was crucified and then on the feast of first fruits when he was raised from the dead that's also biblical and now let me just key on a few things here first is the word for miracles it comes from the Greek word dunamis we get our word dynamite from that so with the word dunamis for miracles the emphasis is on the power behind the miracle. The power of God being displayed through the superseding of natural laws, a supernatural act. So, dunamis, the word translated miracles, focuses on the power behind the miracle. Okay? Teros is the word for wonders. We get our word terror from that, so it's like terror and awe. wonders it's like it's like the shocking you know what one military action uh... in america's recent past they called it shock and awe Okay? And that's the emphasis on these miracles. It's like, wow, you know, and this aspect of miracles, the teros aspect of miracles, the wonders, this is where you see, you know, later on in Acts chapter 2 and other passages throughout the book of Acts, that's where you see the apostles, that God was doing signs and wonders and He was causing the people to fear. Okay? There's a certain amount, even when the miracles are coming from the good side, not the demonic side, there's a certain amount of healthy fear and respect and awe and wonder of God. And that's what that word brings out. Simeon is the word for signs, and this puts the emphasis on the message that comes with the miracle. God doesn't do, there's a lot of bogus miracles going on in the name of Christianity today by charlatans. Many of them are on television and all, but believe me, God doesn't do miracles to entertain. With every miracle comes a message and the miracle confirms the message. Miracles are like signposts from God. Okay? And, you know, Jesus, you know, was claiming to be God, the Messiah and Savior, and so the miracles he performed, as great as it was to be healed, it was all mainly confirmation that Jesus was who he claimed to be. Okay? And so, the word for signs emphasizes the message behind it. Now there's another word, not in this passage, In John chapter 10, verse 32, Jesus said, in verse 30, Jesus said, I and the Father are one. So the Jews picked up stones to stone him. And he said, for which of my works do you stone me? And he said, well, not for your works. They said, not for your works, but for your words, because you being a man, blasphemy, you make yourself out to be God. okay and of course Jesus wasn't blaspheming because he is God but the word there for works is ergon and it doesn't have to mean miracles but in this context the obvious works that Jesus was doing You know, in fact, I even think in John 3, no one could do the work that you do unless God is with them. Nicodemus telling Jesus it might even be the same word. And so there what it's talking about, the emphasis is on the one who through the power of God is working these miracles so that you can see, well, he's doing the work of God. But whatever the case, so different different emphasis here and the signs and wonders the signs and wonders you can go back and see that in the Hebrew Hebrew words for that that's how God put his stamp of approval on Moses' ministry signs and wonders and then what did Moses do? He started writing the Bible And then you always had successors like prophets coming among the Jews who would then continue what Moses started. Then for 400 years, nobody was writing God's word. And then all of a sudden with Jesus and the apostles, signs and wonders again. God's stamp of approval. And what did they start doing? They completed God's Word, the Bible, with the New Testament, which completes the Old Testament. Okay? So whatever the case there, you see Jesus, and by the way, in verses 22 to 24, you know, Paul is so profound that we expect it from him. but we've seen Peter get corrected so many times that sometimes we drop our guard and we don't expect him to be profound. And then if you do, and so sometimes we don't try to dig deeper in Peter's writings and Peter's sermons, but we ought to see how profound this guy is. He's a pretty sharp guy. Now he didn't have the years of education trained by the accredited rabbis of his day like Paul did. However, he studied three and a half years under Rabbi Jesus, who happens to be God. So if God is your rabbi and he's teaching you, you're going to come up with some pretty profound stuff. But it's interesting that he said that Jesus was attested to you by miracles, wonders, and signs. Jesus' miracles attested to them that Jesus is who He claimed to be. It was proof of who He claimed to be. Then, He talks about God raising Him up from the dead. Another proof that Jesus is who He claimed to be. I mean, if Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and the Savior and God incarnate, and He died and stayed dead, why should anybody believe His claims? So he got his miracles and then his ultimate miracle, the resurrection, and then he's going to quote from the scriptures some Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. Those are the three main proofs that Jesus is God, Savior, and Messiah. His miracles, which he did in public, his bodily resurrection from the dead, and the Old Testament prophecies that he fulfilled. Prophecies that were written hundreds, some of them over a thousand years before he walked the earth. And so Peter knows his stuff and doesn't get a lot of credit for it. Now we're also told that the cross was not an accident, it's part of God's eternal plan. Okay, now I'm just, I don't have a lot of time because this is just a survey, but I'm just going to read a few notes that I jotted down this morning about God's determined purpose and his foreknowledge. Foreknowledge means he knows what's going to occur before it does, but it's also in accordance with God's God's knowledge, God's counsel, God's will. In fact, if you look at, hold this page and look at Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, it says, in him, in Jesus, Ephesians 1, verse 11, "...in Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." Now, I'm not even keying on the word predestined. All that means in that context is that In Jesus, those who believe in Him, we receive an inheritance that God predetermined for us. Okay? But I'm focusing on the last part of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. Okay? You see, if God is all-powerful, and he foreknew everything that would occur that means he had the power to prevent it from occurring because of that whatever God foreknows and allows he also predestines because he could have prevented it we repeat that whatever God foreknows and allows he also predestines because he could have prevented it. Too often we let God off the hook so to say because he say well the holocaust that wasn't God's doing Adolf Hitler made those choices God just gave him free choice God allowed it God permitted it but there's no way that fits into God's predestination or God's plan no God works everything after the counsel of his will and see what my I have what I what I believe I believe I have the heaviest possible view of predestination while still allowing for free will. okay so I could say that I am here today at Trinity Bible Fellowship preaching to you because God predestined that Phil Fernandes would be here throughout all eternity God predetermined Phil Fernandes will be here on that day but it is also a true statement for me to say I am here today because I freely chose to be here today Okay? What if God knew that I was going to preach heresy today and it was going to lead people astray and cause stumbling blocks? And so I freely choose to be here today. Well, God could say, well, you know what? I don't want him to cause stumbling blocks. So throughout all eternity, I predestined he will not be here today. Okay? See, God is in charge, he's in control of a lot more things than we are. I could freely choose to come here, but God could predetermine that my car breaks down and I never make it. And John has to preach a message free of heresy. Okay? I'm not in control of what kind of bugs I get. I could get a flu bug and be down and stuff. So I have a very heavy view of predestination where God predetermines everything that's going to occur however in the logical moment before he predetermined what would occur he looked at the free choices we would make given certain circumstances and then he predetermined that the circumstances would come about which would persuade us to freely make the choices that we make that in the long run give God the most glory. and so God allows evil for the purposes of a greater good at the same time God could have prevented that evil from occurring in the first place but for purposes of a greater good he brings it about and now this you know a lot of people you do if you go heavy on predestination without free will then we're not responsible for our actions. Okay? Take, for instance, Judas. God foreknew. You know, so what I'm saying is God's predestination does not eliminate free will. He is predetermined to allow the free choices that will bring about his good plan. Even if there's bad free choices, it's still going to work for good in God's overall plan. So God foreknew Judas would betray Jesus given certain circumstances, but God predetermined those circumstances would come about, so Judas would betray Jesus. So Judas is responsible for betraying Jesus, but God used Jesus' death for good. None of us would be saved. if God did not allow Jesus to die. But God works even the bad things for good. Romans 8, 28, we know that God causes all things to work together for good. Those who love God are called according to his purpose. God works, brings good out of evil. That's even what Joseph told to his brothers who beat him and sold him into slavery. So, but the idea if we try to hold to a heavy view of predestination without man being free then we're not responsible for our actions if you're that heavy on predestination and very few Christians are but some are then Hitler's Hitler did what he did because God made him do it and uh... and we're not free so we're not really responsible for our actions But if you emphasize free will and you throw predestination out the window, that's just as scary for me. Would you like to fly in a plane knowing that the pilot and the co-pilot are not in control? of that plane? I wouldn't. And let's just take automatic pilot out of the, because even automatic pilot, the pilot's in control of putting the plane on that. And so what I'm saying is if you look at reality as an airplane, our pilot's in control. And you could be a jerk on that airplane. You got the free will to be a jerk on that airplane, but our pilot is still in control. You have the free will to be a little Adolf Hitler or even a wannabe terrorist. but our pilot's still in control and in the end that plane is going to safely land. Okay? And so, in short, man is free yet God is in control. And so, that's what I think he's getting at here when you look at that Jesus being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God That's God's predestination, God's foreknowledge. Nothing ever is going to occur that God's going to say, wow, I didn't expect that. But then it says, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, and you have man's responsibility. He's going to bring that up later as well. I believe in this passage that man is responsible for his actions here. But here in these verses we see that the cross is not an accident, but it was part of God's eternal plan. Still, those who killed Jesus are responsible for their actions. Now we're going to see down through from verses 25 down through 36, that Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, okay? And so he says, you know, God raised Jesus from the dead, and he says, for David says concerning him, so now he's going to King David, writing in the Old Testament, in Psalm 16, For I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad, moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, in the realm of death, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You're not going to allow your Holy One's body to decay. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Now this is what, listen to what Peter says, this is really profound what he says about David's statement. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David. He's one of the Jewish fathers being their greatest king. That he is both dead and buried, that's David, and his tomb is with us to this day. What he's basically saying is David could not be speaking about himself because God did allow David's body to decay. Okay? We can go to his tomb. I suppose back then you could actually see David's bones. Okay? Therefore, being a prophet, you know, one who proclaims God's truth often foretells the future, and that's the case here. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath that of the fruit of His body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ, the Messiah, to sit on His throne. He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, the ultimate Jewish king, the Messiah, that his soul was not left in Hades, in the realm of the dead, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. And so what he argues there is that Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. David could not be speaking of himself. The scripture cannot be broken. David said God would not allow your holy one's body to see decay, yet David's body saw decay. Peter's saying, guys, we can go to his tomb. David's body rotted in his tomb. David could not be speaking about himself. We know the scriptures cannot be broken. He was speaking of another. And when a king of Israel is not talking about himself, he's speaking of another. He's probably speaking about his future descendant, the Jewish Messiah, the ultimate king of Israel. And then he goes further and After he says, this Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses, Peter was not ashamed to give evidence for the truth of the gospel. He's saying, look, we've got eyewitness testimony. We saw him alive after his death. Okay? He's providing solid eyewitness testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead. Verse 33, "...therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, and this is Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, Yahweh said to my Adonai, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And so basically what Peter's saying is we saw him ascend slowly into the heavens the last time he left us, and so uh... jesus is now seated at the father's right hand uh... david was talking about him when he said in psalm 110 verse one the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies your footstool therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god has made this jesus whom you crucified both lord and christ so he is the lord He is the Master. He is Yahweh. Koreas in the Greek, and he is Christos, Messiah. He is both the Lord of all, the master of the universe, at the same time he is also the Jewish Messiah, the one that God anointed and selected to rescue Israel from her enemies. And so, again, the cross, he's saying the cross is not an accident. It's part of the eternal plan of God. Still, those who killed Jesus are responsible for their actions. And that Christ's death and resurrection and his resurrection, there were witnesses of his resurrection, fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. He's talking about Jesus' resurrection and exaltation to the Father's right hand. Because David's tomb is not empty. David wasn't speaking of himself. And so, this proves that Jesus is the Messiah again. The three proofs that Jesus is Messiah, God, and Savior. The miracles he performed. his bodily resurrection from the dead, and the Old Testament prophecies that he fulfilled. Now, in verses 37 to 41, and by the way, in fact, turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7, 2 Samuel chapter 7, it's called the Davidic Covenant, God's covenant with the house of David, 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 12 and 13, David wanted to build the temple, they had a portable temple called the tabernacle, he wanted to build a permanent temple uh... for Yahweh but God said no you're a bloody man you know we want Gentiles to come to the temple nobody's gonna come they're all afraid of you your son's gonna be a man of peace Solomon means peace he'll build a temple and then even Gentiles will come to the outer court the court of the Gentiles uh... you see God blessed Israel to be a blessing to all nations okay He chose them as the vehicle through which the Savior would come and salvation would go to all mankind. 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13, When your days are fulfilled, and you rest with your fathers after you die, David, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So, God there is looking forward to King Solomon, but even beyond that, Solomon is just a type of the real ultimate son of David, descendant of David, who when Jesus returns, there's going to be another temple rebuilt, the Tribulation Temple, and that one will be destroyed. When Jesus returns, he's going to build the Millennial Temple, Ezekiel's Temple. Okay? And he's going to reign over the entire world for a thousand years. Just read Revelation chapter 20 from Ezekiel's temple. And so there is a son of David who's going to build a temple and then he will reign forever. After a thousand years, Jesus will reign over the entire universe forever and ever and ever. That's why a lot of Jews could not understand, well how could Messiah die? How could he suffer and die if he's supposed to reign forever? So they wanted a conquering Messiah who was going to rescue them from the pagans and then they wanted this Messiah to reign forever and ever and never die. But you got to take the whole Bible. You can't say, well, I'm a patriotic Jew. I don't want Messiah to be killed by the Gentiles, especially a shameful, painful way to die, like crucifixion. So I'm just going to throw out those passages. I just want a Messiah who's going to come, who's going to conquer. I was talking with Rory about a book he got me years ago, written by a Jewish man named Klinghoffer. And he's explaining why the Jews don't accept Jesus. He's a great guy, but he's explaining why the Jews, he doesn't accept Jesus as his Messiah or Savior. And all he says is the same argument, Jesus did not conquer their enemies. So how could he be their Messiah? Yet, he acknowledged, he quotes from the Jewish Talmud, that about 40 years before the temple was destroyed, this scarlet thread, I think it was every time they sacrificed on Yom Kippur, I believe it was on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, God would turn the scarlet cord white. every year on Yom Kippur when the Jewish high priest would offer a sacrifice for the Jews. Yet the Jewish Talmud acknowledged that approximately 40 years before the temple was destroyed, it was destroyed in 70 AD, the cord stopped turning white. And the Jews took this as evidence that Yahweh was no longer accepting their sacrifice. Well, yeah. Is there anything happened, guys? forty years before the temple was destroyed that maybe would tell you that now he's no longer accepting your sacrifice because the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world came and died on the cross for their sins so but whatever the case so now so Peter is explaining to them how Messiah can reign forever be exalted to the right hand of the Father Yet, die. because God raised him from the dead and now he's exalted to the Father's right hand. So he's saying, you know, God hasn't failed us in our scriptures because Jesus is the Messiah and has accomplished these things. Now, verses 37 to 41, 3,000 people get saved. I'm sure Peter was a great preacher and a brilliant guy, but there's some extra reasons why 3,000 people got saved, and we'll talk about that. Verses 37 to 41. Then Peter said to them, Repent. Metanoia in the Greek means to turn from your sin. If you confess your sin before God and then keep doing them, you confess but you haven't repented. Repentance means you not only confess your sin, but you pray to God for the power to stop that sin and to turn from it, and so repentance means to do a complete 180. Okay? To turn from your sin. Their main sin was they were living in rejection of Jesus as their Savior. Now when they had 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? Then 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 shall 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. And so Peter preaches this message, and then 3,000 of them are going to respond positively with verse 40, and with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation, so the generation that was rejecting Christ. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. In the early church, if you acknowledged Jesus as your Savior, they'd baptize you right on the spot. If you refused to get baptized, they would just assume, okay, well then you really don't believe. Because if you're really going to believe, and if it's possible to get baptized, the thief on the cross, he couldn't get baptized. But if you believed, they would baptize you right on the spot. And so 3,000 people get saved. Now you have to understand, Peter was probably a great preacher, but many of these people had been in Jerusalem for the last Passover. Remember, there's three feasts, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, where you were required, males were required, if at all possible, to be in Jerusalem to celebrate those feasts. So, many of these guys had been there just 50 days before. Now, some weird things happened on that last Passover. Jesus was crucified, darkness covered the land during the day, There was an earthquake, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and saints were raised from the dead. Those who were trusted in Jesus' salvation who had recently died rose from the dead and appeared in Jerusalem. You see, what Peter's doing is he's giving an explanation of the last Passover. They want not just an explanation of why are you guys speaking in our language without a Galilean accent, How did that happen? Well that's the work of the Holy Spirit. Joel said in the last days things were going to get weird. But now he's going to explain, he's explaining the last Passover. And these guys have been scratching their heads. They probably went back home to Rome and to other places and they're scratching their heads wondering what just happened. That was the weirdest thing. I thought this Jesus guy might have been the Messiah. People said he gives sight to the blind, the deaf here. He raises the dead. And I guess he ticked off the Jewish religious leaders because they turned him, after a bogus trial, they turned him over to the Romans and the Romans just shamed him and killed him in this horrible, public, ruthless execution. But it got dark when it's not supposed to. It was that big earthquake. Boy, that was terrifying. I heard the veil on the temple tore from the top to the bottom, giving access into the Holy of Holies. Dead people came back to life. What in the world just happened? Peter's telling them what just happened. And you know what? 3,000 people just stood there and said, you know what? That makes sense. That makes sense. There was an alternative theory. Matthew talks about it going around. The alternative theory was that the Roman soldiers, while they slept, the apostles stole the body. I don't think anybody believed that. Because number one, what's the punishment for Roman soldiers sleeping on duty? Death. What's the punishment for breaking the Roman seal? The tomb was sealed. Punishment for breaking the Roman seal when Romans are on duty? Death. What's the chances of the apostles defeating a group of Roman soldiers in hand-to-hand combat? Zero. So, I mean, the list goes on and on, but why would people die for what they know to be a hoax? They would. They're sincere enough to believe they saw Jesus risen from the dead. So, these 3,000 guys are saying, you know what, we've heard what the Jewish religious leaders have had to say, and that doesn't make any sense at all. This makes a lot of sense. And so 3,000 people got saved. Now, verses 41 through 47. 41 is kind of a bridge from the last passage. I'm going to read that. Here we see the characteristics of the early church. Now keep in mind The first Christian church, the early church wasn't perfect. Our church isn't perfect. But they just got baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is about as close to perfect as they're going to get until they see Jesus face to face. So what do we want Trinity Bible Fellowship to look like? Do we want to take the biggest church in Kitsap County and say, well we want to look like that? No. And the biggest church in Kitsap County, they shouldn't look at the biggest church in America and say, we want to look like that. The biggest church in America shouldn't look at the biggest church in the world and say, we want to look like that. Every church should say, we want to look like Acts chapter 2, the Acts chapter 2 church. This is what we need to look like. Verse 41, then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. So they were preaching the gospel and they were baptizing converts. Verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, the apostles' teachings and fellowship. It's Koinonia, you share what you have in common with others. We share what we have. There are so many different people. There are people in this church that have nothing in common with me except Jesus. Yet, if Jesus is the most important thing in my life and he's the most important thing in your life, we can have fellowship because we have more in common than I have in common with people who are like me in every way except they don't know Jesus. Okay? If Jesus defines my existence and Jesus defines your existence, we ought to be united. Okay? And... And so they continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, their teachings, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Breaking of bread there would be celebrating of the Lord's Supper, but it also may imply the love feast, where they would share food, like we're gonna have a potluck this week, last week, we celebrated the Lord's Supper. then fear came upon every soul, here's that word fear, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. See how he mentions wonders before signs, the terror and awe aspect first, because fear was coming upon them. I'm telling you, a lot of times we want miracles. But if they happen, boy, we see the power of God unleashed, even when it's on our behalf. It could be a scary thing. You know, Jesus calms the storm and enables the apostles to have a great catch of fish. And Peter, what does Peter say? Get away from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man who's terrified to be in the presence of God. The reason why the evangelical church today in America is not terrified to be in the presence of God, we're pretty comfortable. when we think we're in the presence of God. The reason why we don't get terrified of being in the presence of God, we spend so little time in the presence of God. Okay? You got a feel-good buddy, Jesus, who just, you know, If you disobey God or whatever, he just laughs, hey, it's cool, it's okay. That's not why, Paul would never, if that's what Jesus is like, if Jesus is some wimp pushover, Paul would never say work out your salvation with fear and fear and trembling, for it is God who's at work with you. And then you. But there was fear among the early church because many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And now all who believed were together and had all things in common. This is not communism. Okay? Communism has nothing to do with sharing. This is sharing. If anything, it's compassionate capitalism. When you share with other people, you have to own what you share with them, otherwise you didn't share it. Okay? So we got people to be sharing food with us today. Pastor Willis and feeding the hungry. We need to help them out with that. To get out there and feed the hungry. That's sharing what we own with others. Okay? Communism, you're not allowed to own anything. communism, the government steals it from everybody and then the government distributes it as the government sees fit so members of the communist party and people in the government, people who are part of the dictatorship they live like kings, everybody else barely survives from day to day and uh... this is not communism. God didn't institute human government to steal from man One of the reasons why God instituted human government was to prevent men from stealing from other men. Okay? Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. You know, they had the joy of the Lord, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. And so you look at several different characteristics of the early church, and then we've got to ask ourselves, do we have these? Does our church, this Trinity Bible Fellowship, look like this? Do we spread the gospel? Do we share the good news of salvation with others? What I want you to do right now, just think to yourself, I'm not asking for a show of hands or anything, but just think, when was the last time you shared the gospel with somebody? Now, I get paid to teach at a Christian school. So a lot of people assume, well then you just get to disciple, you don't get to lead anybody to Christ. Believe me, lots of kids growing up in Christian homes are not believers. Lots of them think they're believers and they're not. And then some of them do believe, some of them are not believers and they know they're not. But I even have to think when I'm not at school, do I share my faith with others? I'm telling you, it is difficult to share your faith. This is a difficult time. I just met with a guy, he's a single guy in his thirties, loves the Lord, two years of Bible college, but he's getting tired of being a local. And so he's just going to go. He's got a business where he does websites where anywhere he can bring his laptop he can work. And so he's going to get a ride with his cousin to Arizona. Then he wants to hitchhike to Texas. And he's going around. And you know what advice this guy asked me? He didn't ask me about how do I raise funds. He didn't ask me any practical advice on this and that. The only thing he asked me is how can I share my faith with others. I'm gonna be meeting a lot of strangers, how can I share Jesus with them? His father and his parents, man and woman of God, love the Lord, good solid upbringing, but I told them, we live in a day and age where nobody wants to be preached at anymore. Okay? That's because of arrogance. No, I got it all together, so don't be preaching at me. Nobody wants to be preached at, but everybody has an opinion about everything. Even if you don't know what you're talking about, you have an opinion about it. Even myself, I'll find myself, some people will be asking me a question about a sport I don't even follow. And I'll be arguing that so-and-so is better than so-and-so. And after a while I'll think, why am I even arguing this? I don't really know anything about the game, that's just my gut feeling. And I'm acting like it's gospel truth. And so if nobody wants to be preached at, but everybody has an opinion about everything, We need to ask people questions about their beliefs. And what it shows is that we care about them. And we're curious about where they're coming from. Now when they tell you they believe something, ask them, well how do you know that's true? What makes you believe that? And you keep asking questions and what it usually shows these people is, wow, I'm not as smart as I thought I was. And then after a while they ask you to share your faith with them. But if you can build relationships with people, he might ride for two days with somebody who picks him up hitchhiking. And can build a relationship there. Eventually they're probably going to ask him, well what do you believe? You sound like a smart guy, what do you believe? And I told him, just tell him. I said, no I don't want to tell you because you'll think I'm a bigot. And they'll say, no, no, I won't. Yeah, you'll think I'm a bigot, narrow-minded and all. I don't want you to make fun of me. You're my friend and I don't want to ruin stuff. You'll think I'm a bigot. No, I won't. I promise. Well, okay. And then you share the gospel message with them. And then even if the guy wanted to call you a bigot, he can't now. Okay? But the fact of the matter is, you gotta show people that you care for them in a culture that is so far away from the Lord. You gotta chip away through the power of the Holy Spirit at hardened hearts. But when was the last time you shared the gospel or at least attempted to move in that direction? What I do to just try to soften the ground a little bit is I tell everybody, God bless you. And sometimes that starts to open the door, sometimes it doesn't. I'm shocked at how few people get offended when I say, God bless you. If one out of a hundred people get offended, I don't remember. But are you sharing the gospel with others? The good news. You know, one guy explained evangelism, sharing the gospel message as one beggar trying to show another beggar where to find bread. If He found some bread to keep you alive, why in the world would you withhold that from people you come in contact with? Do we at our church, do we lead people to Christ? Do we baptize them? We try, if you're out there and you're a believer and you're not baptized, come see me. We'll baptize you in the name of the triune God. Do we preach the apostles' teaching? I hope so. And you might think, well the apostles' teaching, that's the New Testament. Why do we preach the Old Testament too? Because the apostles taught us to preach the Old Testament. Peter was preaching from the Old Testament. Okay? Let me tell you, I used to say there's two kinds of churches in the world right now. Bible-preaching, Bible-believing churches and liberal churches that are churches in name only, they don't really believe. They're apostate, they've fallen away from the true faith. Now I've come to realize there's three kinds of churches. There's churches that don't really believe, and then there's Bible-believing churches, and then there's Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches. There's a lot of churches that believe all the right things, but it's like, man, if I preach that this is a sin, I might offend you, or I might offend you, and I don't want to offend everybody. I want everybody to feel good so we're a bible-believing church we put our statement of faith on a piece of paper and we put it uh... next to the donation box and if anybody wants to pick it up they can see what we believe but on Sundays it's all about you Well, that's a quote-unquote Bible-believing church that doesn't preach the Word. And the third type of church, they believe the Bible and they will preach it. And they don't care. Guess what? Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches do not care what the guy in the White House says about the Word of God. Okay? The Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches are going to preach, let God, Paul said, let God be true and every man a liar. Okay? So I don't care if you're the President of the United States. I don't care if you're the County Sheriff. Okay? I don't care if you're the Governor. My God is bigger than your God. Why in the world would I back down from you? Do we or do we not proclaim the teaching of the Apostles? You might say, well, Pastor Phil, though, they might arrest us for it. We might lose our jobs for it. They might kill us for it. Well, that's exactly what they did to the apostles. And you know what their flock did? Continued to preach the word of Jesus. Okay? I'm not, you know, hey, our enemies are bigger than us. Our enemies are way bigger than us. Okay? But our God is bigger than any of our enemies. There's nothing for us to worry about. Are we teaching the apostles' teaching? Do we fellowship together? Do we really love Jesus so much that we're able to look past the differences that we may have? And are we truly united? God can do powerful things to a church that's united. Okay? But if we're backstabbing each other and talking about each other behind each other's back, you know, we're gonna stifle the work of the Holy Spirit. Are we people of prayer? You know, prayer expresses more than anything else our absolute dependence upon God. And if we're not a people of prayer, God can't work through us. Do we celebrate the Lord's Supper? Is the Holy Spirit's power demonstrated in our midst? I see the power of people coming to Christ to transform lives. God has answered many of our prayers. But maybe the Holy Spirit wants more of his power unleashed. Are we getting in the way? Do we share with others? You know, there are people in this congregation that are out of work, that are hurting. We need to come alongside them and then we need to look at others in our community and join with Pastor Willis and feed the hungry. And are we praising God? So are we a church like the first generation church? I think in some areas we're doing really, really good, and there's probably some areas where we're missing the boat. A little bit here, a little bit there. But let's not look at which direction the world's going and then follow them. Let's just go to God's word. You know, even Muhammad, the heretic and false prophet that he was, knew enough to call the Christians the people of the book. So I'm sorry, Mr. President. I'm sorry, Mr. Congressman, judges, and lawyers. But I'm one of those people of the book. The ultimate authority for me, if the Bible is God's word, and it is, if God has spoken, let God be true, and every man a liar. Let's close with a word of prayer. Our king is still on the throne.