Message 5 - The Church - It's A Family Affair

Acts 2:4

Acts 8,10,11,19

The Purpose of Tongues

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This morning. Uh worship team, thank you. I really like that new song. That's a cool song. Uh uh before we dig into the message this morning. I need you to mark something on your calendars. August 23rd. Uh it's a Sunday, and on that Sunday, we're going to have our uh baptism service and uh barbecue uh uh out at Brad and Kendra's home. Uh, like we have in years past. It's a really wonderful day of kids can wear swimming suits, well, adults can too, and they have the ride on a lake, and uh and we just uh they're gonna and actually uh in years past they've done uh hamburgers, but Brad's gonna fire up the smoker and we're gonna have barbecue this year. Uh so that that's got me going already. I'm ready for that. And uh just but in addit to that, uh let me just reminder you if you have made a decision, you come to understand that uh what Jesus did on the cross was on your behalf, that he died as uh to pay me payments for your sins, for my sins, and then offer to uh you and I a gift of forgiveness, if we'll accept that uh payment on our behalf, which also uh brings uh we are adopted into God's family, uh eternity, promise of an eternity spent with him. If you've made that decision, which uh is wonderful, but you've never been baptized, let me let me ask you to pray and consider that. Not that baptism uh is uh makes a difference as far as your salvation. If you invited Christ to be your Savior, you are a child of God. You are forgiven. You do have eternal life. Uh that's that's already a given. But one of the things that Jesus uh personally asked us to do as uh his followers is to be willing to be public about that relationship. And God and was and one of the ways he established for that to pub that to happen is for us uh in obedience to be baptized, to make a public statement through our baptism that we are followers of Christ. And so so I would ask you to really consider that. And you want if you want to talk more about it, have some questions, uh let me know. I'd love to talk to you about it, and just want to encourage you to uh just out of obedience as a as uh a faithful follower of Jesus uh be willing to make that step, and uh we'll have a wonderful celebration with you on that Sunday. So anyway, keep that in mind. You know, I don't hear uh it used as much nowadays, but uh, when I was younger, if uh there's a couple of people or people groups that were really at odds with each other, really did not like each other, maybe even uh hated each other, you'd often hear people say, Well, they're like the Hatfields and McCoys. Anybody you ever hear that statement? And uh Hatfields and McCoys is uh legitimate families. They live, they're still relatives to this day, but they live on the uh the state line of Kentucky and West Virginia. Uh and back in uh, let's see, I have it down here, 1865, Civil War was going on, and uh the uh those two families, the uh the McCoys, uh, had kind of they had gone the side of the Union, and the Hatfields went the side of the uh Confederate, and uh and their one of the McCoy's sons, uh Asa was out fighting, and he was caught alone by a militia that had several of the of the uh uh Hatfields in this militia. Uh they were called the Logan Wildcats, and they caught Asa out by himself and they killed him. Uh and that started the battle. And it went on for 35 years. Uh, just every few months uh someone else would get killed, and one family another, and it'd rattle them all up and just uh and just it became famous. I mean, you all over the United States, these two families are fighting. It actually took an act of uh the Supreme Court and and the government to finally make it uh better to be at peace than to keep fighting each other. But I suspect if you living uh having pastored a church on the state line of Virginia and West Virginia, uh those family feuds, I suspect there's still some of it going on, not to the extent, but uh they they just uh I we we saw some of it even when we were pastoring in that area, just uh they hold grudges for a long time. I tell you that story because uh uh if you were to go back to the time of Christ and and the early church that which we're studying right now and in Acts chapter 2, if you want to get there, uh it would it would be it wouldn't be the Hat Phillips and McCoys, it'd be the Jews and frankly everyone else. Uh there was just uh such a tremendous racial uh hatred and prejudice that that honestly the Jews had towards everybody else. They they couldn't get along with with anyone and just despised uh uh just uh uh everyone else. Uh they not to the point of uh the there with the Gentiles, which the Gentiles was basically everyone who wasn't a Jew. And at the particular time of the early church, uh remember the Jews were under the domain of the Romans, but the Roman Gentiles, and uh but they a Jew wouldn't even wouldn't even go in, step into the house of a Gentile. Uh wouldn't, you know, they would try not to touch them if they if it was all possible. And uh and then and that was the Gentiles, but then there was another group that was kind of a uh a little bit of a uh other flavor, and that was the Samaritans. And the Samaritans were, if you remember, half-breeds. Uh they were uh uh Gentile and Jew marriage, and that was even worse. How could you think of actually marrying a Gentile? And so it's just so there's just this real uh for generations uh this tremendous hatred between uh with the Jews when it came to other people. And the and the Jews, there was an arrogance that went with them in that they saw themselves as as God's chosen people, which is true, was true and is true, honestly. Uh and they were given the law by Moses, which they had tremendous pride. Uh, but when God chose them, he actually chose them to bring others to tell others' people how to get in the right relationship with God. Instead, they kind of they took the law and the and the information they were given, kept it to themselves, and just and used it as a way to uh just uh become arrogant as a people. So it was a real it was a real big problem. And and then Christ comes into the scene and the the crucifixion and the death on the cross, and and then we have this, remember, as he talked to his people after the resurrection, he's talking to the group of people, and he says, you know, after I'm gone, he's gonna go back up to the Father, go back to Jerusalem, and when you get to Jerusalem, wait, because this promise, the Holy Spirit that he'd been talking to them about, will come and uh wonderful things are gonna happen. Uh, and then we've been reading about that in chapter two of Acts, is where we read on the day of Pentecost that it took place, and there's that 120 that were gathered in that upper room, and the Holy Spirit comes upon them, uh, and then they go out, and we looked at this last week, they go out and they speak to the crowds that have gathered because they heard the commotion, and they gathered, and so these Galilean Jews, uh, and and they would have said it this way uneducated Galilean Jews, a lot of them are fishermen, start preaching to this crowds, and an amazing thing happens. Uh, as they preach, they speak the different languages of the crowds, and it was a it was miraculous. They didn't had never learned those languages. In fact, I told you last week I I kind of suspected they they were speaking Galilean, but they're but the people were hearing their language, they and it was an amazing, amazing moment. Uh uh, but out of that, what what we talked about, started talking about last week, out of that moment uh which takes place in chapter 2, verse 4, uh, have come some uh some perspectives of of especially when this when the Holy Spirit comes on individuals uh that I think are not in line with Scripture. Uh one of them we talked about last week, and that is well, what are tongues? And and uh there's been a lot of uh, I think, uh, misrepresentation of what we see in scripture with that and and the fact that that it's very clear tongues are human languages. And uh so we talked about that last week. I don't know delve back into that. If you weren't here and and would like to get a perspective of of uh what the problem is there, uh you can get on website or on Facebook page and look at that. I don't want to take the time for that this morning. My wife checked in on me uh in the office before this service started, and she said, How you doing? And I says, Well, I'm doing okay, but I got 50 pages of notes, and I'm trying she and she says, Well, don't talk fast because that's what I do. I get uh but uh so I'm not gonna go back into that now. You'll have to check that out yourself. So here's but here's the other issue, and I and I'm gonna show you uh again, I it it uh I understand, I think it's a it's a wrong perspective of when it comes to this Holy Spirit coming on, folks, on believers, because that's who he comes on. Uh I understand where it came from, uh, but I so but I want us to walk through it together, and then again, you you make up your own mind. Uh this is not the the hill I'm gonna die on. Uh if you know Christ, I'm that's what I'm worried about and concerned about more than anything else. But I do think that we if we need to be careful uh when we look at the word of God that we're that we're understanding that uh Paul wrote Timothy and he and he told Timothy as a young pastor says, rightly divide the word of God. I have responsibility to do the best I can. I'm a human though, and I don't always get it right, but I want to show you another problem that I think has developed from those early days of the church. Remember, Acts is a record of the beginning of the church and how it spread. Uh and and uh so here's the I'm gonna lay out the problem first of all, and then show you where it came from, and then hopefully I'll kind of give you something to chew on. Uh so the problem is this there is as out of this moment there has come a teaching that uh that when a person becomes a believer, uh two things. Number one, uh that they maybe do not receive the Holy Spirit at that moment. I believe Scripture teaches that they do, that the instant you become a believer, the Holy Spirit indwells you and lives within you until you stand in the presence of God. And then the other part of that is that uh that any time that to enable to prove that you actually have received the Holy Spirit, what continued on was you had you speak in tongues. So you don't really know you if you have the Holy Spirit unless you've spoken in tongues. In fact, some would say you don't even really know for sure you're a believer unless you've spoken in tongues. Where did that come from? Well, I'm gonna show you in scripture. Again, it's not like it's I, you know, like that, well, those people are crazy. No, I see, I see why they have come to that conclusion, uh, but I also think it's a mistake, and I'm gonna show you that, and then again, I'm gonna let you develop, you know, think it through yourself. So before that, let me set the stage, all right? Uh towards the end of Acts, we talked a while back about Paul's con Paul's conversion and his missionary journeys. Uh at one point in his one of his missionary journeys, in fact, I think it was his last one, uh, word got out that uh he had been uh spending time with Gentiles. And uh and so he gets back to Jerusalem, which is kind of the headquarters of the of the church. That's where the the early most of the apostles hung out, the early church fathers. So he gets back to Jerusalem at the end of this journey, and he goes to before the leaders, and the leaders right away say, Hey, you know, we've got information that you've been you've been uh kind of cozying up with the Gentiles, and uh uh and so we you need to do something. So in order to kind of bring a little bit of peace here, because there's such uh such a uh racial tension between the Gentiles and the Jews, wouldn't what you want you to do is take take some funds, and we have some uh uh individuals that uh want to convert to Judaism, take them with you to the temple, pay the price, pay the money up, and in order to demonstrate to the other Jews that no, you're really very, you know, you're very much still Jewish, and and uh and just to kind of put things at ease. So Paul goes that to the temple, he does that because he he wants to be able to preach the word and he wants to be able to, he doesn't want Jews to not listen to him, but it didn't work. Uh things get out of hand. In fact, uh the Jews get very riled up and and they rest, they have Paul rested, uh, and uh he's hauled before the they they they want him killed. They don't have, they can't, the Jews can not kill him, even though their law says, because they were accusing them of blasphemy and and of doing ungodly things, and they wanted to kill him, but they couldn't because they were in Roman rule. So they took him before the Roman leader and asked him, he said, uh, what he's done wrong. Well, he he is doing what's wrong according to our religious laws, but they've also added into that buzzing insurrectionist. He's also trying to get people to turn against the Roman government. Total lie. But because it's been accused, Paul gets is arrested, and then he's brought before the Roman ruler and they interview, and the Roman ruler comes out of the interview and says, not true. This guy's innocent. They brought in a bunch of witnesses, the Jewish religious leaders, but they couldn't get their story straight. And so he says, he obviously is innocent, but the people are so riled up that he thinks I can't just let him go. Because if I do, it's gonna get back to the big the top dogs in Rome in the Roman government, and I'm gonna lose my position, and I don't want to do that. And so he comes up with this one idea. He thought, okay. In fact, in the meantime, the Jews are so upset and they don't, and I think they kind of get a sense that Roman, this this guy's not, the leader's not gonna do anything, that they actually, 40 of them, 40 Jews, go to the Jewish leaders and that and the religious leaders and they say, We're we're making a vow. We will not eat or drink until we have killed Paul. That rumor gets back to the religious leader, too. Not a rumor, but the the information gets back, and he thinks, all right, I gotta protect this guy. On top of that, Paul was a not only a Jew, but he was a Roman citizen, which up the ante, he couldn't let him. So he decides, I'm gonna ship Paul out during the night. I'm gonna put a garrison of soldiers with him, and I'm gonna send him over to Felix, who's down the road, who is a pretty new uh Roman ruler, and I'll let Felix handle this and keep Paul safe. And so he does. That's what they do. In the middle of the night, they they sneak Paul out of town, uh, protect him, get him over to Philips. Felix does the same thing. He interviews Paul and asks what's going on, and after the conversation, he says, This guy, he hasn't done anything wrong. Uh but in the meantime, the the Jews that made the vow have followed him there, and and Paul's still in danger, so Philips is saying, I don't want, I don't want to let him go, because again, I I'm brand new at this, and I and if I don't keep the peace, then I'm gonna kick that, lose my position. And so he thinks, I know it all do. Uh, King Agrippa, who's basically the assigned king of the Jews by the Roman Empire, King Agrippa is coming to town as a celebration of Felix's new position. And he thinks, okay, I'm gonna give him to, it's this is this is the Jewish problem. I'll give them to the king, King Agrippa, let him interview him, and let him decide what to do. So it gets keeps getting passed on, and so that's what he does. Uh but so Paul sits down and he starts meeting with King Agrippa, but Felix stays in there because he wants to hear on it, and then King Agrippa is married to Queen Bernice, and so the the four of them start having these conversations and and uh quickly establish Paul's innocence, but they're really interested in what Paul has to say about Christ Jesus. In fact, there comes a point where uh King Agrippa says, I gotta quit listening to you. This is this is my tra my uh loose translation always says, but basically it's this I gotta quit listening to you or I'm gonna become a believer. It's pretty cool. So all this to say, this all this Paul is in the danger he is in simply because of the rumor that he's talked to some Gentiles about Jesus. And that's how that's how how strong this generational hatred is. So, what does that have to do with this? What I've been talking about with the problem. Well, uh, let me show you. Before we do that, let me show you, read this. So when Paul's talking to them, they ask him, Well, Paul, why are these rulers why are they so angry at you? And he and he spells it out. It is because of this whole world dimension. Remember the verse, God so loved the world. Paul says, it's because of this whole world dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me just as he promised, and I'm standing here saying that what I've been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. What's the problem? Paul says, the fact that I I'm I believe that God wants the world to hear about Jesus, not just the Jews. And those the Jews are willing to kill him rather than allow him to do that. So so that sets the stage for for what I think we see take place now as we dig into Acts. So I want to walk through some some uh different verses. Uh going back to chapter two, we start with the verse four, and where the where kind of the kind of the idea begins. They they on those are the ones in the upper room, the 120, they're filled with the Holy Spirit, and they begin to speak to each other in tongues as the Spirit enabled them. And then from that, we we have established because of what we see in the in the book of Acts, some who say that's the norm. When a person receives the Holy Spirit, uh two things for for these people in the upper room, they had they were followers of Christ before this took place. So it was a period of time between when they be when they became followers of Christ and when they received the Holy Spirit. So that's one of the things they say is the way it will usually happen. And then secondly, when they received the Holy Spirit, the way it was proven, the way that it was identified was they spoke in tongues. And so then out of that comes this idea, so that's what should happen. If if you are a Christian, at some point after the fact, it could be really close, could be a ways, but some point after the fact you should receive the Holy Spirit. And they would say, some of them would say, well, if you've done certain things, you kind of got to get your act in a row, but at some point you should receive the Holy Spirit, and the way you'll know that is you'll speak in tongues. Okay, where does that come from? All right. Well, I'm gonna skip around a little bit, but first of all, I want you to go over in your Bibles to Acts chapter 10. And and we have a situation there uh which takes place. It's Peter, uh, and I'm gonna talk us through things because I, like I say, 50 pages of notes and we're already getting closer. So Peter, one day, at the middle of the day, uh, he he has a vision. And you probably read this before. In the vision, this uh this cloth comes down from heaven, and on this cloth is various animals and food that Jews are not allowed to eat based on the Old Testament law, or not kosher for them to eat. But they're they come down before Peter, and a voice of God comes and says, tells Peter to eat. And Peter says, No way, Jose. Not exactly, but that's the idea. He said, No, I I know the law, I've I've never I've never uh defamed myself by eating them, and I'm not gonna start now. I'm a good Jew, and I'm not no, I will not do so and lose that, and then God says to Peter, Peter, what I declare clean is clean. Well, this happens, and and and then it then God gives uh in that vision says to Peter to what that there's gonna be someone knocking on his door, and when they do, that he is to Peter is to go with them. And sure enough, as soon as the vision goes away, knock on the front door, Peter goes and answers the door, and there's individuals there, and they say, basically, I we've been sent by Cornelius, uh, this man named Cornelius, he wants you to come and talk to him about God. Cornelius, we're told, is a God-fearing man, but he's not a believer. So Peter goes and he talks to Cornelius, he shares the gospel, and and Cornelius accepts Christ as his savior. Uh, and in addition to Cornelius, uh, as his whole family accepts the Lord as their savior. And then we see in chapter 10, verse 46, uh, that uh, and actually Peter brings some individual fellow Jews with them. So Peter shares the gospel, and then verse 46 says, For the they all Cornelius and his family accept the Lord, and then we read, For they heard them speaking, then they received the Holy Spirit, and they know that because we hear them, heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. So it happened again. Next famous person in scripture that comes to Christ. Uh actually not next, we'll see in a moment, but Cornelius' family come to Christ. Then they receive the Holy Spirit. When they receive the Holy Spirit, they speak in tongues. And so they're saying, see, that's a pattern. That's and and uh so now I want you to skip back to uh a couple of chapters back to verse chapter eight. We have a different situation there. But and in that situation, we have this guy named Philip, one of the disciples of Christ. And Philip begins, he's visiting, he's meeting with these people, and and he shares with uh this other group of people uh that uh about Christ uh and talks to them about what they they need to know, and they uh also hear what what and believe and become believers. And then in down in verses uh 14 through 16 we read that when the apostles in Jerusalem heard, actually Peter goes Peter and his the the ones that were with him when they shared Christ went back to the Jerusalem to testify that this new group, this new these folks came to Christ. And then we read in verse 14 when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and when they arrived, they prayed for them that they may receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them. And then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. So here again, we have a delay, and they come to Christ. Uh a little time, there's a delay, and they receive the Holy Spirit when Peter and John get there and pray for him. And and and the assumption is well, how did they know they received the Spirit? Well, it doesn't say it here, but the assumption is because he spoke in tongues. And so Peter and John saw it, and they said, See? Again, we they they've come to Christ. And then there's one other spot where uh there's a group over in chapter 19, and Paul, and this is after Paul's conversion, then, he comes upon this group of people and he gets talking to them. He can tell they're religious, but he gets talking to them and he says, Did you receive Christ as your savior? And they and they say, Uh, well, no. And so he shares Christ with them, and and so they invite Christ to be their savior, and then verse 6 of chapter 19, it says, When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, they spoke in tongues. Again, come to Christ, a delay, speaking in tongues. And added prophecy here. So, so it makes sense, right? You see the pattern. And that's just like, what's wrong with you, Paul? Can't get much clearer than that. Okay, let me show you what what I believe is going on, and and what we need to understand. And again, I'm gonna do this quickly. If you go back to chapter 10, let me read verses 20 and 27 and 28. So these individuals that Peter, Cornelius, and his family, uh, that Peter went to see, uh, when Peter gets to Cornelius' house, he says this to him. This is important. Verse 27, he says, You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or to visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. See, the problem was why God had to set the whole stage with the vision and all that, is God was sending Peter to a Gentile. And Peter, without God setting the stage, wouldn't have even been willing to go into Cornelius' house, let alone share Christ with him. And so Peter shares Christ. Cornelius comes to the relationship, steps in that relationship, his family does as well. And then we read down in verses 27 and 28, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers, these are the Jewish believers that Jesus or that Peter took with him, so they're watching all this take place. The circumcised believers, the Jewish believers who had come with Peter, were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues. See if Peter had been there by himself, for one thing, uh, and he goes back and he has to report this to the to the religious leaders, they wouldn't have believed him because of the their prejudices. Like, no, a gentile can't, they can't, this offer is not to Gentiles. Gentiles can't become Christians, uh, at least not without be first becoming a Jew, uh, but God is gonna make it so clear to Peter and to the Jewish believers with him, and then later on to the religious leaders, that yes, in fact, this gospel offer is to Gentiles, not just to the Jews, it's also the Gentiles. How do we know that? Because when they accepted Christ, they also received the Holy Spirit exactly like we did. And so we can't deny it. Obviously, they are believers, and obviously God does offer the gospel, the good news to them as well. Okay, what about chapter 8? We go over to chapter 8, and we discovered, and if you're watching when I was reading um a moment ago, in fact, uh, before I do that, back to 11, uh Peter goes back and reports to the council, and it says, and he's telling them, he says, he tells them, he says, as I as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he'd come on us at the beginning. And then verse 18 of chapter 11, the church leaders hear this, and when they heard this, here's what they say We have no further objections. And they praise God, saying, So then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance into life. So so that's clear. So then over chapter 8, what's going on in chapter 8? Because that's another one with the point out and say there's a pattern going on. Well, chapter 8, get down to uh verses 14 through 16. I read it again. This is what you need to catch. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that this time we were dealing with Samaritans. That's that other people group that the Jews can't stand, that there's tremendous racial prejudice for, who who would never, ever on their own, ever accept the fact that a Samaritan could come to Christ. There's no way. Uh God, Jesus didn't die for Samaritans, you know. You ever had a person in your life that you kind of have that attitude towards? Well, yeah, Jesus loves a lot of people. He didn't love you, let me tell you that. Well, that that that was what was going on there. So the leaders of the church sent Peter and John because word got back that Samaritans were coming to Christ. And so the leaders of the church sent Peter and John, and and so Peter and John go there, and when they arrived, they prayed for them. There's that delay. Why did God delay? Why didn't the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit the moment they accepted Christ? Because they needed a witness. Otherwise, the Jews aren't going to believe it. Even the religious Jewish Christian leaders, because of the hatred of the prejudice. So God delayed their receiving of the Holy Spirit until Peter and John got there. And when they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on them. And then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And we assume again, like the why they knew that was because it was in the same way. What that last group in chapter 19. Who were they? Well, they weren't Gentiles and they weren't Samaritans, but they were an interesting group. Paul's out, he's doing his missionary journey, he comes across these individuals, and they're very religious, you can tell. And so he gets talking to them, and he says, Uh, uh, are you followers of Jesus? And they said, No, we're followers of John the Baptist. Okay. If you remember that uh shortly before John the Baptist was beheaded, was killed by Herod, uh, he was arrested by Herod, and and uh actually Herod kind of cared for him, and they had a lot of good conversations, but Herod's wife uh was hated uh John the Baptist. But so John was in prison for a period of time under Herod and eventually would be killed. Uh but you remember that uh in that period of time there was a point where John sent some of his followers to Jesus, and they were sent with the question. John said, asked, had them ask Jesus, are you the one? Now, John's the one who preached earlier on, he is the one. And when Jesus came and was John was preaching and was baptized, he said, I don't even have, I shouldn't even be, I shouldn't even tie, I don't have, uh, I shouldn't get the honor again tying the sandals. So he's convinced at one point. But things have gotten kind of rough, and you ever had that? You ever uh you should find a little comfort in that. You ever had that a position time where you got, man, I wanna, is it true? I will tell you. True confession? I have. Even as a pastor, those occasions where I said, you know, God, uh I've kind of put all my my uh my chips on the table here, and I've told everybody that you're Jesus, that Jesus is what Jesus has done, and I've kind of led a lot of people this direction. Am I right? I've had those moments. And then I re-examine the evidence and I come away feeling stronger than ever. Well, John had one of those moments, and so he sends his followers to am I right? Are you the one? And Jesus, if you remember, he tells them, go back and tell John what you've seen. The deaf are made to hear, the blind are made to see. And uh, and so he goes back. Well, I suspect that these individuals, they've been following John, and maybe he is open, he shared a little bit about the struggles, inward struggles, and and they had never heard the rest of the story. So here they are wandering around looking for the Messiah because John said he's gonna be here, but they've never been uh confronted with what Jesus did. And so here Paul comes across them and he says, You know, I can tell you guys are religious, but have have you invited Jesus to be your savior? No, no, we're disciples of John. And so he shares with them uh the rest of the gospel story, who Jesus was that John had told him about, and then the Bible says they received the Holy Spirit just like before, and spoke in tongues and added prophecy. See, what's going on here, I believe, and this is what I want you to weigh over, is God's just setting the stage so that the Jewish believers understand that in fact when John writes, and he's one of the ones that have to become convinced that when he later writes in his gospel, for God so loved the world that he knew is true. He'd see the evidence. If you look in your scripture, after these occasions in the book of Acts, never again do we have individuals coming to Christ, and then there's a separate period of time before they receive the Holy Spirit, and and it's always accompanied in tongues. It never happens again. It's just in this book. And the reason is making sure that everyone knows, especially the Jewish believers, that the good news is for everyone. Thank goodness, because most of us are Gentiles and so glad that God died for us. But let me end with one verse of scripture and then we'll close. Over in 1 Corinthians, remember we talked about Corinthians, the Paul's letter to Corinthians, a divisive fighting church. I mean, if there's if there was ever a reason to doubt whether people, those, you know, can these guys can they really be Christian? They're at each other's throats, they're being hateful to each other, they're they're arguing over all kinds of things. And and so Paul writes that letter to them uh and trying to help them understand that that's not what Christianity looks like. But he makes an interesting statement. Even though these are our carnal Christians, uh they're not, they are not, they don't look, they're not being good testimony, let's just say that the least. Paul makes a statement about them in 1 Corinthians, in that letter Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13. Here's what he says, and matter-of-factly, to all of them. For we are all baptized by one spirit into the body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, we are all given the one spirit to drink. Paul says, you guys, it's hard to tell looking at you that you're believers. But I know you are, and I know you have the Holy Spirit living in you, not because you spoke in tongues, because obviously, honestly, tongues are causing a problem in that church, but simply because that's the promise. The promise of God is when you invite his son to be your savior, God's spirit comes and lives within you. So I know that's true, but you need to start letting the Holy Spirit lead you because uh you're messing this up by yourself. Uh so wait over, think it through, uh, check check me out. Uh, and uh but one thing uh I I believe it's true about every believer in this room is God's spirit lives within you, and that's a wonderful thing to know. Let's pray. Lord, thanks for your word. Uh there are things that we need to wrestle through, and I honestly I know that I'm not the last word when it comes to the word of God. I try to be as careful as I can with it, uh, but I just I leave it to your fellow my fellow believers here because they have God's spirit living in them to think this through. And and uh Lord, just I I'm just grateful for the privilege of being able to uh teach and and from your word, and I just am grateful for my family here, this church family. Uh, and Lord, that I pray that you will allow us to or help us to continue to please you, and especially as we move out of this room right now into a world that is so desperate for you. They don't even realize it, many of them, but they need you. And Lord, I pray that we do a really good job of sharing the good news. I pray these things in your son's name.

unknown 36:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Church of Stand Together sing one last course.