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Week 4 of ACTS I & II Series
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As we sing about God's holiness, I'm reminded of the prophet Isaiah—a young man around 20 years old who had an open vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. In that moment, he saw Christ in all His holiness, grandeur, and splendor. And when Isaiah saw the Lord for who He really was, he saw himself for what he really was: a sinner. He saw his nation for what it really was: sinners.
As Isaiah sat there in God's presence, grieving over his sinful nature and the sinful nature of his nation, God burned his lips and his heart as a symbol of redemption and sent him out to proclaim God's word to a hostile generation. I pray that when we sing about the holiness of God, we would get a glimpse—within our finite minds—of His supreme characteristic: His holiness. We would not come into His presence with arrogance and pride. We would kneel and bow our face to the floor in humility.
Sometimes I wish we didn't live in a country so heavily regimented by clocks that we can't even linger in God's presence. We have restaurant reservations to get to, other services to attend. But those moments in His presence are foretastes of glory divine.
Let me speak for myself: I would rather be alone with Christ in my prayer room than on this platform. I am so content just being alone with Christ, sitting there, shedding tears, letting Him wash my soul of my sinful nature. I can envision Him sitting across the room from me, and I just want to stay there. I'm growing in such an intimacy with Him that I enjoy just being with Him. And nothing satisfies my soul more than that intimate, deep, abiding, powerful presence of Jesus.
There is nothing in this life that's more satisfying to your soul than the intimate presence of God—not money, not a relationship, not a job, not your 401k going up to the right, not an opportunity, not a platform, not a preaching moment, not marriage, not a wedding. There is nothing we're going to experience in this life that's more satisfying to the soul.
This is why we have no revival in America. One day I pray we'll have a room big enough where I won't be chained to a clock, where we don't have to worry about 2,000 people coming behind you, and we can sit in God's presence as long as we need to, get up, hear proclamation, and not be tired.
But for now, I want to acknowledge all our mothers and grandmothers—biological mothers, spiritual mothers—who have given birth to children and spiritual children. We honor you for your sacrifice, your nurture, your love, your pain, your suffering, and your enduring.
I also want to acknowledge those for whom today is not a day of joy but of pain and sadness. Maybe your mother failed you. Maybe your mother abandoned you. Maybe you've never met your mom. We want to pray for you that the God of all comfort would be near you and you would feel His presence comforting you. As He draws near you, maybe the Spirit will hand you a key called grace—that you would forgive that mother who disappeared, that mother who failed you, that mother who was struggling with addiction, that mother who did the best she could with what she had.
Unforgiveness is not keeping her in a prison; it's keeping you in a prison. Maybe tonight will be the night you pillow your head and rest after years of holding her in unforgiveness in your heart. She's a human being like you and me, a sinner like you and me. So maybe we just let her go. We open the prison door called grace and we walk out called forgiveness. You move on into the future on the path of healing.
Now, I know if you brought your mother or grandmother, she's not going to get a Mother's Day message today. What she is going to get is the word of God. We are not going to let the calendar dictate anything to us. We're in a brand new series called Acts 1 and 2, walking through the first two chapters of Acts together as a church.
Acts is a book of origin that records for us the formation of the Christian church and the first 30 years of its glorious history. Written by Luke—a doctor, a historian, a travel companion of the Apostle Paul—it records all the things that happened in the early church. Today our text comes from Acts chapter 2, verses 14-21.
Let me reread to you Luke's account of that great day, that great moment when the Holy Spirit came from heaven after Christ was ascended and forever united Himself to us—to you, to me, the people of God.
When the day of Pentecost arrived... they were all together in one room. 120 followers of Christ who stayed in the city waiting for the promise of the Spirit. And then suddenly, while they were in that room, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, which represents the presence of God, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues like fire appeared in the room and came down and rested on all of them. And they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
There was a divine miracle—the Holy Spirit came down like fiery tongues, rested on their mouths, burned their hearts. There was also a miracle of the mind: because of this miracle of the mind, they all began to speak in other languages that they did not know. Galileans who were not trained in foreign languages began to speak foreign languages by the power of the Spirit.
It's like the Holy Spirit coming upon me and I start speaking Portuguese by the power of the Spirit. Or you going to Mexico and the Spirit comes upon you and you begin to speak Spanish by the power of the Spirit.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at the sound of these men speaking, a multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own native language... "Are not these all Galileans? How is it that we hear each one of us in our own native language?" (Acts 2:5-8)
Luke records that on the day of Pentecost, 120 disciples are baptized with the Spirit, filled with the Spirit—a miracle of the mind—speaking in foreign languages, bursting out of that room into the streets of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is packed with thousands of people because of the festival. They hear the sound of all these languages. A large crowd of thousands of people gathers around the first church—120 of them. They are shocked. "We hear them speaking the wonders of God in our own language and they are amazed."
All are amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others, mocking, said, "They are filled with new wine." (Acts 2:12-13)
Some in that crowd said, "These Galileans must be drunk. All that babble coming out their mouths. They are full of new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them. (Acts 2:14)
Notice who responded to the crowd: Peter—the same young man who followed Jesus for three and a half years and said, "Lord, wherever you go, I will go, and I am prepared to die for you if you die." But when Christ was in a jam at the end of His life, being led out to be executed, where was Peter? Jesus prophesied to him, "Before this night is over, you will deny me three times." Peter thought that would never happen.
Peter was in the street and got jammed up by a little girl who heard his accent and said, "This man was with Jesus." Peter said, "No, I don't know him." He got jammed up a second time: "You were with Jesus." "No, I don't know him." A third time: "We saw you. You were with that dude they're about to crucify." "No, I don't know him." Three times Peter denied Jesus.
The night before Jesus was crucified, Peter felt the guilt of that betrayal. He ran out of that city. He was so guilty in his heart because of his betrayal that he abandoned the ministry and went back to being a fisherman. He saw himself as unworthy to follow after Christ.
But here's what I love: Jesus, after He was raised from the dead, found Peter on a seashore. He walked up to him on the seashore of Galilee and looked him in his eyes. "Peter, do you love me?" Jesus said, "Feed my lambs"—talking about the little disciples first. That's why we should care about children's ministry and formation. "Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep." Adults. "Peter, do you love me? Tend my sheep." He was prophesying to him that you will be the pastor of the first church.
Now, Jesus never reminded Peter of his mistake. But what He did when He rolled up on Peter on the seashore was restore him back to fellowship and back to the ministry. "Dust off your pain, your shame, and your hurt. We got work to do. We got a world to change."
I point this out in the text because a person—the person who's talking first to remind every person under the sound of my voice—like me, who has made mistakes, who has failed God, who has fallen, who has had bad seasons and felt like you were unusable because of your mistakes: The devil is a lie.
I want to remind somebody who feels crushed under the weight of self-condemnation, guilt, and shame—because of your past you feel like God can't use somebody like you or a knucklehead from the streets: You have not outsinned His grace. You have not outsinned His grace.
There is nothing you have done that is stronger than the blood. If your sin was stronger than the blood, the cross was not enough. But the cross is enough. And from the cross, He's able through grace to restore you back to fellowship again.
It doesn't matter how far you have gone, how many mistakes you have made, or how much you condemn yourself: You have not outsinned His grace. If He can restore Peter, He can restore you. I'm talking from my own pain. He restored me. When I failed Him early in my walk, when I let Him down, when I fell, when I turned away from Him, He restored me.
This ministry I have right now is called a second chance. That's why I don't play games. They could talk trash about me all they want. Don't know me. You know why I don't play games? This is called a second chance. And only a fool does not make good with a second chance.
So Peter stands up. He is restored. But watch what else he does. He hears the mockery of the Spirit and he chooses not to remain silent.
The reason this means nothing to you is because you are desensitized by the paintings of the disciples you've seen with gray hair and long beards. So you think he's a grown man—he should have courage. You have not read the scriptures, right? Jesus was 30 when He started His ministry. As a Jewish rabbi, the men He would have called would have been teenagers or in their twenties. That means Peter was probably no older than 21 or 22.
In America, the number one fear in the country is death. The number two fear is public speaking. And yet, there is a crowd—thousands of people—and this young man hears the mockery of God and chooses not to remain silent. He says, "Somebody must say something about this." The Scripture says, "But Peter"—which means he refused to remain silent. He stood up to say something.
I wish the Spirit of Peter would fall on the church in America. We live in a culture and a generation that has no respect for God, no respect for the Church, no respect for Jesus and the people He sent here to be a witness for Him. We have no courage at all. We will not stand up. We will not say anything. We let people try. We won't post a scripture. We won't speak. We won't talk to the Uber driver. Come on, man.
The Lord isn't sending no angels down here to do that work. He sent the Church down here to do that work. And we got to get fed up with ideologies and policies and everything that's trying to silence the Church and change biblical laws. We got to care about that stuff.
This is me saying: You will not change the definition of marriage on my watch. I'll pray you out and vote you out. You will not let kids remain confused in gender and tell them they can mutilate themselves. I'll pray you out and vote you out.
You will not be louder than me with your false religion when we serve the only true God. You will not have more discipline than me. You will not be more sold out than me. You will not have more passion than me. How do we have people serving false gods with more passion than the people of God who serve the true and living God?
We won't post. We won't vote right. We won't pray. We won't take a stand. We won't say anything. We won't say anything at the family barbecue. No. We will not remain silent. We will not.
What are you trying to protect? You're trying to protect your reputation. You're trying to protect your platform. You're trying to protect things that are going to burn up anyway. Let me help some of you: Stop being cowards. Let me help unchain you from being addicted to the approval of people.
I was preaching like this when I was on park benches 20-something years ago when nobody knew my name. I was standing on park benches preaching like this to two people standing in front of me. The platform only revealed who I always was. And I'm not going to protect it now by dumbing down the gospel to keep sinners comfortable in chairs or to protect myself from persecution on social media. I'm not going to be quiet because I'm afraid.
Some of you won't even put a Scripture on your social media because you're worried about all the unbelievers who might feel offended that you posted about Jesus. Man, some of y'all need to be like, "Listen, man. After today, you might as well unfollow me now because I'm about to go crazy on my social media. You might as well unfollow me now because from this day off, it's going to be me and Christ on this social media feed."
There's going to be Scripture in the morning and devotions in the evening. And I'm testifying about what Jesus did last week. "Girl, you changed. Brother, you changed. I don't like your social media. You used to be... What happened to you? You're not even the same person you used to be." "Yeah. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit now." "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit now."
Of course I'm different. I'm filled with the Spirit. Why don't you? Because I'm filled. How come you? Because I'm filled. You stop? Because I'm filled. You don't even talk like you used to? Because I'm filled. You don't even go where you used to? Because I'm filled.
You see how we all were on our feet just a moment ago? You know what's so dope about that? Look at the text: "Peter stood up with the 11." He did not stand up by himself. He stood up with the community.
This is me saying: Man, I'm shy when I was out there alone by myself. But I'm at 2819 now. I got community now. They're on fire now. I'm where I'm supposed to be now. We stand up together now, man. One stand, all stand. We know we ain't out here by ourselves. We ain't suffering by myself. We ain't standing for Jesus by myself. We got help now.
One could chase a thousand. Two could put ten thousand to flight.
We pray together. We read together. We fast together. We sacrifice together. We suffer together. We gather together. We ride together.
It's the power of community. It's demonic for us to think that we're going to make it by ourselves. Ain't nobody standing by themselves. We're standing on the shoulders of others and we're standing with others. That's the power of community.
Albeit imperfect, the church is good. She is imperfect. She will hurt you every now and then. She will upset you every now and then. You will have beef with people every now and then. You will get offended every now and then. But we work through that. We come out on the other side with testimonies of stronger relationships as we watch this word continue to stand together.
Now listen to me carefully. Peter stands up with the 11. He refuses to be silent. He hears the mockery of Christ. What Luke records next—from verse 14 part B all the way to the end of this chapter—is the recording of the very first Christian sermon. Long before there was a Philip Anthony Mitchell, long before there were modern preachers, what we have right here is the first pastor preaching. This is the recording of the very first Christian sermon.
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. (Acts 2:14)
He says, "Pay attention. I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say." And then he says:
For these people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. (Acts 2:15-16)
Notice the first thing the first pastor does when he sees the mockery: He defends his church. He says, "These men are not drunk. You're not going to keep lying on my church." It's 9:00 in the morning. It's Pentecost. Jews did not get drunk at 9:00 a.m., and they did not get drunk on religious holidays.
So Peter first defends his church. Like you better believe I'm going to defend mine. I'm going to stand up for 2819, the global family. I'm going to say we are on mission for the spread of the gospel. We are serious about multiplying disciples. We are serious about prayer, presence, proclamation. We're going to do access. We're going to do crusades. We're going to do everything we can to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
And then the first thing he does—notice he's filled with the Spirit—he does not use his platform for miracles. He does not use his platform for himself. He does not download an article from Google for his first sermon. He says: These are the words that were spoken by the prophet Joel.
So what the first pastor does—the pastor of the first church—is take the church to the Scriptures. This is a lesson for you and me: The church should be anchored in the word of God. Not anchored in opinions, not anchored in man-made doctrines, not anchored in man-made dogma. The word. The word.
This is why I disdain that we live in a country where we love entertainment. We love hearing sermons that make you feel fluffy and awesome, that never convict you for sin, that never walk you through the Scriptures. They put you at the center of every text, which is secular humanistic doctrine that makes you think God is a genie who exists for you, not that you exist for Him.
So you never want to be confronted in sin. You never want your toes stepped on. You don't bring your boyfriend into church—he might get convicted. He might change. He might stop trying to have sex with you. He might start being a spiritual leader. Some people don't want any part of that.
I already know. You want to go down to compromised Baptist churches where you hear weak, whack sermons that never confront you in your sin.
Peter uses his first platform. He's talking to an international audience of thousands of people, and he leads them to Joel. He understands his audience.
Whenever you talk one-to-one, one to group, one to crowd, you need to understand your audience so you know how to contextualize your message. Every time you communicate, three M's are being exchanged: Method, motive, message. Your message when you talk should always be true. Your motive when you talk should always be pure. Your method should always be a way that is receivable.
His message is about to be the Scriptures. His motive is defending the resurrection of Christ. His methodology is: I'm going to take these Jews back to the Scriptures they know, have memorized, and submitted to. They understand the Scriptures.
And then look at the very first sermon:
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and my female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18)
There is Peter in AD 33 taking these Orthodox Jews back to Joel the prophet. Joel was a prophet who lived 800 years before Christ was born. Joel lived during the days when the people of God—the people of Israel—were in rebellion towards God. God said to His people through Joel, "Return to me. Rend your heart and not your garment."
In the Old Testament, Joel was one of the prophets who delivered one of the most important prophecies in the Old Testament: The number one prophecy in the Old Testament is the coming of Christ. The second greatest prophecy in the Old Testament, perhaps, is the coming of the Spirit.
Joel was prophesying the coming of the Spirit 800 years before Pentecost. That means the Jews have been anticipating this for hundreds of years. Peter pulls a text from the Old Testament to explain what they're hearing on Pentecost. These men are not drunk. Let me use the Scriptures to explain so that you will not be ignorant. He uses the Scripture to destroy their ignorance. He uses the word to tear down strongholds in their mind.
So he preaches to them: What you're hearing now is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This is it, family. We've been waiting for this for hundreds of years, and finally today it has come. This is what Joel said 800 years ago. The Spirit now is being poured out on all humanity—on men, women, young, old. That's why they are prophesying and speaking. He is confirming that what happened at Pentecost was prophesied in the Old Scriptures, which means the Scriptures can be trusted.
Now, why was this prophecy so important? Listen to me. This prophecy was important because God was prophesying about the coming of the Spirit to fix one of the greatest problems man ever had.
300 years after Joel, another prophet emerges named Ezekiel. God uses Ezekiel to explain the problem of man and why He had to send the Spirit. After you read this, you will be more thankful for the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 25—500 years before Christ, another man of God prophesies about the coming of the Spirit. The difference with his prophecy is he tells us why the Spirit was necessary:
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all of your idols. And I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey all of my rules. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
For thousands of years, we've seen the people of Israel: delivered from Egypt, serve God, run away from God, serve God, run away from God. And when you read the Old Testament, you crucify them. How could a people that saw bread fall from heaven, clouds leading them by day, fire by night, signs, wonders, and miracles, water from a rock—how could they not have believed in God?
We say to ourselves: "If I was there, there's no way I would have not believed in God."
Let me help you. Let's take you back to before you were saved, when the Holy Spirit wasn't there. And then here's the command: "Be holy." So you think you could have done that? I want you to think what it would be like to try to serve God, obey His commands, be holy, pray, fast, be faithful—without the Holy Spirit.
Let me talk for me. Former knucklehead from the streets. Not possible. There's no way. Just go check my Instagram. Go check pictures of my life before I was saved. There's no way I'm praying, fasting, being faithful. Look at what I was doing to women. Look at what I was doing in the street. Look at how I was walking out. You think if somebody rolled up on me and said, "Serve God faithfully," I could have done that faithfully without help?
Why do you read devotionals today? Why do you open the Bible? Why do you pray? Why do you cry? Why do you hear the word "holy" as we're singing and you fall down and you weep? Why? Because now you have help. God took His Spirit and He put Himself in you. And because He's in you, He causes you to want to obey. He causes you to want to pray. He causes you to cry. He causes you to want to gather. He causes you to want to give. He causes you to want to serve. The Holy Spirit is the one causing you to listen to me right now.
How were you going to serve a holy God in a sinful body without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? So God is looking at people for thousands of years who can't obey Him. He says, "I'm going to fix this. I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to take Myself and put Myself in them."
So Joel explains the outpouring of the Spirit. But then—and this is so profound—he uses a text that explains what happened on Pentecost but also explains what's going to happen in the end. Why? Because he says "In the last days" God said I will pour out my Spirit.
The last days began at Pentecost. A clock was started at Pentecost. Joel said: When the Spirit is poured out, you have entered into the last days. That means when you hear me saying "time is running out," you should take that more seriously. Why? If the last days began 2,000 years ago, how much time do you think you have left now?
I am telling you not because of something I saw on Google. I'm telling you because of what I read—we are living in the last days. This is the final iteration of God's plan of redemption—the Church age. This age will give way to the return of Christ. The age that you and I are living in right now, sitting in this room, will give way to the return of Christ. This is the end. This is the Church age. After this age is the millennial kingdom of Christ.
We are living in the end. This isn't some scared eschatology. This is what the Scripture says. In the last days, the Spirit will be poured out. Now that the Holy Spirit has been poured out, a clock was started. We are living in the last days.
He uses a text to explain what has happened on Pentecost, and he uses a text to explain why they need to be serious:
And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. (Acts 2:19-20)
In the same text that Joel prophesied the coming of the Spirit, he also prophesied what the end is. One text shows the beginning of the Church age and the end of the Church age. All prophecy is coming to pass as you and I are talking right now.
While people are playing church in America, playing conference, playing around, while we're playing around—we are living in biblical prophecy. We are in the middle of the beginning of the Church age and the end of the Church age. And I think we're at the very end. I think we're living in the last seconds of the Church age.
I look at politics. I look at what governments are doing around the world. I look at what's happening in China and in Russia. I'm looking at what's happening in the news. I'm looking at all the global headlines. I see them reading right off the page of the Bible. And we dare to say we don't have that much time left. We're living near the end of the Church age.
It's time out for whack sermons. It's time out for just messages we download from Google. It's time out for playing church. It's time out for living like a sinner all week and then fooling people on Sunday. It's time out for not doing this for real. It's time out for not having a prayer life, not ringing out your sin from your heart, not pursuing holiness, not reconciling broken relationships, not being faithful.
Don't nobody be in the fourth quarter of a game down by 10 and act like they have all this time to score. If they were talking about the last days in the first century, how much more urgent is it right now?
Do you not understand that every biblical prophecy needed for Christ to crack the sky has already happened and is happening right now all around you? You and I could be living in the generation where Jesus cracks the sky. People said that thousands of years ago. It's very real right now.
You've heard language like this before, family. You forgot. I spent three years walking you through the book of Matthew. And it was in the book of Matthew that your Lord and mine, Jesus, talked about His own return.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days... the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:29-30)
When Jesus breaks the clouds, there'll be no more arguments about theology. No more arguments about who is God. No more arguments between Muslims and Christians and Buddhists and Hindus and Jews. No more when Jesus cracks the sky, all of our theology will be agreed. Everybody will know that Christ is King. Some will mourn, others will celebrate. There'll be no more difference in theology when the sky opens up. We all will know who was real and who was not.
All the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four corners, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)
That is when He cracks the sky—everybody's fate is sealed. No more second chance. No purgatory. If He cracks the sky five years from now, everybody's fate is sealed. No second chance, no purgatory.
I wish He'd come on a Sunday to separate the real from the fake.
And because this is coming, because we're living in the last days, what is the only right response to what is happening right now?
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:21)
If you're not a follower of Christ, the wisest thing you would do with your life right now is call on the name of the Lord. Not become a member of this church. Not try to mask that with good behavior and morality. The wisest thing anybody watching me right now can do is call on the name of the Lord.
Confess your sin. Tell Him you're a sinner. Ask Him to forgive you for your sin. Surrender your life to Him. Receive the Holy Spirit. Run after Christ with all of your heart. That is the only hope for humanity—not church services, not a membership. Regeneration. The only hope for the unbeliever is salvation. The only hope for the world is salvation. The only hope for those outside of Christ is salvation.
This is why, family, I end this message by saying to you: Since time is running out, should we not be more serious about the way that we pray? Should we not be more serious about how we give? Should we not be more serious about how we serve? Should we not be more serious about how we live? Should we not be more serious about our witness for Christ?
Is this not the hour for the church to be on mission? For us together to work together for the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. Is this not the hour for us to say, "You know what, enough is enough? There's a lost and dying world out there and we have the light—all of us reflecting from Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to win as many people as possible before the sky opens up."
May we be a church on mission for Christ and put away all of our foolishness and all of our ancillary ambitions and rally together around what He gave us to do: Spread the gospel. Make disciples. Be a witness.
Hear me. Hear me. Time is running out.
