AN INVITATION TO SURRENDER TO JESUS AND LIVE IN REVIVAL ACTS 2 translator notes, verse by verse Acts 2.1 So when the day of Fifty Days had fully come, they were all of similar passion, in one place, They were all of similar PASSION (verse 1). Its hard for most churches to move into revival - because typically 20% have a similar PASSION for God and 80% just come along. If you want revival, you need to be meeting with people of SIMILAR PASSION. Ive seen God bring revival impact 6 times so far (age 17 at school, age 19-20 through a mens household that turned into an evangelistic movement, age 21 in my theology faculty, age 31-36 in Mitcham Revival Church, age 42 among the youth in my village, age 47, this year, in London, through a 24/7 prayer room that set 150 people on fire and spread thru a church of 4,300). Acts 2.2 and suddenly, a sound came from Heaven like a violent rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, God responds with wind, the Holy Spirit (verse 2) Acts 2.3 and split tongues, like fire, appeared to them, and these sat on each of them, and with fire (verse 3) fulfilling John the Bapitsts prophecy about jesus in Matthew 3 - he will plunge you in the Spirit who sets apart and fire. Acts 2.4 and they were all filled with The Spirit who sets apart, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them words, The Holy Spirit is Pneuma (Spirit/breathy/Wind) Hagios (Set Apart) and they are all filled with him (verse 4) and they start speaking in tongues. 2.5 and Jews were at home in City Of Peace - devout people, out of every nation under Heaven. This is a God set-up (verse 5) - probably 2 million plus people are in Jerusalem for the feast of Shavuot (weeks/sevens, the feast of Pentecost = 50 days, 50 days from Pesach, Passover). This is the 2nd major jewish feast, and the Torah trequires every Jewish male to present himself to Yahovah 3 times a year at the temple - so Jews from all over the Mediterranean are there. Acts 2.6 Now when this happened, the crowd came together, and they were thrown into disorder, because every one of them heard them speaking in his own tongue, 2.7 and they were all astounded and amazed, asking one another, “Look, are all those speaking not Galileans?,” 2.8 and, “How are every one of us hearing in our own native tongue - 2.9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites and the inhabitants of Middle Of Rivers and in Praise and Cappadocia, in Pontus and in Asia, 2.10 west central Anatolia in Turkey, and the south Mediterranean coast of Turkey, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and converts to Judaism, 2.11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them speaking about the wonderful actions of God, in our own tongues.” So everybody is hearing these sent ones praising God in their own language. Acts 2.12 So they were all amazed, and they were in doubt, asking one another, “What does this mean?” 2.13 Others, mocking, said, “These people are full of new wine,” 2.14 but Stone stood up with the eleven. He lifted up his voice, and he told them, “You people of Praise, and all you who are living in City Of Peace, know this intimately, and listen to my words, 2.15 because these ones are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is only the Third Hour of the day, 2.16 but this is what the prophet Yahovah Is God spoke about - (Joel 2.28; Isaiah 44.3; Ezekiel 11.19; Zechariah 12.10) Peters name means Stone (it doesnr mean rock, and the church is not built on a foundation of Peter - that is a mistranslation of matthew chapter 16). His name means pebble. And here he is, LIFTING UP HIS VOICE (verse 14), addressing several hundred thousand people in the court of the gentiles, the outer court of the temple, on temple mount in Jerusalem. Notice the prophecies predicting this event (a list in brackets in verse 16). Notice these guys are DRUNK! But NOT drunk on wine (its only 9am). WHY do they say these guys are DRUNK? Because they are unsteady on their feet! the Holy Spirit has zapped them! POW! It is really sad when counterfeit manifestations discredit the work of the Holy Spirit, and make ordinary Christians fearful of allowing the Holy Spirit to take full control. I have often been unsteady on my feet when the power of God has come upon me. That doesnt make me part of a movement with weird theology. My theology is reformed evangelical - but I have had to realize good old fashioned reformed theology doesnt explain realistically how the trinity works - how God interacts, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I discovered the Baptism in the Holy Spirit doesnt always happen when you get saved, because Jesus plunged me into the holy Spirit 5 years after I surrendered my life to him, and the holy Spirit made me BOLD! I love being filled with the Holy Spirit - and alot of the time I end up being laid out on the floor, because of the weight of Gods glory, the kavod. Acts 2.17 “And it shall happen in the Last Days,” said God, “I shall pour out of my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your youths shall see visions, and your old people shall dream dreams, 2.18 and I shall pour out my Spirit on my male slaves and my female slaves in those days, and they shall prophesy, 2.19 and I shall give wonders in Heaven above, and signs on the Earth beneath - blood, and fire, and smoke vapor. 2.20 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and memorable Day Of The Lord comes, 2.21 and then everybody who calls on the name of the Lord shall be rescued.” Peter, AKA Stone, is quoting the prophecy of Joel 2 with perfect accuracy. This is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is recorded in the gospel according to John saying that when the holy Spirit comes he will cause you to call to mind everything I have taught you. When I take a team onto The Strip AKA Las Vegas Boulevard Monday nights, we say, Father have your way. Holy Spirit pray thru us, lead us, speak thru us. Jesus its all about you - be glorified, we want to honor you, thank you for going to the cross to pay the full price and penalty for all our sin and missing of the mark. Thank you for setting us free from the power of sin and death. we belong to you Jesus, we are yours. and the Holy Spirit tells us exactly what to do, who to talk to, what to say. Acts 2.22 “People of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Separated, a man approved by God among you, by power miracles and wonders and signs, that God did through him among you, as you yourselves also see, 2.23 you took him - handed over through specific advice and God’s prior knowing, and they nailed him to a cross, and they killed him with evil hands. 2.24 God has raised him up - he loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it, 2.25 because Unconditionally Loved says about him, (Psalm 16. “I saw the Lord ahead of time, before my face all the time. I shall not be moved, because he is on my right hand. 2.26 So my heart was glad, and my tongue jumped for joy, and yet my flesh rested in hope 2.27 because you personally do not want to leave my soul in hell. (Psalm 49.9) You shall not give your Set Apart One to see decay. 2.28 You have made the way of Life known intimately to me. You shall make me full of gladness with your presence.” The name Israel = Isra-El = Governed By God. Who governs your life? God or you? Because if you govern your life, you are heading for destruction. You are designed by God as a highly complex living autonomous being with free will - but you are like a stealth fighter jet, where the pilot needs superior technology to fly the jet - without that technology, the jet is literally impossible to fly, because it is not aerodynamic. without the technology, the jet will crash. You were designed to be flown by God himself. If you try to fly your own life, you will crash. Nazaret (verse 22) means Separated. It is significant Jesus was based in Nazaret as he grew up. The scripture he shall be called a Nazerene is a play on words. Hebrew is a language of consonants. So he shall be called a NZR. NZR = Nazir = Nazirite. OR NZR = Nazerene. I believe Jesus was a Nazirite, probably with long hair, probably because of a vow of separation. But I also believe he lived out his separation in a spiritual sense, not like the Parushim ( = cut-off ones = Pharisees). Verse 22 - The word dunamis = miracle power = miracle = power miracle (the root word behind dynamite - that kind of explosive POWER). Peter preaches the simple message of Jesus nailed to a cross and raised from the dead (verses 23 to 24). Death could not hold Jesus. The name Davis (verse 25) means Unconditionally Loved - when a Jew heard the name, he would instantly think, Unconditionally loved. But we dont - because we dont know what David means until a translator tells us. Peter quotes 2 prophecies about Jesus by David (verse 25 to 28). Psalm 49 says Jesus will not rot - his body did not rot, but he was raised to life on the Third day and was seen by over 500 people. Paul knew this, and he tested their evidence, confirming that over half of them were still alive as eyewitnesses to Jesus raised to life after being nailed to a cross (1 Corinthians chapter 15). Jesus died as the perfect Passover Lamb, the Lamb of god to take away the worlds missing of the mark and sin. He died for you. He died the death that we deserve. He took the legal punishment for our sin. Acts 2.29 “Men and brothers, let me speak freely to you about Unconditionally Loved, the ruling father who is dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 2.30 So, being a prophet, and seeing God had sworn an oath to him, that out of the fruit of his reproductive organs according to the flesh, he was going to raise up The Anointed One to sit on his throne, 2.31 seeing this ahead of time, he spoke about The Anointed One’s raising from the dead - that his soul was not left in hell, his flesh did not see decay. 2.32 God raised up this Jesus, who we are all witnesses to. 2.33 So, lifted up by God’s right hand, and having received from the Father the promise of The Spirit who sets apart - he has poured this out, so you now see and hear, 2.34 because Unconditionally Loved was not lifted up into the Heavens, but he said, (Psalm 110.1) “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit on my right hand 2.35 until I make your enemies your footstool”.” 2.36 So, all of Israel’s household shall know intimately for sure, that God has made this Jesus, who you nailed to a cross, Lord and The Anointed One.” Peter quotes another prophecy by David = Unconditionally Loved, in Psalm 110. Jesus is Davids Lord, he is My Lord,. Is Jesus your Lord? Jesus is my Lord. I surrendered my life to Jesus on March 21, 1976, and he has faithfully kept me ever since, through many trials, through many persecutions, but he has never left me, he has never abandoned me when others did abandon me. The Bible says if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and if you trust in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be rescued. Acts 2.37 Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they asked Stone and the rest of the sent ones, “Men and brothers, what shall we do?” In Acts chapter 7 the religious leaders were also cut to the heart - and as a result, they murdered Stephen = crown, the first martyr for Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who pricks their heart in verse 37 - he is witnessing within their hearts that the message Peter = Stone is preaching is true. They ask in verse 37, Men and brothers, what shall we do? Maybe you know your need of God, maybe you have known your desperate need of God for some time, but perhaps you have not known how to approach him. Perhaps you were taught that God is too holy for you. Perhaps you thought you have to get your life all sorted out first. NO! The GOOD news is while we were missing the mark, Christ died for us. The Bible says Christ = The Anointed One died for the ungodly - and that INCLUDES you and me! Right now, as you are reading this Bible study, the Holy Spirit is telling you that what the Bible says is true - Jesus did die in your place, Jesus is the Son of God, AND HE IS CALLING ON YOU TO CONFESS JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND YOUR RESCUER. The Bible says TODAY is the Day of Rescue. not tomorrow. Not the day after. You do not know if you will live past tonight. and you do not know if you will ever again receive an invitation to surrender your life to Jesus. DO SO TODAY. Acts 2.38 Then Stone told them, “Turn away and change your heart and your thinking, and be plunged, every one of you, into the name of Jesus Anointed One for the pardon of missing the mark, and you shall receive the gift of The Spirit who sets apart, 2.39 because the promise is to you and your children, and all who are far off - just as many as the Lord our God shall call.” I need to nail a lie being peddled in so-called evangelical circles, that says COME TO JESUS AND DONT REPENT. This is UTTER GARBAGE. It is DECEPTION. Look at verse 38 - Peter = Stone clearly tells them to REPENT = turn away and change your heart and your thinking = turn away from sin. This is a necessary condition for surrendering your life to Jesus. Some preachers are saying the need for repentance, for this turning away from sin, only applied to people before the death and resurrection of Jesus. NONSENSE! Read Acts 2.38. Peter says REPENT. What we have in North America and Great Britain is a ton of so-called Christians who have been told simply to receive Christ and all will be well - but nobody told them you need to TURN AWAY FROM SIN. The result is fake Christianity, or as James says in his letter, DEAD FAITH. Acts 2.40 Also, he testified, and he invited them, with many other words. He said, “Rescue yourselves from this crooked generation.” The ONLY way to rescue yourself from this crooked generation is to turn away from sin and place your trust in Jesus Christ . We need the whole counsel of God. What we DONT need is foolish theologies based on ONE ISOLATED VERSE. Some Christians say that Baptism is a necessary condition to be saved. GARBAGE! NONSENSE! If that were so, Jesus could not have said to the thief on the cross, Today you will be with me in paradise. The thief died on that cross, and he had no opportunity to be plunged in water. Johns account of the life of Jesus says Jesus plunged in water more people than John the Baptist - but it was his disciplined ones who did this, and not Jesus himself. the normal response to receiving the Good Message, and surrender to Jesus, is to be plunged in water. A controversy has raged among Christians over whose name we are plunged into. In the book of Acts, people are plunged IN the name of Jesus. In Matthew 28, Jesus tells his disciplined ones to disciple all nations, plunging them INTO the name of the Father and OF the Son and OF the Holy Spirit. Some Messianic Jews insist on plunging in the name of Yeshua and even go so far as to say that if you were water-baptised in the name of Jesus or in the name of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit you have to get re-baptised. From what i can see, and this is a personal view based on my reading of Gods Word, I see people being plunged IN the name of Jesus, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, for the forgiveness of sins. Acts 2.41 Then those who received his word gladly were plunged, and that day around three thousand souls were added to them, 2.42 and they persevered continually in the sent ones teaching and fellowship, and in breaking bread, and in prayer, 2.43 and fear and awe came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the sent ones, 2.44 and everybody who trusted were together, and they had everything in common, 2.45 and they sold their possessions and property, and they shared them with everybody, as anybody had need, 2.46 and every day, they continued with one mind and purpose in the temple, and they broke bread from house to house, eating their food with gladness and a single heart, 2.47 praising God and having grace with all the people - and every day, the Lord added to the called out those being rescued. This is amazing - in verse 41 3,000 receive Christ, they are water-baptized (probably in the mikvah, the baths outside the court of the gentiles at the temple), and they are added to the called-out = ekklesia = church. And notice how they live - (verses 42 to 47) the sent ones = apostoloi are teaching and leading fellowship, and the people in the called-out are breaking bread and praying. there is some question over whether breaking bread is eating together or sharing in communion. I think its both. This is REVIVAL LIFESTYLE. We see revival. True revival is always marked by a reverential fear and awe of God. And in my experience, the end of a revival is marked by a callous and non-reverential lack of fear and lack of awe of God. Notice this is a supernatural community - verse 43 the signs and wonders, verse 44 they were together and they had EVERYTHING IN COMMON. This kind of revival happened again at the end of Acts chapter 4. This is not communism. It is not coercion or control. It is a voluntary decision to SHARE what is yours. There are 2 types of meeting in verse 46 - big gatherings at the temple, and house meetings where they break bread. true revival finds favor with ordinary people (verse 47), it is marked by a LIFESTYLE OF PRAISING GOD, and the FRUIT OF TRUE REVIVAL IS DAILY ADDING TO THE NUMBER OF THOSE RESCUED.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Dec 2013 01:09:56 +0000
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