LutheranLectionary.org

1 Year Lectionary – 7th Sunday of Easter – Sunday, May 12, 2024 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to St John chapters 15 and [Music]
0:40	16 Jesus said when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father the
0:45	spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and
0:52	you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning I have said all these things to you to
0:58	keep you from falling away they will put you out of the synagogues indeed the hour is coming when whoever
1:04	kills you will think he is offering service to God and they will do these things because they have not known the
1:10	father nor me but I have said these things to you that when their hour comes
1:15	you rem you may remember that I told them to you this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus Amen now
1:23	you’ve heard me say this phrase many a time probably if you’ve listened to me for any amount of time and that is the
1:29	phrase putting the emphasis on the wrong cabel now I got to be honest I first heard that from Dr Rod rosenblad back in
1:36	the days uh that I was attending Concordia University Irvine in fact uh
1:42	the students of Dr Rosen blat often T often called phrases like this Rosen
1:47	blat isms and what’s really funny is that there’s now people calling some of the phrases that I use rosebro isms
1:54	which just means that Dr Rosen blat and others have paid it forward and uh and in the future when people steal these
2:00	phrases of mine and make them their own may God curse them by having them named after them but you get the idea but the
2:07	whole point behind that phrase is about mispronouncing the word emphasis and
2:13	syllable because by doing that you mispronounce the word and thus you ER
2:19	and so you’re going to note when we talk about God the Holy Spirit we live in an era Post isusa Street be that is well
2:27	the church is heavily infected in all regards in all places and in all
2:33	denominations heavily infected by false understandings of God the holy spirit
2:38	that have as their Source the aberant Theology of the Pentecostals and the
2:43	charismatics and now today’s New Apostolic Reformation they are always putting the emphasis on the Holy Spirit
2:51	however listen carefully to The Words of Christ this is the night that he is going to be betrayed this is the night
2:57	that he is going to be put on trial and when he wakes in the morning he will be crucified he has less than 24 hours to
3:05	go to live on this planet and he is giving instructions to comfort his
3:11	disciples and he is promising to send the Holy Spirit a few weeks back we looked at one of the aspects that Christ
3:18	said that the Holy Spirit would come to fulfill the purpose of convicting us of our sin and our unbelief that’s one of
3:24	the important works of the Holy Spirit but now Christ gets kind of to the nubbin if you would the Central core
3:31	idea of why the Holy Spirit needs to come and when he says these words when
3:36	the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father the spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father he will bear
3:44	witness about me so you’ll note we’re going to put the
3:51	proper emphasis on the right syllables here and we’re going to note that
3:57	scripture instructs us to to test the spirits even even Spirits claiming to be
4:05	the Holy Spirit to see if they pass muster to see if they actually are truly
4:10	the Holy Spirit or at worst a demonic Spirit listen carefully again to
4:16	Christ’s words when the helper comes let me ask you guys a question we’re all familiar with having people who are
4:22	helpers all right there are people who well they make enough money that they can afford professional helpers people
4:30	who are helpers are they front and center are they the people that that
4:35	everyone focuses in on no helpers usually work in the
4:41	background helpers make it possible for the person in the foreground to do the things that he is doing and so you’ll
4:48	note that the Holy Spirit Christ says is going to come as a helper helper to whom
4:55	helper to the apostles helper to Christians and so that being the case
5:01	the Holy Spirit comes as our Helper and there’s important things that the holy
5:07	spirit is helping us to do because quite frankly uh we need good professional
5:12	help when it comes to our lives and you’ll note that a helper that is worth his weight in gold is a helper who knows
5:19	even more than the person he’s helping or she’s he’s she’s helping that uh that
5:26	they that they know all the things that need to be taken place so often times we don’t even know what we don’t know that
5:32	we should know that we don’t know but we don’t know that we need to know it okay do you understand what I’m saying or you
5:38	guys just completely confused and you don’t know what I’m talking about but the point is is that a good helper knows all the things that we’re supposed to
5:44	know that we don’t know and then helps us to achieve those things by saying oh I don’t know if you thought about this but there’s this other thing that you
5:50	need to take care of and so you’ll not a good helper does those things and that’s exactly how the holy spirit is described
5:56	in scripture we don’t even know how to pray properly for the things that we ought to do so you know what the Holy
6:01	Spirit does the holy spirit says let me help you out here and the Holy Spirit helps us praise for us and things of
6:08	this nature so Christ tells us that the helper is going to come in the charismatic and Pentecostal churches and
6:14	in the New Apostolic Reformation the holy spirit is not the helper the holy spirit is the focus the
6:21	holy spirit is the one that everybody is focusing in on to the point where you
6:26	wonder is that really the holy spirit because this Holy Spirit seems to be all about garnering attention and glory for
6:33	himself yet Christ says that the helper when he comes he’s going to be a helper he proceeds from the father and he will
6:40	bear witness about who Christ so you back in the day when I was
6:47	in seminary and I also remember hearing this when I was in uh at Concordia University a proper understanding of the
6:53	holy spirit is a good way to think about it not only is he a Helper but he’s obsessed with telling you
7:00	about Jesus bearing witness about Christ
7:06	and you’ll note that we are as as Christ’s disciples called to also bear
7:12	witness about Christ to speak the truth in fact the holy spirit is described as
7:17	what the spirit of Truth here have you noticed that the charismatic Pentecostal churches are not really known for
7:23	trafficking in truth they are known for trafficking in baldface lies huge
7:29	misunderstandings of scripture and FL Flatout rank scripture twisting I would
7:36	note that I’ve got a sermon review coming up on fighting for the faith
7:41	where I’m going to be covering a sermon by Bill Johnson of bethl church in Reading California where he legitimately
7:47	argues that if you do not perform Miracles you are disobeying Christ and
7:54	Christ will say to you on the last day depart from me I never knew you
7:59	now that’s that’s that that that’s not to put pressure on you but I I assure you I have never once performed a single
8:05	miracle and this doesn’t count all as miraculous as that is it doesn’t count
8:11	I’ve never performed a miracle should I assume that I am therefore doomed to hell that doesn’t sound like the spirit
8:18	of truth to me so what I thought I would do you’ll note that at at the beginning
8:23	of chapter 16 Jesus says these words I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away Christ knows full
8:29	well what the apostles are going to be facing after his Ascension into heaven so they will put you out of the
8:34	synagogues indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he’s offering a service to God and they
8:40	will do these things because they have not known the father nor have they known me but I said these things to you so
8:47	that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you Christ prepares them he says in this text I’m
8:53	sending the Holy Spirit he’s going to be a helper he’s a spirit of Truth he’s going to Bear witness about me and by
8:58	the way all of this I’m telling you so that you don’t fall away and I would note when you look at the immediate
9:04	fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy here that he gave on Monday Thursday it’s
9:10	actually quite stunning and helps us put the proper emphasis on the correct
9:16	syllable if you will just bear with me a little bit here you’ll note that we don’t have Sunday school so I thought
9:21	maybe we can work our way through a couple of chapters of Acts today what do you think all right I cheat roseb is
9:28	always cheating got to get some more word in there in the the book of Acts chapter 3 you’ll note next Sunday
9:33	Pentecost Sunday we’re going to have a focus on Acts chapter 2 but let’s look at the immediate aftermath of of uh the
9:40	day of Pentecost and at the very tail end of Acts chapter 2 it says this after
9:46	everyone’s baptized after Peter preaches that great sermon uh that leads to a whole bunch of people repenting and
9:52	trusting in Christ and it says this of the brand new baptized Christians they
9:58	devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to the prayers hm
10:06	that sounds like the Divine service to me because you’ll not the Divine service here we are devoted to the apostles
10:13	teaching our fellowship together the breaking of bread and the prayers isn’t
10:19	that interesting it doesn’t matter if you have a nice building or not or even if you own himels if you have the
10:26	apostles teaching the fellowship the breaking of bread and the prayers well you got church right and this is a very
10:33	portable inexpensive model I want to make that clear and it says this awe Came Upon every soul and listen to the
10:40	next words and Many Wonders and signs were being done through the
10:49	apostles that’s going to be re-emphasized in Acts chapter 5 by the way but you’re going to note here who
10:56	who who was primarily performing The Miracles in the earliest church it was
11:01	the apostles and you’ll note when you read the book of Acts it’s pretty rare
11:06	to see an ordinary Garden variety disciple of Jesus performing signs and
11:13	wonders and so the text makes it clear here that it’s the apostles who were primarily performing the signs and
11:19	wonders who’s doing that work Christ is through the spirit whom he sent to
11:25	validate his their his message of the go gospel in the mouths of his Apostles in
11:31	fact the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians makes it clear he says to the church in Corinth who was challenging his
11:37	apostleship that he performed the signs of an apostle in their presence these
11:43	are the signs of the Apostles validating the fact that they were sent by Christ
11:48	and it is not true that ordinary Grassroots Garden variety Christians are
11:53	expected by Christ to do the same if he expected us to do the same then the Holy
12:00	Spirit would be working that in us and well Miracles would be as common as fish
12:05	in the sea right and so we’ll know Miracles are actually kind of
12:10	rare and rightfully so in our days so here’s where the text goes and listen
12:16	carefully to our theme again the spirit of Truth who’s the helper who’s bearing
12:22	witness about Christ see if you can see what’s happening here because this is the holy spirit working in the
12:29	background uh Acts chapter 3 Peter and John were going up to the temple at The Hour of Prayer the ninth hour and a man
12:36	who was lame from birth was being carried whom they laid daily at the Gate of the temple that is called the
12:42	beautiful gate to ask arms of those entering the temple at the conclusion of this of this portion of the text we’re
12:49	going to hear that this fellow was more than 40 years old now it’s a little bit annoying to say that because one of the
12:55	things I’ve noticed in scripture especially in the New Testament when it talks about people over 40 years old it
13:01	talks about them in such terms as if somehow they’re really old and ancient well I just turned 56 I mean I’m wonder
13:07	if I should start looking at a nursing home at this point according to the biblical way describes age but that’s
13:13	that’s a whole other point but you’ll note he’s more than 40 years old and that being the case he was laid daily at
13:21	the beautiful gate of the temple which means this Jesus saw this
13:26	guy every time he went into the temple and you know what Jesus never healed
13:33	him until until this takes place keep this in mind so he was laid at the at the at
13:41	the beautiful gate to ask for arms of those entering the temple seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple he
13:46	asked to receive arms Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said look at
13:52	us and he fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them but Peter said I have no silver and gold
13:59	but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
14:06	walk and he took him by the right hand raised him up and immediately his feet
14:12	and ankles were made strong you’ll note that throughout the scriptures Apostolic
14:19	um Quality healings are well
14:25	undeniable we’ll talk a little bit more about this in a minute everybody knew that a miracle had taken place this
14:30	fellow who was lame from birth was able to rise up and walk and Peter took him
14:36	by the right hand and raised him up his feet were and ankles were made strong and then leaping up he stood and began
14:43	to walk and he entered the temple with them walking and leaping and praising
14:50	God and you’ll note that this is quite the Strategic miracle if you think about it because this is a fellow who
14:56	everybody going into the temple would have seen and would have been been familiar with and they had to go into the temple with some regularity as
15:03	required by the Mosaic Covenant and so everybody knew who this fellow was they could they could recognize his face they
15:09	knew that he was lame and there he was leaping and walking and praising God and
15:16	all the people saw him walking and praising God they recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for arms and they were
15:23	filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him and all the Pentecostals
15:29	at this point are we going to put the emphasis on this saabel oh look at this power this this is what needs to be
15:35	happening in the church today and they will berate churches like our churches oh that kongsvinger Lutheran Church it’s
15:42	a dead Church they don’t even have the spirit how do we know because they don’t have the the lame walking and leaping
15:48	and stuff like that in their Church to which I say you don’t have it either the Miracles that you claim are
15:55	happening in your church are nothing but cheap Todd parlor tricks it’s completely deniable
16:03	that you’re even experiencing the miraculous I do find it fascinating that
16:08	Bill Johnson at least is honest enough to say that he’s not good at
16:15	this but that’s a whole other story so is this where we should put the emphasis
16:21	on this cabble no because you’ll note that the holy spirit is the one who
16:27	worked for the purpose of this man healing why to draw attention to the
16:33	apostles and the message that they are going to speak and who is Peter going to preach about is he going to sit there
16:39	and go did you see that Miracle would you like to have miracles in your life you can have your best life now the holy
16:45	spirit’s looking for people who are willing to invite him in be baptized in the holy spirit so that they too can
16:51	experience perfect health is that his message nope what’s he going to be
16:57	preaching Christ and him crucified for our sins
17:03	and I would note here in the next chapter we’re going to see very clearly a little aside in the text that makes it
17:10	clear to us how Peter is able to preach with such boldness the message that he
17:16	preaches and if you think it has something to do with the Holy Spirit you’d be right so listen to what follows
17:22	next and this is where we put the emphasis while he this man now formerly
17:28	lame CL to Peter and John all the people were utterly astounded they ran together
17:33	to them to the portical called Solomon and when Peter saw it he addressed the
17:38	people here’s where the real Miracle takes place men of Israel why do you
17:44	wonder at this or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piy we
17:50	have made him walk Peter makes it very clear it’s not by his own power or by
17:56	his piety that this man received the miss Miracle instead he gives the proper credit where the credit is due the god
18:03	of Abraham the god of Isaac the god of Jacob the god of our fathers he’s
18:08	glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the
18:13	presence of pilate when he had decided to release him but you you denied the
18:19	Holy One the righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and you killed the author of
18:27	life well that doesn’t make me feel very good about myself I could see this if
18:32	Peter were preaching this today oh social media would be a buzz and people
18:38	would be criticizing him on this ground look at what he is doing there are
18:43	people in the crowd there they weren’t even there on Friday morning when Jesus was on trial and he’s making them guilty
18:50	of murdering Jesus how arbitrary how capricious how unjust the he’s making
18:57	slanderous false es against these people and putting Jesus’s blood on them when they weren’t even there they were
19:03	sleeping in on Friday you know I’m right okay so
19:11	because that’s how social media Works they always look for that tiny little thing where they can undo the preaching
19:18	of Truth let me ask you this since this is written for us in scripture and
19:24	scripture all scripture according to the Apostle Paul who wrote Under the inspiration of the the Holy Spirit he
19:29	says all scripture is theas it’s God breathed why would God the Holy Spirit
19:36	give words like this to Peter that are then recorded here in the scriptures
19:42	where Peter is just arbitrarily accusing everybody of being guilty of Killing
19:47	Jesus because by implication if what he’s saying is true that would mean I’m
19:53	guilty of murdering the author of life
19:59	that’s the point by his arbitrary very broad brush that he is
20:07	painting with you’ll note then that when you go back into the Good Friday texts and you
20:15	read of the crowd calling for the release of barabus and them saying crucify Christ
20:24	and pilate saying why what evil has he done and they saying crucify him and he
20:30	said well his blood be on you and they responded well his blood be on us and on our
20:36	children that that crowd is our representative in the same way that Adam
20:44	was our representative what they spoke they spoke for
20:49	us that means that I as well as you we
20:55	rightfully can be condemned as those those who have killed the author of
21:01	life we are the ones who asked for a murderer to be released we are the one
21:07	who denied the holy and the righteous one we are the ones who asked for a murderer to be granted to us
21:15	instead now little bit of a note here that would mean that we’re all guilty of the greatest murder in all of human
21:22	history and we are your sins and my sins were laid on Christ but you’re going to
21:28	note there’s something different about the blood of Jesus it’s not quite like the blood of faithful Abel Abel was was
21:35	murdered by his brother Cain and Abel’s blood cried to God from the ground and
21:42	Jesus’s blood similarly cries to God from well the base of golgatha from the
21:49	foot of the cross but his blood does more to than just call out our guilt and
21:56	the point is this is that Peter is not going to merely say that they are guilty of murdering Jesus the author of life
22:04	and therefore they should just expect the wrath of God he knows full well that
22:09	Jesus’s blood is kind of like a double-edged sword it cuts in two different directions if you would
22:16	Jesus’s blood truly does condemn those who persist in sin and unbelief and
22:21	every human being is guilty of the murder of Christ indeed Christ’s blood does condemn but for those who through
22:30	the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel preached to them are granted
22:35	repentance and Faith from the Holy Spirit Christ’s blood no longer condemns
22:42	them it is Christ’s blood that washes away their iniquity and their guilt and
22:47	their sin your sin and my sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ and
22:53	it is his blood that is the active detergent that has take our taken our filthy y clothes and made them white in
23:02	his blood and so you’ll note that Peter here in preaching starts off with some
23:07	pretty heavy law so heavy that it crushes and it’s designed to do that
23:13	crushes any inkling of self-righteousness crushes any pretense of innocence and instead makes everybody
23:21	guilty of murdering the author of life but then he says these words but God
23:27	raised him from the the dead to this we Are Witnesses and His Name by faith in
23:33	his name in Jesus he has made this man strong whom you see and know and faith
23:39	that is through Jesus has given this man this perfect health in the presence of
23:45	you all and now Brothers I know that you acted at ignorance as did also your
23:50	rulers but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer he thus fulfilled so
23:58	repent therefore turn back so that your sins may be blotted out that times of
24:05	refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you Jesus whom Heaven Must
24:12	receive until the time for restoring of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of the Holy prophets long ago and
24:20	there it is the call to repent the call to turn from your sins and the promise that their sins would be
24:27	blotted out for the sake of the one that they murdered for the sake of Jesus
24:33	Christ who bled and died in their place on the cross so that times of refreshing
24:38	may come from God God does not wish for you to experience the torment of Hell
24:43	everybody who ends up in Hell ends up there by their own will keep that in
24:48	mind God does not will for anybody to be in Hell instead he in he Wills that
24:54	times of refreshing may come through the gospel the good news that we’ve been Recon iled to God that the hostilities
25:00	are over and that Christ himself has made peace with God through his blood so
25:07	that the times of refreshing may come beginning with the times of forgiveness and mercy and Grace and peace that comes
25:14	from the gospel and culminating in the con in the consummation of time when we
25:20	will experience the refreshing Sabbath rest of the new Earth in a World Without End all of this from God who who’s Peter
25:29	preaching about again Christ and the Holy Spirit is
25:34	empowering him to do so giving him the strength to do it he then continues Moses said the Lord will raise up for
25:42	you a prophet like me uh from your brothers and you shall
25:47	listen to him in whatever he tells you and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that Prophet shall be
25:54	destroyed from the people and all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and
25:59	those who came after him also proclaimed these days you’ll note that the words of Revelation come ringing in here
26:06	Revelation says the spirit of the the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy the testimony of Jesus is the
26:13	spirit of Prophecy and here the Apostle Peter affirms that from Moses all the
26:18	way through all the Old Testament prophets they were prophesying about who
26:23	Christ and who was it that empowered them to to prophesy about the future
26:29	coming Messiah it was none other than the Holy Spirit who inspired their words and carried them along and gave them
26:35	those words and so he says then you are the sons of the prophets and of the Covenant that God made with your father saying to Abraham and to your Offspring
26:42	shall the families of the earth be blessed so God having raised up his servant sent him first to you to bless
26:48	you by turning every one of you from your
26:53	wickedness Zing what a sermon and that little bit bit of a note
26:59	here I am a sermonator I know what it means to put a sermon together I’m not
27:05	didn’t say Terminator Okay I a sermonator I do this for a living and I
27:11	can tell you a lot of prep goes into a sermon you have to study the text you
27:16	have to translate the text you have to ask yourself the question what does my what does the audience what does the
27:21	congregation need to hear how am I going to weave the gospel into this what is this text saying how do I make sure I
27:27	rightly handle it and there’s a lot of prep that goes into this Peter off the
27:34	cuff with no sermon prep at all it’s a grand slam home
27:41	run and I look at this as a sermonator and go dang how’d he do that
27:48	right the answer is he did it through the helper the Holy Spirit was helping
27:56	him that’s how he was able able to nail that landing and score the perfect 10
28:02	hit the Grand Slam with that home with that home run you get the idea well
28:07	remember this Christ prophesied in the gospel text for today he said this he
28:14	says I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away they will put you out of the synagogue indeed the hour
28:20	is coming when whoever kills you will think that he’s offering a service to God and they will do these things
28:26	because they have not known the father father nor have they known me so chapter
28:31	4 then no good deed going unpunished begins with these words as they were
28:36	speaking to the people the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees Came Upon them greatly annoyed
28:44	because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the
28:52	dead do you see the cognitive dissonance at this point you’ll Note I used the
28:58	metaphor last week that we are all snake bit and the Venom of the serpent runs through Us in fact it’s the Venom of the
29:05	serpent that’s running through these people that are causing them to be so blind to what’s really going on here I
29:11	mean just step back for a second a guy lay from birth over 40 which means he’s ancient he has just been healed and
29:18	leaping and praising God and all the people are praising God and you’re annoyed because this this healing took
29:25	place in the name of Jesus and they were preaching Christ him crucified the Forgiveness of sins and promising people
29:31	to be raised from the dead on the last day by belief in Jesus you’re annoyed by this the miracle speaks for itself
29:38	doesn’t it right but they were greatly annoyed the text says so they arrested them and
29:47	the them here is going to include Peter and John and the fellow who was
29:54	healed no no no no enough of this all of you are you you three in prison for you
29:59	for the night does any of that make any sense to you and my question is where did
30:05	churchmen get this authority to arrest people okay H how how can there be such
30:10	a confusing of the right and the leftand Kingdom right we don’t have a Brig here at Kong’s finger you know you know just
30:17	just saying okay not for children and not for adults we have to make that clear you know but all right so they put
30:25	them in custody until the next day for it was already evening but many of those listen to this many of those who had
30:32	heard the word believed and the number of men came to about
30:37	5,000 that little note in verse 4 of chapter 4 is not a little note faith
30:43	comes by hearing hearing by the word of Christ God the Holy Spirit promises to
30:48	be active with the preaching of the gospel and the gospel is the good news that Christ bled and died for our sins
30:55	and he will forgive everyone who believes in in him so note here the Holy
31:00	Spirit was quite active that day so that now the number of people at church and
31:06	there’s only one congregation at this point has more than 5,000 men how many
31:11	women how many children are part of this this is like a ginormous mega church
31:17	right which is going to have problems of its own but that’s for other chapters and so on the next day their
31:24	rulers and their elders and their scribes gathered together in Jerusalem
31:30	another impromptu Church council meeting okay and so with Annis the high priest
31:36	and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were the high Priestly family and when they set themselves in the
31:41	midst they inquired and here’s the first question out of their mouths for this
31:46	interrogation by what power or what name did you do
31:54	this what a question we’re now referring to the healing of a
32:00	lame man as this it’s not a safe question is it but
32:06	listen to the next words the opening of verse eight then Peter filled with the
32:13	Holy Spirit if you listen to today’s modern charismatics when you hear the
32:19	words filled with the Holy Spirit the next word should be then fell on the ground slain in the spirit started
32:24	barking like a dog you know you know meowing like a cat and behaving like a chicken and all the people were amazed
32:31	at how drunk he was in the spirit he began speaking in gibberish
32:37	and you can hear him crying at the top of his lungs could have B A Hundai should have B AIA right that’s what
32:44	happens when people are filled with the spirit right no Jesus said when the helper
32:51	comes he the spirit of truth will bear witness about me
32:58	so let’s see what Peter does with this immediate filling of the Holy Spirit
33:04	Peter filled with the spirit said to them rulers of the people and Elders if we’re being examined today concerning a
33:11	good deed done to a crippled Man by what means this man has been healed well then let it be known to all of you and to all
33:18	the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead
33:25	by him this man is standing before you well Zing
33:35	wow total un he’s unafraid he’s this is
33:40	courage and boldness that is like rare in humanity these are the people who can put Peter to death these are the people
33:47	that Peter was afraid of right on the night that Jesus was betrayed so much so that a girl a
33:55	servant girl aren’t you also with the Nazarene I never knew the man never knew him what
34:01	are you talking about right this same Peter filled with the Holy Spirit is now
34:07	preaching with such boldness that he has properly laid the murder of Christ at
34:12	the feet of those who conspired to kill him and it says whom you crucified he’s it’s by his name this man
34:20	has been healed but God raised him from the dead and by Jesus this man is standing before you well this Jesus is
34:28	the stone that was rejected by you the builders which has become the Cornerstone and there is salvation in no
34:35	one else for there is no other name under Heaven given am among men by which we must be
34:45	saved I mean this puts Martin Luther’s here I stand speech to shame I’ll be
34:51	blunt you know as wonderful as that was this one is way above that and listen to
34:59	these words Peter filled with the Holy Spirit the scripture says is the holy spirit pointing people to the Holy
35:05	Spirit the holy spirit is pointing people to Jesus and on top of that he makes this very bold and Politically
35:11	Incorrect statement there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by
35:18	which we must be saved and I can hear all the blue haired feminist woke type
35:23	sitting there going are you saying that that my Buddhist neighbor and my Muslim
35:29	friends they’re not going to heaven unless they believe in Jesus no I didn’t say that God the holy spirit said it
35:36	through Peter and he’s right he’s the spirit of Truth so your Buddhist neighbor and your Muslim friend need to
35:41	repent and believe in Jesus how dare you you close-minded
35:48	bigot right this is an offensive
35:54	statement but Jesus said the holy spirit is the Spirit of
35:59	Truth these words are true there is salvation in no one else there is no
36:07	other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved Buddha will
36:13	not save you Allah cannot save you Shiva and Vishnu are demonic
36:21	delusions Athena Zeus dionis especially dionis and all the false gods of Egypt
36:28	are just just that they’re false gods they cannot and will not save you and belief and Trust in them will be in vain
36:37	there is salvation only in Christ well don’t you think in the 21st
36:43	century we can be a little bit more open-minded and just seek to coexist no
36:49	the holy spirit is the spirit of Truth and Peter here was speaking by the power of the Holy
36:55	Spirit now when they saw the boldness of Peter and you’re going to note what
37:01	Peter is preaching here it hits with the people he is speaking to when they saw
37:07	the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men they were astonished a good
37:14	way to think about it is Galilean were kind of like the ancient world’s version of rednecks all
37:21	right I might as well call Peter Bubba all right but at this point that’s kind
37:27	of the point Point how where where are they getting this information where is
37:32	he able to preach like this and to preach with such boldness it’s stood out as
37:38	miraculous right but they had recognized that they had been with Jesus but seeing
37:44	the man who was healed standing beside them they had nothing to say in opposition but when they had commanded
37:51	them to leave the council they conferred with one another saying what shall we do with these men for a notable sign has
37:58	per been performed through them it is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny
38:07	it now let’s talk about Apostolic quality healings shall we today’s modern
38:14	New Apostolic Reformation claims over and over again healings for people you know what they never produce is
38:21	evidence and I mean any kind of evidence you’re just expected to take their word
38:26	for it because they believe in the Holy Spirit and a great example of this was last year last
38:33	year there was a conference put on by James River Church in Joplin Missouri and one of the guest attendees and
38:40	speakers was Bill Johnson of bethl church in Reading California and this conference was all about modern-day
38:46	signs and wonders and healings and miracles and during after like one of their major speaker sessions they had a
38:54	session where everybody in the audience can come together and pray for each other pray for healing and things like
39:01	this and one particular lady was there who a while back had had her toes shot
39:07	off by her ex-husband with a shotgun and so on one of her feet three of her toes
39:13	were missing and so what did they do they prayed for this woman and her toes
39:19	and the claim is at James River Church that God caused a miracle to happen that
39:25	night and in the course of 30 minutes after she was prayed for her toes had completely grown back had now had
39:33	toenails on them and she had received a complete healing by God the Holy Spirit
39:38	James Lindell being one of the pastors there James River Church Bill Johnson they all communicated these things Bill
39:44	Johnson told the story at bethl church in Reading California however you’re going to note something here no evidence
39:51	was provided to support the claim that This Woman’s toes had grown back I
39:56	always like to point out out we have these things in our pockets nowadays
40:01	this particular thing that I have I keep in my pocket is capable of 4K 60 video
40:09	recording okay I can take photographs at 47 megapixels in raw format okay and
40:17	you’re going to note I have yet to see a human being running around the planet that is over the age of 18 who doesn’t
40:23	have their face in one of these things at least half the day and yet nobody thought to pull out their
40:30	4K video recording device and record or take a photograph of it so atheists
40:35	seeing this story and this claim that This Woman’s toes had been had grown back they put up a website called show
40:42	usth toes.com okay
40:48	and this got some big media attention and there were some major media Outlets
40:54	that covered the story basically saying hey James River Church show us the toes to which Pastor Lindell
41:01	said oh these people are so cynical and skeptical no amount of evidence is good
41:06	enough for them so we’re not going to show them any right well the show us the Toes
41:14	website sat dormant for about the past year maybe a little bit more until this
41:21	past week when a new post showed up guess who got a photograph
41:27	of This Woman’s toes to show us the Toes website had
41:32	they grown back had God miraculously grown those toes back were they there now do they now have toenails on them
41:40	nope there is no difference between the before and the after photo none
41:47	whatsoever so I have to ask the question if we’re going to put the emphasis on the proper side
41:52	label why is it that the Holy Spirit of the Pentecostal movement traffics in Li
41:58	and the Miracles that it claims that it’s operating in are not only cannot be
42:03	validated but are easily debunked why is it that the Holy Spirit of the Pentecostal Church constantly is
42:09	drawing attention to itself when Christ said that the helper that’s the Holy Spirit would testify about him why is it
42:18	that the apostles never preached about the Holy Spirit the way the Pentecostals do but given every opportunity to preach
42:26	every time they would open their mouth the only person that they were focused on preaching was Jesus
42:32	Christ makes you wonder I can think of a different Spirit one that was created by God a
42:40	spirit who’s a fallen Spirit who is all about trafficking in lies Jesus speaks
42:45	of this spirit and says that when he lies he speaks his native language and this particular Spirit also is obsessed
42:52	with drawing attention to himself and and he couldn’t heal a
42:58	running nose with a box of Kleenex and a Yeti and a one of those Yeti pots right
43:04	he couldn’t do it himself that being the case I would note something it’s nety pood I would note this I believe that
43:11	the uh the the spirit that is operating in the Pentecostal churches is not the Holy Spirit I believe it’s a different Spirit
43:18	a diabolical one at that you’ll note that the miracle that was performed by God through the Apostle Peter here even
43:25	the opponents of Christianity couldn’t deny that it had taken place yet the
43:30	Miracles that take place in the Pentecostal churches I always scratched my head and said did a miracle really
43:36	happen there is that was that person really healed is there really any evidence that can substantiate this
43:41	answer nope we’re dealing with a false Spirit but we’re telling the story here
43:48	of these fellows so what shall we do that A great miracle has happened and we cannot deny
43:54	it but the next word in verse 17 is the word but you’ll note with the words
43:59	these words what shall we do with these men a notable sign has been performed through them it’s evident and we cannot
44:05	deny it the next words should be we need to repent we need to let these men go
44:13	and we need to start sitting under their teaching so that we can learn the truth that should be what happens next but
44:20	again listen to what Jesus said in prophesying the what would take place
44:26	they will put you out of the synagogues indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he’s offering a
44:31	service to God and they will do these things because they have not known the father nor me these people are blinded
44:40	by their sin still under the influence of the Venom of Satan so the next word
44:45	is after they say we can’t deny that a miracle took place their next words are but in order that this may spread no
44:52	further wait what is this a bad thing how is it a bad thing so that this
44:59	may spread no further we are going to warn them to
45:05	speak no more to anyone in Jesus’s
45:10	name that’s not going to work right so they called them and they charged them
45:17	not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus but Peter and John answered
45:23	well whether it’s right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you must judge for we cannot but speak
45:30	of what we have seen and what we have heard and when they had further threatened them they let them go finding
45:37	no way to punish them because the people for all were praising God for what it
45:43	happened for the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40
45:48	years old what an annoying text right there right I am greatly
45:55	annoyed but we continue now in the face of these threats you
46:03	cannot ever preach in the name of Jesus anymore this must come to a
46:10	stop the disciples know full well they are in Mortal danger these are the same
46:16	people who crucified Christ so what happens next also is a fulfillment of
46:22	what Christ says in Our Gospel text and we should pay attention cuz watch watch where the Holy Spirit shows up and what
46:29	the Holy Spirit does so when they were released they went to their friends they
46:34	reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them and when they heard it they lifted up their voice
46:40	together to God and so they pray and you’re going to note here they don’t decree they don’t declare today’s modern
46:47	Nar types would say something like this we decree and declare against the spirit of Leviathan that somehow taking over
46:54	the synagogues and the and we tear you down Satan covid-19 you know this is how
47:00	they would talk right but here listen to this prayer it’s a wonderful
47:07	one so they lifted up their voices together to God and they said Sovereign Lord who made the heaven in the earth
47:14	and the Sea and everything in them who through the mouth of Our Father David your servant said by the Holy Spirit why
47:22	do the Nations rage and the people’s plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered
47:28	together against the Lord and against his Messiah for truly in the city there were gathered together against your holy
47:34	servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and pontious pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do
47:41	whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place and now Lord
47:47	look upon their threats and Grant to your servants to continue to speak your
47:54	word with all boldness they ask
47:59	God please grant that we can continue to speak your word with all boldness while
48:06	you God stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant
48:13	Jesus and when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was
48:19	shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they continued to speak
48:26	the the word of God with
48:31	boldness and now we can see it we can put the proper emphasis on the correct
48:37	syllable we do not need to a the holy spirit is our helper he helps us he is
48:44	the one who Bears the fruit of the spirit within us he is the one who empowers us to speak the gospel with
48:51	boldness he is the one who gives us the strength to Proclaim Christ in him
48:56	crucified for our sins he is the one who is active when all when his word is
49:04	properly handled and Christ is exalted and glorified so brothers and sisters
49:09	let us repent of not having a proper focus and putting the wrong emphasis on
49:16	the work of the Holy Spirit may we see and embrace what Christ has done he is
49:21	properly and truly sent to us his Spirit the Holy Spirit who now in indwells each
49:27	and every one of us who gives us strength Comforts us with the gospel
49:32	convicts us of our sin and even prays for us in ways that we don’t even know
49:38	that we need to be praying for ourselves and let us thank God that he’s
49:43	not the spirit who causes us to fall over drunk but instead the holy spirit is the one who gives us a sober-minded
49:50	understanding of our own sin and the great Mercy that we have in Christ he is not the one who causes us to speak
49:57	gibberish but instead speak with boldness and confidence the sound words of sound Doctrine and the good news that
50:05	Christ has bled and died for our sins let us thank Jesus for this great gift
50:10	of this Helper and let us not be afraid of the true Holy Spirit but let us ever
50:15	be thankful for the great gift that Christ has given us in sending him the one who predes from the father as well
50:21	as the son in the name of Jesus Amen

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