Acts 2_pt1 — Bill Gallatin

This Bible study was recorded at Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes and was taught by Pastor Bill Gallatin. This evening we're in the New Testament book of Acts, chapter two, verse one. We'll ask the Lord to crank it up to a hundred and we'll crank up the air conditioning and even get more people to fellowship.

Good to be together again and fellowship. Let's ask the Lord to bless His Word and give us understanding. Heavenly Father, You have such gracious and wonderful things to share with us tonight through the Holy Spirit and through the beauty of Your Word.

We ask You, dear Father, to speak to our hearts. We pray that Your Word will not fall to the ground, as Isaiah stated, and that each heart would be touched and encouraged and strengthened. We pray, dear Father, that You'd speak in such a way tonight that people would truly yield to You and not resist out of doubt or fear, that they'd realize how wonderful You are and how glorious it is to be a member of the true church, filled with Your Spirit and having the confidence of our salvation through Jesus Christ, who gave His life and conquered death with the resurrection and is coming again.

O Father, speak to our hearts and we pray that You'd be honored and glorified above all. In the name of Jesus, it is burned in our hearts in a wonderful way and a living way continually and automatically through the power of the Holy Spirit and the living relationship with our Savior.

Jesus’ Promise of New Life in the Spirit

In His name we pray, Amen. Chapter 2 of the book of Acts. We'll try to get through this in an hour. There's so much in here and such a desire to branch off on so many wonderful things. You remember, before the day of Pentecost, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus very early in his ministry, some three and a half years earlier in that garden incident.

In John chapter 3, he began to speak of the life and the Spirit and being born again. Now, remember, he's talking to a man who believed in God and believed in the coming of the Messiah, but he hadn't been born again yet.

He was under the system of the law, believing the Scriptures and still not born again and not understanding some of the things that Jesus was speaking about. And in verse 8, you remember, he said, The Spirit blows where it wills, or lifts us, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know for whence it cometh or where it goeth, and so is everyone that walks in the Spirit or is led by the Spirit.

And so Jesus was beginning to show Nicodemus there was a brand new life coming because of his coming to the earth, a freedom from law and grace and rules and regulations, and a power that dwelled within now and a power that would fill us each time we had the need to live the Christian life, to walk in the Spirit.

And now he had been telling the apostles to wait for the promise of the Father, to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive this power that you may be a witness. And again, as we shared before, he was telling them, You don't wait for the power or the baptism of the Holy Spirit that I've been speaking of simply to perform miracles and to speak in tongues.

The issue is that you could be a witness, and that's the important thing for the Christian today, is to be a faithful witness to Jesus Christ, not a fool. Not someone who's going to give up. Not someone who's going to still try and call the shots and want to, you know, follow Christ under his own conditions.

That's not a witness. In fact, that individual will suffer and strive and never quite get over the top in their experience in life and never really come to know the hope of their calling or know what their calling is.

And it's an awful place to be in. So it's a marvelous thing to experience the filling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then be free to yield to the Lord and then begin to walk in the Spirit and enjoy the Christian life and truly be a witness whether things are good or bad, to be able to rejoice in all things, as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5.

What is the will of God concerning me? It's to rejoice in everything, to be thankful for everything. To be able to endure all things. To be able to bear up over everything or under everything through the power of that Holy Spirit.

Pentecost and the Formation of the Church

Now, in the Jewish law, it was compulsory for every Jewish male that lived within a radius of 20 miles of Jerusalem to keep the feast, principally three main feasts. There were four, if you count tabernacles of Yom Kippur, but the main feasts were the Passover, then the Feast of the Unleavened Bread that would begin on the day at the ending of the Passover.

That would be a Sabbath, and the next day began the Unleavened Bread. Then seven weeks or seven sevens on the fiftieth day after that would be the Feast of First Fruits that every Jew should keep, and then after that you'd have the Feast of Tabernacles or Buk or Sakat, the fourth feast being Yom Kippur, the Great Day of Atonement, fifty days after the Unleavened Bread.

And that is the day, or Penta in the Greek, the Pentecost, the Day of Pentecost, and that's when the priest would take two loaves of bread, unite them together, wave the first fruits after the winter wheat has all been harvested in June, the time of the first fruits, waving before the Lord, all prefiguring Christ's Resurrection being the first fruits of the body of Christ, his body, or his bride, his church.

And so on this particular day is the day that God picked to fulfill that type, or that prefiguring of the first fruits, to pour out his Spirit and then grant something new, a new body. Jew and Gentile united together in one body, the church, by the Holy Spirit.

So when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. You remember in Acts chapter 115, about 120 gathered together after the Resurrection, and he had informed us that now, tarry ye in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father on high, until you are baptized with that fire, that Holy Spirit, that you may be a witness.

And so about 120 of them were still together in that place. Now, here is the interesting thing. Jesus had been speaking of that Spirit that would move involuntarily beyond even the thinking of the individual.

It was concerning God's will that man doesn't control. In fact, the 120 did not even know what was going to happen. They were just being obedient to the Lord and received the blessing. And I think that's one of our greatest barriers, isn't it?

We need to have everything explained and understood beforehand, or we're not going to step or do anything. And so many of us miss the blessing, because we simply don't step or wait in obedience on the Lord, trusting we have to have it all figured out in advance, and we never get the blessing.

It's not just trusting and knowing that a Father in Heaven loves us so much, He's not going to allow you to be harmed simply because you don't understand. You're just being obedient. And that's one of the most difficult things to learn to do, is to step in obedience without understanding, knowing that God's promised to bless if I will be obedient.

Abraham was obedient, and he was so blessed with God, something that would go against the grain of the natural mind and the human emotions, but he didn't understand it completely and he didn't argue with God.

I know so many Christians are always arguing secretly, internally with God. They know what the Scripture has said to them. I've done it myself. I know what the Scripture has said to my heart, but I don't understand it completely and I don't want to yield.

I don't want to do it this way, Lord, and so I begin to hold out, but I miss out on the blessing. These people had no idea. They were just given a promise of God and the blessing came. There may be somebody here tonight that you're still holding out.

Because you don't simply understand it. And that's, you see, when we deify our own intellect, that's the trouble. I deify my intellect and say, I'm going to figure this thing out and I'm going to know exactly what it means or I'm not going to trust.

That's not faith. God honors faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, Faith is saying, Lord, I believe what the Bible says that you declared about yourself that you're my loving Heavenly Father, that you'll never leave me nor forsake me.

You're going to keep me. You will provide for me. You'll let no harm come to me if I put my trust in you. And that's what pleases God so much. You know, love doubted is a very horrible thing, isn't it?

Have you ever had someone doubt you when you say you love them and you get exasperated? What do I have to do to prove to you that I love you? And sometimes it's so exasperating, isn't it? And you're doing your best and yet they still don't believe you.

Or, you see, just think of God. He loves you so much and he's written a record, a personal love letter to you to declare unto you that he'll never let any harm come to you. That he'll provide for you eternally, take care of you, and watch over you.

And you can trust him when he trusts you. And no good thing will he withhold from you when you walk uprightly. He will not allow that evil day to overtake you. As he wrote through David, surely goodness and mercy follow with me all the days of my life and I will fear no evil.

You don't have to worry about what's behind. You don't have to keep looking over your shoulder, worried about if the decision you made is going to work out, that God can let something get you or harm you.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow you all of the days of your life, God says. And so, that's really a difficult thing for many of us, isn't it? To get to the point where you say, Lord, I don't have to understand anymore.

I'm just going to be obedient and stiff because I know you love me and I trust you. You've been so faithful to me over the years. Even when I've deserved more difficult times, you've been faithful to me.

The Sound of the Spirit and the New Birth of the Church

Even when I haven't deserved deliverance or your rescue, you've been so good to me. Lord, I trust you. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Notice a wind didn't come, but the sound of a wind.

Very important to know that. Some members of the church tried to make it seem like, you know, a tornado came into the room and everybody flew all over the place. And so, they justified Pentecost for a lot of their fleshy actions in their meetings.

But it was a sound that came, not a wind. And it came from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and nobody was knocked out of their chairs. Not one person.

It always amazes me that maybe God, again, didn't quite have a handle on what the real outpouring of the Spirit should do to people. On the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the history of the universe, and really tell you what's ever done, it's never going to be repeated like that until at the end of the age, when it's poured out on Israel, that their eyes would be opened to the second coming of Jesus Christ, to who he is.

I find it quite interesting. I find another thing that's very interesting. The word rushing there literally means to bear up and keep from falling. And the word right there, mighty, is violent. Now, have you ever been in a strong wind?

When I was in the Marine Corps back in the 50s, I had to guard a great big building in a hurricane from looters. And they put me in the building during the hurricane. But before it hit, we could feel the wind building up down there in North Carolina where I was stationed.

And I'll never forget this. The wind was picking up to such a degree, it was so powerful, that you could actually lay into it and not fall down. It was bearing you up. It was so powerful, hitting us in the faces, that you could just let go without any muscle strain whatsoever, just fall forward, and it bore us up.

It kept us from falling. And that's exactly what the Spirit of God is. It's to help you stand, not to knock you down. And it literally means in the Greek, to bear you up and keep you from falling. I know many, many people that are Christian, and because they aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit, they keep falling.

The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Lord filling us and filling the church like that, uniting Jew and Gentile alike together in one homogenous, beautiful unit, the body of Christ, the church, is to keep people from falling.

It was a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. I don't know if you remember, but in Genesis chapter 2, a very interesting thing took place. You remember, it says in verse 7 of Genesis chapter 2, that God formed man out of the dust of the earth.

Here, God just reached down like the potter that he depicts himself so often in the Old Testament, took a handful of dirt, that's what we are, I'm just looking at some good-looking dirt bags here. I mean, we think so highly of ourselves, and we're nothing but dirt.

It's amazing how great we think we are, and we look in that mirror, you know, and man, I think, you know, I'm not so bad for my age, and God says, you're just nothing but dirt, Bill. Don't think too highly of yourself.

But God just molds and shapes, you know, the body, Adam, the first Adam, and is lying there lifeless with all the same chemistry, the same chemicals in Adam of the dirt that you and I have. We're just nothing but dirt, only it was rearranged, different configuration, different balances of the very same chemicals and chemistry that dirt is made of, you too.

But you see, that disproves evolution. Adam would still be lying there, and he'd probably dry out by now and be blown all over the earth somewhere, washed down the stream with the rain. But see, God breathed into him, it says, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And the interesting thing is, when Adam was breathed into, it says, in the Hebrew, God leaned over and blew powerfully with a mighty blast, as though you took bellows into his nostrils. A mighty, powerful blast, and gave Adam life.

He lived. Now, the last Adam is Jesus Christ. He didn't suffer a second death. He's the Son from Heaven, but he's been given a bride. And it's interesting, Adam was put to sleep, his side was opened. He was put into a deep sleep, death, and when that took place, that's when Eve was brought forth.

Jesus Christ was put into death, actually died on the cross with his side open, the last Adam, and he lives. But his bride is Eve, the church. And God on Pentecost, just as he breathed life into Adam in Genesis chapter 2, breathed powerfully life into the woman, Eve, the church.

The heavenly Adam, the last Adam, is to have a bride, and it's the body of Christ. And Jesus, you see, after he gave his life, God breathed on Pentecost, and the church came to life. The bride of Christ came to life, filled with the Spirit.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat upon each one. So, just little dancing flames of fire over each head of the individual as they were filled with the Spirit. They see something new.

They've gone from law, trying to please God under the law, now the church is in form, the bride of Christ has been formed, and God breathed life into Eve just as he breathed life into Adam in Genesis.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, every one of them, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, not on their own. They were motivated, initiated by the filling of the Holy Spirit, and they spoke, and that word tongues is glossolalia, or in different languages other than their own.

Tongues, Languages, and the Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation of heaven. Now, knowing the law required every Jew that lived within a radius of twenty miles to attend Jerusalem, plus many of the Jews from all the surrounding nations, and they're listed here, their backgrounds and their different nations, you had easily well over a million people in Jerusalem from all over the world practicing Jews to be faithful to God there in Jerusalem on Pentecost to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits when God did this.

Now, remember, you have believers already in the midst, and so you've got Jews from all over the world that are looking for Messiah, looking for the promises of the Old Testament prophets, and you've got a million or more gathered with their families, close to three million people.

That's what the ranks of Jerusalem would swell to during the feast days, from all over the world, and here's the opportunity of God to use this small band of people, this new formation and this new body of believers, the church filled with the Spirit, to begin to magnify the Lord and speak the truth of the Lord under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to all these people and to do mighty signs and wonders in front of them all that they've been looking for and hearing about, and nothing is more exciting to receive a miracle from God or a sign or a wonder when you're not expecting it.

What a blessing it is. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. Now, the individuals that were speaking in tongues, as God sent out the 120, as they were all noised about and heard this, you see, they weren't understanding what they were saying.

They were just praising God as they were baptized, but the individuals that were around that were non-believers were hearing the mighty works of God in their language, and it amazed them. It caught their attention.

They were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? In other words, aren't these the people that live just in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, and some of these people are from Africa, from Greece?

You had every known type of Jew there, from Hellenist backgrounds to the Falasha Jews of Africa, and how hear we every man in our own tongue when we were born? In other words, now they were hearing not only their language, but in their dialects.

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers of Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia, Persia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians.

We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God, and so the scripture is its own best commentary, immediately tells us that when someone is given the gift of tongues, it's to speak the wonderful works of God.

Paul, you remember, tells us, and clearly teaches, because the Corinthian church was using the gift wrongly, misunderstanding the gift, enamored with it when it was the least of the gifts, but it drew attention to the individual that used it in the meetings, and they were going around, much like today in many circles, saying that God had given them a message for the church.

Well, Paul clearly corrects that in 1st Transient, 1st Transient chapter 14, in fact he spends a whole chapter on it, the purpose of the gift of tongues. We do know that it bypasses the intellect in the Romans chapter 8 that Paul teaches that many times we're given situations that I don't quite know how to pray.

I can pray in the Spirit or I can pray with my understanding. I'm told that I can build myself up praying in the Spirit, but I also pray with my understanding, and the Spirit knows how to pray beyond my understanding.

And I think that's why many, many people struggle with the gift of tongues and receiving it by faith, is that because they don't allow their intellect to get out of the way and accept it by faith. They have to understand everything they're doing, but they don't accept it.

See, the gift of tongues bypasses the intellect, for we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself bears witness and then begins to intercede for us and enable us to pray to God and cry out to God.

But notice what Paul tells us in 1st Transient 14 concerning the gift of tongues, and by the way, there's nowhere in the Bible that says it ceased during the Apostolic Age. It continues even to this day.

Remember, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit began in the last days, fulfilling Joel's prophecy, and it's not going to cease, this outpouring or this filling, until the second coming of Jesus Christ. Notice Paul says in verse 1 of chapter 14,.

We follow after agape love, which is translated charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy or teach the Word of God, enable people to understand the Word of God. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men.

I've been around certain Christians and I've seen some of the things that they do in their ignorance, even on television, as though they're talking to one another in their tongues, giving each other a message from God.

The Bible plainly states that when you speak in tongues, you do not speak unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, albeit the Spirit, he speaketh in mysteries. Look at verse 3 and 4,. For he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, to exhortation and comfort.

That's how you can judge a prophecy. Is it really from the Lord, or has it got me feeling condemned and frightened? If it's true prophecy from the Lord, it will edify you or build you up. It will encourage you, exhort you, and it will comfort you.

Very easy to test prophecy. But then Paul again, to correct the Corinthians and their misuse of tongues. And that's what I see. You see so much imbalance in the church today, so many people taking extreme positions against.

You have the extreme positions on the glossolalia or the speaking in tongues the wrong way, then you have the reaction of people swinging way out here who want nothing to do with it, and they do everything they can to teach against it in the church, because they're afraid of it.

They'll even go as far as to blame it on the devil. I'd be very careful about that, because it's a gift that God gives, and I wouldn't think that any gift that God gives to the church is something to be shoved aside.

But notice verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 14,. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he that prophesieth edifyeth the church. Now, what am I doing when I speak in tongues? Look at verse 17.

For thou verily givest thanks well, but the others not edify. The gift of tongues is given to me to bypass my intellect, to give up perfect praise and thanksgiving, and to declare the wonderful works of God, and it's for my personal edification, and that's why the writer in Jude says that you build yourself up praying in the Holy Ghost.

It strengthens you. It's not God giving a message to man, and so when they heard everybody speaking in tongues, it did amaze them. It bypassed the intellect. These people didn't know these languages or even have those dialects, and that's what amazed everybody, because they were Galileans.

It'd be like everybody here all of a sudden just picking up and speaking a second language in the perfect dialect of that individual from that country, even though you've never been taught it or raised in that family.

That's the gift that God gives. Remember, he's the one who designed all the languages anyhow and gave them to the human race at the Tower of Babel when he judged everyone, but you see, just as he separated people in their intellect and their languages for thousands of years, he's bringing everybody together in the Spirit in salvation through Jesus Christ, forming the church, the unity of the church, but now notice as they're praising God, giving thanks to God, edifying themselves, notice what it says.

They all heard them in verse 11 back in Acts 2 declare the wonderful works of God. That's the purpose of tongues, and they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine, and so they began to mock it.

Joel’s Prophecy and the Last Days

Now, that's the fulfillment of prophecy. Turn to Isaiah chapter 28, because God did say he was going to do something like this through Isaiah, and God declared that they would not receive it. Many of the multitudes would not receive it, and even though there was a tremendous response to Peter's preaching on that day, it was a very small percentage when you compare the amount of the Jews that were in Jerusalem for the Passover, and this very verse was fulfilled by their mocking and wondering what it was.

Look at verse 11 and 12, Isaiah speaking, and Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 14 to verify the gift of tongues to the Corinthian church as he corrects them in their misuse of the gift. Look at verse 11 and 12 of Isaiah 28, for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest.

Man, when you are filled with the Spirit of God and you begin to walk in the Spirit, it's a beautiful rest that you begin to walk into and experience the finished work of Jesus Christ in your life. No longer the energy of the flesh, self-effort, it's being done now by the Spirit, and you enter into this beautiful rest.

But then notice what he goes on to say, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. In other words, multitudes of the people, even though they hear the gift, would not receive it, not hear it.

They just hear stammering lips, Isaiah predicted. Now look at the reaction to many of the people when they heard these people declaring the mighty works of God in their prayer language. They were all amazed and they were in doubt, exactly as Isaiah said.

They were not hearing it. Even though the refreshing was there, the opportunity to believe and to receive by faith, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking said, these men are full of new life.

And usually when you do have a lot of joy in the Lord, you will be mocked by the unbeliever. They'll call you a fanatic or some kind of a crazy person if you express your love openly to Christ. They always say, no, there are certain limitations here, you don't want to get too fanatic and go overboard.

Why not? If the heathen can sit in 20 degrees in Buffalo, drunk, and paint themselves like who knows what, screaming and yelling for three hours in a blizzard, drinking beer, and everybody thinks, ah, they're sports fans, they're normal Americans.

No one seems to, you know, a dog pounding Cleveland when they go, when they have the Cleveland brothers. But when a Christian expresses joy and delight, they think, oh my God, he's weird, isn't it amazing?

What's Peter say? Now, they're asking, what is this? And Peter immediately says, I'm going to look at the beauty and the perfection of knowing the Scripture. Here again, here's a Galilean fisherman who didn't have an education.

The Pharisees mocked him, you remember, and mocked him later. He stands up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, You men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words, for these are not drunken as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

It's only 9 a .m. in the morning. And you see, when someone is filled with the Spirit, what's the fruit of the Spirit? Self-control. Not out of control. Now, a drunk is out of control, but not someone filled with the Spirit.

That's why Paul said, Be ye filled with the Spirit. Be ye being filled with the Spirit. Not wine. When someone's filled, overflowing with the Spirit, it gives him self-control. Now I've seen people claim to be filled with the Spirit and be out of control, but they aren't filled with the Holy Spirit.

They may not know it, and my heart goes out to them, and you can't make them receive the truth, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control. So when someone is absolutely filled and empowered from on high, like on Pentecost, and filled with the Spirit, they don't act like a drunk.

They become the most perfect, balanced human being that's ever walked this earth, the way Jesus Christ was. You remember, Jesus Christ was filled with the Spirit in his water baptism, and he didn't act crazy at all.

He was under absolute control. And so Peter's going to tell them what it really is. They're not drunk. They haven't been drinking yet. They don't have those problems where they've got to get half in the bag at nine o 'clock in the morning because their life is miserable.

They know Jesus Christ. They've met the Lord. They've been filled with the power of God, and that's why they're a witness. They've been noticed. They're a witness, and they're not ashamed of Christ. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel immediately, and here's this fisherman from Galilee that knows his Bible.

Not a seminary graduate, not a pharisee, he hasn't been to the school of the prophets. He was just a fisherman working his, you know what off, earning a living in Galilee, didn't have a good education, handpicked by Jesus.

He knew the Bible. He read his Bible. He read the Scriptures. You see, you want to be used by God? Don't just read the Bible at certain times. Get into the Word of God, and he'll see that you mean business, and he'll start to open doors and begin to use you.

And don't just read the Bible when you're preparing to teach somebody something. Have personal devotions. That's when God's really watching. You see, a ministry can suffer. I could suffer if I don't have personal devotions and love to learn of the Lord and commune with Him daily.

If I just opened up my Bible and was trying to study for Thursday or Sunday, there would be no Calvary Chapel. God wouldn't honor it. Then it's just a job. It's just a business. But when you really are studying the Word of God, like the Apostle Peter, God says, I'm going to use that man, I'm going to use that woman, and the Spirit of God brings all these things out of recall and immediately says, you want an answer for what's going on in your life?

I can show you in the Scriptures. And you know something? This is my advice. You don't have to pay heed to it, but I don't care what your supernatural experience is. If it isn't backed up by the Scriptures, I wouldn't accept it, because the Hindus have supernatural experiences, the Mormons, the Baha 'i, the Buddhists.

They all have some kind of a supernatural experience. And you know something? You begin to accept them, you've got to accept them all. How do you draw the line if you can't verify it with the Word of God?

So I don't care how great or sensational the experience is, if you can't back it up with the Word of God, it's not worth even considering. For your own good, don't allow Satan to deceive you. Peter immediately said, you want to know what this is?

He goes right to the Scriptures, and he quotes Joel, chapter 2, when Joel prophesied in the last days would begin, in the last days that he would pour out his Spirit. He goes to Peter and says, and Peter does not give a teaching on the gift of tongues.

Whenever there's a supernatural experience, it's always to open the door to preach the cross, Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ the Savior. And that's why God honored his message so powerfully. He didn't feel that he had to give an explanation for tongues.

He ignored it completely, and it's interesting, Joel never even mentioned that tongues would be the sign. Isaiah prophesied that. Tongues, they aren't even in Joel's prophecy. This is what is happening.

It shall come to pass in the last days. So right away, Peter's saying, you are in the last days. The last days have started. You remember in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2, the writer of Hebrews says, God who in sundry times spoke to us in various manners by the prophets of the Old Testament, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son.

The last days began with Jesus Christ's advent. Hebrews 9, 26 tells us that Jesus Christ signaled the end of the world. We are in the last. We are at the end of the last two days of time. Now you know why Satan uses evolution so powerfully to keep people ignorant that we are in the last days.

Peter said in Psalm 90, verse 4 states that a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. Creation took place 4000 B .C. Jesus Christ came at 4000. That was two days or 2000 years ago.

We're at the end of the sixth day. If you have evolution, you see, that destroys the second coming. That destroys the nearness of the coming of Jesus Christ. It just knocks out the last days. And that's why Satan loves evolution to keep people in awareness that we are in the last days, biblically and chronologically.

Joel said in the last days I'll pour out my spirit. It was prophesied by the prophets in the Old Testament. Pentecost has been proven. We have the record of it. So we are in the last days. When did Pentecost take place?

2000 years ago, give or take 30, 40, 50 or a day or two. We are so close. It is so exciting to know that we are in the last days and to be ready and to be watching. What did Joel say? Peter quotes him emphatically.

I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy.

That's exactly what was going on. Notice he didn't say one thing about tongues because that wasn't the issue. That was just a manifestation that came forth as they were so overwhelmed and filled with the spirit.

They just began to offer a perfect praise because the spirit of God bypassed their intellect, united with their spirit, and they're offering a perfect praise and declaring the wonderful works of God and those around them heard it.