Acts 2:14-21 | What in the World is Going On?

overcome yet. Not I, but through Christ in me. No fate I dread. I know I am forgi. The future's sure. The price it has been paid. For Jesus fled and suffered for my pardon. And he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold. My sin has been defeated. Jesus now and never is my plea. All the chains are released. I can see I am free and not I. through Christ in me. With every breath I long to follow Jesus, for he has said that he will bring me home. And day by day I know he will renew me. He will then stand with joy before the throne. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. All the gloryy ever more to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. Yet that I love through Christ in me. One more time. To this I hope my hope is only Jesus. All the gloryy ever more to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat yet I through Christ in me. When the grace is complete, still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. and not I but through Christ in me. Let's pray. Heavenly Fa Father, we thank you this morning for this opportunity again to come and worship you. And we realize today that part of our worship is recognizing that you give us everything and give us the ability to work and make money and so on so forth. And we want to give that back to you at least part of it. Actually, it's all yours. And and so we thank you today for this part of the worship service in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Our

scripture this morning is part of uh one another statements and and it says we are called to love one another. And in John chapter 13:34 and 35 says, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And then in John 15:12 it says, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you." And John 15:17 says, "These things I command you so that you will love one another. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me see. Always only for my king. Take my lips and let them be filled with me from thee. Take my silver and my gold. Not a might would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as you choose. Here am I all of me. Take my life. It's all for thee. Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. Take my will my Lord I pour at your feet it's treure store.

Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. Here am I all of me. Take my life. It's all for thee. Here am I. All of me. Take my life. It's all for thee. Here am I. All of me. Take my life. It's all for thee. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe display. and sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou are, how great thou are. and sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou are, how great thou are. And when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die, I scarce can't take it in. And on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou are, how great thou are. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou are. When Christ shall come

with shout of acclamation and take me home. What joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim my God how great thou art. and sings my soul, my savior God to thee, how great thou are, how great thou are. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou are. How great thou. How great. Praise the Lord. And Lord, we do declare that you are great and you are good and so wonderful, Lord. And that uh uh you have drawn us into a relationship with you. Uh we thank you for um inviting the whosoevers God. And we know that that's an open invitation. And uh just pray that uh father that this morning that um you would draw whosoevers. Um you found me at my low estate and uh Lord, you know how big of a fool I am and uh but Lord, you uh you you saw me and uh for whatever reason, you uh had compassion on me and I just thank you for that. and uh that the fact that that's the testimony of so many people in this room and if there's anyone here that they don't know you, I pray that today would be that day that they trust in you by faith. We ask that you would uh be with us, guide us this morning, give us understanding of your word. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Well, welcome to National Vacation Sunday. It was funny because a Amber and I were I looked at her this morning. I was like, "Is it just us?" Yeah, it happens. Acoustic set. That's what you call it when you're just like trying to figure it all out on the fly. Um, so thankful for our AV team that does a great job

week in and week out. Could you all just show some appreciation to those guys? Many times it's uh not their fault, it's user error. Amen. Larry's like, "Yeah." Um, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Acts 2. I want to start today by wishing you a happy Memorial Day. Um, it is a a time where we as Christians, we take time to thank the Lord for the sacrifice that others have made uh to guarantee our freedoms. And every generation has to make that choice of whether or not they are willing to lay down their lives for our nation or not. And I'm thankful for all the servicemen and women. Uh and we thank the Lord Almighty, especially for those on this day who died in defense of our nation and for our liberties. So Memorial Day, it reminds us that freedom, it comes through sacrifice. And what Pentecost does is it reminds us of an even greater security, a greater freedom that was purchased by the sacrifice and the triumph of Jesus Christ. Amen. Um, last week we ended with the crowd being amazed at the spirit's arrival at Pentecost. Some were amazed and they were asking, "What does this mean?" And there were others that mocked and they said, "Oh, they're just a bunch of drunks." They were filled with new wine. Two responses, the same act of God. One was wonder, the other mockery, slander. Even people, they still respond to God's work in the same way, don't they? Some people mock, other people ask, "What's going on?" And that's a big question that we're asking today is what in the world is going on? We're going to look at four points from the passage. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Acts

chapter 2 verses 14- 21 God's word it says this but Peter standing with the 11 lifted up his voice and addressed them men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and give ear to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose since it's only the third hour of the day but this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants. Even in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we do thank you for your word this morning. We pray that it would pierce our hearts, Lord. Every believer uh that's in here, I pray that this would prompt us to uh action in obedience. For anyone here that doesn't know you, I pray this would draw them to you. that they would uh consider themselves whosoever will will come. Uh that they might have a growing living relationship with you. Help us Lord uh to be your ambassadors. Uh help us Lord to uh walk according to your word and uh to live for your glory and not our own God. We want to pray uh for peace for the Kell uh u for the Kelner family this morning. I pray that you would be with uh each one of them as they grieve the loss of Nora. Uh what a sweet and wonderful woman. Uh she was uh she was sassy and uh I I I just thank you for her spirit uh for her

um love of life and her love of you. And I pray that as they uh get together uh this Wednesday to remember her life, Lord, I pray that they would have uh peace. Pray for the Libby as well and just everyone that that knew Nora. God, I want to pray for um the many people in our church that are also dealing with health issues. Lord, we continue to lift up to you, Jeff Danforth. Just pray that you would uh uh allow for all of his health stuff to go uh very smoothly. We want to uh thank you, Lord, for the good report uh from Steve Warren. We thank you for him and pray that he would uh get the confidence after uh having to be away for so long uh to be back in fellowship with us. Thank you for the victory over the cancer. Father, I pray that you would continue just to uh work in our flock, unify our hearts, Lord, uh around your gospel, Lord, around your kingdom. Help us to not be about ourselves and our opinions and our wants and our desires, but about you. And let that start right here with me. So God, help us, Father. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Um, one quick thing. Um, Gwen would kill me if I didn't mention this. Uh Gwen is our uh our the leader of our kitchen team and uh if you want to uh be a blessing uh at at the funeral on Wednesday. Uh she's looking for people to make sides. So uh please, you know, get her information. You can get it from us. You can call the church office. You can get it from the church uh uh the church app that we have uh church center and uh uh get give her a call. Give her a text. What can I do? uh she's she's got sides and stuff like that that she wants to uh particularly have and so we don't want to have a ton of green beans and nothing else. So please operate through her, coordinate with her and uh let's be a blessing uh to uh uh the the uh the family as they grieve during this

time. Um and Mary's over there. Welcome back Mary. I hope that you had a great vacation this week. Uh things did not burn down while you were gone and I'm very thankful for that. Um, all right. Peter, he uh he stands with the 11 here and he lifts up his voice and he addresses the multitude. And I want you to note here that there's not an ounce of self-defense that is given by Peter on what is happening. He doesn't scold the multitude even in the face of being accused of being drunk. He doesn't doesn't chastise them because of that. uh rather he he responds in a respectful and in a logical and also a very firm way. And this teaches us something especially in our culture, our our our our Facebook, our our our Twitter culture. Uh social media is just a cesspool of of opinions, isn't it? Uh people talk to each other completely differently through the screen than they do face to face. Um, and I think that this teaches us that we can speak the truth very graciously without being super abrasive. >> Amen. >> We really can. We We did it for a long time. Um, in our culture, we tend towards two destructive errors. Okay? Which is either we speak the truth without love or we offer love without truth. Jesus never made that error. He was perfectly loving. And whenever he spoke, he spoke lovingly. Perfectly full of truth. And this is the model that Peter follows here. He's not performing. He's not retaliating. He didn't even know that he was going to be preaching that morning. And this is what a spiritfilled person does is they point to the word of God. It's what a spiritfilled person does. Look at the accusation in uh verse 23. Others were mocking. They said they are filled with new wine. Asked Jed uh he's

our resident wine expert. Uh he said, "What does that mean, new wine?" He goes, "I don't know." I was like, "Awesome." So, so it doesn't mean grape juice, okay? Doesn't mean Welches. Don't get drunk off of Welches. You just you don't. And so there's these uh there are people there that they believe they're just drunk. But it's 9:00 a.m. in the morning. That's the third hour of the day. 9:00 a.m. Even in our very godless, secular culture, you don't find drunk people out at 9:00 a.m. Okay? You might you might rarely find it. Might rarely find it, but you're not going to see them out and about, especially in a group of 120 in a very godly culture, a culture that frowns upon drunkenness at 9:00 a.m. in the morning. And so Peter, he just says, "It's too early." And he moves on. And what he moves on to is everything because he says, "This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel." He doesn't dispend uh he doesn't defend the Holy Spirit's word with emotion. He just opens up the word of God and he lets his experience interpret the uh he lets uh he doesn't let his experience interpret the Bible. He allows the Bible to interpret his experience. When Christians lose sight of just opening up the word of God and allowing the word of God to speak, what happens is is that division grows. our our own kingdom grows, our own desires start to grow, division grows, panic begins to set in. But what happens when we allow for the word of God to become the lens through which we interpret what's going on around us? Well, then the panic melts away. It gives us assurance and confidence that God is in control in our crazy crazy world. Amen. And so this this confidence it blooms not because we gain more control of the

situation or because we all of a sudden have everything figured out. It's because God has already told us exactly what he is doing. God's plan is not chaos but fulfillment. Arant Hughes is one of my favorite commentators. Uh if you have a commentary by Arent Hughes, read it. It's it's very pastoral. I I've read all sorts of different uh commentaries from him. And in his commentary on Acts, he he says this. He said the passage that Peter was preaching was not with notes. What poured out of him was what had already gone in, the word of God hidden in his heart. And that's worth thinking about for a moment, isn't it? It's worth thinking about. The man who denied Christ just 50 days before, who couldn't even stand up in the presence of a little servant girl is suddenly proclaiming Christ in front of thousands WITHOUT FLINCHING. WHY? IT'S not because he suddenly became a great orator. It's not because he became courageous, but because Jesus kept his promise. What was the promise? Acts 18, you will receive what, church? >> Power. Yeah. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. The spirit did not come to make a spectacle of things. He came to point us and others to Jesus Christ. And that's one of the most important things I can tell you about biblical Christianity in a world that's full of spiritfilled churches chasing spiritual experiences. I I want to tell you what RC Sproul said. He said, "The spirit, the Holy Spirit always points beyond himself to Christ." If you find yourself in a church where they're very excited about the Holy Spirit but not Jesus, then it's not a spiritfilled church.

It's that simple. Now, let's look at verse 17. Because what happens here is Peter, he quotes Joel, but he doesn't quote Joel exactly the way that Joel writes. Okay? All right. Track with me here. uh in Joel 2:28, see if you can notice it. And it shall come to pass afterward, what is what is Acts 2 verse uh what is it 20 uh verse 15? What does that say? Uh 17. And in the last days, that's not an accident. This is Peter interpreting the Old Testament and applying it to us. Peter is saying that what Joel prophesied about is happening right before their very eyes. The age that God had been pointing to for thousands of years was finally arriving. The last days, not just a future chapter, but the days that began with Christ Jesus. what I'm saying very clearly. Okay now this is a paradoxical statement. Do you all know what a paradox is? A paradox is two contradictory things that are actually true. Okay? And it's all over the word of God. Paradox is everywhere. I Amber, she sent me a video this morning. Um I know I'm going to butcher it because I only only watched it for a little bit. It was John MacArthur answering a question and of course John MacArthur is an absolute titan of the faith. Uh I miss him a lot. Uh and and and here's what he said about paradoxes which is crazy that you sent this to me this morning. Um you know he said when you when you look at the word of God uh and the issue of election right uh you you have uh no one can come to me unless the father draws him. Do do we believe that? Yeah. It's in the Bible. So I believe it. Do I believe whosoever will may come? Absolutely. I believe it. Why? Because the Bible says it. Right? Uh and there's all sorts of

paradoxes that we look at. And the issue is when we start getting on one side or another. Does Jesus Christ actually reign right now? Absolutely he does. The Bible says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. Does the whole world rest within the power of the evil one? Yes. That's what it says in First John. Are those contradictory? No, they're paradoxical statements. You can hold both truths to be complimentary and say, "I don't understand it. I don't get it. I'm not wise enough to get it." >> Right? >> And that's not my job. That's God's job. The The problem is when we start to emphasize one or put down the other. And and here's a paradoxical statement is that we are in the last days. Hebrews 1 long ago at many times in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. These last days, he's not talking about the last couple of weeks, the last couple of months. That's the word escatoos in the Greek where we get our word esquetology talking about our study of the end times. Continue on Peter he says for he was fornown from before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you last days last times. 1 John 2:18 children it is the last hour. That's been a long hour. It's been a 2,000-y year long hour. As you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. So now many Antichrist have come. Therefore, we know it is the last hour. Did you know that Antichrist have come? Antichrist have already been here. Antichrist will come.

1 Corinthians 10:11. Now these things happened to them as an example but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. It's the end of the ages and it's on us. So is it the last days? Yes. Is it not the last days? Yes. I'm not God. I don't get to determine when Jesus comes back. So I just take what he says at his word. Say, "Yep, I agree." And if we do that, man, everything everything goes a lot better for us. Amen. >> But God's spirit means that the last days have begun. It it began began with the first coming of Jesus, his advent, and it will end at his second coming. And so where are we at now? We're in the in between. We're in the already and the not yet. Peter, he views the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ with Pentecost as the beginning as the final days of redemption in history. This is the time when the Holy Spirit of God is at work through you, Christian, in the world, redeeming and drawing and operating through you as a gospel minister. This is the day that we have to share the gospel. We're not guaranteed another. And that means something for us because the question like, "What in the world is going on?" is not just a question for people in Jerusalem. How many of y'all have asked that question over the last couple of days? What in the world is going on? We live in a time of war and upheaval and moral collapse and churches dividing and pressures assailing. What is going on? We've asked that question a lot as elders, haven't we? What is going on? Well, the same thing is going on that was happening at Pentecost. God is moving his plans forward for a redemptive purpose. We don't get to see all the details. We're just walking

faithfully as best as we can as Christians. Amen. Sometimes we do it pretty well. Other times we fall flat on our face. Amen. >> But God is still moving things forward. He has not lost control. Everything is proceeding according to his good and perfect plan and is far too wonderful for me. Far too big, far too intricate. And it remains so until Christ returns and all things are made new. But then our passage, it takes an extraordinary turn. Look at what it says in verses 17 through 18. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, even on my male servants and female servants. In those days, I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy sons and daughters." All right? So, you got boys and girls, ma, male and female, men and women. You got young, you got old, you have servants, by implication, those who aren't servants. So, so you got all these different demographics that are here. You got age, you got gender, you got social class. The divisions that ordinarily separated everyone are named and they're crossed with the Holy Spirit. And that is the point. If we go back to Numbers 11, we see that the people of Israel are complaining again. Nothing exasperates a leader more than people complaining. And Moses, he is exhausted and he cries out to God. Here's what God uh here's what Moses said. He said, "I am not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me." So, what does God tell Moses in the midst of all that complaining? You know what they were complaining about? They were complaining that there was that they wanted meat. They they they had all

this mana and they were just tired of mana. It was the same thing over and over. So, they weren't content with what God was providing. They wanted something different. Moses was just tired of the complaining. And here's what God tells Moses. God tells Moses to get 70 elders of the nation of Israel and to go to the tent of meeting. And God was going to take some of this the spirit that was on Moses and put it on these 70 elders. Well, it happened and those men began to prophesy, but instead there being 70 there, there was 68. Two men, there was Meldad and Edad. They they stayed back at the camp. And guess what happened to them? They started prophesying in the camp because the same spirit that was on Moses fell on them in the camp in front of the entire congregation of Israel. They were standing. They were prophesying. They received the same spirit that all the men that were at the the tent of meeting received. And you know what happens? Joshua panics. Look at what it says. Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My Lord Moses, stop them." He was he was, "Hey, they they're not allowed to do this. They didn't they didn't do it the right way." Verse 29, but Moses said to them, "Are you jealous for my sake? would that all the Lord's people were prophets that the Lord would put his spirit on them on everyone. That's the longing and the heart that he had. He was not jealous for himself. He wanted them to experience the fullness and the intimacy of God. Moses had seen what the Holy Spirit does to people. Moses was blessed when the 70 received the spirit. And now, you know, they're saying there's there's two guys that were in

the wrong place at the wrong time. Moses isn't interested in managing the Holy Spirit. He would rather have everyone have it. And Pentecost is in a lot of ways the answer to Moses's desire here. The Holy Spirit is not poured out on 70 at this point. Not 120. What does the word say? On all flesh. Here, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, men and women, young and old, servants as well. Paul, he says it this way in Galatians 3. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. What does this mean? It means that the Holy Spirit is for all kinds of people. Doesn't matter what your history is. Doesn't matter what your background is. Doesn't matter how wealthy you are or how poor you are. It doesn't matter whether you were raised in this church or whether you're new to this church. The big divider is are you in Christ or are you not in Christ? That's it. Because God's spirit unites what sin divides. If you are in Christ, then you share the same Holy Spirit that Peter has, James John one of my heroes, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, William Kerry, and that same Holy Spirit resides in your heart as well if you are in Christ. And what divides pride and sin, complaining. According to Numbers 11, people complaining about what God was providing. Joshua getting territorial. The next chapter, Moses and Aaron, they they actually start to get jealous of of Moses and his influence. Sin fractures community. It always does. It fractures fellowship. We've seen this in our own flock, haven't we? But what

unites us? What unites us, church? Jesus. It's the gospel that unites us. It is the spirit of God that binds us together by the power of the gospel. And it creates unity where pride builds up walls. And that's the point of Joel's prophecy. It's the longing of Moses. It's Peter's announcement that what once divided us brings us, it no longer divides us. Rather, we are brought together by the work of the spirit of God. And then Peter, he shifts to these cosmic signs. I mean, it look at the cosmic signs with me. You've got wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth and blood and fire and vapor of smoke and the sun turned to darkness and the blood to moon. And this is this is very common Old Testament prophetic language that is about the day of the Lord that is about judgment and is about salvation. It's about all those different things. Uh sometimes it's literal because it's prophecy. Sometimes it's not literal because it's prophecy. And it's this covenant language. And God, he's and and Joel here and Peter, they are pulling from the Exodus account. Judgment on the Egyptians, judgment on those that are complaining, salvation for those who walk by faith. I mean, think about it. You got blood on the doorposts of Egypt. You got fire leading the people through the wilderness. A smoke resting on Mount Si. This is what it looks like when God descends and interacts with humanity. And it already started on the cross 50 days before. Look at this. It was about the sixth hour. This is noon. And darkness was over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. An earthquake rocked Jerusalem. Many of the people standing in the crowd on this Pentecost Sunday were there. They were residents of Jerusalem. They had seen these things. They had seen all of the

events and they were asking what in the world is going on. And Peter, he's just connecting the dots for them. Exactly what Joel said by the power of the spirit of God is what's happening before you all today. What you saw at the cross was just the beginning. This is just the next part because there's more to come because God's plan includes judgment and salvation. The day of the Lord, it's a it's a phrase with a long history. Does it refer to Christ coming? Yes. Does it also refer to various judgments throughout the entirety of the word of God? Yes, absolutely. In Isaiah 13, there was judgment on Babylon who was an instrument of God's judgment. And so as God judges Babylon, he also brings salvation to Israel in Ezekiel 30 where Egypt is judged on the day of the Lord. We see it there. But there's also the day of the Lord which is a once-for-all day of judgment and salvation that will happen in the future. So once again, we live in the in between the already and not yet. the time between the resurrection and the ascension and Christ's return. And what marks this time is the presence of God's spirit with his people, with you, Christian. Think about that. The Lord Almighty dwells with you. Be astounded by that. Consider that. And and that's the tension that we have to hold on to. Christ, he rules and reigns today from heaven. Every every angel and demon knows that. But we do not live in that time where every knee bows in heaven and on earth and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the father. The last days have begun and the last days have not yet arrived. But listen, these signs of judgment, of wrath, of the day of the Lord are not meant to drive us to despair. They are designed to help you and I to urgently share the gospel with the lost.

If judgment is coming for your friends and your neighbors, you don't have tomorrow. You're not guaranteed tomorrow, but you have right now. What is the promise here? Look at verse 21. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not those that earn salvation. Not those born into a certain family. Not the ones that have a wonderful walk and have never doubted a bit. everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. And if you connect with this, God is calling. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ today. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. And this is the grace that he shows to you. He is inviting you to trust in him, to walk with him, who is the Lord. And we're going to study this a lot more next week. very excited where Peter's given the explanation of all of this. But it's Jesus. Spoiler alert. Supposed to say that before the Holy Spirit came because Jesus ascended. The Holy Spirit came because Jesus he he rose again. And the name that you and I call out to is Jesus. And he promises to hear you. He promises that. Listen, salvation is not based on who you are, where you've come from, what you've done. It's based on who you trust in. >> Amen. >> It's who you call on. Pentecost, it did not happen because God was losing control, but because he has all control. The Holy Spirit came because Christ reigns and he rules. The last days came because Christ, he's he's in heaven right now interceding for us before the the throne of the father and judgment is coming because Christ reigns. And now salvation is offered to you freely because Christ reigns. So the

question is not so much what in the world is going on, but it's have I called on the name of the Lord. That's the big question. head, heart, hand, and we're going to do it a little differently today because getting my guitar back on and all that kind of stuff. Very practical thing. So, I kind of want to walk you through these uh these next three steps as our response time. Okay. Head, what what should you know from this passage? What should you know from this sermon? Um that God wants you to know that the last days began at Pentecost. We are we are living in them right now. History is moving toward one day when Christ returns and we all look forward to that day. Amen. He consummates his kingdom. It's is going to be good. We're not going to have to worry about budgets anymore. Praise the Lord. Amen. We're not going to have to worry about gas prices. Amen. >> Politicians, none of that. We're gonna >> All we got to worry about is is loving Jesus. >> Amen. We can do that today. And and can you just take a moment and consider what your life should be like living before the Lord since today is the last days. Just just close your eyes and think about that. Take that before the Lord. heart God. He wants you to believe that the same spirit poured out on those first disciples has been given to every person who is in Christ. There's no tier system. It doesn't go like missionaries, pastor, deacons, all that stuff. Sunday school teachers, pastor's kids. I'm joking. Doesn't go like that. There's no age or gender or social status when it comes to divisions in the kingdom of God. The offer of salvation is for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

So, can we take some time and just consider what that means for us right now? like the Christian that you might be wrestling with that has the same Holy Spirit. Why are you at odds with them? Just bow your heads and close your eyes and think about that. Lastly, hand. Now that we have learned something new, how how it impacts us, what how it should impact what we believe. And lastly, our hands, how do we live this out practically? God, he wants you to call upon the name of the Lord. It's what he wants. If you have, then tell it to someone who hasn't heard about the name of the Lord today. The spirit didn't come so that way we could keep it to ourselves. He came so that way we would bear witness. He promises to empower us as we walk in obedience to go to the ends of the earth. If he promises to be with us to the ends of the earth, surely he promises to be with us in Camden. So, let's take a moment in our response time to consider those that we need to share the gospel with who have not called on the name of the Lord. And if you have not called on the name of the Lord, I'll be right over here and you can talk to me after service and say, "Pastor, I'm I want to call on the name of the Lord. How do I do that?" Our gracious father, we do thank you for this time. I ask that you would be with us as we uh we want to be useful to you. We want to be uh together Lord and that commonness that we have is the Holy Spirit of God. I pray father that you would be with us that you would unify our hearts together around your mission in your gospel. Lord we dedicate ourselves to this uh mighty task. That's why we That's why we give so much to missions. That's why we support missionaries. That's why we do these things, God, is because uh the

gospel is worth it. So, Lord, help us to live with conviction that your word is good and it's uh it's worth everything. Help us, God, to do everything that we can to live for you today. Father, for those that uh maybe don't know you, I pray today they would call on your name. Give them that gift of faith. Whosoever will may come, Lord, we trust that you're drawing them. So help us, God, to do what we can to encourage them. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Go in peace. God bless you. Can't do nothing.