I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, and that's on page 1157. We'll be reading through verses 14 through 41. If you're a visitor, we have been working through the book of Revelation in the morning. I thought we would pause from that series, and I've been working through Acts in the evening. And this morning we would consider this great sermon from Acts chapter 2 of the Apostle Peter. And I noticed tonight that Dr. Godfrey will be considering a section that looks like a few different passages dealing with the Holy Spirit and his work before the coming of Pentecost. So that's a nice tie-in, especially now as we look at this particular way the Spirit was poured out, especially in this particular ministry that is set before us in Acts chapter 2. So let's give our attention this morning to verse 41, and we'll read verse 14 through 41. But Peter, standing with the eleven, 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, 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 and 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 upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that were all witnesses, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls and there ends the reading of god's word well many of you have sat and listened to sermons for years haven't you so a lot of sermon listening in the course of your life i'm sure have you ever given thought to maybe you've sort of taken it for granted but just given thought to what a sermon exactly should be i'm sure everyone has an idea of what they would like the sermon to be, right? I would be scared to survey that this morning. I'm sure the first thing I'd get is short, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking what does God want the sermon to be? Does God want the sermon to be? Don't you have some kind of concern and some kind of question about that? I'm sure you do. You should at least be thinking about that at time to time. And maybe if you thought, well, what if we could ask the Lord exactly what the sermon should be lord here we are at the escondido urc and we've heard sermons from pastors for years from this pulpit but are we really doing this the way that you want us to do this it's a fair question isn't it because you have told us and we believe this you have told us that it is this this foolishness of the message preached that is is your chosen power to save those who believe. So we agree in it. We agree that preaching is very important, Lord. We want to take seriously what a sermon should be. What is a sermon? What'd you answer? If the Lord were to answer that for us, what do you think He would say? I think it might go something like, well, I've handed you a book, haven't I? I've handed you an inspired book. Use your minds. Where do you think in that big book that I've inspired for you, you should go? The Old Testament is not the time of fulfillment. So that's probably not the model you want to follow exactly in your sermon preaching, right? You're going to want to go to the New Testament to look at what a sermon should be like. You could start with the Sermon on the Mount, but even that is not a sermon in fulfillment. In fact, what Jesus preached after the resurrection is quite a bit different, isn't it? Where would you go? What would you look for? What would you think about a sermon should be? Well, don't you think you should look at the book of Acts? The first sermon after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit has come, is probably what you want to think about. I've read of revivals in the past. I've read of everyone who wants to see revival again in the church. I can tell you that I have, and you can ask Dr. Godfrey about this in Sunday school, I have never read in church history of one sermon bringing 3,000 people into the kingdom. For all the wacky things that have gone on, I've never read of one sermon bringing 3,000 people in. That's what this sermon did. don't you think that this then has a an important place for thinking about what a sermon should be and how your children if you care about your children why why we would do this why this matters and thinking about why there should be certain convictions about this and what it should look like and what it should sound like and even somewhat what it should be structured like i think studying the first sermon after the coming of the holy spirit has an important place for us in looking at preaching and looking at gospel ministry. And it's with those thoughts that I want to consider and continue to consider this great chapter two of Acts in the development of what we call Pentecost and what happened on that great day. In other words, what we're being shown here in Acts chapter two is the heart of what the coming of the Holy Spirit was all about and what His unique work is among us. What He's doing. And that's the goal, is to help make very clear what is the ministry of the Spirit, especially now that we're dealing with a time of fulfillment. Now that what we read in 1 Peter this morning, what all the prophets longed to look into and would love to have been able to proclaim in fulfillment. because if you can see that then you're going to have and this is my particular aim knowing the struggle of the church today knowing the struggle even here in our particular church of what the ministry should be uh this is going to give you all the more motivation to value this ministry understanding what where the power is in it you have to have a confidence i said last time in that if you don't have a confidence in what we're doing you'll just be a sideliner and you'll never really love being here but that's not what we're after that's not what we're after at all and so as we consider uh this ministry being that of the spirit acts chapter 2 is showing us um this that this was promised something very special was promised his coming he's explaining what all this means and he is showing you how you should respond it's a very simple breakdown here this morning that this was all promised, that he is showing you what it means, and he is helping you to understand how we should be responding to this ministry. So let's begin then with what was promised. Look at verse 14 this morning of this great time now when Peter begins to speak. And what Peter first does is explain to them that what they're hearing right now, and I emphasize that, what they're hearing right now had always been promised. It's his sermon introduction. This wouldn't pass muster today, by the way, for a sermon introduction. This is his sermon introduction. The beginning part of Acts chapter 2 is showing us, remember, that the Spirit had come in fire and in wind. A new creation had come, a time. Life would now be given as the fire fell on the tongue. And so those two symbols were given to describe the Holy Spirit's work. The fire would come and fall on the tongue and then from the tongue, as they spoke, life would be given in the heart. Well, that's what we're going to see. We're going to see that very thing unfold right now. You're going to see those two aspects unfold right now of the Spirit's work in this very sermon. But there was a response from those last time from Jerusalem that had really troubled Peter. Remember? Tongue speaking was not da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Okay? Tongue speaking were known languages. They were speaking in known languages. Everyone marveled. They were all hearing them speak in their own tongues. The wonderful works of God. They were all hearing them speak, the apostles who were Galileans, speak in all the dialects and languages of the nations. It was a marvel. That's what the Holy Spirit was doing in fire resting on the tongue. But oh, there comes Jerusalem. Remember, the gospel would start in Jerusalem and Judea and go up to the ends of the earth. That's the pattern of that. There are those Jerusalem people. They're drunk. They're drunk. And that bothered Peter. That bothered Peter. And that response led him now to explain this. Look at what he says there in verse 14. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed the 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. You know they're not drunk. People who get drunk, get drunk at night. Scriptures tell us that. This is not what's going on here. You need to understand this. You need to understand what just happened, and you need to think a lot about it. Peter had been reflecting a lot on the Old Testament, hadn't he? He had already solved the Judas problem by looking back at the Old Testament and solving the problem of a lack of one of the apostles by looking at the fact that Judas had been all prophesied that it would go this way, and he was putting together the Old Testament to understand what was happening now in fulfillment. Well, now he does this with the Holy Spirit. and he thinks to himself what is the one passage that i could go to that is most definite and clear about the coming of the holy spirit he says well it's joel 2 so he quotes it he thinks of the clearest prophecy about the coming of the spirit in the old testament and there it is put down there for you right there uh in verse 16 this is what was uttered in other words what you are hearing right now was already promised a long time ago and you've come there this is what was promised listen to it 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 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 upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There it is. Inspired and then said in the New Testament, right in the first sermon in Acts. Now here's what I find remarkable about it. After a great period of darkness and judgment in Old Testament Israel's history, Joel had prophesied that a day of light would come again. Israel would be restored. There would be a restoration of Israel. Every restoration that you've ever read about in the Old Testament was there captured and Joel was capturing it when He talked about it right then and there. Wonderful things would happen. The Spirit would come. And you know how powerful and glorious it would be? You know what would happen when the Spirit comes? It's just going to be awesome. Sons and daughters are going to start speaking. They're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They're going to talk. Wonders in the heavens and wonders on the earth. blood and fire and pillars of smoke wow i want to see that don't you all of that would lead to the final call that would usher in then the day of the lord that he comes in final judgment but whoever calls on the name of the lord in that day would be saved now we read the old testament and all these prophecies seem so outwardly glorious and powerful, don't they? The whole heavens would shake. The wonders in the heavens above and in the earth below, we would see fire and vapor and smoke. Did you hear what Peter just said? You're there. We've come. It's started. It's happening. What you read about in Joel 2, clearest prophecy of the coming of the Spirit, just happened. Just happened. The restoration of Israel has begun. So the promises of the Old Testament in Israel's restoration, Peter has just linked together and said, that day right before the coming of the Lord and final glory has arrived, that's what you are experiencing. now why do i think this is such an important moment well peter had just said the time had come i sat back from this this week and thought to myself and maybe you felt this what's promised in the old testament often seems so much more outwardly glorious people open up acts 2 and say it must have been just like that but my frustration is if this is supposed to be the day of fulfillment of Joel 2 if Peter just said this is what it is where are the wonders in the heavens where are the wonders on earth where are the dreams and the visions where are the wonders in the smoke I think this frustrates us a little bit doesn't it I'm trying to get into the mindset and struggle of the church today, which I think you have to do. I believe that's much of our struggle in being who we are as Reformed folk. I really think this gets to the heart of our particular struggle. What we're doing right now feels totally contrary to Acts 2. Right? Can I get a new smoke machine when the building starts? Love some good light shows up here, wouldn't you? You ever seen a Coldplay concert? Just amazing. Come on. Give us something, right? Can't we have the things that would at least help to create something that at least doesn't make us feel like whatever's being described at Pentecost, that fire went out for us a long time ago. Am I striking on a little bit of frustration? Of course I am. Because the church has tried to remedy this in a million different ways. There was a question this past week of a candidate. The pastors were asking questions of the candidates for ministry. And one of the questions was, what are you going to do? How are you going to handle it when you are criticized, and you will be criticized, that your worship is boring, lifeless, and no power? What are you going to do? Well, he's asking that because every pastor gets it. Did the Spirit forget us? You know? Did he? Maybe the Pentecostals have something a little bit more on us here. Right? I mean, wouldn't it be kind of fun to hear a tongue? You see, this is where I think we have to consider what did the people actually experience at Pentecost? what did they go through at Pentecost? Did they see wonders in the heavens? Yes. Did they see wonders on the earth? Yes. Did they see fire, blood, and smoke? Yes. It wasn't quite what you think, though. We read last time that while they were in the room, a sound came and fire fell on their tongues. I don't know how to describe that. But I know that the effect was everyone heard something. The effect was that everyone standing back amazed that what they're hearing is known languages. And hearing them speak the wonderful works of God. That blew them out of their minds. I told you last time, it'd blow you out of your minds if I started speaking Dutch right now. Of course it would. Or some language. This is an important point because how we look at Acts 2 is very important because many Pentecostals are attracted and I think we're just in that camp secretly at times. We're attracted to what is mysterious, what is superstitious, outwardly ecstatic, mysterious, magical. Magical. The Spirit works like that, doesn't He? Things that are foreign to us interest us. I mean, you know this. It's like with kids, and we're the same. Anything that's new, they're like, wow, ooh, ooh, this is what they do. This was a problem in Acts that will be exposed, of course. Simon the sorcerer, remember him? He saw that when the apostles prayed that the Holy Spirit fell on people, the one thing he did was, I want that. Can you imagine if I could control the Spirit that way? imagine if i could do magic that way what i would gain with people that happened we'll look at that in acts 8 we want the spirit's work to be a little more than what it is a little more exciting that's how we feel and and if we have this question and and and confusion about what the holy spirit came to do and it lingers in our minds that we're thinking maybe we're really not getting a full dose of it in the escondido urc maybe we're just missing something maybe we really are not experiencing his full unleashed power for we don't see the great signs and wonders i can say today you'll never appreciate this church you'll never appreciate this church you'll just be here for all the wrong reasons we'll never get through the thought that Maybe there's something more. It's got to be. It's got to be in something more that makes me feel differently. There's got to be more to the music. There's got to be more to this. There's got to be. You see, I'm striking, aren't I? I know it's your struggle because it's been my struggle. I've lived this struggle. But I want you to consider Pentecost with me for a minute and what happened in this sermon. Now, Peter says, this is what Joel prophesied. It's happening right now. Pentecost was all about tongue speaking. Oh yeah, don't get that wrong. Pentecost was all about tongue speaking. Pentecost is most certainly about tongue speaking. A tongue speaking that was way more common than we like. And now we begin with what that tongue speaking sounded like. That's what this is. Let me tell you what this is. He begins by saying, Joel 2 is fulfilled. Sermon introduction on Joel. And then the body of his sermon here is a putting together of two Old Testament passages, Psalm 16 and Psalm 110, to do something very specific in the sermon. One big goal in the sermon, now saying that this is the meaning of the day of the promised coming of the Holy Spirit. Understand what it all means. Let me tell you what this is all about. So here's where we see Joel 2, whatever was described in Joel 2, right then and there we see its power happening. So here it is. Peter stands up, the eleven are standing right by him. Peter then steps up and he begins to speak. You'll notice that the language here, he elevates his voice. Listen to my voice. This is not the sappy, soft, questioning man that we had before, is it? This is not him. And I don't want to give the impression that this was some artificial man now up there. Hey, listen to my voice. That's not what he's doing. It is a proclamation. Something's way different, isn't it? A multitude has now come together of all these different tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations gathered around, obviously, this house. And they've all come out. And there are the 12 apostles standing. I would imagine some kind of wood platform was put up. You have precedent for this in the Old Testament that they did this. No mics. Lifts up his voice. And now begins New Testament, New Covenant proclamation in the demonstration of the Spirit and power. What do you expect? fire right remember the question at the beginning i want to keep it in front of you lord what is a sermon what is a sermon where would you go acts first model sermon this is the first of 15 sermons in acts well the the book is built around sermon preaching it's the first model sermon what do you expect? What do you want? Bad question. Look at what's said there. Verse 22, men of Israel hear these words. It has a loaded history. Jesus, stop. Isn't it interesting that the very first word of the body of his sermon is Jesus. As soon as the Spirit comes, Peter says, this is Joel. Blood, fire, smoke, wonders. Sermon begins and the first word you get, Jesus. Jesus. I quoted Highwell Jones last time. I'll do it again, but I remember him saying, there's something so special about the name. We run roughshod right over it. Jesus. Savior. Jesus of Nazareth. A man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs. Notice what he says there. That God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, you know this man, all of you. All of you know this man. You saw his power. You saw his glory. You saw what God did through him to confirm his ministry. And you know what happened to him. He was crucified. He was taken by lawless hands. they beat him many of you standing there saw it you supported it you said crucify him you said it you got to fill in the gaps here lawless hands they took him they scorched him mocked him punched him split him open and after all that they put him to death know this that was not a mistake that was not something that you just did that got away from god or something that was done in awful hate and rage simply as people got caught up in the spirit of the moment you need to understand what all this means you need to appreciate what all this means it's much bigger than that. Do you know what this was? God delivered His Son. It was His determined purpose to do that. He and His sovereign initiative and divine foreknowledge and full predestination, He knew and He gave over His Son. That wicked act that you did was God giving over His Son. But God raised Him. The pains of death, it couldn't hold Him. This is the Son of God. You need to appreciate and understand something. This was always the plan. This is always the story of history. This is always it. And at this point, then Peter brings in the Old Testament. He sets in front of them Psalm 16. Notice what is cited there. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the path of life. In your presence, there's fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures evermore. I'm sure that people read that for centuries and had no idea what that meant. None. and Peter explains it you know who wrote that David wrote that let's talk about David for a minute let's talk about David for a minute you know what happened to him he died and he was buried and you can go to his tomb to this day you can go to his tomb that body went into the ground and it decayed we have a problem then don't you because psalm 16 said that wouldn't happen to whoever it was talking about it isn't david you know who he had in view when he wrote that psalm jesus he's telling us how to read the bible isn't he god had promised that from his body in the loins the messiah would come and sit forever on the throne he penned that psalm thinking about jesus and specifically he wrote about his resurrection in that song that's what it was all about his soul was not left in in hades his body did not see decay we've witnessed it all we've seen it god raised him and you know where he is now he's seated at the right hand of god david also talked about that in psalm 110 the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Yahweh said to Adonai, that's not me. That's not David. It's Jesus. Do you know what time it is? It's Joel 2 time. He has just poured out his spirit, which you now see in here. That's what you're experiencing. Now, I want to pause again. Where's the wonder? Kind of a selfish question at this point, isn't it? Kind of a selfish question at this point, isn't it? If we're looking at it from what we want. What a terrible attitude. Where's the wonder? The wonder was just proclaimed to you. A wonder in the heavens and a wonder on the earth. Where's the blood? What? Where's the blood? Where's the fire? Where's the smoke? Fire was in the tongue. And what did he just do? He spoke. A light show? Is that what we want? A light show? I was reading one pastor, this past week, it was James Boyce. I've always found him so interesting. And in his first model, He said that in the first model sermon post-resurrection of the apostles, you know what you have? 13 verses citing the Old Testament, 11 verses of exposition, two verses of application at the end. So he said you have 13 verses versus 13 verses. Here's what he said. Nobody ever taught me, no one ever taught me in all the homiletics courses that I ever took in preparing to be a pastor. No one ever taught me as far as I know or has ever taught anyone else that half of what we preach should be biblical quotations. Huh. Well, you think about that. What does it teach? That the fulfillment of the wonders of Joel 2 come when the Spirit takes the words He inspired and he puts them on the mouths of pastors and from there, with fire, he fulfills what Jesus said he would do and bear witness of Jesus. This is what he told us the Spirit would come do. He's going to talk about me and he's going to convict the world that way of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Here it is. When Jesus is being preached, blood, fire, and smoke is happening. All the wonders in heaven and earth are happening. As he preached the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus as the fulfillment of Scripture, what does he do? He draws the conclusion of all conclusions. The most important application you'll ever get. Here it is, verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly look at verse 36 such an important verse let all the house of israel therefore know for certain that god has made him both lord and christ this jesus whom you crucify i think you need to let that sink in for a minute you're standing there that day you knew who jesus of nazareth was you um you saw him murdered in fact you you joined in on that whole party those in jerusalem and judea were standing there saying crucify him crucify him you hear right then and there this was all planned by god but then you have to think about what you've done because he doesn't remove any of the guilt of it god raised his son god exalted him to the highest he is the true king of king and lord of lord he is the messiah guess what that means hear it as it probably came out that day hear it now as it probably came out that day as it as they're all standing there as they're it's going through their minds he's bringing the whole story to bear he's putting them all together and then he says this you murdered god's son that's what you did the son whom he said he loved whom he sent to you who healed you loved you you punched him you crucified him this is the Messiah you murdered God's Messiah do you know where he is now? He got up and he's seated at the right hand of God. Do you know what that means? The one is reigning whom you killed. Can you hear the gasps? Can you feel it that day? Can you hear the pain in the heart? Feel the pain in the heart? The panic? We did what? We did what? The heart's thumping, thumping, thumping. Real people, real people. Beating that day. The anxiety that starts to come over them. What did Peter just do? He had led them to the greatest exposure of their guilt. And all sermons after he is preached draw that conclusion. Our sins caused it. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Peter filled in the middle of that verse. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and you murdered Him. You murdered Him. Your sins did it. My sins did it. what do we do with God's gift? Look at it this way. Everything you've ever done, everything you do, to be very personal here in secret, everything that you're doing now that's careless are like hands around His neck, are like nails that put Him to the cross. You think of your sin that way? Those sins that you are so careless about. And you think God's not going to judge those who have done that to His Son? He raised Him. That's what you did to His gift. That's what your attitude is to His gift. Until you get there, preaching's nothing. It does you no good. You understand that? You could sit for a whole life and listen to sermons and until you get there, it does you no good. Until Jesus is shown to you by the Spirit, who He is, why He came, the whole story of the Bible about this, your sins causing this, God's provision is a gift, until the Spirit takes that truth and puts it in your heart so that you finally drop your knee, Your attitude toward all this will always be careless and indifferent and totally apathetic, even if you've been raised in it. See why there should be a kind of strong reaction to the preaching that happens today? Especially if it's just to crush people with the law and beat them into submission and make them feel guilty with no answer. Or on the other end of the spectrum, if it's just a joke. It's just story time. It's just a guy up there that makes everyone feel really good about themselves. They had some good laughs. They had their cookies and coffee and went home. No sin. No conviction. No repentance. No faith. And you see, when we get here, we can receive good news, can't we? And that's what Peter does for them. This was God's plan to deal with your sin. God delivered him up in love. And here's why the coming of the Spirit is so powerful. Here's why you can see now the fire of Joel 2. Remember what Joel 2 said at the end that I haven't focused on? Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Here's the application. And they were, in response to that application, to the heart. This is what the Lord said He would always do in the ministry of the Spirit. Circumcise hearts. He's going to do it. It moved right to the heart, the center of who we are. Acts is going to show us uniquely all these different responses to Jesus and the preaching. You're going to have some who sit back and we'll hear about this again later. these guys said they're drunk. You realize these were the Jerusalem people who should have known better, who had sat in the church all their life. How long have you been sitting here? How long? Have you been cut to the heart? Have you been cut to the heart that your sin pierced God's Son and has it in turn pierced your heart? The whole thing really convicted me because there's such a sense of urgency to this. They're crying out, if we did that, what do we do? We realize the terrible thing that we did and what that means for us now that he's reigning. What that means, because there is a judgment coming and that day could come tomorrow. What do we do? What do we do? Repent. Repentance here means not so much and it can go out and change behavior it means change your minds change your thinking about everything your attitudes have been terrible to the lord he he said this is what the whole point is change your minds to to god's word and his son and what's happening i um i'm close here but i want you to think about this. We wonder where this power is today. I heard somebody say something this week that I thought really captured this, so I'm going to share it. Maybe the problem today isn't so much that the preaching is irrelevant, but that the hearts are irreverent. Maybe that's the issue. Are your hearts irreverent? If he's preached, you have to ask that if we're not cut to the heart. Peter says, repent and be baptized. Be identified with him. Receive the sign and seal of your new identity, of being washed. And you know what that blood's going to do? It's going to wash away all your sins. That's the sign of baptism. And that is so wonderful because that's for you and your children. Boy, there's gospel. There's good news. The best news he could ever give. Look to the Savior. Change your minds about him and yourselves and identify with him. Have you repented and believed? You see how important preaching is for you and your children. This is Joel 2. This is Joel 2. fire just happened the spirit's working in your hearts right now and wonders in the heavens that even the angels rejoice when people repent you know verse 41 says that that day look at the response many gladly heard the word they were so thrilled to hear such news and guess what about they were baptized and And about 3,000 people were added to the church. That's the wonder in the heavens. His spirit, things angels desire to look into. His spirit piercing hearts and applying the blood from the mouth as the gospel spoken. So Peter said, this is the gospel that was preached to you. Holy Spirit just gave life. And that life has gone out to the ends of the earth. Look where it's gone today. You don't see power in this. It just went from Jerusalem and today it's in Escondido. Come on. Fire. Wonder in the heavens. And when our sons and daughters love the truth, guess what they do? When they're saved, they start talking about it. That's Joel 2. That's being filled with the Spirit. Peter would say, you're born again by the gospel that was preached to you. That's the power you're looking for. That's it. I hope you always care a lot to hear about Jesus, that you'll treasure His name, for He is your Savior. And we still believe to this day that this is the kind of preaching that shakes the world. Let's pray. Lord, confess that our hearts are irreverent often as we've come here worried about all the wrong things. We don't even prepare them to hear. And so then we wonder why they're so callous, sitting and listening and hardened. Oftentimes even bitter at what's being spoken and mad at whatever. Forgive us. We realize that we need your Spirit to open our hearts and minds so that we would hear what's being said to us and that we would be pierced and cut to the heart and that we would have great joy as these people did that day as they realized the marvelous gift that was given. For you did so love the world that you gave your son. And even though we with lawless hands took him and crucified him, you have called and said, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I pray this whole place heard it that way today and gladly received your word and if they've been baptized are so thankful for that new identity and rejoice in listening to the powerful Holy Spirit preached to us from heaven. Thank you for your word and your gospel. We bless your name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.