Studying the Merchant of Venice. Here's how you can analyse that 3, scene 4. Back in Belmont, Gratiano and Bessonio have left for Venice and Lorenzo congratulates Portia and he speaks in I Am a Pentameter, basically congratulating her for being a good woman in letting her husband go to see Antonio's trial. Portia says it's her duty to be there for Bessonio and she uses this hyperbole to basically say that all of Bessonio's problems are her own problems and she's always going to support him. She also speaks using alliteration to basically say that if Antonio is good enough to be Bessonio's best friend then Antonio must be just as good as Bessonio and he is deserving of her help. Portia then tells Lorenzo that she and Narissa are gonna go after a monastery whilst they wait for Bessonio and Gratiano's return. She essentially asks Lorenzo to be in charge of looking after her house whilst she's away. Lorenzo responds speaking hyperbole basically saying that he's happy to help her in any way. Once Jessica and Lorenzo leave Portia turns to her servant Balthasar and gives him a letter and she asks him to go to Padua where he's gonna meet her cousin who's a lawyer called Dr. Bellario and this letter will have a message for him. Portia then tells her lady and waiting Narissa that they're not going to the monastery. They're actually gonna be going to Venice to the courthouse and they will be dressed up as men in disguise. She then informs Narissa that they will be dressed up like young men. She uses this simile to explain to Narissa that the letter she sent to Dr. Bellario is requesting clothes so that they can dress up as lawyers when they go to Venice. We can see that unlike Jessica who is embarrassed to be dressed up as a young boy when she was escaping with Lorenzo Portia is actually excited to be dressed up as a man. She speaks using alliteration here to show that she is really excited to go to Venice dressed up as a lawyer where she's gonna be helping Antonio out. Yet Narissa is confused. She still doesn't understand why they have to dress up as men and this adds to the comedic effect of this play. Portia speaks in this exclamatory sentence as she playfully pretends to be annoyed at Narissa's question. However she promises her that she's going to explain this on the journey to Venice.


Attention Capitol Hill residents. This is a community notification of a new sexually violent predator in your area. Please stay tuned to the following short program for more information. Hi I'm technician Ron Hackett with the Denver Police Department. The sex offender registration and compliance unit at DPD is responsible for the registration monitoring and tracking of all registered sex offenders and sexually violent predators who live in the city and county of Denver. Here's a brief history of sex offender legislation in Colorado. Our state laws trickle down from federal government mandates. In 1994 we had the Jacob Wetterling Act which mandated that states would establish a sex offender list. Megan's law of 1996 said that the public would have access to those sex offender registration lists. The Pam Litchner Act of 1996 stated that some offenders might have to have lifetime registrations. In the Adam Walsh Act of 2006 unified sex offender laws across the country. In Colorado the legislature has determined that sexually violent predators by definition pose a higher risk to the community at large and therefore mandated that upon their release from the Department of Corrections the community must be notified. Sex offender notification in Colorado happens in two ways. The first is passive and ongoing through the sex offender registration process which is a list maintained by local police departments. The second way is active via community notification for those offenders determined to be sexually violent predators by the courts or by the parole board. Most sex offenders in Colorado are supervised by the criminal justice system in our communities. Most sex offenders engage in crossover behavior which means they may have been arrested for one type of crime but be apt to commit another.  There is no typical sex offender but all tend to be deceptive, manipulative and secretive. 80 to 93 percent of sex offenses are committed by someone known to the victim. Sexual deviancy begins in mid to late adolescence. Sex offenses are not impulsive.  The community has a vested interest in helping offenders to be successfully managed in the community. Sex offenders have the same need for housing and employment as any other citizen.  There are approximately 16,500 registered sex offenders in the state of Colorado. About 65 percent of convicted sex offenders are placed in the community on probation. The remainder are in the department of corrections or community corrections. Offenders may be caught for one type of offense but be at a high risk to commit another type. Crime of conviction is only one indicator of risk.  The offender's residence must be verified quarterly by the Denver Police Department. The full sex offender registration list is available by calling the Denver Police Department Identification Bureau at<PHONE_NUMBER>. Convicted felons and those with multiple convictions are posted online at denvergov.org slash police.   Now, here's a look at the newest sexually violent predator living in Denver. Here's an overview of the registered sex offenders currently living in Denver. There are 2,616 total living within city limits. In Denver Police District 6, there are 475. Precinct 623 has 78 registered sex offenders. Of those, 71 have felony convictions and 7 have misdemeanor convictions. James L. Wood Oplinger is a sexually violent predator currently living in Denver. He's 71 years old and was born on July 6, 1949. He's a white male, 6 feet tall, 232 pounds with gray hair and green eyes. He's currently living at 1272 Pennsylvania Street number 2A in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver. Schools located within one mile of this offender include Girls Athletic Leadership Middle School and High School at 750 Gallopago Street, 5280 High School at 899 Broadway, West Leadership Middle School and High School and West Early College Middle School and High School both at 951 Elotti Street. Contemporary Learning Academy at 200 East 9th Avenue. Downtown Denver Expeditionary at 1860 Lincoln Street. Moray Middle School at 840 East 14th Avenue. Denver Justice High School at 300 East 9th Avenue. DC 21 and Wyman Middle School and High School at 1690 William Street. Emily Griffith High School at 1860 Lincoln Street. Compassion Road Academy at 1000 Cherokee Street. Dora Moore ECE to 8th School at 846 Corona Street. Polaris Elementary at 410 Park Avenue West. John Farley at KW Brill Center at 50 West Fifth Avenue. Parks located within one mile of this offender include Sunken Gardens Park, Benedict Fountain Park, Cheeseman Park Esplanade, Denver Botanic Gardens, McIntosh Park, Zekendorf Plaza Park, Grant Humphries Mansion Park, Pioneer Monument Park, Quality Hill Park, Governor's Park, Park Avenue Parks, Civic Center Park, Cheeseman Park. Bus routes located within one mile of this offender include Route 10, 12th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, Route 6, 12th Avenue and Grant Street, and 14th Avenue and Grant Street. Routes 00L, 3L, 6, 10, 83D, 83L, and 87L, 13th Avenue and Lincoln Street. Route 6, 15, 15L and 16, Colfax Avenue and Sherman Street.  He's currently on parole and registered with the Denver Police Department on March 11th 2021 to 1272 Pennsylvania Street number 2A in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver. Past charges against this offender include assault, sexual assault, dangerous drugs, possessed cell, disorderly conduct, DUI, theft, threats, felony menacing. James L. Wood Opplinger has been determined as sexually violent predator after meeting the following criteria. Criteria 1, age 18 or older on the date of the offense or under 18 and tried as an adult. The offender was age 44 at the time of the first offense. Criteria 2, the crime must have been committed honor after July 1st 1997 and convicted honor after July 1st 1999.   Criteria 3, the relationship to the victim was one of the following. Victim was a stranger to the offender or the offender established or promoted a relationship with the victim primarily for the purpose of sexual victimization. The victims were both female and under 18 years of age. The offender was known to the victims. Criteria 4, positive results are the passing of a risk assessment instrument administered by probation parole staff and a qualified treatment evaluator. Positive results include an assessment for the presence of a mental abnormality, a level of denial regarding the offense, treatment appropriateness and motivation, presence of sexual deviant interests. The offender was evaluated by the Adams County District Courts with positive results determining him to be a sexually violent predator.


All right, so we were at Acts chapter 2 verse 1 and we began with the first word of verse 2 where we said, suddenly when these people who were prayerfully waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise, they experienced what God had in store for them. So we will go at a comfortable pace wherever possible, I'll probably try and be a little faster. But in other places where I think we had a really good discussion in the last session, very important questions that we all have and we clarified. So please feel free. We will not rush through the book of Acts. We will try and address the important issues. So feel comfortable. We will catch up with regard to speed. So coming here to verse 2 and suddenly there came a sound from heaven of a rushing mighty wind. So the manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon them, we see that it was so different from what they had in mind. I really don't know what they carried in their minds when Jesus said, you will receive the promise of the Father, you will receive power from on high. But the first time this happened, it looks very dramatic. I wish I had a video that I could show you with the sound of the rushing mighty wind. It was nothing less than audio visual would help us understand what exactly it looked like. So suddenly there was the sound of a rushing mighty wind. Now think about this. Why rushing mighty wind? Probably because the Holy Spirit and I said this earlier was spoken of as breath and wind both in the Greek and the Hebrew languages. So in the Greek language, the term pneuma, it is spelled P-N-E-U-M-A pneuma refers to breath or spirit and it is used for the Holy Spirit pneuma. And ruwa, that is the Hebrew word, which is also the word used for spirit and it means breath as well, breath, air. And therefore, a rushing mighty wind is almost symbolic of a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. He didn't come just as a simple gentle breeze, still the Holy Spirit. But somehow this very first episode is dramatic that the Holy Spirit chose to come as a rushing mighty wind with a sound and notice it also says from heaven. So God chose to kind of send this wind from heaven signifying that they were receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And before I talk any further about the Holy Spirit, I want us to remember that the Holy Spirit, he's not a substance. So he's not an impersonal power. He's not, you know, just something exciting in scripture that we see.  So I am saying he because he is a person and he is the third person of the Trinity. So though we have these expressions that the rushing sound from heaven, rushing mighty wind, we always remember we're talking about a person, the manifestation of that person and that can differ each time. So, you know, a sound from heaven and a rushing mighty wind in itself is not the Holy Spirit. It's an expression of this person, the Holy Spirit. And he came with the power as promised by Jesus and the Father. So you see Trinity working in harmony in unity, which is displayed here. So he comes as a rushing mighty wind and scripture say, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. So they were praying together and it happened. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Then there appeared to them divided tongues of a fire and one sat upon each of them. So it's all very dramatic. So they're able to see these things. They heard the sound and it says that there appeared to be divided tongues which sat upon each one of them. So there is a movie called the Acts of the Apostles. And this movie is, you know, it's made according to the book of Acts in the NKJV version. So you can, it's available on YouTube for us to watch. So if you have the time you could watch it. So they have tried to depict to the best of their ability what this might have looked like, you know, in an audio visual form. So you can have a look at it. But I have a picture here which I will quickly show all of us and I really hope that it will help you. Okay, here we go. So can you see the picture? So I said that there came a sound from heaven of rushing mighty wind. So they were physically experiencing these things and also you see that divided tongues of fire appeared. And it sat on each one of the believers who are gathered in the upper room. So it was a very special experience which they had. We don't see any such incident take place as far as the baptism in the Holy Spirit is concerned. You know, later on in the book of Acts, we will study about it further. But in this case, try to visualize the sound, the wind and tongues of fire coming and appearing on each person. So why tongues of fire? Again, if we go back to what John the Baptist said about the Lord Jesus, he said that, you know, I baptize you in water, but there will come him, he who will baptize you in Holy Spirit and in fire. So he used the word baptism in fire. So you see here, there is also the appearing of tongues of fire on each believer. What does this fire signify? Similar to wind. I said that there are manifestations, right? But that's not it. The Holy Spirit is not fire, but the Holy Spirit, he may manifest as fire and fire refers to the cleansing of the believer. So baptism with power is to do the works of God, you know, the way God wants it done with impact. And also the Holy Spirit baptism is an experience which is meant to cleanse us, you know, from the works of the flesh, from all the filthiness of this world. So it's a very precious, no wonder God called it a gift and he really wanted every believer to have this gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and in fire. So that's exactly how it happened on that day with all these manifestations that people could make note of. So let's go further. So we've seen that these tongues of fire sat upon them. Now I'll read that passage a little more and then share some observations. Okay, so verse three, then there appear to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So if you can imagine with me an empty cup which is dipped into water. So when we talk about baptism, that word baptism is actually being immersed and that's what Jesus had promised the believers that they would be baptized in Holy Spirit and in fire. So they were dipped inside the Holy Spirit, isn't it? How can maybe dipped inside the Holy Spirit? So the Holy Spirit is an infinite being. It's possible for us to be dipped in him. Okay, and when we are dipped in him like that empty cup, what happens when you dip an empty cup into a bucket of water. Automatically the cup will be filled with the water, whether you like it or not, that is going to happen. So that's exactly what happens when people are baptized in the Holy Spirit and that's what we read here. The fire came and sat upon each one of them signifying that they were being baptized in the Holy Spirit and they were all filled. They were baptized and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. So one of the manifestations of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, when I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, what will happen? We call it the basic gift of speaking in tongues begins to come forth from us. So they began to speak with tongues as the Spirit, remember they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. So they are dipped into the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is giving them the utterance or utterance is usually language, utterance is language. So syllables, words, okay, so all of that is coming out. The Spirit is giving it to the believers and they are, what are they doing? They began to speak with other tongues. There's a partnership going on. The Spirit is giving them utterance and they are speaking in tongues. So here are some observations about this particular phenomenon in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit came upon the waiting disciples in a mighty way. The wind of the Spirit came from heaven in this case. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit seems to have a natural manifestation with sound and the appearance of tongues of fire that came and sat upon individuals. The tongues of fire sat upon each individual and not collectively over the people reminding us that, you know, after we are born again or in the new covenant, the empowering of the Holy Spirit is for each individual believer. In the old covenant, what do we see? You know, we see that the presence of God came upon the people of God. So collectively they had the presence of God. Individually there were one or two people here and there based on the call of God on their lives, you know, upon whom the Holy Spirit came. But not on everybody. It did not come upon everybody. But here, you know, the baptism in the Holy Spirit came individually upon every believer. And so we understand that all believers can be empowered by the Holy Spirit. There were 120 of them. It doesn't tell us that it came only on the apostles or only on those with five-fold ministry gifts. No, it came upon all of them and they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then we see that they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So these are some of the key things that we note here. Now let's go further verse 5. Now when this happened, there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews devout men from every nation under heaven. Why? I already told us the day of Pentecost. People had come in to celebrate the festival or the harvest festival there. So they were already present and they suddenly hear this. So how did they even hear this? No, it is said that the upper room is probably not, you know, in some residential area in Jerusalem. Because 120 people sitting in a large room may not have been possible. The city would not have had such large rooms in the residential areas. But mostly, you know, in the temple complex, such a large room would have been available for them. All this is speculation. We really don't know if it is exactly correct or not. But some historians say this, that the upper room was very close to the temple or in the temple complex. And which is why when the sound of the wind came, now we can ask what sound did they also hear the sound of the rushing mighty wind? Answer could be yes, answer could be no. But there was definitely a sound from the upper room. What is that sound? They all began to speak in tongues. So we don't know did they hear the wind or did they hear the tongues? Either case, they heard, you know, some some noise coming from this upper room. And they were all dwelling there. So many of them are dwelling there. And when this sound occurs, verse six, the multitude came together. So it was easy for them to collect and gather to come and check, hey, what's happening in this place? Why are these people making such a noise? And we're told verse six, I'm reading verse six, and they're confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. I'm continuing from verse seven all the way till 13. Then they were all amazed and marvel, saying to one another, look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elimites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya, adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others mocking said they are full of new wine. Okay, so this explains to us that people gather and they witness this event. And what happened next? They found these disciples, 120 disciples, not all of them, but it says, now we don't know, who in all among those 120 were speaking in these legible languages? We have no idea, but in this noise came various languages that the audience could understand. And if you just count up the number of people groups in this, there are at least 15 people groups which have been mentioned in this passage alone, that all these people could hear their own language. But what did we read earlier? Before we came here to verse 5, we said that they were speaking in the utterance which the Holy Spirit gave them. So these 120 disciples don't have any idea what they are speaking. But the listeners are able to perceive their own known languages. Fine, so we got that. Then what is the response of these people? We see that some of them are amazed and they are marveling. Whereas the others are mocking. So some say, whatever could this mean? They were amazed when they heard that people are praising God in their own language. But some others said that they are full of new wine. So the manifestation of the spirit even today can elicit these two responses among people. People can either be amazed at what God is doing with his power. And people can also be mocking and say, oh, these are crazy. Something is wrong with them. So the work of the spirit, it's easy to receive and at the same time hard to receive by people. So let me quickly just show us a map that has the same regions that we heard of just now. That'll also be helpful, something visual. So you can see there, people were gathered in Jerusalem and at Pentecost roughly 30 AD. Some people say 33 AD. So around that time Jesus had just died 50 days ago. So it's not been too long. It's less than two months and this is happening in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. There are people gathered. You can see the names of various communities, people from different regions. They're all gathered in Jerusalem. So this is how it was. Okay. All right. So let's move right along. Yes. So here the tongues, which was made manifest is human languages. Now, did everyone speak human languages? Among those 120, we are not told many things, right? So it depends on the interpretation that people come up with. But what we know in this passage is there are 120 people, but from those 120 people, we could perceive, you know, these many languages where their languages, which could not be perceived possibly. Okay. Because when you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13, you see there that, and I speak in the tongue of men and angels, it says. So there are two categories of languages. One is the language of men. One is the language of angels. So when we speak in tongues, it's possible that we speak either one of these category of languages. So people understand or people don't understand. Okay. So we'll talk more about it later on. Now, one more reason why, you know, these people who had gathered in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, Marvel at the Galileans, speaking this language, it says here, right? Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? So apparently the Galileans were not very learned people in those times. And secondly, when it came to speaking, they were not very good with their pronunciation and some guttural sounds and other things. They were not capable of doing that with excellence. So which is why the Marvel was even more that, hey, look at this. God is using a category of people who are not known for their oratory. And they are speaking in so many different languages. This has got to be supernatural, right? And at the same time, you know, so some of them Marvel, they heard the interpreter because they heard it in their own language. They understood that these people are praising God. So what is the role of the Holy Spirit? The role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus. So when people understood something in their own language, what did it mean? It meant glory to God. It meant thanks to God. It meant praise to God, adoration of God. Okay. So obviously, you know, that this was coming out of the Holy Spirit's work in the life of these 120 believers. But at the same time, having witnessed this, you know, dramatic, wonderful and chaotic event, there were people who couldn't see God's work in this. And they just looked at it as confusion and they began to mock. They said they are full of new wine. These people are drunk. Something is completely off here. And that was the response of another set of people. Okay. Yes, Charles, I see that you have a question. Please go ahead. It is not a question pastor, but it is something that is so special on how the Holy Spirit was doing. And that verse 13, the last end, and the people and knowingly say, they are filled with new wine. Can you imagine? Literally, they know about the new wine and they are speaking exactly a new wine. The inner thing that has happened to these people and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, the new wine. When I was reading and I was like, wow, even God made them utter out those that were listening in their own language and they are praising God, but this work couldn't be done other than by a new wine. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Charles. Very nice observation there. I hadn't given attention or thought to that, but yeah, that's very special. Okay. So I'll first answer the Manohar's earlier question where he said, how can you clearly perceive that a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit? So there are, you know, we have to look at the fruit. So the ultimate fruit is what you would see as an outcome of one's life, which is their walk with the Lord and outcome of their ministry, whether it glorifies Jesus or not, because that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Okay. But the person, when one is baptized in the Holy Spirit, the immediate, the immediate way in which at least in the Book of Acts, the common, you know, rung of the ladder is speaking in tongues for the Manohar. So generally people begin to speak in tongues. That's how you know that, hey, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they got filled in the Spirit and now they're manifesting the gift of the Spirit. Okay. So I hope that answers your question. Passer. Yeah. Yes. Now what I had is sometimes when people talk in tongues and people will not be, sometimes people will not be sure whether it is really from the Holy Spirit. So some people have a doubt about some of the people speaking in tongues, whether it is really they're speaking from the Spirit of God. Yes. Yes. I understand that, brother, that's a real challenge that many people have. But what will help is to keep teaching about what the Word of God says. See, we all want everything to fit into our logic. But somehow that's not the case, you know, the way God deals with us. Everything may not fit into logic. So when we teach them the truth of God's Word and show them all these passages that Jesus said, wait for the promise of the Father and then it happened. The first time when it happened, you know, people were speaking in unknown languages, the Spirit gave them utterance, but they spoke. So when we teach, faith will come. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So I think the one good thing to do is to just teach people and put this before them and leave it. Let it do its work. So a couple of times as they go over these things, their own questions, their doubts, they'll be able to overcome.  See, the foods will be really helpful. Yes. See the foods. Now, knowing the foods, seeing the foods they bear, by that actually we may perceive better, I think. That's true. The foods in our ministry. Correct. Correct. That is the ultimate way. That is the ultimate way. But the immediate is when one is baptized in the Holy Spirit, you see the manifestation through a basic gift such as speaking in tongues. Okay. So are you fine with that? Is there anything more? No, no, thank you. Thank you. It is clarified. It's clarified because it's a small doubt I had because many people have doubts whether some of the... Sometimes people really speak by the Spirit of God, especially maybe in some of the traditional churches where speaking of tongues is made like mandatory. Now, sometimes people may try to talk. That is it. Even if it is not from the Spirit of God, whether people are imitated. So that is the doubt some people have. Now, God forgive me if I'm wrong. But this is a genuine doubt some of the people are having. Yes, yes. Thank you for bringing that up. Very honest of you there. So it happens. I agree with you. Genuinely when people are baptized in the Holy Spirit comes tongues through the Holy Spirit. But there are two other sources. One is our own human mind where we make it up because we are so... What is it? Yeah, we've been conditioned. When I go to church very... And I keep noticing this time and again that people speak in a language like this. I can try to conjure it up and make it up. Which is very sad because we don't have to do that when God himself can give us the original tongues. The third one is a wrong source. We can have the demonic spirits also produce certain languages. So there's an imitation. Satan is... He masters in counterfeit. So if there's something that's really good, he'll try to make a counterfeit. But as you said in the long term, the true test is the fruit. What is the fruit? Is it glorifying Jesus or not? Then we are able to tell that this is from God or not from God. Thank you. Yes, thank you. And your next question here. Explanation on Jewish Festival of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the same day will be helpful. Okay. Frankly, I haven't researched too much about this. So I don't think I can give you a satisfactory explanation for this. Okay. I hope that's fine. I just encourage you to read it up. Yeah. Okay. Let's go forward. So we saw how some people accepted what was going on. Whereas the others were doubtful and they mocked and they said they are full of new wine. So coming to verse 14 here, it says, But Pete standing up with the 11 now. We have to recognize that these 120 disciples have undergone a new experience and they are not the same. Okay. As they were the previous day. So something has changed and we will see this, you know, showing itself up throughout the book of Acts. Immediately, you have Peter displaying that boldness. Remember Jesus said, you shall receive power and you shall be my witnesses or you are going to talk about me. You're going to reveal me to the people. Peter is doing it. It says, but Peter. When he saw, oh, people are not able to understand what this phenomenon is. He tries to explain. He just stands up. But Peter standing up with the 11 raises his voice and said to them the boldness that comes upon him and the heart for ministry where he recognizes that people need to understand what is going on. Okay. By the Holy Spirit. Empowering of the Holy Spirit. He speaks. He says, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you and heed my words for these are not drunk as you suppose. So he's clarifying and he's telling them. They're not drunk. Okay. And he also says, since it is only the third hour of the day. It was 9am in the morning and it's unlikely that you know you have 120 people who are drunk and making such a noise at 9am in the morning. So he's explaining to the onlookers. And he says he tells them what this is all about. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. So he's quoting Joel's prophecy in Joel chapter 2. And he says, and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God. Which other last days? The last days are the days after the death burial resurrection and actually resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Where he promised us many things. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit and his glory. The knowledge of the glory of God will spread around the world. All of that and the return of the Lord Jesus. So these are the last days. So we are living in the last of the last days. So right from the time the Lord Jesus, he rose and you could say even ascended is when the last days actually started. So they were in the last days, the early church. We are also in the last days. So what is going to happen in the last days? Says God, I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh.  Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men servants and on my mates servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So up until the return of the Lord Jesus, the things that are going to happen. So we see the description in the latter half how there will be signs, there will be wonders, there will be blood, fire, vapor. So we know all of that in the book of Revelation. Daniel talks about all of those things. But before that the former portion here talks about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Where God says, I will pour out of my spirit. Notice, unless the Holy Spirit was infinite, God would not say I will pour. Pour is God choosing to give an abundance. I'm not going to trickle or you won't have a drizzle of the Holy Spirit. But I am going to pour out of my infinite spirit on who? Everyone, I'm willing to pour it on everyone on all flesh. But of course we know that one must be born again to receive of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So those who are born again will come specifically under that category of all flesh. And you see that sons and daughters shall do what begin to manifest the works of the Spirit. So the works of the Spirit are what? The gifts of the Spirit. One gift is mentioned here, prophecy. They will prophesy. It's not to say that they will not move in other gifts of the Spirit. But it's just kind of telling them that you will move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then it also says, young men shall see visions, old men shall dream dreams. Again, the work of the Holy Spirit. There will be supernatural experiences that people walk in when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. So that's what Peter was saying. But again, very interesting. If you just go up and look at verse 16, Peter saying, But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In some translations, it says, this is that. This is that. But the thing together with me, what exactly happened? We've described it, you know, since, you know, about half an hour now. That people were speaking in other tongues. But what did Joel say? Prophecy, dreams, visions. And what is Peter saying? This is that. Like, come on, Peter, hang on. This is not that. People are speaking in tongues. It's a completely different manifestation. But you are quoting Joel's prophecy and you're telling us that what is going on right now. Obviously, the devout Jews will. Why is Peter, again, this is about sermon and homiletics. How do you preach to an audience who are well-versed in scripture? Use scripture, which is why he's pulling out from his knowledge all the scriptures from the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. And he's telling them, look, Joel said, do you remember that this is going to happen? The pouring of the Spirit of God upon those who believe. Okay, but something for us to take home. You see, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost. Joel prophesied it, but the manifestation was completely different. So whenever there is a work of the Holy Spirit, we have to be open to what he wants to do the way he wants to do it. We cannot box God up and say that no God, it has only got to be prophecy. It has only got to be dreams. It has only got to be tongues or it has only got to be visions. He gets to choose. But by the Holy Spirit, Peter was able to discern. And what did he say in verse 16? This is what was spoken or as other translations say, this is that. With the difference, you know, so the manifestation was quite different. So let me quickly come here and look at some of the questions in the chat. Okay, so, Elisha, Pastor, please, I cannot find the course notes on the stream has been uploaded. So, Elisha, we're not using course notes. I have posted an overview on our stream page where I said that we are going to use the NKJV version of the Bible, which is what I'm following and reading from. So I'm going verse by verse and explaining it to us. And also for your reading, you can use Enduring, you can use the commentary on the book of Acts from EnduringWord.com, written by David Kozik. Okay, so yes, coming to Asha, she says, okay, fine. So Asha has answered this question. Louis, please go ahead. You have something to say. It's just an observation. If Joel said all flesh and at the time when it happened at the day of Pentecost, it was only happening in the context in Jerusalem. So does that suggest that Joel is still being unfolded even centuries after because after then he had to go into Rome, Ephesians, Corinthians and the likes of it. Is that a good narrative? A balanced narrative rather. Okay, Louis. So I'm just trying to understand. So you're saying that on the day of Pentecost, it didn't get poured out on all flesh, but eventually you see that it was going. It was reaching many people groups, isn't it? No, no, what I'm saying is if you said all flesh, I guess what God's perspective was talking about everyone on the face of the earth. But in terms of at what point in time of history, if you get to that particular flesh, is this subject to when the message got to them? Because that's when they got the upon the Holy Spirit or the infant of the Holy Spirit, I guess we think. So technically, Joel is still being fulfilled option now because there are many nations, many tribes, many people that see here the Word of God are being preached to and they are being filled with the Holy Ghost. So in that sense, it means Joel is still being fulfilled until he gets to the context of all flesh. That's what we're trying to find out. Yes, sure. That's where we are at. Sure, sure Louis. I agree with that. So God intends for everyone to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, just the way he intends for everyone to be born again. Right. Yeah, so that's. Yes ma, yes ma, I guess that's yes. Yes ma, yes ma. All right. Yes, sure. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Who is the author of the commentary we mentioned just now? It's David Guzik. David Guzik. Yeah, it's also in the overview that I have put up, but let me just type it here. That's primarily what we are following, but of course, you know, there's a lot more content in what I'm sharing. All right. So yes, so we've seen what Peter quoted and here's a sermon that he's making to the onlookers verse 22 acts to men of Israel. Hear these words.  Okay, so let's stop right here. So much to talk, you know, at this very point. One is that Peter has a ready made sermon. I don't think that morning when he woke up, he would have realized that he has to speak to a large audience in a crucial, you know, in such a crucial time in the history of the church. I don't know if he was mentally prepared to make the sermon, but you see the baptism in the Holy Spirit empowered him to do this. That is one. Then he's talking about the Lord Jesus, the boldness. Remember Jesus said, you shall be my witnesses and Peter is being a witness in Jerusalem at that very point, the boldness of the Holy Spirit.  So much happened in Jerusalem because of this man called Jesus. Imagine the boldness of Peter. He says Jesus of Nazareth specifically is bringing up Jesus of Nazareth. This is the same Peter who ran away, the same Peter who denied Jesus, but the boldness that he carries. What happened to you, Peter? I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Okay. He says Jesus of Nazareth and continues with his courage. He says a man attested by God. Now, again, it's all blasphemous for an unbelieving Jew to hear. You're like, what are you saying?   So in other words, you're telling us that we made a mistake. But that's exactly what Peter is telling them. He's speaking about Jesus of Nazareth, attested by God and how he tells them miracles, wonders, signs. Okay. Amazing because how is it that the ministry of the Lord Jesus was affirmed by God through the supernatural. So the supernatural affirms our ministry. It's very important. We saw that even in Acts chapter 1, Jesus, all that Jesus taught and, you know, he taught and did. Same here, attested by miracles, wonders and signs which God did. Okay. So even Jesus was empowered by God, or we know more specifically by the Holy Spirit. God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. So he's holding them to account and he's telling them, I'm not talking mythology. These events took place right here. Less than two months ago and you are witnesses to what I'm saying. And then he goes on him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. He also tells them that this is not unique to God, but God wanted to send a perfect lamb for our redemption and our sacrifice. So, you know, as we go ahead with the sermon of Peter, though it sounds like he's accusing the listeners, it's actually filled with compassion. Because see, he's adding the foreknowledge, determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. So Jesus came to die. Jesus came to redeem. Jesus came to pay the price. Okay.  And so he says, have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death.  But 24 God raised up very controversial sermon Peter. And that too, at this point, when the crowds have gathered in Jerusalem, you are telling us that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Okay. You know, at this very point for a normal believer, you would want to run away because you could die for saying something like this. That Jesus, who was crucified by the by the Roman officials is now resurrected. But what was there? What was some of their perspective? They thought that his body was stolen. But here is Peter saying whom God raised up having lose the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. Wow. This is what Jesus said when he said in Acts 18 and you shall receive power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses on that day of Pentecost. You see what kind of a witness Peter is to the crowds that needed an explanation about, you know, what happened through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to stop right here. But before I close, I just want us to know that Peter is not trying to be, you know, accusing of the people or the authorities or, you know, just like a political gimmick. Some of that because we'll see later on his sermon is compassionate. His sermon is calling people to repentance. So he's just stating the facts, though they they would have been offensive for the listeners.  So we'll look at that in the next class. And right now I'm just going to stop and request one of us to please pray. If you have questions, please post it on the stream or we'll pick it up in the next class. Could somebody please pray and we'll close off today's class. Well, Father, we thank you a lot for revealing to us the wonderful truths of the Word Father. Lord, thank you for this privilege of studying your Word, the Book of Acts in detail. Thank you a lot for the beautiful explanation which we have heard from the pastor. Lord, he glorified your name and thank your name for this grace given to us. But as we continue in the future classes, features more from your Word Father, we keep us Father that we may understand the deeper revelation of the Word and our life may be transformed by the revelation we receive in this class. Bless the parts of you. In Jesus' name you pray. Amen. Amen, amen. Thank you everyone. God bless you. Looking forward to the classes to come. Have a good day. Bye for now. Thank you pastor. God bless you too. Thank you pastor. God bless you. Thank you everyone. God bless.


When you are saved, you are justified. Justification means that you are set free from the penalty of sin. You are now in the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which you are being set free from the power of sin. One day you stand before God and you cross over into the other side of eternity. You will stand in glorification, and glorification is freedom from the presence of sin.