Call on the Name of Yeshua (Part 1)

0:00 It's a shame that there are so many in the world today who are not demanding the release of the remaining hostages. And I do mean that it is a shame, shame on those people because those people devalue the life of a human being, in particular, those who were mining their own business on a Shabbat there in Southern Israel.

0:51 The evil that was unleashed that day is very difficult for us to comprehend. It's funny, I know I've, I've had conversations and I've shared stories about you, uh, about, about a conversation between a friend of mine and, and myself about the definition of gray and black and white, because I'm a person who generally likes to give the what we listen. I, I grew up in the south, we give what we would call the benefit of the doubt, the benefit of the doubt all. Bless y'all. You're so sweet.

1:40 But the reality is, the distinction between what is evil and good to me is growing clearer by the day. Maybe it's not to others, but evil exists in our world today, and it seems to have grown stronger. And those who ask or demand for a cessation Of the war without demanding for the release of the hostages, are only enabling that evil.

2:31 In fact, people always say, oh, well, there's, listen, I I'm not, I'm not saying that there's not a loss of life in Gaza. There has certainly been a loss of a loss of life. Hamas asked for a ceasefire, and Israel gave a ceasefire because they're trying to save lives when it was no longer beneficial to Hamas. They launched rockets breaking their own ceasefire yesterday. There are things that we may or may not know, but the reality is that is evil.

3:19 I'm not telling you that the government of Israel is righteous and the best government in the world. In fact, I will tell you, it seems to me that all governments of the world are crooked. Woohoo. I don't think governments have changed since the time of Yeshua. Governments then were crooked. But just because there's not one that's righteous doesn't mean that one is not evil. And whether or not you accept that Hamas is a terrorist group, they are the ruling party, governing party

4:06 of Gaza elected, duly elected into position. Now, granted, once they were duly elected in, they did away with elections, so there could be no more. But they've been a, the governing party for, Is It 18 years? Is something like this? 2007, however many years that is from 2007. And if you're not familiar with the situation, 15 years. 15 years, thank you. If you're not familiar with the situation, I'm not saying life was peachy in Gaza, but it was certainly better before 2005 when Israel acquiesced

4:55 to Western pressure, in fact, by our government to pull out. And there were pictures and videos, things I never thought I would see of Jewish people, Jewish governments carrying out Jewish people and removing them from their homes. When they did that, the, the area was given all over to Gaza, beautiful farms, wonderful buildings, all of which were raised to the ground, none of which was then reutilized for the peace

5:44 and the prosperity of the Palestinian people. What we witnessed today, I was, I was texting with a, a leader in, in Israel this morning, and he asked me how I was doing, which is a funny question to be asked by someone who's in a war zone, because I'm not in a war zone. Well, not exactly, but I wrote him, I said, it grieves me

6:29 the depth of the loss that has been experienced in Israel right now. We, we look at them in, in, okay, there were about 1400 people murdered on October 7th. There's been However many numbers that have died since then. I don't know if you've ever heard this line of reasoning, but I once heard someone say, uh, uh, concerning the Holocaust, the 6 million Jewish people that were murdered, that what the world did, did at that point was they murdered the person

7:15 who would've found the cure for cancer, who would've found the cure for aids, who would've found the cure for fill in the blank, because we had such a lack of, um, appreciation for life, and we enabled until a certain point. What went on in World War ii, by the way, I I do equate World War II with what's happening now, um, for better or for worse, uh, I know you've heard it. I think Dan said it a couple weeks ago. This is the greatest slaughter of Jewish people in a single moment since World War ii. There have been other, other things that make it comparable. The reality is, and I don't know if you've ever th thought

8:02 about it this way, and, and I'm about to be done, and then I'll move to my message, but I have a soap box, so I'm gonna use it for a moment. Um, the reality is This is an abusive relationship. What happens in an abusive relationship is the one being abused gets blamed for what the abuser does. And in fact, Israel was binding its own business when the couple hundred jihadis came across the border. And yet the now the narrative says, well,

8:49 Israel provoked them into doing this. They were justified in, in doing this. I, I don't know about you, but in, in the, in my belief, there's nothing that permits me to go and murder, rape and pillage. There is a justice system for a reason. We even have an, an international court for this reason, but nothing justifies a retaliation. This is really interesting that I'm talking about this in, in regards to this week's to portion a retaliation of murder and rape and pillaging. That is never an appropriate response. And anybody who ever tells you

9:35 that it's an appropriate response, I would question their morals and their ethics, because there is nothing that permits it. You can be outraged, by all means. You can be outraged. You can have all of the, you can take people to court. That's kind of what we do, unfortunately, in America also. But, But never is it the moment where you go and you seek your own vengeance. In fact, the Bible even talks about that. So that's, that's my, that's my, I don't know what you want, what you want to call it

10:23 for my, that's my, my, my talk concerning Israel. In fact, let me just say one more thing. If you ever wonder why things like this happen, the why is always the, the thing that bothers us as people. The why in this case is because God's plan of redemption on earth comes through the people of Israel. Therefore, the spiritual entity that stands against God,

11:08 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, has to fight the plan of God by trying to destroy his plan. And his plan comes through the people of Israel. Therefore, his attempt is to destroy the people of Israel. Now, if I can even go one more, which I know I'm getting a little bit on the edge of the stage here, if I can even just go one more. His plan is even more so through the followers of Yeshua who are a part of the people of Israel, and therefore you see the most attack against them. It's why by all means, I think everybody should,

11:54 should be supporting Israel and, and donating, doing whatever you can at this point. But it's why what we do at Ham is we send our stuff to the believers because they're under even more attack than the rest of Israel. If it, if it's even, um, believable or I don't know, believable is not the right word, understandable, knowable by us. So you're welcome to turn with me. We will be continuing in Acts chapter two, and as, as a, uh, just a, a recap of what we have covered so far, we're in Acts chapter two, the community of the followers of Yeshua. They're gathered together. They're gathered for sha. They are in one place,

12:39 and it seems at least from the text in Acts chapter two, that there are men and women together, and it seems as if they are in the temple or near the temple based upon, uh, some, some discussion which we'll have in a few minutes. Uh, and in fact, we'll, we'll talk about a couple places where they could be, uh, locationally, the community, the, the followers of Yeshua, the community were, they were filled with the spirit, with the rock, and they began to speak out concerning the glorious deeds of the Lord. You see this in chapter two, verse 11. The, the ruach enabled them or empowered them to speak out in other languages, and the people who were around the crowd who was gathered heard them in their birth tongue.

13:29 These people were bewildered because they're hearing their birth language. These people represent at least approximately 15 different areas. Now, when I say an area, I mean, it would be like, y'all just bear with me for this example. It would be like if there was some people coming from the United States to Jerusalem for making pilgrimage for Shavuot, and they heard them in their own, their own dialect or their own birth language. I'm just gonna tell you, the people from Texas hear a different birth language than the people from Boston.

14:14 I recognize it's the same language, but it sounds very different. These people are hearing them in their own birth languages. Call it dialect if you want. It seems to be amazing. The, in fact, to the point that the scripture declares, acts, declares, the people were amazed and perplexed, and they respond and say, what does this mean? Now, I I just, before we keep going, I want to say two things about the question. What does this mean? You can say, what does this mean? Or you can say, what does this mean? Those are two different questions, by the way. I I don't know if you realize that the, what does this mean? Is it, is it a question of expectation? Tell me, give me some information as to what does it mean? The what does it mean is more of a, I know what it means.

15:02 You guys are a bunch of drunkards. In fact, they even say it in the text. I think they've had too much sweet wine. So Peter, what we're going to do is we're gonna investigate Peter's response. He responds to the question at hand. The question at hand is, what does it mean? What does this mean? In particular, the fact that the, the, uh, community, it, it seems the community, at least the Aladeen, the disciples of Yeshua have been empowered to speak in a different tongue and to be understood by at least 15 different areas, which, by the way, you can find that list there in, in the, in Acts chapter twos, like something like seven

15:47 through 10 or something like that. And so his immediate response is here in Acts chapter two, starting in in verse 14. And For practicality's sake, I just, before we get into the response, I want to give you fair warning that Peter's response is long enough that it's going to take us at least about three weeks to cover the entirety of the response, which unfortunately can be kind of confusing, because you can think that at where we're gonna stop today might be the end, but it's not, you have to view his whole response in its entirety to understand what he's doing. And, and, and he even addresses some follow-up questions.

16:32 So we're gonna finish this chapter by the end of the month. So I'm just, I'm just sharing you, this is the first Shabbat of the month. We'll finish by the end of the month, and, and we're gonna take our time going into particularly Peter's response. So I'm going, what I'm going to do each week, because this is a, a singular response, but we're dividing it up into, into three different, three or four different weeks, is I'll read the whole passage so that we have it in our minds. So we're gonna start here in Acts chapter two, verse 12. Uh, just a reminder, they, they just witnessed this, this miraculous thing where they, they heard these tongues, these, these languages, and they, they were all amazed and perplexed saying to each other, what does this mean?

17:20 Others poking fun. Were saying they're full of sweet new wine. Let me translate. They're drunk. But Peter, so here's Peter, the beginning of Peter's response. But Peter standing with the 11, raise his voice and address them fellow judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and pay attention to my words. These men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it's only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel, and it, and it shall be. This is so now he goes into a quotation, and it shall be in the last days, says, God, that I will pour out my, my ruach, my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

18:08 Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams even on my slaves, male and female. I will pour out my ACH in those days, and they shall prophesy and I will give wonders in the sky above and the signs on the earth beneath blood and fire and smoky vapor. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood. But the great, uh, excuse me, before the great and the glorious day of ot, NAI comes, and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of Otai shall be saved. Men of Israel hear these words, Yeshua, ti the Yeshua from Nazareth, a man authenticated to you by God with mighty deeds and wonders and signs. God performed through him in your midst.

18:54 As you yourselves know, this Yeshua given over by God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men, you killed. But God raised him up, releasing him from the pains of death since it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says about him, I saw Otai always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I might not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover, my body will also live in hope because you will not abandon my soul to s**t old or let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence.

19:40 Brothers, I can confidently tell you that the patriarch David died and was buried. His tomb is with us to this day. So because he was a prophet and God knew, uh, and knew God had sworn with an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne, David saw beforehand and spoke of the Messiah's resurrection, that he was not abandoned to shul and his body did not see decay. This Yeshua, God raised up. We are all witnesses, therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and receiving from the Father the promise of the kodesh, he poured out this what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, yet he himself says, Otai said to my Lord,

20:28 sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him this Yeshua whom you had crucified both Lord and Messiah. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, and the rest of the emissaries, fellow brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah, Yeshua, for the removal of your sins. And you'll receive the gift of the ruak kodesh for the promise is for you and your children, and all who are far away, as many as otai. Our God calls to himself with many other words. He warned them and kept urging them, saying,

21:14 save yourselves from this twisted generation. So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about 3000 souls were added. Added. Honestly, I kind of wanna just stop because that's a fantastic piece of scripture, but we're gonna keep going. We're going to, we're gonna chunk this up into a couple manageable pieces, and hopefully we'll be done quickly, Maybe so starting in chapter two, verse 14. But Peter, standing with the 11, raise his voice and address them fellow judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known

22:00 to you and pay attention to my words. These men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel. So we're gonna take this, and then we're gonna deal with the Joel quotations separately. Peter, number one is asserting his leadership. Peter stands up and he addresses the crowd. But I want you also to notice that when Peter stands up, the everyone else with him stands up with him and comes and they serve as a unified front because it says Peter and the 11 were standing together and Peter raised his voice. So there's a couple different things at play here, uh,

22:47 with the raising of the voice, it could be that Peter's drawing the attention of the crowd to himself. You can just imagine when there's lots of people, and in fact, we know from the end of the passage that there's at least 3000. At a minimum, There's at least 3000. And so they seem to all be able to hear him. So he, the raising of the voice, number one, it draws a crowd to hear what you're about to say. Number two, it allows them to actually hear what you're about to say. And number three, it actually, it places you in front as someone who's in authority, usually. Now, not always people who are authority yell, but, uh, in this place, in this po in this, uh, case,

23:34 So he's speak, he's speaking up so he can be heard by this growing crowd. It's important to note he's not using an amplification system. You see, I can address all of you. There are 386 of you. I can address all of you, and you can all hear me because I'm being amplified. But Peter is not being amplified, and yet he is able to address at a minimum 3000 people. Like, that's nuts to me. So how is this possible? Well, if you're not familiar, there's at least a couple ways that it make this possible, uh, in ancient times. And really, it's also true to this day, in, in, in some places that places, uh, buildings

24:20 or places are structurally designed to naturally amplify a speaker so that the speaker can be heard by a lot of people if they're at the 10 at the temple and they've gathered we, and if my, my, um, understanding is corrected that both of men and the women are together, that actually begins to limit where they're gathering. And if then you couple it with, they have 3000 people at least that can hear, it begins to further limit where they could be. So there are some locations there at the temple that, that make this, uh, possible, and we'll talk about those in a minute. But here he is. Peter stands up, and he calls for the attention of the Jewish people

25:06 that are nearby Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem. In fact, here already, whether Peter knows it or not. So this is, this is where it gets very complicated. And, and I'll try not to be super complicated, but Luke is writing with a particular purpose. Peter is speaking to a crowd of people with a particular purpose, and Luke is writing about Peter speaking to the crowd, and Luke has a purpose, and Peter has a purpose. And so now we have to decide which, who is which purpose? Um, which really, I don't think we have to decide. I just think let's just take it as it is. But here already in Peter's word, he's calling for attention of the Jewish people all Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem. There's already a hint just right here.

25:53 We've already seen it in chapter one, but there's already a hint of the expansion of the good news to those beyond the limits of the Jewish people. It may not be recognized or even understood, perhaps by Peter, maybe not. But when he says to all those staying in Jerusalem, it's not just Jewish people in Jerusalem at this moment. Now, granted, it's predominantly Jewish people, but there's Roman soldiers who are there. The Roman soldiers were ethnically diverse. They're from all around the world, all different cultures. And there is a chance that where Peter is saying this, he could actually be in the court of the Gentiles, uh, as a part of the temple structure.

26:38 We'll, look at that in a minute. I'm saying all of this to say, there's already a hint of what is going to, to be an expansion from what was commonly already understood. So they're gathered at the temple together. It is the third hour of the day. Peter says, this is the third hour. He says they're not drunk. It's only the third hour. Why is that important? Well, first of all, the third hour is in the morning. And it seems to me from Peter's words that the preferred drinking hour was at night. I I think it's mostly still the same today. Uh, so he uses, it's only the third hour because that would immediately stop

27:25 the debate about being drunk. But it's interesting because the third hour happened to also be the hour of prayer and the hour of sacrifice. Uh, the morning sacrifice, which we call the third hour, let's call it 9:00 AM just for simplicity's sake, for all of our minds, it's 9:00 AM They're gathered together for the purpose of prayer and sacrifice. There's a growing crowd. Why is there a growing crowd? Because there's a growing crowd coming to offer sacrifices or to observe the, the sacrificial offering and to pray, because it's the prayer, our prayer. And it also happens to be the beginning of the, of the commercial day. The commercial day would would've started somewhere in between eight and 9:00 AM So there's, this is explaining why there's a crowd that's beginning to grow.

28:11 Businesses would be opening up, et cetera, et cetera. So if all of this is true, And it's the hour of prayer, the hour of sacrifice, there's actually some, some Jewish precedent as to why they wouldn't be drunk. Because in Leviticus chapter 10, Navan Avi who come and the text says they bring strange fire and the Lord consumes them. But immediately following that, it says, the Lord commanded Aaron and his sons to not consume alcohol before coming in to offer a sacrifice. So there are some Jewish commentators

28:57 who connect those two things, uh, to forbid, alcohol consumption before the before sacrifices or, or which would be the same thing at this point. So again, there could be multiple depths of what we're talking about in terms of it's 9:00 AM. So let me, uh, yeah, if I can have you guys pop up that picture for a moment. So here is a model of the temple structure. Here is the temple. I don't know if you can see the, that red.here is the, the temple structure where the sacrifices were made

29:43 out here in this larger area. This is, as you can see, the, the title here, the Court of the Gentiles. Today, we have as what's the Western Wall, the hotel where you go pray. It's right here. And we have what is now known in Israel as the southern steps right here. So there, there's, to me, there are two places basically where this could have happened. And, and even as I'm speaking, I'm beginning to favor one of them. One of 'em, it could be in the court of the Gentiles because all the men and the women could be together, but it could be that they're here somewhere on the southern steps. And now this is, this is, I'm gonna give you my reasoning as to why this actually is beginning to kind of tug me

30:31 that direction, because there are 3000 who hear his, who hear Peter's message, repent and are immersed. And what has been discovered near the southern steps. Do you guys have that o other photo? What has been discovered near the southern steps are M**k vote or, or a, a, a, um, what, what you would call a mikva, a place where you go into the water, you repent, you go into the water, and you come out. And it's not just one that have been discovered. There's dozens. So when you think about going, being immersed and immersing, 3000 people, listen, we do it here. We usually, it's like 20 people,

31:16 and it takes us like two hours, but we're talking about 3000 people. And, and it seems as if they just come, kind of goes quick. Well, some of these, it looks like there, there might even be like two lanes, like, you know, like the Chick-fil-A express lane, like they're going in, it's like the express repentance. And, and you can just think about that. They're, they're going around and, and there's all of these mc vote, and, and it's an opportunity for them to be immersed. And it's right outside the southern steps. It already is in existence. It's not like they had to, they, yeah, they had to go down into the water, and then they had to go up into the temple. You had to be immersed. You had to be, um, ritually clean

32:03 to go into the temple in the first place. So it just seems like this is a great place where it could occur. Okay? So that's my kind of, I don't know, you call that, uh, geological, whatever you call that. That's my my detour here for a moment. So now we come to, uh, verses 17 through 21. And, and before I get into this, I want to say, I want, I wanna make a, a, a statement that this utilization of Joel, it seems almost like the, this, this

32:49 scripture directs the rest of the book of Acts in terms of how we interpret it and, and what is, what is, uh, written and what is quoted. Much like, if you remember when we started, I know it's been a long time since we started Luke, but if you remember when we started Luke, in Luke chapter four, uh, Luke quotes, um, well, Luke reports that Yeshua quotes Isaiah, uh, Isaiah 61, 1 through two. And he says, the Ruak of Otai is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of Adonai's favor,

33:38 this scripture set the, the, the direction of the book of Luke. So what you see throughout the book of Luke, you see, uh, this, uh, addressing the besara, the good news to the poor, the captives, the oppressed, and then you see the proclamation of the favor of, of the year, of the Lord's favor. Now, by the way, it's also important to note that Yeshua stopped where he did in the, in mid verse, because after that, it, it takes another turn in, in Isaiah. But these miracles that we witnessed by Yeshua occur throughout the rest of the book. Likewise, in the book of Acts,

34:24 what we see here quoted in Joel begins to set the stage for the rest of the book of Acts. So, well, before I, even, before I read the actual passage, one more, one more thing to note, I've already said this before, but I'll say it again. Acts is volume two that Luke wrote. Luke wrote the book of Luke to Theophilus, and he wrote the book of Acts to Theophilus. And so I made the case, I think it's maybe been a month. I made the case that what was foundational in Luke is not left behind the moment we turn into the Book of Acts, but rather it becomes foundational for the Book of Acts.

35:11 And it's almost an understood foundation as opposed to we need to highlight it again. So the, so the foundation for the book of Luke with the good news, this is what we call the gospel. If you, you know, go preach the gospel, uh, in, in Greek, it has a particular word, uh, and in, in Hebrew, it's utilization of the word rah. And what it is, is it's this, um, it's, how can I say it? It's, um, proactively sharing and almost pushing, but not, um, what would be good news to people who are poor, oppressed, captive, so on and so forth. And, and so we have to understand that

35:58 that remains the underlying function through the Book of Acts. But now what we are seeing is with, especially with the utilization of this Joel passage, is that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit actually empowers the followers of Yeshua to accomplish the spread of the besara, the good news. Okay, now let's, um, let's get into the passage. So in Acts chapter two, it says, in it shall be in the last days, chapter two, verse 17. And I'm gonna start with 17, 18. And, and, and it shall be in the last days, says, God, that I will pour out my ruach on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

36:43 Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams even on my slaves, male and female, I'll pour out my ruach in those days and they shall prophesy. So I just want to take a moment, and this is sometimes what we do on Wednesday nights. What do we notice in these verses? Well, like, kind of what, what stands out to us? Well, first of all, the Lord will pour out his spirit on all flesh again, what was a hint now seems to be growing stronger, that the Lord will pour out his spirit on all flesh Again, Peter May or may not understand the full implications of this at this moment, but it's this, all flesh is hinting toward the inclusion of Gentiles in the last days.

37:31 And throughout the rest of the Book of Acts, we will see a continual expansion of this vision. So now I want to, I I, I've asked the projection team to stick these verses up side by side with the the or, or maybe it's really over under with what occurs in the book of Joel, because there are some important differences that I want to note, and I think therefore a purpose, uh, and, and not just only me, but I also want to share, give a little credit to a little, I should give a lot of credit to Dr. Craig Keener because his, his book has really helped me in this, in this particular moment and, and throughout here. So if you guys can pop up, here we go. And it shall be in the last day. So I, I want you to note, this is Joel, uh,

38:19 and some of your book, and some of your bibles will be Joel three and some it'll be Joel two, just depends on the, the way it's numbered, and it shall be in the last day. It says, God, that I'll pour out my ruok on all flesh. And so the quotation from Joel, what it actually says, so it will be afterward, I will pour out my ruach on all flesh. So there's a couple things that are, that are noteworthy here. First of all, the last days versus afterward, it seems to me that Peter and Luke, I'm just going to, let's give credit to both of them at this point. They are making a statement that the last days are being realized because of what is happening. That's the, this is, this is Peter's answer. He says, the last days are here. Why?

39:05 Because of the pouring out of the spirit. So here we have pouring out of the spirit in the last days. So Peter just kind of puts it up in front of everyone. And also what we see throughout the Book of Acts is an emphasis of this pouring outta the spirit in the last days, but it's also not uncommon. So let me rephrase that. It's common in the Jewish Bible, uh, in the tenah for phrases such as in the last days, or in the last times, it was a, it was a biblical phrase that was pointing toward the period of Israel's restoration. And so Peter here says, in the last days, and he, now, by the way, I just want to this, I'm gonna say this three times at least.

39:51 What, what just happened in chapter one? Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel at this time? This is the burning question, and I'm, I'm gonna make a case that Peter actually is thinking, yes, that it's, it's near, but near is a, is a relative term, uh, for, for all of us and even for the Lord. So Peter makes this case. It's the last days, it's the time, the period of Israel's redemption. The last days Peter's saying, the last days have arrived. How do we know that? Because the spirit is being poured out. And this spirit, what you have just witnessed is the evidence of the pouring out the Spirit.

40:37 And if it's the evidence of the pouring out of the spirit, then the restoration of the kingdom of Israel will soon follow. Do you see the argument when Yeshua was asked that question? I, I can't tell you how many books I've read, um, by what we would call replacement theologians or cessationist theologians, where they say, well, Yeshua at that point just said, we're moving on. Yeshua didn't answer the question In how many circumstances in any of the gospels do you ever see Yeshua answer the question like once? It doesn't mean that he's denying the reality of it. It means that he's trying to get at whatever the heart is

41:24 of this, of the, of the person who's asking the question. And so he responds and says, it's not your job to know the times or the, or the seasons. He doesn't say It's not going to happen. If it wasn't going to happen, he would've said, you guys are a bunch of dummies. It is not gonna be the restoration of Israel. It's a, I have a kingdom for the whole world. Why can't you guys get this? You spent the last three and a half years with me. What's wrong with you already? He didn't say that. And because he didn't say that, I think it's safe for all of us to draw the conclusion that the restoration of the kingdom of Israel will happen. It's just not up to us to know the times or the, or the seasons, though. We all ask, and it intrigues all of us.

42:14 So the pouring outta the spirit is the evidence of the last days, and therefore other signs will become more prevalent. So the first one is the pouring outta the spirit. This is what, what Peter says. The first one that you'll see is the pointing outta the Spirit, by the way, you just saw it. And then here, the one of the other, if you guys can pop that back up, it also says, uh, it says, and it shall be in the last days, says God. But that says God is in, in the original text. It could be, it could be that, it could be a couple things. Number one, it could be one Peter saying, Hey, listen, I just want you to know this is who's talking. And, and that kind of gives the veracity of the statement.

43:00 It could also be him, uh, strengthening his own argument, actually. Now, what you also notice, okay, let's go to the next verse, uh, or to to part B. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall see dreams, uh, shall dream dreams. So in Joel three, it says, your sons and daughters will be, will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. The phrases are flipped about the old men and the young men. They're, they're reversed. Why is this? Dr. Keener and I, and I, I don't see a reason to debate him, says that Luke tends to emphasize visions throughout the rest of the book, and,

43:46 and as, as opposed to dreams. And therefore, he places the visions first, and it strengthens Luke's argument. Again, it's not necessarily, uh, we're not defining good and evil here. We're def define. We're helping ourselves better understand what's being said. And let's see, maybe you can go to the next, yeah, here we go. Even on my slaves, male and female, I'll pour out my ruak in those days and they shall prophesy. And Joel, it says also on the male and the female servants, will I pour out my spirit in those days? So what we have here are two things coupled together. Number one, in Acts, he talks about my slaves, my servants.

44:32 So this is the Lord drawing them to him, and he's emphasizing that they are the recipients of his, of, of, of the Spirit. And as such, they are his servants and they shall prophesize. So what's interesting is it doesn't make it because of, of, of the way the verse is laid out, but the verse ends with the word prophesy, which is not in the original text. In, in, in the book of Joel and earlier, it uses the word prophesy also. So when you have the repetition of a word in scripture, this is always the case. When you have a repetition of a word, it emphasizes whatever is being said.

45:19 In this case, it's emphasizing that his servants are prophets, like the prophets of old, the prophets of old came and prophesied and, and gave God's word. And as such, it's, it's happening again. By the way, it was not Christianity who invented, um, the idea that the Holy Spirit stopped moving after the, the apostles. That's a Jewish invention because it says that the spirit of the, the, the, the, the idea is that what we call the intertestamental period is a period where there was, you were no longer hearing prophecy. You were no longer, uh, seeing evidence of the spirit at play.

46:07 So what we see here is the spirit of God coming upon his followers, coming upon the followers of Yeshua, but in in particular, it's very interesting. It's the sons and daughters, old men and young men, male and female slaves. And it's going back and re and taking us back to this idea from Luke about the poor, the downtrodden, the, the captive. Uh, and, and it's this, it's an understanding of the, the classes of people that would be affected. Okay? So let's move on to verse 19. And I will give wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath blood

46:53 and fire, smokey vapor, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of Adonai comes. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of Otai shall be saved again. We're gonna do this, what, what I did a minute ago. What do we notice in these verses? The heavens and the earth cannot help but declare that approaching day of the Lord. Do you see that the heavens, they, they can't stop declaring that the Lord is arriving. Why? Because it's in, it's written within the way that they behave. As such, there will be wonders in the sky and signs on the earth, blood fire, smokey vapor,

47:38 the sun will become dark, the moon will be, will turn into blood. These types of phenomena will appear more and more frequently the closer the earth gets to the coming day of the Lord. In other words, the appearance of these phenomena indicate that the day of the Lord is drawing near. Does that make sense? I just want to point out before we get into the comparison, I want to point out what most of us know, but Mountain Vesuvius erupted in 79 ce. It says, nine years after the destruction of the Temple Mountain Vesuvius, it was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions ever. It destroyed multiple cities, most notably Pompe.

48:26 It just, it, it, it erupted. Uh, and when a volcano erupts, it produces what fire, smokey vapor, a darkened sun. And sometimes the particulates of the air make the moon look like blood. I'm not saying that Luke wrote this saying, look, look at what happened with Mount Vesuvius. But rather, Luke wrote this, and Mount Vesuvius erupts shortly thereafter. And people are only being confirmed in what they are hearing from Luke. Some of us were alive, some of us were not. When Mount St. Helens erupted, uh, 44 years ago. And when Mount St.

49:12 Helens erupted, the Ash Cloud covered the bulk of the United States, and it then proceeded to go around the world. Now, I read an account, I don't know if this was true or not, but I read an account that there was a, I don't know, a boulder is probably the best way to describe it, that erupted when Mount St. Helen's erupted and it went 12 miles into the atmosphere, and it came down in Kansas. I mean, that's a half a continental way. Like that's crazy to me. And I'm not talking about like, you know, a little rock. I mean, a boulder that's like the size of an 18 wheeler is,

49:59 is about the size of it. Now, I, I tried finding the, the article so I could say that it was fact and, and I couldn't. So if you know it is, and you have that article, please send it to me. Um, anyways, you can see how with the eruption of Vesuvius, how Luke's readers in here is the number one. There, there's now textual evidence about what the disciples experienced on Shavuot, but now it's even closer. Maybe it's post destruction of the temple. Maybe they, maybe they don't know what's happening with the rest restoration of the kingdom. And all of a sudden Vesuvius erupts and it only serves to confirm what Luke has already written. Now, it's also, I just want also note a couple things

50:48 with these signs. We know that Yeshua is coming soon. If it was soon, then imagine how much sooner it is now. So that's number one. But number two, I also wanna point out that these signs didn't just start post-resurrection. If you look back in Luke 23, the sun went dark at Yeshua's death. The sixth hour it went dark. The curtain of the temple was torn, was ripped into, and if you read the book of Matthew, there were other phenomena that ha that occurred at that point. Those phenomena all fall in the same category of signs, wonders of the, what we would call natural wonders.

51:37 So what is different if you guys can pop those two verses back up, uh, the, the side by side verses what is different in this passage, I'll give wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath blood fire and Smokey Vapor. And Joel, it says, I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood, fire and pillars of smoke. The difference is the inclusion of the word signs, which is really just a repetition of the word wonders. Uh, but what it does is by repeating a word or repeating a concept, it strengthens what we should be expecting. And in fact, what Luke does by doing this, whether or not Peter, what Peter and what Peter, and let me confusing, doesn't it, what Peter and Luke do by doing this is actually emphasize

52:23 what we're gonna see throughout the rest of the book of Acts, which are signs and wonders. Peter, then if you guys can go to the next verse, the sun shall be turned to darkness in the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord. Oh, yeah, this is the same. Okay, let's go, let's go to the next one. Here we go. This is, this is where I was going. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in Joel it says, then all who call an adonai's name will escape for on Mount Zion. And in Jerusalem there will be rescue, as Adonai has said, among the survivors whom Otai is calling.

53:10 So you, I don't know if you notice, um, but that first phrase is where Peter stops. Um, the word escaped here is the same as, as saved. Tho those who call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is interesting because Peter stops right here. Why would Peter stop right here? It seems to me that Peter stops here because of, and we're gonna get into this next week, um, because he begins to explain that the name that they call on is the name of Yeshua. This is what we, Peter stops the quotation and says this, Yeshua is the one that we're talking about.

53:56 This is the name that you need to call upon. Now, it's interesting for, for numerous reasons, it's interesting because he's emphasizing the, the coming and the calling upon the name of Yeshua. For those who are hearing, we're going to get into that next week. But Joel utilizes here, uh, in, in this passage, the use of what we call the Tetragrammaton, the unspeakable name of the Lord. And maybe in your text, it, it's capital all LORD. That's what's often utilized to denote, um, the utilization that's in Joel. By the time you get to acts, acts is written in Greek.

54:45 The word for Lord in Greek is interchangeable, and it doesn't necessarily represent the tetra gammon anymore. The Lord Yeshua would be the same as the name of the Lord. Does that make sense? There's, there becomes a, a, uh, melding of terms, if you will. Okay? So Peter is supplying the necessary information to the crowd that this verse is pointing ahead to the calling of on the name of Yeshua. And he finishes actually this quote from Joel, uh, what we, what we have as Joel three, um, this part at the very end whom Otai is calling, he actually finishes that quote

55:32 in verse 39, and you can, we're gonna go, we're not gonna go there now, but that's the end of the Joel quote, which means that everything in the middle is inclusive in Peter's understanding of what he's presenting to the crowd at this time. So what does he leave out? He leaves out these two middle lines that are focused on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Perhaps he leaves them out because he's beginning to help everyone understand that the everyone, the all flesh is not just all Israel, but all of the nations. You see Peter's leaving this out on purpose,

56:18 and that that's how I, what I, what I come to is it, it includes this idea of people from all nations. It's no longer limiting to the pouring outta the spirit on just all the Jewish people. All of these elements that we see help us understand what we call eschatology or the, the, the understanding of the end times when we understand the end times, lemme just say this, when we understand the end times, we understand that Peter understood them to have already begun 2000 years ago. And here we are still in them saying, some people saying

57:04 that the end times are beginning. Well, lemme tell you, they're no longer beginning. We can at least say that. But they are continuing. And the, the actual day of the Lord draws nearer every day that we live. Why do we know that? Well, first of all, it's super simplistic logic here. If it was the end times when Peter was alive, and it's the end times now, then we have to be closer than when Peter was alive. That's just the super simple logic. It beyond that, what we also notice is all of these phenomenon that we, the natural phenomenon, but now also there's, there's this element, there's both natural phenomenon and people phenomenon.

57:51 What are happening now is they're becoming more frequent and what is often, uh, what is often presented in the coming of the kingdom, the, the restoration of the kingdom of Israel is that as the day draws closer, it's like a woman going into labor to birth a baby. The signs happen faster and more intense. What we've seen is, you know, a thousand or 2000 years of very few signs, but now they're beginning to become more frequent. Therefore, you understand that in the birthing process of the kingdom, we're closer to its culmination or to its actual restoration today than we were even five

58:39 years ago or 10 years ago. So this eschatological imagery, so now I'm gonna define that the spirit being poured out, the cosmic signs, the day of the Lord and salvation, all of them evoke Israel's future hope, which is the coming kingdom. It's not just Israel's future hope, but it's all of our future hope. And it, but this is what I want to say. What most people miss when we talk about the coming of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, is that it is a kingdom with a Jewish king. It is a kingdom where its capital is a Jewish capital in the

59:26 city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel. And what most people miss is that it's fundamentally modeled on the Jewish kingdom as seen when David was king. That's what we're talking about. So the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, as the disciples point out in Acts one, is not just a generic, we're gonna play harps in the sky. Pardon me if I'm bursting some bubbles. But it is a physical kingdom here on Earth that represents and is, it's not just spiritually,

1:00:14 but it is the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Now, it's much more than just the kingdom of Israel has ever been, because it will be all nations will come up to submit to the King Yeshua in that day. You can go read in Zechariah 14. There's even, there's even consequences if the nations don't come up. But this is what we're talking about, the restoration of the kingdom of God is it does not ignore or leave out the Jewish people. In fact, it's almost the opposite. So what does this mean for you and me? Well, first of all, it means that I went way late today.

1:01:01 But second of all, it means that we're probably gonna go way late the next two weeks as well as we, as we continue to, to flesh out Peter's answer. I broke, I haven't broken your record. That's right. I haven't broken Dan's record either. When, when we come together. So this is for, what do I want us to take away from this beyond the fact that there's a whole lot of wealth in this passage? First of all, what were the first thing that the talal maddi, that the disciples, the followers of Yeshua, what was the first thing that they did? They came together in unity to pray. So it means for us that we have to come together in unity to pray. And when we do, the Lord will move in our midst, just like

1:01:49 what happened in Acts chapter two. Secondly, in the last days, nature will declare his works and humanity will also be enabled to praise his name. So what does that mean? His spirit is gonna be poured out or it will continue to be poured out because it's already started. By the way, acts two was the start. It hasn't, it didn't stop and will resume. It just has continued. Maybe we didn't see so much of it for a while. I don't know. The spirit will continue to be poured out on all who seek him, and they will be saved. This is what acts, what Peter says, and all who call on the name of Yeshua will be saved.

1:02:36 So let me say these two things. As the last days grow closer and closer, we will notice these natural wonders more and more. Now, I, I, I use the terminology wonder, and I use that terminology to describe Mount Vesuvius and Mount St. Helens. But when we begin to think about humanity's interaction with those, they're devastating events. So when you read the scripture and you read the great and terrible day of the wor of the Lord, or the great and wonderful day of the Lord, you can understand why, because it depends on what you, what perspective you take, because it is great and wonderful, but it is also terrible.

1:03:23 It depends on what side of it you are on. For the sows who are on the side of evil, it will be a terrible day. And for those who are on the side of the Lord, I'm not gonna tell you it's gonna be a wonderous day. It may be a, it may be a day of sorrow until you experience the Lord, and then it's gonna be a wonderful day. But it doesn't mean that our times are gonna get easier to endure. It actually means the opposite, that everything will be more and more difficult, that the trials, that the, the circumstances will become darker. The oppression will become heavier. Why? Because we are supposed to endure. We have to walk through it for better or for worse.

1:04:13 And here's the other reality, the spirit being poured out. What it does is it empowers the people to walk out the good news. And so if that was true, then how much more so is it true now as the days continue to get darker bleecker and more oppressive? The pouring outta the spirit is good news because it means that if we're not walking on our own and reality, you're also not walking on your own. If we're, if you're here in this room or, or, or I guess in watching also, if you are with community, you're not walking on your own, the worst thing that you can do is go home and go, oh, I'm so alone.

1:05:00 It's just me. I don't know how else to help you other than to say you're not alone. Look around the room, find somebody in the room. This is, you're not alone. And when you're not alone, it makes the journey a little bit more bearable, despite how, how hard it is. I know I shared the story and I'm going to, I, I'm way late. I'm gonna share the story again. 20 years ago, or nearly 20 years ago, I went on a hiking trip with two of my best friends. And, uh, we were hiking up a, a mountain and I stopped somewhere around 12,000 feet.

1:05:46 I don't know, we were, yeah, it must have been around 12,000, 12,500 feet. We, we stopped. I stopped and I was like, I'm done. I'll catch you guys in a couple hours when you come back. They looked at me and they said, no, you, you can't wimp out on us now for guys this works. All of a sudden, my competitive drive kicked in. And I was like, you're right. I'm gonna beat you to the top. Which I didn't, but I still made it to the top. I made it to the top. Why? Because I was, I was doing it with two other people. That to say, if you are feeling alone, if you're feeling discouraged, if the circumstances are overwhelming, if the war, the news,

1:06:32 and the war in Israel is discouraging to you, there's more people in here that you can find. Don't let it discourage you to the point of quitting. When I share news of what happens up here, it's not to discourage you. It's not to give you despair. It's to give you the opportunity so that you can pray with knowledge. For instance, For instance, we have lived in a bubble in Texas for a long time, certainly in the metroplex, a bubble that I would have considered to be primarily,

1:07:18 not predo, not all, but primarily antisemitism free. That bubble is gone. Whether or not you know it, I'm gonna share with you a couple things. First of all, one of the messianic synagogues was desecrated two weeks ago with all sorts of writing, um, swastikas, uh, lots of things that really, I honestly, I expect nothing else from people who can't think. Uh, but regardless, this is the first one I I've known of in probably at least a decade, maybe I'm wrong, but whatever happened on October 7th seemed to have

1:08:07 popped the bubble that now is enabling and empowering people with vile ideas to come out and make them known. Last week, there was a group of, uh, of protestors out in front of Temple Emmanuel, um, Neo, neo-Nazis in uniform. Uh, I, I think there were maybe five or something like that. I don't know. They, they were out there the day before in North Park Mall. It basically shut down North Park Mall in a section where it was a, basically a death to Jews chant,

1:08:53 um, I mean from the river to the sea. Um, I'm telling you all of this, not because I want you to be scared or afraid. Rather, this is the time when we can, we can allow the Lord to, to, to work through us, and we can come together. And like Peter does here, when he stands up, it's not just him. It's the whole group. And he stands up and says, this is what's happening. These are signs of the last days. These are the signs. These, the ones that hear locally are signs that the Lord is coming. Why? Because it's an attack against the plan of God.

1:09:39 There's signs not to scare you, but signs for you to get on your knees and pray together apart whatever it is. So when we walk away today, do not be discouraged. There's a whole lot of bad news in the world that can discourage you. But don't be discouraged. Take courage and encourage one another. Why? Because Yeshua is coming again. Woo.

1:10:30 And to me, all of this means that he's coming sooner rather than later. So let's take courage with one another as the day of Yeshua is coming closer and closer. What's up, dude? A Venus Shabbat Shamayim, our Father in heaven. Lord, we come to you on this Shabbat. Lord, I ask that you would make your signs and your wonders appear again as they, as we see, and as we witness in the Book of Acts. Lord, I pray for those who are standing against your plan, against the people of Israel. Lord, I ask that you would give them supernatural revelation, dreams and visions of Yeshua, our Messiah, Lord,

1:11:17 that you would draw all of the nations to you, Lord. And we ask that you would draw all of your people, all of Israel, to you today. Lord, we bless you and praise you in Yeshua's name. Name a, amen. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace

1:12:21 in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua.