Acts 1: Harmony Nights | The Tent

Just think about how good God is. And you woke up this morning, you made it here, you walked up the stairs.

And don't fear, you are loved. And don't make us rewatch it. You are worthy to be praised.

Can you lift your voice and sing with me?

You are We worship you, our Lord. You are worthy to be praised. Alpha, Omega, we worship you, our Lord. You are worthy to be praised. You are our Father, I know you may go out. We worship you, Father, you are worthy to be praised. Can you keep worshiping him? Can you make it all about him? Make it all about him.

It's just you and Jesus. It's not you and your bills. It's not you and your problems. It's not you and your situation.

It's you and the Creator of heavens and the earth.

Y'all feel that peace?

It can be permanent.

That peace can be permanent.

For from you are all things, and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You are beyond it all. You are beyond it For from you are all things, and to you are all things.

You deserve the glory.

And the angels cry, holy! All creation cries, holy! You are lifted high, holy! Holy forever! In your big mercy, glory to the King of Kings.

Glory, she will always be.

Glory. Holy forever. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above all.

It doesn't matter what they're called.

It doesn't matter where they live. There's a name that stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy, You are lifted high, holy and holy forever. Still your people sing.

Somebody cry out!

Oh, holy is still the King of Kings. Holy, yes, you will always be holy, holy forever. I want to share something with you real quick.

I was in the shower yesterday and I just started to weep because I started seeing all of the prayers that God answered, and it was overwhelming. I feel like And this is just the nature of the office that I function in, but I can't— I can't do anything without just honoring God from like a sincere place. When you think of the goodness of God— me, sometimes I don't even want to ask for anything. I only ask because he tells me to ask. He said, come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So I ask for rest because he asked me to ask him. Because when I think of the goodness of God, that goodness is sufficient. But he says Come to him. He tells us to ask and he will answer, to seek and we will find, and knock and the doors will be opened unto him. So your prayer is just you responding to the goodness of God. And when you pray from that place, you're praying because there's a relationship. I'm, I'm saying this because we're about to pray. You're praying because he died for you to be able to pray to him.

Can you imagine that?

He wants relationship so bad he says, I will come and die for this. So your prayer is you saying, Jesus, you didn't die for any for no reason. Jesus didn't die so we can have nice houses and flashy cars. He died so that we could talk to him. Can somebody talk to Jesus right now? That's what the blood gave you access to. Oh Jesus, the blood gave you access into the holies of Holy, the place where priests can only go once a year. The place was—

it was inaccessible.

You could not go there before. Even if you was a Levi, you couldn't go there unless you was a high priest. And now you can come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and help in your time of need. Can somebody talk to Jesus? You can come to him boldly. The presence of God— if you touch the ark, you die. And now you can just walk into his presence. The Ark of the Covenant, if it bumped you, it was it. And now you can hold Jesus. Somebody hold on to him. People died for this. Just hold him right now. The closest they could get to God was the ark. Now God is inside of you.

Hold him tight.

Squeeze him. Never let me go. I want to be loved by Jesus.

I want to be called John was called the loved.

Can my name be also the loved?

Can I be the one that Jesus loved?

The one he cares for?

The name of Jesus, what wonderful name it is! The name of— It's what a wonderful name it is! The name of Jesus, it's what a wonderful name it is! The name of Jesus, what powerful name is the name.

What a powerful name.

What a powerful name is the name. Come on, that's powerful. It's what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. It's what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. Jesus, take your place.

The name of cancer, depression, anxiety, those are names, demons, Lord God, we say thank you.

You are here.

You've always been here. We're just more aware of it. So we say thank you for the awareness. Lord God, as we enter into the word, may the word enter into us. May it take root in the name of Jesus. May it bear fruit in the name of Jesus. May we not just be hearers of this word but doers of this word in the name of Jesus. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forevermore. Until Christ comes, then the church said— somebody give the Lord a shout of praise. Now you'll be shocked to know that all of this just happened today. This just happened today. I met, I met Eric at the 12-hour prayer. I've known him for 4 days. But you know, I said it before in the Bible study, when you belong to the same kingdom, you meet people you've never met before, but you you know you've always known them because you belong to the same Father. We got the same Daddy, bro. We got the same Daddy. And that's the good news. That's the good news of this gospel, that as many as come to him, they can have access. That same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead was inside of you, right? is a right, is a privilege to call him Abba Father. So I bless God for the fatherhood of God. It's 8:20. To be honest, we could have done that all night and that would have been sufficient. But this isn't the tent. This is Harmony Nights. This is the very first gathering. And I just want to share a little inspiration of how we got here. Um, so, um, I'm Pio. I'm pretty sure I know most of you all, and the tent is a ministry that exists to help people stay in the presence of God through prayer, through worship, to harmony with his word. So the reason why this is Harmony Nights is because our goal for the next several weeks is to figure out how we can become one with this Bible, right? How we can be in harmony with the word of God. I feel like if you're in harmony with the word of God, the alignment that your life will have will be unmatchable. You feel me? You become one with this thing, right?

Jesus—

the Bible says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh. So Jesus and the word are one. And now he is in us and we in him, so that means we also have to become one with the Word. That's what harmony means. Um, my wife is laughing. I'm not gonna lie. You can come for me.

That's Christine, everybody.

That's my wonderful wife. So we're going to be in Acts, and the reason we're going to be in Acts is because we're going to go on a journey to figure out what the church is supposed to look like. And the premise of this is if you went into the wilderness with just a Bible, never went to church before, and then you started a church in that wilderness, what would it look like? Would it look like the church that you went to last Sunday? Don't answer too loud because I don't want your pastor to come looking for you. Um, I have an answer, and we're all going to come to an answer. Uh, this is an extension. When you think about what Acts is, I'm going to go into a little bit of context. Um, the author of Acts is quote-unquote anonymous, but we have a lot of, uh, hints that points to Dr. Luke. Um, one of those being Luke was mentioned 3 times in the Book of Luke in the book of Luke and Acts were, uh, it used to be one book, right? So what, when you read the end of Luke, it's the beginning of Acts.

Does anybody need a Bible?

It's a great question. Oh man of God, can I share this other testimony? So Eric was like, man, I want you to meet my partner. And he was like, I don't know when you guys busy, but you know. And then he talked to me, he said, whoa, well, I'm going to a Bible study on Hoyne. And Eric was like, I'm going to a Bible study on Harmony.

Harmony.

So I don't even know how he got into his Bible study because he was supposed to be in that Bible study, but apparently it's a guy named Yeshua. That's a good man. That's a good man. Yeshua, be praised. So there's something happening, and I just want to continue to pull on that so that we can get the fullness of what God is trying to do in this season. So Luke, the end of Luke, and I'm not going to be talking for— as soon as I give this context, I'm going to stop talking and you guys are going to talk. The end of Luke is the beginning of Acts, and Luke ends after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, right before the ascension, where Jesus now wants to create to create witnesses. This is important. There's a difference between being a believer and being a witness, right? Witnesses were made the moment that the bodily resurrection of Jesus occurred, because people always believed in the Messiah. They believed that there was going to be a man from the tribe of Judah that come down and to re-establish the prophecies that were made in Isaiah, so forth. So they were believers. Witnesses is something different. In fact, belief is not a requirement to be an apostle, but witness is. So I'm getting ahead of myself, but, um, in a nutshell, Jesus is making witnesses by appearing to them for 40 days. Now, those witnesses is what wrote what we read, right? When you think about courts And when you're trying to prove the innocence or the guilt of somebody, there's two things that you need. You need evidence and you need witnesses. Jesus gives us all of that in Acts 1. He gives us evidence. In fact, beyond evidence, he gives us proof, right? Evidence can be circumstantial. Evidence does not prove innocence or guilt. Like that glove that O.J. had, that was evidence, but it didn't prove nothing because I mean, definitely got off. But proof, proof is beyond the shadow of a doubt. So Jesus gave each and every one of us proof. That's what makes us witnesses as well. So we're going to read Acts 1, the entire chapter. And what I want you to do is to, to find one observation in Acts 1. By observation, I really mean revelation, but I hesitate to use that word. But for as many that, you know, can see, I want you to find one observation, and I want you to find one question.

Yes, Grandpa. By the way, I think what just kind of speaks to me more than anything else, especially when we approach his word, is that, you know, he's the same yesterday as he is today as he will be tomorrow. So he's the same forever, and his word endures forever. And the idea that we can approach God— what he said was no one can approach God and live, right? No one can see the face of God and live. And that's so— that's still true for Jesus. And so as we approach him, um, they don't come programmed, right? They're innocent. And that's really what he's asking. Don't come with your version of Jesus, right? Be open to him and allow him to, through His holiness, really burn up anything that isn't true, right? That we have been told so many things, and as we're coming together— and I truly believe in this revival so much that we could sit here for hours and hours talking about His goodness— but I think it's that He's asking us more than anything to come surrender, right? Not with trying to make Jesus fit our lives, but that we fit to His life, right? And don't compare ourselves to other Christians. We don't compare ourselves to even ourselves yesterday, but that we compare ourselves only to Him. So I just wanted to remind you and encourage you. But after you guys are already going to share.

Thank you.

Preach.

Pastor Tony, thank you, brother. Y'all didn't know this was an ordination service. The oil is prepared. So we're going to re-ask one. Does anybody want to volunteer to read All of Acts chapter 1 throughout for us. Doesn't matter version as long as there's not message. That's a joke, kind of. I didn't know it was just joking. That would have been awkward.

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up. After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, "Will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." And when he had said And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven Heaven in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from their Mount of Olives journey away, and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers—the company of persons was in all about 120—and said, Brothers, the scriptures had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man acquired a field with the reward sword of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akkaldama, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus dwelt in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become us a witness to his resurrection. And they put forward two: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, 'You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas turned aside to go his own place. And they cast lots for them, and the lots fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles.

And the Lord bless the reading of his holy word. Um, so I'm gonna let you guys just meditate on that really quick. And search the scriptures for that observation and/or that question. So we'll give it— we'll give it 2 minutes. Feel free to phone a friend. All right, so what I want to do is I want to break it up into kind of components. 3 sections. So the first 9 verses, the second 9 verses, and then the third 8 verses. And it just, it will allow us to just work through the chapter. So if anybody made an observation for the first 9 verses or has a question, the floor is yours. Just for our online family. Hi everyone, I'm Brittany.

I like your sweater. Come on now, be my friend.

So in verse 3, I have the NIV version, and the word that is used, I'll read it as it's used, is after his suffering he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. And Pio, when you started, you said that we are made to be witnesses. And the fact that the word convincing is used here shows me that part of the process to becoming a witness is having conviction. It's that absolute certainty that you know what you know that anchors you so that you don't waver. And it also makes me think about— there's another scripture that says that we as ambassadors of Christ, that it is he who makes his appeal through us. And you see him making his appeal here, and then of course in return as ambassadors, he'll do the same thing, make these same convincing proofs through us to other people so that they will have the same conviction. Conviction, and they will become witnesses. So I guess my summary is that, like, as we are studying the church, as we are gathering as the church, part of our work is to allow Christ to make his appeal, whatever that convincing proof is that he gives us, to make witnesses out of other people.

That's part of discipleship. Yeah, that's good. I kind of want to stay on this witness thing. Um, like, what, what makes a good witness? Anybody a lawyer? I should have used this.

Anybody a lawyer? Well, I'm not, but I've heard this before, but know that when people corroborate, that if there is like 100% agreement, that it's usually a good line. That's just so good, right? But when you have about 80% agreement that that's the sign of truth being told. So that if you have an event and we all witness it, but, you know, they're asking for specific details like what was the color of the sweater this person was wearing, what were the color of their shoes, and someone says pink, someone says red, and then it was purple, right? And so when people try to discredit the Bible, it's based on that. But like you said before, the one thing about God and his perfection is that he thinks of everything. And even the thing that we don't think about now, just like with the Dead Sea Scrolls, right, how they'll try to discredit the translations, but then they find something that predates it and says, no, it's been the word all along, right? And so it's that, it's that it's so perfect that even our error as humans is used to define truth, not perfection, right? Which is, I think it's an amazing thing that when you look at Witnesses today, that if they're all telling the truth, like, no, they're lying, their stories are too perfect. They're rehearsed. If you guys didn't watch R.D. What's in Minnesota, how with the Somalis and the fake hairs and all that, and you analyze it, it's that every answer— they use language that's not real. They talk about suspect, and then you know that's being fed. So everything you hear is to say it's so true that you can't deny the humanity of it all.

That's very good. Oh no, I think that's, um, I think that was so good. That was so good. Like when we got in trouble as kids and our parents would come home, we were like, here's our story. Hey, well, and we for sure was lying. You know, but like those little details, like for example, like, okay, well, how many fish, how many loaves, or right? It's just like when everybody's looking at the story from different perspectives, we're gonna see, like you guys see the 6 and then the 9 thing. Like if I'm standing this way, it's a 9, you standing over there, it's a 6. And that's kind of how the synoptic gospels were. So I'll just keep that mic over there and then we'll use this one over here.

Um, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all of them see what was going on. They saw what Jesus was doing and they had a different account on what they saw. Each one of them saw differently but the same. And, um, and what they— uh, in the first verse, chapter 1, verse 1, said Jesus began to both to do and to teach. So Jesus, not only he was doing the work, so they had proof because they was there listening. They were there with him. And they was, when they were there, this is what they must do.

Yeah, this is like the witness of this event is the life of Jesus, right? Like that's what we're becoming witnesses of. Like the event, the specific event that we are trying to become witnesses of is the life of Jesus and his teachings, right?

Chelsea, you got something? Yeah, but I, um, open to correction. This is gonna be good. But, um, I was reading over again, um, verse 8, um, for you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And I just thought that it was interesting that these, um, the 11, the 12 rather, who lived with Jesus, it's not until after he left and after they then received the impartation of the Holy Spirit that they would then become witnesses, not before. So I just wanted to throw it out there. Does anyone else have a thought with regards to that?

The thing that I will say with that is remember when they're selecting the replacement of Judas, they were also looking for the witnesses, right? The power dynamic here is the ability to witness to these territories because this, this, the— they just watched Jesus get crucified. Now they're about to go out and speak about that Jesus. They all gonna die too. That's just how the story is, you know. So like, the role of the Holy Spirit is to overwhelm that fear with that conviction. With that faith. So, right, there's a historical witness of like— because when they were choosing the disciples, they were just like, you have to have been a witness, you have to have been with us from the beginning, you have to have seen the baptism, you have to have seen the miracles, you have to see— because it's really hard to speak in conviction of something you've never seen. Like, have any of you guys had somebody tell you a third story account before? They're telling you a story of what somebody else told them. He's like, bro, you don't even know what happened. It's like you're telling me a story about a story. What are we talking about here? You know, so one of these qualifications is just like, man, if you saw him die and you saw him get up, there's a different witness. And that's what the Holy Spirit is really trying to give us conviction of for us that haven't seen that event. So like, you get what I'm saying? It's like the former witness is like their ability to see what actually happened. Our witness now is we're able to see that through the life of Jesus by way of the Holy Spirit, which requires faith because we was not there. So our faith is different, and I'm not trying to say we're better off, but we believe it and we wasn't there.

Amen. Yeah, I wrote. Yep, yep. I think too what we have to realize is that just like you brought up being in a courtroom, is that our God is a legalist in a sense, right? And that he doesn't back down from his word. What he says is what he says. And so I think when we talk about witnesses is looking at what Jesus represented on earth pre-crucifixion, right? Pre-resurrection, which is— that's the covenant that existed then. And that when, for example, when Peter said like, well, I can eat all things now, and who are you going to tell, say you can't eat something? And it's a new covenant. And so when, for example, the disciples asked Jesus, who do men say I am? And said, well, you would know, you know I'm the Christ because the Holy Spirit has told you. right? So it's that witness that he's talking about. And then the other thing is that what Jesus witnesses is saying, I can only do what my Father does. So he's witnessing his Father, and that access, yes, through the Holy Spirit. And then you look at when the sons of thunder, right, John and James, asked to sit at the left and right hand of the Father, and he scolded them and said, you can't do— like, you won't be able to. And then you look at Peter and you say, well, he denied Jesus, right? So what was it? They didn't have the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's the covenant that Jesus— I use him as examples to say, you can't even have the Holy Spirit until I complete the assignment, until I take back the authority that Adam lost and return to heaven. And that's that time frame in which it all happens. But basically, it's to say is that what you're now witnessing is inside of you is the home that the Son and the Father have made in the believer. And that's that new covenant. That's when the veil is torn. And the veil being torn is that we can now approach this holy, perfect God covered by the blood. And that's what he recognizes. And so that's what the witnesses is, that you're actually seeing with eyes of spirit now, right? So that then you don't see what the Father was doing. And so now when you see Jesus, you see the Father, right? So that's, that's just how I— but he'll always correct me when I come to scripture. I just speak from witness. Go ahead. I was amazed at verse 3, man. Something was hitting me.

These are the same people who ate the Passover, ate during the Passover, and Jesus is like, hey, you know, this is my blood, this is my flesh, say eat of it, do this in remembrance of me.

So this is the same same audience there.

And initially, we all know the story of the Israelites from Egypt, and what was supposed to be a 40-day journey— yeah, that's good—

disobedience, right?

And so he represents the Passover Lamb. Yeah. And so, and now that he's been resurrected, he sits with them for 40 days. Yeah. So there's no promised land for them to go to.

He is the promise.

Amen. And so that 40 days, every day was supposed to be Sabbath.

That's good. That's so good.

They not stuck in the wilderness no more.

Um, I feel like what stuck out to me the most is like the very next verse, and he tells them like he ordered them not to to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father. And like you were saying, like, to be a witness of Jesus, like, they're gonna die.

Yeah, they gotta stay. That's witness protection right there.

Like, sometimes I need to go to another city, like, I need to get out of here, you know. And they just witnessed something really dramatic and, um, and they're told not to leave. They're like, wait. The promise is still here. And I think it also shows, like, trust in them, like, you know, that they were gonna stay, but also that, um, their trust, like, in God and Jesus, that, like, they knew, like, no matter what was going on, like, they just saw the most horrific thing, that God had a promise for them. Yeah, that's good.

Like, how many of us would have, like, You, you watch that happen. Like, now the Roman soldiers are parading, looking around for the disciples of Jesus, and Jesus is like, y'all stay here, right? You know how much faith it takes for you to stay right there? You're in the face of danger. Witness protection. Like, y'all, if y'all leave— because if they would have left It could have been the end of it. Now they would've had to replace 6 motorcycles. They didn't have the power. Which leads me to this question. I'm glad you have the microphone. What does it mean now to witness with power in 2026? Peace. I like that answer a lot. Anybody want to go before we give it to PT?

So when Jesus is speaking about baptism, I immediately went back to Matthew when he was baptized by John. And when John was like, hey, why do I need to baptize you? Like, you're Jesus. But I felt like one, the start of the witnessing happened at the baptism, so it was super important. He showed himself in a physical way, and this is the first time we see the the Spirit of God's power bestowed on Jesus. So I think that's why it's important. It's a shadow of what's going to happen to us. That's good. Yeah. So I think when he recalls that, he's just really trying to re-stimulate the minds of the apostles. Like, this is what happened. Yeah, remember? And then Jesus immediately went into the wilderness. And that's what's coming for the apostles. They're immediately starting their work. They're immediately starting their ministry.

So I think that's why. That's so good. It's like, just like you said, like Jesus is the great witness, and whatever happened to him has to happen to us if we're his disciples.

Yeah, the way. But that's it. Literally, he's saying, follow me, and your life should look just like mine. Yeah, one thing I want to say, that we are in those times. As much as it is that you guys think it's Christianity, and this is what he's been revealing to me mostly, is that think about what it must have been to be a follower of Jesus in those times. You were one of a few, and you walk into a room of thousands of people, you'd be the only one. Yeah, right. And, and that's I guess a part of why I felt the Holy Spirit speaking of, you know, there's, there's all these versions of Jesus out there. And so what you have is different gods, basically. And no one wants to die to themselves to see him. And so that's the part where we are on a rescue mission to really find the lost sheep of Israel. And whatever they tell you about Israel, this is Israel, right? We are By faith, the adopted children of Israel. So it is that, it's that we are in those times in our lives, it should look exactly like it, which means the war is coming, whether it be, I think it's Islam, right, surrounding us here, but that we're in those times where our lives are going to start to look like the apostles' lives, in persecution, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the gifts that will come will all start to increase as we get closer and closer to our own cross. And so just encouragement, but that's the biggest thing, is the false versions of Jesus that are out there.

Yeah, that's why I think many false witnesses— yeah, literally. And I think that's why every time, you know, they speak of Jesus in here, they always have a precursor of this same Jesus, because even at that time, you You know, they were— Jesus was a common name, you know, so there were multiple Jesuses out there. So every time they had to speak on the one, it's this Jesus, or Jesus Christ of Nazareth, or Son of David, they had to make sure you're not talking about Bar-Jesus there, or the dad of Bar-Jesus, you know, elements of sorcery. Like, his dad's name was Jesus and he was a warlock, you know. So yeah, we're— if anybody's unclear, the Jesus we worship and we talk about, his name is Yeshua. Mashiach, you know, that, that Jesus.

One more thing is through the scriptures, we're talking about proofs, like repeatedly God is proving himself to the apostles through the scriptures in the Old Testament. So how do they know? Like, how do they know infallibly that was him? It was through knowing the scriptures. And reading the scriptures. And I think the way we get so many different Jesuses is because we're not paying attention to what God says. Yeah. So we fall away from like, well, we're interpreting how we want to, when he's very clear in a lot of ways of how he's saying it. And he repeats himself over and over and over and over again to the point where it almost doesn't matter what book you read in the Bible.

You're going to see Jesus. Yeah. One of the revelations that I got about this was, and this is for next week, but they knew the promise came when they felt what they felt when Jesus was around them. Because I was wondering, how would they know the promise came, right? Like the promise, you just sit there. All right, everybody, you guys wait for the promise. You get the promise yet? I wonder what those conversations were like. Like, hey Peter, you get the promise yet? Ain't no problem. But like, when they started to have the same experiences of when Jesus was around, they were like, well, this is familiar. Everything he said is what we're experiencing. So like, we know we're true witnesses when we're experiencing what we're reading in Acts. That's when we know that we are the church that was started here, which is what we're trying to get familiar.

Um, the one thing that stuck out to me is that we suppose it's Luke for a few evidences, but, uh, one word that he used, even as Paul is introduced later, is infallible proofs. That's good. And he always mentioned that depending on the setting he was in is how he talked to the Jews, is how he talked to the Gentiles. So it wasn't necessarily just a believe or feeling thing. He used infallible truth, tying it back to the scripture. And how that ties into us is that when we look at, when we look at the disciples, it was an all-encompassing experience that they had, not just seeing what he did or hearing what he said, but having the those close conversations, being vulnerable, being reproached, the intimacy that they got to walk with him. They said that back then when a disciple would follow a rabbi, the dirt from the rabbi would get on the cloth of the disciples. And so they would show that off, like, look, I was this close to my rabbi. So like, everything that Jesus did, they mimicked it from the time of him being baptized to him being crucified to him coming back. They had that closeness and oneness, and I think that that's something that we have to have today, is intimacy with God's word. Not only do we know his word, we're locked in with him on a private level. And then the biggest thing that stood out to me was after he said go and hide, or, you know, stay in Jerusalem, they all went into a room and unify as a group and pray. Yeah, unity. So they began praying together, they began worshiping together, they established a firm foundation within the group so that there is no outside force, no enemy, no principality that could come against them. And so I think after they developed that unity and they built that foundation, that worship, then we started to see that the Holy Spirit fell upon them on the second chapter. But I just think that it's interesting that he gave them time to develop that relationship with one another, to re-establish the foundation that God had already put in them. And then as that boldness is growing and growing and growing, and now they're starting to see like, okay, we gotta, we gotta replace Judas, so we need somebody else who has that same experience, that has been here, yeah, has seen it, has tasted it, has felt it. And now we are equipped to then also give those infallible proofs to those that will attest or those who have not yet heard. So I just think that that's very interesting that he gave them that time to do that. And then also in Jude, I believe it's Jude, he says that we should always at all appointed times have a defense for the faith. And so just knowing that it's not necessarily just like a what happened to me, this is how he changed my life, but it's also being able to get into the word and explain it to somebody to where it's simple, and then explain how this— how it applies to your life and how it applies to us holistically, uh, not just like a beneficial thing or that you're a beneficiary, but this is how it impacts us globally.

Yeah, why it's important for us to believe in it.

It's like if everybody put you on a witness stand right now and then you got to recount the life of Jesus Would you be able to sit in that seat today?

The version of me today would, because of what you just asked, like, what does it look like to have conviction? Yeah, it's like you just have decided, I know what I know, I can describe them, I can describe it, I know what I saw, I've experienced it for myself. This is the supernatural experience were happening. Like, I think it's okay to say that we're reading a supernatural book. Like, the Lord had told them that they would be able to do greater works. That access came through the Holy Spirit. The greater works is that he still had more to do. Yeah, like, he was here for those 3 years ministering, but like, the greater works was like, I got more I'm gonna just use you all as my vessels to do it. That's a supernatural experience. And I think it's until you like experience God supernaturally for yourself, that conviction—

yeah, and I like that you said for yourself because a lot of people are functioning off their pastor's witness. Like, you would— you just be describing the witness that somebody else told you. Yo, you got a third story your account. Well, they ain't desperate.

That's the thing, they're not desperate. It wouldn't be comfortable.

You got to have that firsthand.

You got— you got— that's got to be knowing.

Yeah, like, yep.

Safe, secure, being like, actually, I want to know this God that created me. Yeah, we operate in that, which is why a lot of folks—

One more, and then we'll go to our next segment.

I think, like, just—

I just think it back to you a lot. Like, I feel like we also want to feel like we can wait to be with someone if things aren't going well. And I feel like he suffered a lot, and like he experienced the same type of suffering that we suffer. Yeah, I feel Jesus when I suffer it, but I'm like, oh man, like he went through a lot. Like he knows how I feel, like, and I feel that, that type of supernatural, like, comfort, like, in those moments more than, like, when I'm thinking.

Um, Sorry, I'm just talking back about this.

Correcting myself, um, we operate in the extremes with our faith as well, right? When things are really good, it's like, oh God, it's so good, I'm so blessed. When it's really bad, it's, God, I need you, I need you to turn this situation around. But again, when things are steady, we feel like we're in control.

Yeah, so if we're in One of the greatest things somebody ever told me is that the Holy Spirit came on a normal day. Oh, Tuesday. Like, it was a regular degular day and power came. It wasn't a revival meeting. Let me stop, you know. Let me— the last thing I want to say is Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses— so the same witnesses that you read in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith, is what you all joined. Those witnesses by faith Right? Noah built an ark when there was no rain by faith. Sarah, all of that by faith. Eric, by faith. Pastor T, right? By faith, we join those witnesses. Can we go to like the next segment? Let's go from verse 9 to 18 now. Observations and questions. Can I? No, I got a lot to say, but I'm— I got the governor on. I don't know what a governor is. Yeah, I got mine on right now. A governor is the— is like a mechanical system in your car that— yeah, it limits how fast the car can go. No, because I'm learning so much right now. I'm like, y'all are saying something.

Christine?

Mic check, 1, 5. Next time y'all YouTube people come here, we won't have to worry about the sound, in the name of Jesus.

Um, so the second part being 9 through 18. When they gather and pray together. Something that came to my mind was how much of an emphasis Jesus puts on being together. I don't know if I saw this— I saw this somewhere, but in all the accounts of Jesus, he was eating with his apostles and he was hanging out with them. And that was the majority of it, and being in communion with them. And I think the emphasis is placed on that because Jesus knows that we need to be in unity with each other for any of this to work. And I think one of the devices of the enemy, of the devil— and I notice this whenever I am I'm in a space where I'm not balanced is the enemy will try to isolate you. Yeah, and that's one of the biggest factors of what they try to do. They try to get you away from your core people. They try to— like, he tries to just pull you away. I even think of in the garden, he pulled Eve away from Adam and said, didn't Jesus say— or did God say this? You know, so I think the importance of communion. Because like we were talking about earlier, how do you know if we're talking about the same God if we're never talking to each other? Yeah, we're not communicating with each other. That's good. So I think especially in Western culture, in the church, there's an emphasis on personal relationship with Jesus, which is great, but I think there's so much importance to having like this Blesses me. Like, you know, I'm with a bunch of people that I know we're talking about our God. That blesses all of us. Yeah. And I think there is a large push from the world for things like this to not happen. So when the apostles get together and they pray together, they supplicate together, they're making decisions together— that's the design of God.

So that's what I get from We're gonna cut that and then clip it for the advertisement for the next Bible study because that was pretty good.

There's times that we're gonna need to be encouraged. There's times that we're gonna have to have conversations, tough conversations. There's times where people have to come and embrace you, pray for you. Like, we are not meant to do this alone. There's times where somebody gonna have to check me and say like, hey, I heard you trying to minister to little bro, but that was wrong. Let me show you why. Yeah. So that's the simple version of saying, yeah, what she said.

I think there's two things that, you know, when you say about the governor and having that, just that, that limitation on— is that, you know, for a long time I heard the word meek and I thought it's weakness, right? That it's— and it's not, it's the opposite. It's, it's that you are someone who has that ability to destroy, that's what you pull back, you hold back that restraint. So I think what's really important and some of the most difficult things and challenging things is just as important as to commune with family. We're not called to judge the world, right, at all. Yeah. And even eating with sinners isn't objective. As a matter of fact, that's what Jesus came to do. But I think what's really important is to understand the power and the value of not eating with those who claim Christ but deny his power, right? Because it's also that tool that that Jesus uses, that even people say, well, God will never defraud us. It's true, right? He shows us that. But he also leaves us to our sin if we choose our sin over him. And so in the same way, we are to hand people over who continually crucify our Jesus.

Now, we can't support that.

He thinks it's as important to recognize the importance of gathering, but also of creating boundaries with those who claim him but are living in willful sin.

Yeah, can you read Psalm 1? Read someone? Yeah, first 3 verses. Because like, you just did something. You basically said that like, don't sit with people that are mocking your God. And I feel like a lot of people— I feel like a lot of people have used the excuse of like, you know, I want to win the world to sit around people who are just tearing down our faith. And it's a difference. Like, Jesus definitely had a word for those people who were antichrists in a sense, and he called them a brood of vipers, right?

So, no, and they're enemies of the cross, right? And that's where, you know, he warned that a little yeast leavens the whole loaf. And as much as we are spiritual, it's our disobedience that allows sin to take root. And it doesn't matter what form it comes. And if he said don't do it, just like with, you know, I think Samuel and when they conquered and they didn't kill anybody they were supposed to kill, and Samuel took the knife and finished the job. Yeah, but Lord said we do it, right? So, um, you said Psalm 1?

Yeah, Psalm 1:1-3. And I'm reading the NKJV.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper. Glory!

What? I don't have nothing else to say. That just said everything. It is written. Show them. It would make it— these like the 50-foot ones.

So, oh, all right, my name is Shelly. So I just wanted to— this isn't really— well, it's an addition, but I'm not going to be clarifying on anything. But last year there was— I'm bringing up the same thing that I brought up, but at one of the Bible studies, Pio mentioned or talked about how, like you just said, like we can't go out into the world and judge, like we're not meant to be the judges, but we can hold others that have claimed to be Christians accountable. Yes, that's what we're supposed to do. Yes, but we can't then go out into the world and like pick up someone who's denounced Christ their entire life and never claimed to be Christian and then try to hold them accountable.

That's just not something that we can do because we don't—

we're not the judge. But if you claim to be my brother or sister in Christ, I got the green light. That doesn't make sense. But I can't just go out and go out to the world and like persecute everyone because they're living in sin and doing whatever they want to do when they never claim to be under the same governance of being a Christian, you know. So that's something that I think about a lot because it's not— I don't know, it's not always easy to just like let everyone do whatever they want to do, but it's like I can't really I can't say much to you because you never agreed to not do that.

Didn't agree to the terms and conditions.

Once you do agree, then I can say something, you know? So I feel like that's just something that helps me like day to day, and I'm like, okay, we never came to the picture, so now I need to like reframe how I think about this because I can't help you. Try to be there when you realize what's going on, you know? So that's something that I think about a lot. Top 3 teachings last year. Yeah, I, I just had a question. Yeah, it's exactly what you highlighted, Jasmine, in verse 14. They all joined together constantly in prayer. So right before after that, they asked the Lord in verse 6, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom?

Oh, that's good.

My question is, what were they praying? Because they could have been together talking, and they had learned how to pray. Jesus gave them the model prayer, so we know how they were starting out. They were in the framework. So like, my question is like And this is just maybe for us to just explore, think about, for like, what was their prayer knowing like what they had to do? They were clearly talking to their Father in heaven. For a second I'm like, they don't even know they talking to Jesus. But they are praying, and I wonder, is the prayer, thy kingdom come? Like they— that's what they thought was the next step. Pio, what do you think?

Attack me.

I think that's a good question. I don't know what they were praying. I can make an assumption. I think whatever Jesus told them last is what they were most likely meditating on. And, you know, when you— should we go to— I'm gonna just go to the end of Luke. Free, right? Yeah. So one of the— one of my favorite verses is Luke chapter 24, verse 44. He said to them, these are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend. The scriptures. So all this while they were with Jesus and they didn't understand scripture, right, until Jesus the risen Christ opened up their eyes for them to comprehend. So now I'm sure they got like— it's like revelation just opened up. So now they're, they're reading their Bibles and they're trying to examine the Psalms, they're examining Isaiah. They're just like, well, this stuff was prophesied Lord, kingdom come. But now the perspective of kingdom is a lot different because they understand that the Old Testament was speaking of what they were living in. So that is my assumption, and I could very well be wrong, but I—

yeah. I was gonna say, I think it's just a witness to what does a manifestation of the Holy Spirit look like. And so the prayers, whatever they were, were probably just a way to witness the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. So whether it be through an answered prayer or a change in prayer, it's like if you're praying for a thing and you get the thing, your prayer changes. Yeah. So I would only assume it's more of a witness to the before and after.

I think it's a key part. Like, there's something that the Holy Spirit is highlighting there. Like, yes, they're hiding and they got each other. There's some sense of comfort there, and they know Jesus died. They're praying. They're praying.

Well, and I think it's interesting from like— and I'm glad we went back to this because, um, before we move on, prayer is like when you, when you start to realize like this prayer preceded the power, you, you— it makes you evaluate your prayer life. I evaluate my prayer life a lot, and I'm just like, I don't pray enough. And, you know, it's— I think that's why our church is like power. Like, I've seen some things in my life where I'm just like, that's power, you know? And I'm starting to hear this word over— we brought it yesterday, brought it up. And like, you can tell who has power and who doesn't. And it's not even necessarily a volume thing. It's not a masculinity thing. It's like there's something backing these words. We were talking about altar calls, like anybody, everybody know what altar call is, right? I have been in situations where I made an altar call and nobody came out. No power. There's nothing backing that that's compelling people to respond. But when God speaks, you are compelled to react. Everything in this world is compelled. God said, let there be light. Light was there. So like when Peter preached in Acts 2, all these people, what do we do? 3,000 people were just like— these were the same people that just killed Jesus. They just killed Jesus and now they're just like, what do we do? Because Peter had power. So like, and we know what happened. He prayed, he waited. Like, just one more thing for the people that came from that 12-hour prayer. Don't you feel like, like, I dare somebody to step to me. It's like, bro, I'ma just say a word. Like, me and God are like this. Like, it's just like, like, that confidence can only come from the secret place, you know? And we're gonna pray before we leave. Don't leave too soon. Oh, because of time, can you— got something? Yeah, let's catch it all.

Just, um, the only thing I was gonna mention too, uh, before we led on was like, Luke is so dope because he kind of maps out how the book of Acts is gonna go. So he talks about Jerusalem, which is like through chapter 1 through 7, Judea, Samaria, and in the world. And we asked the question like, why did they need that power? Because they hated Samaritans. They hated like certain people groups. There was so much strife between them and other people that they came up with. So in today's world, who are the people that like we feel, oh, they don't deserve the gospel? I shouldn't— like, God's gonna send us to speak to some people that hurt us. Yeah, some people that like—

people that hate us, you know.

There's gonna be so many uncomfortable conversations. And then like you mentioned, when Peter was preaching, you know, he's getting dead there were so many different people that came from so many different places that then took the word back to where they were going. So it kind of set like a precursor to them going to the uttermost parts of the world. So I just thought that that was dope too, that he's equipping them to be able to speak to people that they— that you'll see they don't necessarily feel comfortable speaking to or feel like they deserve to receive God.

So I thought that that was cool too. Don't mind him, don't mind him. John, he just got here, man. Yeah, are you ready for the third one?

Go ahead. This is quick. I feel like I kind of feel dumb to ask this question. Come on. But when it says in that last sentence, like, did they cast lots?

I was just talking about that. Yeah, it's like, in like culture terms, it's like dice. Oh, and like the culture is dice. Yeah, no, it's just like—

yeah, but not luck of the draw.

No, no, no, no, no, it's a good question. They did. That's the reason why they did this is because nobody wanted to to be the one to choose the next apostle. And it's interesting because in the modern-day church— let me not go there— they were like, God, you need to choose this apostle, and we're going to pray and we're going to do our best to narrow it down to 2. And this happens over and over and over again in Acts. In Acts chapter 6, they chose 7. Or they narrowed it down and then the people chose 7 because nobody wanted to be the responsible one of choosing for God. God, you choose who speaks for you.

You made a great point. Oh yeah, it's so important.

So it was tradition too, man. So that was a common thing whenever they wanted to hear from God. Jewish tradition would cast lots and it would be God.

And it wasn't just Jews, it was like—

yeah, it was a culture. It was pre-Holy Spirit. And if you notice, you won't see that again in the New Testament. Yeah, because now he's speaking and they— they're— that's good—

they're, they're laying hands to appoint.

Yeah, from the power of God, you know what I'm saying? It's like you only see that, that time. But I mean, you'll see it in the Old Testament too. But my point being, that was right before the Holy Spirit got full So now when God speaks to them, they don't have to question whether we need to cast it out. I know, you know, who's next up. That's revelation. That's revelation. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna run through the end parts and share some of my thoughts just so we can get to prayer, because I want y'all to leave here with power. We're not about to read this. Amen. I already came in with power. The couple of things that I want to share in the third section here is, and it's a little bit of the previous one too, verse 17, for he was numbered with us and obtained part in this ministry. And then you go to verse 25. The new person was assigned what scripture says part in this ministry, meaning like one of the reasons why they had to have a 12th person is because the work that they were doing literally required a whole nother human being. So nobody will go above what they were allotted. So there was a particular grace given to each person, right? So now you have 11 graces and you need 12. One person is not just going to grow role and then begin to cover the grace of another. So they literally had to come and find another person because everybody had a specific role in ministry. So even in your own church, right, you leaving, it creates vacuums. No. Yeah, I can't say nothing now. Go ahead, Brittany.

I was just going to add, it also makes me think about when he sent them out two by two, and if there's only 11, somebody—

So good. That's good. And it also restores what the 12 tribes of Israel signify, right? It's just like, this is God's number. Yeah. Which like I definitely, I took a lot, I took a time in like studying what those numbers meant. But we will, I think I'll send out like a note about like the numerology. It's pretty interesting. And then the last thing that I want to share before we prayed is Verse 20, uh, right at the very end of 20, let another take his office. Like, Judas's replacement was pre-planned. And then the way that God moves, if you think that he's going to hold up his ministry because you're not doing your part, your replacement is waiting for you.

And it's not only that, but I think it's the importance of the goal is death. If it's not that, like, everybody wants to get to heaven, but no one wants to die again, right? So he's creating a system by which we can be replaced because the expectation is you shouldn't stay here. You shouldn't be in that role for decades. It should be a constant movement. You're following that one lead, went home, Another's taking place. Now that's the opportunity to meet and be with the Lord Christ.

Just give me my word, it's time to leave.

Um, Sharon, how do they know?

So this is one of the— in Luke 24, when the Bible teaches us that Jesus opened up their comprehension of scripture. Scripture that he's denoting there is the Old Testament, because New Testament wasn't written, right? It was like the scales fell off their eyes and they were able to look into the Old Testament that they were studying over and over and over and over. And they were just like, man, Jesus says all scripture points to me. So now they have like this, they have like this ability, this comprehension. The Bible says the entrance of that word brings light, right, and understanding to the simple. So now they, they're reading the same scripture that they were always reading before, and this same thing is happening to us in present day. Like, I, I'm reading the same scripture and I'm just like, that's power. And like, do you know— oh, I feel the Holy Spirit. There are some messages that I've preached where people would text me and say, I was crying all through that sermon, that one was for me. And the things that I said, I didn't write down, so I couldn't take credit for it. That's God. Like, in his power, all power, all honor, all adoration belongs to him. So when you, when you think about the power ministry, it only happens when you attach to him. And I, I I'm gonna be honest, I have played a part in not allowing the ministry to fully express power. One of the ways that I've done that, and I'm repenting, is I stopped speaking in tongues in public for like, for years. I stopped. I just stopped. I'm just like, you know, I don't know. I don't know if these people believe in speaking in tongues. So like, you know, we're new, we're trying to get people together. Let's not do it so we don't offend anybody. And the power was just like, I guess you don't need me. That's how it works. Power is only available to you when you ignite it. It's like a car. You don't turn it on, it ain't going to do nothing for you. And one of the ways— you have something to say?

Can you pass it out here? My name is Dolores.

Nice to meet you, Dolores.

Um, the 21-day, uh, um, the prayer that we had I experienced when I walked in and you guys was praying. So I got there about 11. But when I got there, I was feeling the Spirit of God was there. And all of a sudden I started to— I started speaking in heavenly language.

And you never did before? Not all the time.

Yeah, but all of a sudden it was just, it was just overtaking. I had, I just had walked through the door and all of a sudden I just, it was just like a peace type prayer and it was like, I just, this is where I'm supposed to be. And that's, that's all I just wanted to share. And, uh, but when you speak in tongues, God meets you there. And you— it is something like he's just talking to you, and whatever is on your, your heart, it moves the heaviness. And sometimes when you can't even— you're scattered all over the place, you might be here, you might over there. When you begin to speak in tongues and keep teaching, God will bring words back to you. Amen. So I— yeah, so I was just on— the Holy Spirit was just there.

I just want to share that. God bless you, Dolores. Thank you. I, I, I want that for everybody. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to end this stream. So for everybody online with us, God bless y'all. We love y'all, we about to go into the upper room. And from my Bible, there was no YouTube in the upper room. So we'll see y'all next Tuesday.