Drunk on the Holy Spirit?

Let's go to the book of Acts, in chapter 2. As you will remember very well, we are going through when the Lord gives us permission and allows us within all the other things that we do here in the preaching, going back to the book of Acts and taking themes from there that help us to forge what we call that supernatural mentality, that spiritually profound Pentecostal mentality that God wants us to have, based on his word.

And here in chapter 2, in verse 14 we pick up the story that we left two or three weeks ago, where we saw the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on those disciples who were gathered, possibly in the upper room, some say that perhaps they were still in the temple that day and that it was not necessarily in the upper room.

If you read the text it is not totally clear about it, but since we have always said that it was in the upper room, why change now, right? Let's leave it at that, it was in the upper room. But it is possible that it was in another place as well.

Now, we saw how in that passage the elements of wind, tongues and fire were part of what God wanted to express about what the manifestation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit would be like in the life of his people, a ministry of power, of healing, of supernatural manifestations, of direct communication with God, of universal access of all believers to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all these things. And now we pick up the story here in this passage where Peter stands up and says:

“…who raised his voice and spoke to the crowd, and we are going to see where the crowd came from, and he said to them, 'You Jewish men and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to my words, for these you come here they are not drunk, that is, they are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is the third hour of the day, 9 in the morning. But this is what was said by the prophet Joel and in the latter says God, and now quotes the Book of Joel, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. And surely upon my servants and my servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit and they will prophesy and I will give wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun will become darkness, the moon in blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Israelite men, then here you come in…”

I am not going to read it all, it enters here in a passage where he talks about the ministry of Jesus Christ and I am going to touch on it a moment later, the call of Christ to be messiah and to be Lord. And then later in verse 32, we're going to speed up the reading a little bit, it says:

“…This Jesus God raised up, we are still in Peter's sermon, this Jesus God raised up of which we are all witnesses, so exalted by the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out this which you see and hear. Because David did not ascend to heaven but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool..."

And here is the absolute and accurate conclusion: "... know therefore, most certainly, all the house of Israel that this Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him Lord and Christ..."

May the Lord bless his holy word. Amen. Amen. What happened here? We saw the following: the Holy Spirit is poured out, there is a roar that raises the entire community, a commotion is created around the disciples. The people are coming, it is a day of an immense festival, it is a time when people from all the countries where there are scattered Jews, in all the countries of the earth, have come to Jerusalem to make a pilgrimage to celebrate precisely that very important festival. which is the feast of the new fruits, of the new harvest, which was called Pentecost. It was a religious Jewish festival.

There are people from all nations. There is a rumble. People go to the place where these people are having some very interesting demonstrations. At the moment these people begin to speak, it is known that they are not scholars, they are not scholars, they have not studied languages and yet they are speaking with a perfect accent, each one of the different languages of the lands where these Jews are, and that is why they can they recognize the language of those lands where they live. And there is a great commotion, so Pedro, taking the opportunity to explain what is happening, stands up and begins this text that we have just read.

And how does Peter begin his sermon? By the way, this is the first sermon recorded in the Bible and probably the first sermon that was preached under the new era, let's say, of the Gospel already after Christ died, rose again and ascended to heaven. It is the first sermon, we could say, of the Christian era. That's why that sermon is so important.

And then, look at the first thing that Peter clarifies. He says: "... because these are not drunk, they are not drunk, as you suppose..." What had happened here? One wonders why Pedro feels impelled to make this first clarification? The first thing he says, gentlemen, these people are not drunk as you think. I wonder, I tried to visualize what was happening there? There were probably some weird demonstrations, because if they were just speaking in a very orderly way, in sequence, one language after another, people would have said, wow, this is absolutely... No, but they were thinking that these people were drunk. . Because? Because I think there were other demonstrations there between them. I imagine some were...

Have you heard of someone who has been baptized in the Holy Spirit and had to be dragged around like they were drunk? They laugh like crazy, they are not coordinating their movements, drunk on the Holy Spirit. This is something that has happened a lot in recent times as well. And he knows that there are people who are scandalized about them. And they say, no, that cannot be from God because God is a God of order. Perhaps they were all glorifying. It says he prophesied, I think the Bible uses that in terms of exaltingly glorifying God. Some worshiped the Lord and said, you are great, you are powerful. Others, Christ Jesus you have been sent to save humanity, glory to God.

You have gone to a cult of those Pentecostals where this is a salt for outside, everyone is adoring the Lord, praising the Lord. Says the chorus, some sang, others prayed, but all praised the Lord. There was a party at that time. The Holy Spirit had descended and these Jews with their routine, with their dead, dry religion, upon seeing that exuberance, they thought, no, these people blew the fuses out of their brains, they are crazy, they are drunk. They are drunk. And Pedro says: no gentlemen.

Why is it that people who are not used to discerning the Holy Spirit always think that those who have the Holy Spirit are drunk, or out of order? You remember Eli the priest, when Ana, crying, pouring out her heart before God crying out for a son and Eli said there, this woman discerns your rum. I don't think they had rum at the time, but whatever it was, your wine, control yourself, this is God's house.

When people do not have experience with the Holy Spirit many times they interpret the exuberance that comes through the visitation of the spirit with drunkenness, with disorder. They remember Mical, David's wife, when David, filled with the spirit, takes off his clothes and stays in his underwear and dances between the television cameras and the Internet and all that. And there is Mical, the daughter of a king, with her nose turned up, looking at her husband and she says what a mess I have gotten myself into by marrying this man. He's crazy. Look at him there as if he were just anyone, dancing in front of the community.

Because? because people who do not have experience in the Holy Spirit often do not understand, and when the Holy Spirit manifests itself, sometimes strange things happen. And I believe that all supernatural mentality, all people who have experience in the gifts of the spirit have to reserve a space for strange things. Listen how I'm saying it. Not everything is going to be neat, all the Coca Cola bottles lined up, one in front of the other. Sometimes there will be a little mess. And I say this with caution because I am going to qualify that a little more, so that the cows do not get out of the corral either.

But I think so, we have to know that sometimes God does strange things when the Holy Spirit visits, the wires of the brain kind of get a little out of their place and there are a little strange manifestations. And we have to learn to discern those things.

Then Pedro clarifies, gentlemen, these people are not drunk, look at the time, it is 9 in the morning. The liquor stores are still closed, he must have said. But I wanted to clarify that, because I think we have to know, yes, I believe in order, I believe in discipline, and I believe that order is not preached enough in worship. And you know that many times you have seen me intervene to maintain order. Because I believe that when a church opens the manifestations of the Holy Spirit there also has to be order, there has to be coordination, there has to be authority, there has to be a referee who doesn't let the boys pull each other's bows, because sometimes in the manifestation of the spirit, well, people believe that this is, ok, like a lawless goat, as Gregory says many times. No, there has to be a balance as well.

I believe that one thing and the other, there is a tension there that we have to maintain. But I believe that the person who has experience in the Holy Spirit is not shocked by most of the things he sees. There are people who lose communion with anything. A little sister begins to dance a little step there and right away, it's as if she broke into something. No, one has to, hey, amen, amen, you go about your business and don't worry.

Now, having said that, I take this opportunity to say, brothers, that also when one worships, one has to be careful of what is around one as well. If you read First Corinthians, chapter 14, it's not like that either, well I'm having my little party here and the rest of them are over there, let them throw it off however they can, right? If they don't like it, that's their problem. I am here worshiping my God. No, no, one has to always be aware of others. That is what the Apostle Paul says because we are one body.

So if I am out of tune with my adoration, the Father understands, don't believe it, he is not going to punish me because I put up with my adoration a little bit out of consideration for the brothers. No, on the contrary, the Father is going to praise me because I am exercising mercy, compassion.

Many times in a church like ours many people come from different backgrounds, we have the Internet where thousands of people see us. It is not the same to see through a two-dimensional camera people that you do not even know where they are sometimes, doing strange things, that if you know them, you love them, you are part of them.

That is to say, that all these things must be balanced in life. I say, brothers, look, if you feel that at some point in worship you have to scream, I don't tell you, don't scream, but go to the bathroom, run and put a towel in your mouth or something, or just make it as unobtrusive as possible and express your adoration, but consider those around you as well. There is a balance in life.

Now, I also believe that in a moment of exuberance where we are all adoring the Lord, glorifying Him, how beautiful is the free praise of the Lord, a new song, when one hears adoration over here in one way, another over there, someone kneels, some dance, that is the glory of God on earth. I believe in the freedom of worship too. But also considering each other, says the word of the Lord.

What I am looking for is that balance, that tension. When you see me order a time of worship, don't say, no, the pastor is bloody fat, the pastor kills the spirit, no, see the pastor simply having a pastoral heart and considering all his sheep, not just one or two. And that is what I want God to take us more and more.

I wanted to take advantage of that moment to get that thing out of there, that little thorn. And these are moments in which we can instruct the church because that is why Peter says here, they are not drunk, they are not crazy. No, it is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Now, where does Peter go to prove, where does Peter go to point out that what is happening is from God? To the prophet Joel. It goes to the word, it goes to the Bible that they had available at their time, which was the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. And there Peter finds a passage, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, in the book of Joel, a famous passage that I'm sure all those people in one way or another had heard about in that passage. And I also suspect that Jesus Christ himself, actually I believe that Jesus, speaking to the disciples in his earthly ministry, about the movement of the Holy Spirit, had told them, when the Holy Spirit comes, what will happen there, will seem. It is based on what the prophet Joel had prophesied hundreds of years before.

Now, at this moment, Pedro, wanting to explain to the people and taking advantage of that opportunity, tells them about the book of Joel. And how important it is, brothers, that we take advantage of opportunities to talk about God. These people were confused, there was confusion, there was turmoil in the air, and Peter said, this is my opportunity to preach about Jesus, this is my opportunity to sensitize people about the things of the Gospel.

Brothers, we have to be prepared when God opens a door for us to go through. Maybe at your job, maybe in your neighborhood, you are going to have an opportunity at some point, someone is going to come with a marital problem, someone is going to ask you for a loan because they are out of work, someone is having a health crisis, and those are precious moments that you can appropriately seize that moment to say, you know what? Ok, you need a loan, ok, here it is, but I would like to pray for you that the Lord blesses your finances. Can I pray that the Lord will get you a job? Can I pray for you that God heal you or your son? And those are precious moments in which we can…, God opens doors and we have to be prepared.

What Samuel was saying that there is now a crisis here in the city of Boston, many young people killing each other, it is a very difficult situation, many bargains, but these bargains, as he said, have no head, they are simply free meetings of boys killing each other and the police don't know how to deal with them. The schools are yelling at their necks and are telling the church, look, do your job, go out into the streets, preach the Gospel. So we have to take advantage of those moments.

Men's crises are our opportunity. We are like the people who work at the funeral home. The crises of the people are…. I think it's a little better for us than them. But the idea is that what is sometimes a moment for society, are the moments in which the church can say, look, God has an answer. Christ can solve problems and we then have to take advantage.

Peter takes advantage of that opportunity and tells him, look, what the prophet Joel says. Now here is something very important. That Joel text, as I shared this morning, is a key text, it is a text that I would say is pregnant, so to speak, if we can go to that Joel book for a little while, and I want to take advantage of it because you know what? Pastor Fumio Taku, who came last Sunday, this Japanese brother spoke to us about Israel, he spoke to us about the end times and this text from Joel is precisely a text that has to do with a manifestation that would take place twice. in the history.

If you read the book of Joel, there the prophet Joel says that precisely. Says:

“…And after this, verse 28, chapter 2:28, after this I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, and also on male and female servants I will pour out my spirit in those days…”

What are those days? Those days are the last days. Those days are times that are drawing near now and into which we are entering. The thing with this prophecy, is as I say, it is fulfilled twice. Peter, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, discerned that Joel was speaking precisely of that time that they, Peter and his disciples, and the people around them, were living. That outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter tells him, is what the prophet Joel originally said would happen, that God was going to pour out his spirit in a general way on all flesh.

What had happened before? That the Holy Spirit was something very reserved only for very select people of God, the prophets, who were anointed with oil, the kings, who had a very exalted mission that they carried out and needed the spirit of God, anointed themselves with oil, and the priests who were consecrated with oil to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the nation had to bandage it as they could, they did not have access to the spirit and God said, no, the day will come when I am going to pour out my spirit. The truck driver will be able to receive my spirit and not just the high priest. The housewife who cooks and washes her dishes and supports her family will receive the Holy Spirit. The doctor will receive it but the construction worker will also receive it. The secretary at work will be able to receive the Holy Spirit, I will pour it out on the elderly, but you know what? I am also going to pour it out on the young, I am going to pour it out on the owner of the house, but also on the servant, the one who works for her. I will give my Holy Spirit without measure, he says, and that was what happened on Pentecost.

When in this new economy that Christ makes possible and when God pours out his Holy Spirit, God opened the door for any Christian to have access to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Say glory to God.

So Peter says, you know what? What you see here now are 120 but as we see later, he says, anyone who receives Christ as Lord and savior will be able to have access to this marvel that you also see, because God said, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. I'll do it, I'll distribute it, it's like before, who could have a computer? Just a person with a lot of money. Who could have a car? A person who was very rich. Nowadays, anyone has a car, even if it's dilapidated, but they do, 4 wheels, a guide, whatever, because it has spread. A cell phone, same thing, too. A laptop, before it was something very… only a very select group of people and also… then God said, you know what? Today, not only the great ones, not only the professionals of religion, but everyone will be able to enjoy my Holy Spirit. And then for that, it says here, but you know what? Remember something, the original context of this chapter of Joel refers to the last times, the times that we are living.

Look at what it says here: "... and I will pour out my spirit in those days, verse 29 and 30, and I will show wonders in heaven, on earth, blood and fire, columns of smoke, the sun will turn into darkness, the moon into before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be salvation.

You see, when the Holy Spirit is poured out at Pentecost there are no such signs. The sun does not darken, the moon does not stop giving its glow, there is no blood and fire as it says here, there are no frightful prodigies, but the Bible says that in recent times, when it says here in those days, yes, there will be.

Brothers, I tell you, I don't know if it will be in your time and mine, I think so, but we are going to see great manifestations in heaven and on earth. God will manifest his power in the cosmos, he will manifest it in the sea, he will manifest it on earth. We already see manifestations of how the earth is revealing itself against humanity in so many different ways, earthquakes, huge cataclysms, strange things that are happening.

Hebrews chapter 12 says that in the last days God will move the heavens and the earth. Everything that can be moved will be moved. I even believe that what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico, this oil that they do not know how to completely stop, is part of those messages from God that have been coming. The unprecedented economic crisis that the world is experiencing and that this nation and so many countries on earth have experienced. On 9-11, all these things have been one cataclysm after another, one terrible thing after another, and everything seems to be accelerating and these are manifestations that will grow.

Now, in that time also of great manifestations and cataclysms, there will be a second visitation of the Holy Spirit. I believe that what happened at Pentecost will fall short of the ultimate manifestation of this power of the spirit. Because what Joel says here is that in the last days God will pour out his spirit on the nations. I believe that the church of Jesus Christ can look forward because I believe that the best times for the church of Christ are ahead. I expect great manifestations of the power of God, great conversions, great manifestations of anointing on the church and we have to be looking forward to those times, asking the Lord, Lord, send your power, send your manifestation because Christ is not going to come without first there is that visitation of power.

Two things are going to happen, there are going to be great cataclysms but also a great anointing on earth. Millions of people, I believe, are going to come to know Jesus and cry out to God. Now, there is also something interesting in this passage that Pedro uses and it is... I want you to look at this as well because it connects with what Pastor Fumio was saying. I believe that we as Christians have to be very attentive to what is happening in Israel. How do we know that what God promised of that unprecedented visitation of his Holy Spirit is still going to take place at this time on earth?

Look at what it says in chapter 3, verse 1, it says: “…for behold, in those days, that very time when the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out with great power on the earth, as it was on the day of Pentecost, behold, in those days and at that time when I will restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will enter into judgment with them because of my people and Israel, my inheritance, whom they scattered among the nations and divided my land..."

You see what it says here, that visitation of the Holy Spirit in the end times that occurred at Pentecost, which is said to be in the last days will be accompanied by a couple of things, number 1, the return of the Jews to their land . And also a great event where all the nations God will gather them. The Bible says that in recent times many nations will come together to go against Israel. Israel will see itself in the worst moment in all of its history, and look at how Israel has gone through terrible times, the Babylonian captivity, exile, attacks many times, but the bitterest pill still awaits Israel at precisely these times.

Remember what Pastor Fumio said that these orthodox rabbis who declared that we have entered the times that are very similar to the war of Gog and Magog, which is a war that speaks in the Old Testament that will be when many nations unite to go against Israel and attack it. Those nations will believe that they are doing it on their own initiative, but it will be God himself moving those nations, enemies of his people, to take them to a place, some believe it is the valley of Megiddo, it is a valley, if you have gone through the area of Israel, you will see there is an immense valley, a very, very large place that is the valley of Megiddo, and there the word says that God is going to gather these nations. These nations are going to go against Israel and in the most terrible moment of its history, when it seems that there is no way out, says the Bible, that the Jews will cry out to Christ, to Jesus and they will recognize him as their Messiah. God will open their eyes, they will cry out to Jesus and God will visit his people and those nations will be completely destroyed.

God says that he will gather them in the valley of Jehoshaphat and judge them. Because? Because God, brothers, all these nations that have persecuted Israel, all these nations that have been angry against the Jewish people, that have persecuted the Hebrew people and those nations that at the end of time will unleash their hatred and persecute Israel, God will you're keeping your debts, and one day God will say, well, it's time now to settle accounts. And he will gather them to judge them. That is why there are two things, God's heart is passionately pro Israel, brothers, although Israel is a rebellious people and God punishes and disciplines them, but God loves his people, so in this time that we are living, those It's the days.

Look, how do we know we are in those days? For at that time I will bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. What does that mean? Jews will come from all nations again as they have done in recent decades. They will meet again. God will gather these nations.

God that those nations scattered Israel among the nations and divided up my land. There is something very revealing there and it is the following, brothers, the Jews have no right to distribute the land of Israel, understand this. God gave every inch of that territory to his people and God's gifts are irrevocable. That land belongs to the people of God. God has not changed his intention with respect to that land.

I say that not even the Jews themselves have the right to give a little piece of that land to gain peace. Do you know what happens too? There is a Palestinian people and I think they are excellent people, I have nothing against the Palestinian people, but neither can we say that Israel can commit a sin to cover up another sin. I mean, those people need a place to stay, but Israel can't give up land and make that Palestinian nation another separate nation and take Jerusalem like they want today, and divide Jerusalem, give a part to the Muslims, Palestinian , and another part that remains with the people of God, because the idea is that, that the eastern part of Jerusalem, I have been there, there are many Arabs who live there in that part, that that part be divided and hand over a new Palestinian nation, and let the other party get Israel with it.

Brothers, the one who knows Israel, Israel is the size of Rhode Island, `smaller than New Jersey, it is only a little piece of land. These Jews have been pulled from all parts of the world, they have been persecuted and have returned to their ancestral land, which God gave them, we know from his word. Those Jews have the right to have their land.

I don't know what is going to be done with the Palestinian people. I would say that they would have to become Jewish citizens, because that is what they are as well. Many of the Palestinians are Jewish citizens but what happens is that the Palestinians want the destruction of Israel, and they want a separate nation, and they want to be throwing bombs at Israel, and they don't recognize Israel as a nation. Israel cannot give you that land.

And men have wanted to divide up the land. Today, the United States is asking Israel to hand over part of Jerusalem, and it can't. It says here clearly, God does not want his land to be divided up. They distributed my land, they cast lots among my people. So we understand this, brothers, that this time of which the Apostle Peter speaks here in Acts, is referring to two things: a very powerful visitation of the Holy Spirit that would take place at that time in which he was, but also in our time, but also in recent times there will be another outpouring, the Bible speaks of the former rain and the latter rain. The former rain was the rain that fell from the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. But there will be a latter rain at the end of time that will be for the last great harvest of souls before Christ comes. And then at that time, that visitation of the Holy Spirit, that latter rain of the spirit will be accompanied by a great harvest of souls as there was on the day of Pentecost, the gathering of the people of Israel, a terrible attack against the Jewish nation, and a God who will rise up with power to defend his people and to consummate history and that Christ comes a second time and everything is over.

So we have to be aware of all these things in order to read the times that are happening. Now, I conclude with this. After the Apostle Peter declares all these things up to verse 21, he directs his preaching to only one thing and says, brothers, what you see here, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that you are seeing is the product of a change. in the spirit world. God has taken that man that you crucified, that prophet that you saw doing signs and wonders, it says here in verse 22, among you with the wonders, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, as yourselves You know, and Peter tells you, what you see, this new distribution of the Holy Spirit is due to the fact that God took that man that you crucified and who was delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God.

Why is Peter saying this here? He's saying, ultimately you weren't the ones who killed Jesus. God was his will that it were so. God knew this was going to happen and it was God's plan. The early church always said the same thing, Christ had to suffer, Jesus had to go to the cross, Jesus had to be buried. This was part of God's plan. And then he says, you took Jesus, killed him by the hands of wicked people, crucifying him. God raised that Jesus up, once the pains of death were removed from him, because it was impossible for him to be retained by it.

What is Peter doing here? He is giving in code an essence of what the Gospel is. When you preach the Gospel to someone, preach to them about the fact that God sent his son, because he loved humanity and God understood that there had to be bloodshed because blood was what justified before God, it was the sacrifice that Christ made it possible, that Christ died on the cross for his sins and that God raised him from the dead and that God now, through that Christ can give reconciliation to that person. That is the Gospel, that is what we have to preach. That is the basis of the Gospel. That's all, you don't have to be too sophisticated, preach Christ in the flesh, preach Christ crucified, preach Christ risen, and preach Christ baptizing with the Holy Spirit. That's all. And then tell him, would you like to receive that complete package for free? And receive it now and you have salvation.

So, verses 25 through 28, what he does is simply mention how the psalmist David was saying something prophetically about the resurrection of Jesus, which was to come. So, look, verse 32, here Peter kind of brings his sermon to a landing. He has taken you through a sequence of things, he has told you the prophet Joel prophesied about this, he spoke of what you are seeing here. He also speaks to us saying, this is also going to happen in the times in which you are living. He talked about how all this was possible because Christ had been crucified and had risen from the dead.

So, look at verse 33, “…so being exalted by the right hand of God, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear…”

What you are seeing here, gentlemen, is because the Father gave the Son the power to baptize with the Holy Spirit. What do we see here? The Trinity working in concert with each other. The Father has the right to absolute power, he exalts his Son and says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am content. Listen to him. He gives the power to the Son, he transfers to the Son the power to distribute the Holy Spirit on those who believe in him, and then the Holy Spirit moves with power. The Trinity working for humanity to be saved, perfect coordination.

If someone tells you that the Trinity does not exist, tell him, and what happens here? The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all 3 working for the edification of their church, for the advancement of God's purposes on earth.

And Peter tells them, what you are seeing is the product of all these things. It ends with verse 36, I ask the musicians to come quickly, please, verse 36. Peter ends with a very, very serious sentence and says:

“…Know for sure the whole house of Israel, it was like a real announcement, like something almost governmental that was being declared there. God was giving a nation a notification that came from another nation, the heavenly nation. The Kingdom of God said to the house of Israel, let all the house of Israel know surely that this Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him Lord and Christ..."

Hallelujah! And that is what we, brothers, have to do with humanity. We have to tell the people, sister, you want to simply come to worship, amen, come here. I want to finish this, for a moment, because we don't have time to talk. Please sit down, brothers, yes, thank you.

I want to end this rather here. Excuse me. But speaking about that, the importance of us having a certain order. I want to end with this very essential message: when we notify people about the Gospel, we have to conclude with one thing, the Father has made Jesus Lord, he has made him savior. The Lord in his person unites all things. We come to Christ and the first thing we do is recognize his lordship, we recognize his authority, we recognize his government over our lives, we announce it to humanity. We have to receive Christ, yes, he saves us, but he also comes to be lord, to be governor of our lives. He has made it Lord and he has made it Christ. God established that mantle of authority over his Son and we have to point humanity towards Jesus.

The next time I preach I want to take the rest of this passage and I want to show you how in the mind of the Apostle Peter, or when he finishes his sermon, he puts together three things: accepting Christ as Lord and savior, being baptized in the waters, and also receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These three things are linked one with the other and we have to start looking towards that, as a church, to always announce to the people, if Jesus saves you, get baptized too. Baptism does not save from sins, but it is something that we have to do, we must do and seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit, seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is also an important part of the Christian experience.

So, brothers, meditate on these things. Understand that God has sent His Holy Spirit and that at this time we are in a very clear time, let's look closely at Israel's clock, let's look closely at what is happening there because God has great things that He also wants to do through this nation.

Let's stand up. We thank you, Lord. We thank you for your word, Lord, this afternoon. Thank you because you have sent Jesus to be the one who baptizes us with his holy spirit. Thank you because it was not only for a time 2000 years ago but still the best portion, the best wine is reserved for this time.

The latter rain is yet to come, Lord. And we want to be attentive to that visitation. We don't want to miss it, sir. Allow our church to be preparing for that great visitation of your spirit, Lord, in the last times of which Joel spoke and that you initiated two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost.

And we also ask for the nation of Israel, Father, because this is the time that you are accelerating a parallel process there as well, bringing that people to their native land and also nations that are rising little by little against your people as well. But thank you, Father, because you also have that already prepared and you are working in your church, here among us also for a great harvest of souls, as there was on the day of Pentecost. We too, Lord, want to be part of that harvest, as Peter was that day of your visitation.

We bless you Lord this afternoon. We want your name to be glorified, Lord. Help us to be understood, help us to love your nation, love your people Israel, Lord, we ask for your blessing on that nation. Just as we ask about this nation in which we are also, Father. We know that we are in significant times and we want to discern the times, we want to discern what you are doing and align ourselves with what you want us to do as your people, Father. We praise and glorify your name. Thank you Lord Jesus. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.