Acts 2 -- What must we do to be saved

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2 And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.


Each of these festivals is prophetic for this age. The age began with the Lord’s crucifixion, Jesus is our Passover lamb sacrificed for us so that we could leave the slavery in Egypt. Pentecost is the 50th day after Passover. There are 7 sabbaths, and the next day is the 50th day. Jesus' death and burial was the fulfillment of the sabbath rest, the very next day is the first day, a new beginning. Pentecost was a new beginning for the church, the Body of Christ. Jesus said that His death was like a grain of wheat being planted in the ground and then sprouting. Pentecost is when that seed sprouted. It is also called the feast of harvest.


2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, 10 in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.


This is the most detailed account of speaking in tongues in the Bible. To my understanding the disciples that had been with Jesus were speaking the mighty works of God and people from every nation could hear them in their own tongues. So if a person was there from Japan they would hear one of these Jews speaking the great things of God in Japanese even though the person speaking didn’t know Japanese. This is what is happening today, you can hear people speaking the great things of God in every tongue. That is the real speaking in tongues. So I don’t understand how speaking in tongues has come to be equated with speaking in an unknown language, or the “tongues of angels” but apparently this had happened by the time of Paul. But, even if you do expand the idea of “speaking in tongues” to include the tongue of angels Paul wouldn’t permit this practice unless someone also translated it. The purpose of this gift is to speak the great things of God in every tongue, for the word of God to spread throughout the Earth like a rushing mighty wind. Acts 1:11b This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Here we are at the end of the age and this is what we see. You can see the mighty works of God being spoken in every tongue on Earth. You can use google translate to take this text and have it speak it to you in your native tongue.


12 And they were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words. 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day; 16 but this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams:

18 Yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.


I have seen men and women sharing prophetic visions on Youtube. But what is significant is that this is an age where the word of God is spoken worldwide, in every tongue. Therefore all Christians must support God’s word being spoken in every country. You can call this “freedom of speech” and “freedom of worship”. These two things are fundamental to this age. In the last election in the US I can understand those who felt strongly to vote for Trump and also those who felt strongly to not vote for Trump. It is all a matter of what is most important to you. But, I don’t see any basis for anyone to support censorship or the government deciding if and when we can worship.


19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above, And signs on the earth beneath; Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:


We did have a weird situation with fires in California where the sky was turned to blood and everyone was freaked out saying it was “apocalyptic”.


20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the day of the Lord come, That great and notable day:


These signs will appear before the great and notable day. This refers to the opening of the sixth seal. I believe that this seal is accompanied with the rapture of the man child to heaven and the casting of Satan and the fallen angels to Earth. We have had blood moon’s on Passover 2014, Sukot 2014, Passover 2015, Sukot 2015, a total solar eclipse over Washington DC 8/21/17. Those four blood moons appearing on Jewish feast days have to be considered a sign. It is called a tetrad when you get four in close succession. We have had 55 tetrads during the last 2,000 years. We have only had 3 tetrads that coincided with Jewish holy days since 1492, one was immediately after the time of the Spanish Inquisition and Columbus discovering America in 1493. The second took place immediately after the nation of Israel was reformed in 1948 and the third took place when the city of Jerusalem was reunited in 1967.


21 And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.


There are many who asking what they must do to be saved. Quite simple, “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. Anyone who calls out to Jesus “Lord Jesus, save me” will be saved.

 

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22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; 23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.


In the Old Testament God testified to all that Aaron was to be the High Priest because his rod budded. The leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel each brought their rod to Moses. He put them into the Tent of the Covenant overnight, the next day Aaron’s rod had budded, that was God's testimony that he was chosen by God. In the same way Jesus was put into the grave and on the third day He rose again. Numbers 17:6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law. 8 The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. 10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as the Lord Commanded him. This is how God testifies to us who is worthy to rule and reign. They are faithful unto death, and that the death of the cross. Then, they are raised up from the dead in resurrection. What was Pentecost? They were faithful to the Lord in His death and continued in prayer even while under threat by the Jewish leaders. Right now we have learned that the banks are looking into anyone who was in the vicinity of the MAGA rallies. There is a very clear threat out there against those who participated in exercising their constitutional right to protest.


25 For David saith concerning him, I beheld the Lord always before my face; For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:


This is what salvation is all about. As long as the Lord is always before your face and on your right hand you won’t be moved. The coming tribulation will shake everyone and everything, the only ones that will not be moved are those to whom Jesus is before their face and on their right hand.


26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope:


If you see what is happening and what is going to happen then it seems incongruous that you would be glad and rejoice. But if you have been proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and is the coming King it makes perfect sense that you would be glad, that you would rejoice, and that you are dwelling in hope in the midst of the tribulation.


27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, Neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption.


He didn’t say we wouldn’t see Hades, or that we wouldn’t visit Hades, only that we wouldn’t be left there. Just like Daniel was in the fire and yet the fire didn’t touch him in the same way we can walk through Hades and the death and corruption won’t touch us.


28 Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance.


Look at the current situation. We have many world leaders, many experts, many scientists and advisors, they are all talking. Have any of them made known unto you the way of life? Have any of them made you full of gladness? Of course not, Jesus has already walked through Hades so He is the one that can guide us through this. All these so-called leaders keep telling you that “no one has seen this before”. Not true, Jesus saw it and told us about it already. Jesus is Lord. If you want to be saved keep your eyes on Him.


29 Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; 31 he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.


According to the atheists Jesus didn’t resurrect from the dead and these men were not witnesses of the resurrection. They made it up, or they were deceived, or this was some kind of myth. If that were the case how is it that everything they said would happen is happening? How is it that 2,000 years later there are a billion people hanging on every word they said?


34 For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.


David is one of these witnesses. People want to know how this little shepherd boy could conquer giants and become the king? So he told you. He is only one of many, many witnesses.


36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.


When we first come to Jesus we will be ashamed of our sins and the fact that we have previously rejected Him. Peter was preaching to Jews who stood by as Jesus was crucified just a little over a month earlier. They got saved so surely you too can be saved. This is for the praise of the glory of God. No one will have anything to boast of, every one of us is a sinner saved by grace.


37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38 And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.


If you call on the Lord you shall be saved. To call Jesus Lord means that you obey His word. The first word He speaks to you to obey is to be baptized. Many of us think that being dunked in a pool is not going to save us, you need to repent. What is going to save us is to give heed to the Lord’s words regardless of whether we think they are important or not. Every time you obey the Lord’s speaking, repenting of your own opinion, you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. This is how we grow in grace.

 

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40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

Everyone knows this is a crooked generation. But no one has a plan on how to save themselves. You can see people complaining about climate change and saying we need to do this and that. But when you press them they know it won’t save them. The BLM protests are all based on the revelation that this is a crooked generation. But what is their plan of salvation?

41 They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Simple, continue in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. The word of God is the bread of life, when we share the word with each other that is the breaking of bread. We don’t need to grow it, grind it, or cook it. The apostles have already done that, we simply need to break it into bite size pieces.

43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need.

This practice did not last forever. However, Acts 1:11b This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Since Jesus will come back in the same way He left it may very well be that we will need to make it through this tribulation by having all things in common.

46 And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.