This is the Baymont podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co-host, Brent Billings. Today we look at the next few chapters of Acts, making observations about what this early church community was accomplishing together with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, cover the first couple chapters of Acts in our last podcast episode, beginning of session four. So we're going to do a handful, we're going to do four chapters of Acts today.

We've made no such promise about every verse in the book of Acts, Brent Billings. We've made no such promise about anything.

Less to the listener forget that it was you who got us into that Matthew mess. That's right. We got a speed up or we're going to be doing this when I retire. My goodness gracious. Yeah, so we're going to pick up the pace of it. So I kind of want to like bump through the next four chapters. Well, kind of give some more info in the next episode as we look back and look forward. But what I want to look at today is just what is this early?

So Pentecost happens. Jesus comes. He leaves the Holy Spirit shows up. Pentecost happens Mount Sinai is redeemed. And now you have this new empowered church community. This newly empowered church community.

And remember what were they doing Brent before Pentecost like the apostles, even when Jesus was around. They ended up going to Galilee. They came back. That would have been a long trip. I'm assuming 40 days of Jesus teaching about the kingdom took place in there. But at least two of his encounters, where are they located? They're just hiding out in a room. They're hiding out in a room. And yet Pentecost happens. And the whole story changes like.

Like and it's not just like we love Christians. We just love to make it all about the Holy Spirit arrived. And yes, absolutely. I mean, I'm not going to knock that at all. But remember what was one of the things that Jesus said to the disciples, he was in that upper room as their lock behind a door. Jesus had a conversation with them. What did he say to them?

First of all, he's and other locations he said you need to stay in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit. But then when he was in the upper room with the disciples, he also breathed on them Brent and Kimbermory said, no, he said, he said receive the Holy Spirit. Like there's all kinds of different writers and different gospel writers here saying different things.

But Jesus has already breathed on them and said, so there's this whole process. They are, they are like you and I like these early disciples, these early apostles, which gospel was that? Let's see, that would be John. Let me just read it real quick. Yeah, okay. We'll find it. John 20 maybe. John 20. Yeah.

John 20 starting in verse 19 on the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you after he said this. He showed them his hands inside. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again, Jesus said, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

So Jesus has this moment with them. Ties it to forgiveness. Feels very sermement on the Mounty to me. Says this thing that you're doing, it's going to have to begin with forgiveness. It's going to be coded in grace. Receive the Holy Spirit. They are not much different than you of I. Yes, they're the apostles. Yes, this is incredible. But their experience is very similar to our experience. They're in the middle of a process. Like this is just a climactic moment where everything changed one day at Pentecost.

They're on this journey, this post-resurrection journey. They're learning things and seeing things and they're getting the Holy Spirit, but not quite, but kind of, but not really.

And yes, when Pentecost comes, obviously there's this huge public outflowing of this. I don't want to take anything away from that.

But there's a bigger story than just Pentecost. But at Pentecost, there is a turning point. There's something that happens.

And this new early church community ends up taking off, doing stuff. What are they doing and what has all of a sudden changed?

So I want to bump. I just want to go through these next four chapters or so. Brent, do we have the first bit of chapter three?

Yeah. Okay. Give us the address here. What do we read?

Versus one through ten. Okay. One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

This is the next story right after Pentecost, by the way. Pentecost ends. We have the whole believers devoting themselves to the apostles, teaching, sharing everything, breaking bread, all that kind of stuff. And this is the very next story.

Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him as did John. Then Peter said, look at us.

So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold I do not have. But what I do have I give you.

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