Study on Holy Spirit 4th in Series

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bible Studies by Paul Cooke

Episode: Study on Holy Spirit (4th in Series)
Date: September 1, 1995
Host: Paul Cooke

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Overview

In the fourth lesson of his series on the Holy Spirit, Paul Cooke leads a home Bible study exploring the work and nature of the Holy Spirit within the early church as recorded in Acts. The episode primarily addresses key distinctions between the early church and today's church, the evidence for confirming God’s message, the mechanics of the Spirit’s work in conversion, the apostolic laying-on-of-hands, and the practical implications for interpreting Scripture, spiritual gifts, and faith today. Cooke emphasizes critical thinking, scriptural harmony, and the necessity of evidence (miracles/prophecy fulfilled) for authenticating divine messages.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Differences Between the Early and Modern Church (00:00–04:00)

• The first-century church existed without a complete Bible—they had Old Testament scriptures and individual apostolic letters.
• Apostles and eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection were present; today, neither remain.
• Apostles had unique authority, including imparting miraculous gifts by laying on hands—none can do this today.
• Modern readers should recognize these differences to avoid misapplying first-century narratives to current church settings.

“There's no apostles alive today. ...There are no people today who are going around with the same authority and can lay hands on people and impart these miraculous gifts.” (Teacher, 00:56)

2. Confirmation and Evidence in God’s Message (04:00–10:30)

• Old Testament and Gospels: God always confirmed His message, never expecting belief without evidence—miracles, fulfilled prophecy, or other confirmation.
• Prophets’ teachings had to harmonize with previous revelations; people were encouraged to challenge and verify claims (Jeremiah 23:16–32).
• Motivation for false prophets was often financial and social approval from the people.

“God has never just spoken a message and expected people to believe it without any confirmation whatsoever. ...Anything that God has ever wanted anybody to believe, he's always given evidence and proofs so that they could know it was from God.” (Teacher, 09:47)

3. The Holy Spirit and Apostolic Ministry (10:37–16:11)

• Prior to Acts, the apostles had not received the promised Holy Spirit, though they already believed Jesus was the Son of God and had repented.
• Their belief rested on “convincing proofs” (Acts 1), not direct mystical work of the Spirit on their minds before Pentecost.
• The Holy Spirit’s task for the apostles: teach all truth, bring Jesus’ teachings to remembrance (as a “counselor” more than “comforter”).

“You don't need some special working of the Holy Spirit on your mind to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and to repent of your sins. The apostles to this point do not have the Holy Spirit and yet they repented of their sins and they believed.” (Teacher, 13:14)

4. Role of Miracles and Message Confirmation (Acts 2) (16:11–22:57)

• On Pentecost (Acts 2), apostles speak in languages (“tongues”) as the Spirit enables, addressing Jews from many nations—miracle is both communication and confirmation.
• Miracles serve as “highlighting the message”—drawing attention and validating it as from God.
• The true power and purpose are in the message itself, not the miracle.

“Think of miracles as highlighting something. ...here’s a message that God wants people to listen to, and so how does he get their attention? ...He highlights it... The miracle highlights the message.” (Teacher, 19:40)

5. Repentance, Faith, and the Spirit—Rejecting Mystical Regeneration (22:57–27:29)

• People repented and believed after evidence, not from a mysterious inner work.
• Cooke critiques Calvinist and certain modern evangelical interpretations that teach mystical regeneration is required prior to faith or repentance.
• Emotional responses during “altar calls” or at the “mourner’s bench” are misattributed to the Spirit; such emotions stem from belief, not the Spirit acting independently.

“Their emotions respond because they do believe. But then when they respond, they've been told that it's the Holy Spirit that is causing this. And so there's a misunderstanding of the mechanics involved.” (Teacher, 27:29)

6. Faith & Evidence vs. Emotion-Based Appeals (27:29–32:00)

• Effective evangelism appeals to mind and evidence, not merely emotion or mystical expectation.
• In societies with Christian familiarity, “call on Jesus” appeals work because of prior exposure—not because of some universal mystical Spirit work.
• True conversion is grounded in reasoning through evidence, not bypassing the intellect.

7. Meaning of the ‘Gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38) (32:00–41:17)

• Receiving the “gift of the Holy Spirit” is ambiguous from the phrase alone—it could mean the Spirit himself or something the Spirit gives.
• Context is crucial; Cooke notes that Scripture must be allowed to clarify itself, not just single verses speculated upon.

“If you receive the farm of John Brown, do you receive John Brown or the farm?” (Teacher, 35:13)

8. Apostolic Laying on of Hands and Passing of Miraculous Gifts (Acts 6, 8) (41:17–55:36)

• Apostles laid hands on selected individuals (e.g., Acts 6, Philip in Acts 8), enabling them to perform miracles.
• Others, though baptized, did not receive the Holy Spirit’s miraculous gifts until apostles laid hands on them (Acts 8:14–17). This was observable and “for a reason.”
• The purpose of miracles: to authenticate the message, especially before the New Testament was completed.
• Only apostles could impart such gifts, and these gifts could not be passed on from the next generation.

“...when people are baptized, they don't receive the Holy Spirit, but then the apostles come and lay hands on them and then they receive the Holy Spirit.” (Teacher, 44:56)

9. Who Were the ‘Far Off’ in Acts 2:39? (55:36–57:13)

• The “far off” in Acts 2:39 refers to Gentiles, not to physical or temporal distance. Paul supports this in Ephesians 2:11–13: Gentiles are “far off” and brought near by Christ.

“The Gentiles are the ones that are, from the Jew standpoint, they're not even distant kin to God...and the miraculous gifts will be passed on.” (Teacher, 54:15)

10. Miracles in the Early Church: Purpose and Cessation (57:13–64:12)

• Once the written Word was completed, there was no longer need for miraculous gifts; miracles were always a means, never an end.
• Practices such as praying for healing with elders (James 5) had context in a time when apostolic gifts were available.

11. Promise of the Spirit & Salvation: End vs. Means (64:12–69:17)

• The “promise of the Spirit” (Galatians 3:14) and the “gift of the Spirit” (Acts 2:38) both refer to salvation, with gifts as means to that end.
• Critique of groups that elevate the Holy Spirit’s work (esp. charismatic, Pentecostal) above Christ and the message—warns against exalting means over the true end (salvation in Christ).

12. Trinity & Language Nuances (69:17–71:03)

• Cooke clarifies he does not believe in the traditional Trinity as typically articulated.
• He encourages careful reading of Greek articles and acknowledges that language and translation shape interpretation (e.g., “Holy Spirit” vs. “a holy spirit”).

13. Angels, Messengers, and Inspiration (71:03–82:33)

• The term “angel” simply means “messenger” in Greek and might refer to a human, a spiritual being, or the Spirit itself depending on the context.
• Inspiration is not mechanical dictation; biblical writers, though inspired, expressed unique personality and sometimes even uncertainty (e.g., Paul in Galatians 2:2).

“...the Holy Spirit is not dictating individual words there. It's like they are being borne along and they're carried their own mind, their vocabulary is being used.” (Teacher, 72:58)

14. Spirit’s Role vs. Modern Claims of Mystical Leading (82:33–85:20)

• Modern claims that the Holy Spirit guarantees perfect understanding are critiqued—Paul and John the Baptist had doubts even while genuinely inspired.
• Spiritual gifts didn’t guarantee perfect practice; e.g., Corinth practiced gifts but had doctrinal/behavioral errors.

“...what people today claim that the Spirit does for them, it didn't do for Paul, did not do for Paul.” (Student 1, 82:54)

15. Nature and Use of Spiritual Gifts (85:20–91:07)

• The gifts of the Holy Spirit could be misused or underused (e.g., Timothy needed encouragement to “fan into flame” his gift).
• Spiritual gifts were not contingent on spiritual perfection but on faith and context.
• Cooke distinguishes between biblical miracles (which override natural law and are undeniable) and claims in modern Pentecostalism, which often do not meet biblical criteria for miracles.
• In 1 Corinthians 12, gifts are divided into categories: information (prophecy, knowledge, etc.) and confirmation (miracles, healings, tongues, etc.).

“By definition, a miracle has to circumvent the laws of nature. ...If you're going to heal somebody, there can be no possibility that it's psychosomatic ...it has to be obvious.” (Teacher, 89:53)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Biblical Verification:
  “If people were to believe just because somebody said something, then there would never be any way to protect yourself against a false prophet.” (Teacher, 06:56)
• On Emotional Experiences:
  “I know because I've gone to those services, what he feels, he's thinking, these people are just getting emotionally worked up. And then after they get them emotionally worked up, they tell them that that emotion is caused by the Holy Spirit.” (Teacher, 24:36)
• On Inspiration:
  “The Holy Spirit is not dictating individual words there. It's like they are being borne along and they're carried their own mind, their vocabulary is being used.” (Teacher, 72:58)
• On Purpose of Miracles:
  “The miracle's job was to confirm this message. ...If the miracle was the end, then that guy should never have died again after being prayed over.” (Teacher, 64:09)
• On the Corinthians’ Abuse of Gifts:
  “They obviously had the faith that they had those [gifts]. ...But when they're converted all those years, it's like this guy, it's like the sailor that you've just converted to Jesus and he's been cussing all these years. I'd say he's going to cuss some more and it'll gradually get better...” (Teacher, 87:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–04:00: Historical context & differences between early/modern church
• 04:00–10:30: Evidence and discernment of true/false prophets; Jeremiah 23
• 10:37–16:11: Apostles’ faith prior to receiving the Spirit; their belief based on evidence
• 16:11–22:57: Day of Pentecost, miracles as confirmation, tongues as languages
• 22:57–27:29: Critique of mystical views of conversion; role of evidence in faith
• 32:00–41:17: Exploring meaning of “gift of the Holy Spirit” in Acts
• 44:21–55:36: Mechanism of passing miraculous gifts via apostolic hands; Acts 6 & 8
• 55:36–57:13: “Far off” in Acts 2:39 explained as Gentiles (Ephesians 2)
• 57:13–64:12: Miracle gifts’ temporary nature and their confirmation role
• 69:17–71:03: Trinity, language, and translation nuances
• 71:03–82:33: Angels/messengers, inspiration, Old Testament parallels
• 82:33–85:20: Limitations of spiritual gifts and modern claims
• 85:20–91:07: The use and misuse of gifts, biblical vs. modern miracles

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Tone and Style

The episode is richly interactive, with Paul Cooke’s authoritative, careful, and skeptical approach reassuring listeners that biblical faith is grounded in evidence and coherent interpretation—not emotion or mystical experience. Cooke uses practical examples, references to original languages, and engages questioners directly, fostering a thoughtful and respectful environment for discussion.

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Summary Prepared For:
Listeners/Students seeking a thorough, critical understanding of the Holy Spirit’s role in Acts and practical application for faith and church life today. This summary distills the episode’s rigorous scriptural analysis and pastoral insights, serving both as a study aid and a stand-alone resource.

Transcript

[Teacher]

Okay, everybody want to turn over to the book of Acts and what we've been studying for those of you here the first time tonight, this is our fourth lesson on the Holy Spirit. And we started and I handed up to tonight. I've handed out outlines each time. And the first thing we did on the first lesson was note some differences between the church today and the church of the first century. And we pointed out that these differences need to be noted because a lot of times today when people read the Bible, they will read it today as if they were in the first century receiving this message. And then these people that initially read these letters and experienced what we see them experience, they had completely different situations in which we have today. Number one, we noted today we have the completed Bible. All the old New Testament scriptures. They did not have that. They had what we call the Old Testament scriptures. And then they were getting these individual letters written by the apostles. And all of the apostles would die, and there still would be no church that had all the letters of the New Testament. And we have the completed thing. Next, we noted that during the time that you're reading these letters, the apostles are alive and there are at least some of the apostles alive. During the time that all these letters are written. Well, there's no apostles alive today. We note also that they were written at a time when there were a lot of other eyewitnesses in the church. There's no eyewitnesses today alive of the resurrection of Christ. In the same way, we noted that the apostles, and we'll see this today, that they had the authority to lay hands on people and impart miraculous gifts. And the apostles are not here and they're not alive. And that there are no people today who are going around with the same authority and can lay hands on people and impart these miraculous gifts. Next, we noted that in the following lesson that all through the Old Testament, that anytime that God spoke to a certain people, a certain person, he was guided by the Holy Spirit. That God always marked that person in some way so that they could know that message was from the Holy Spirit. It may be a miracle.

[Student 1]

It may.

[Teacher]

It may be prophecy in its fulfillment, but there never was a time when God just expected that a person was speaking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit without evidence. In other words, we don't find prophets that just preached. And everybody knew that this was the word of God. It was the fact that he was fulfilled. There was the miraculous. And then we noted something else, that whatever message they give Gabe always had to be harmonious. With what had been given before. And they were actually taught to challenge a message and make sure that it was harmonious with the law of Moses. And so a Jew would not have embraced anything. Even if somebody deceived him with a miracle, he would not have embraced anything that was out of harmony with the teaching of the law of Moses. So the revelation was always harmonious with whatever had come before. There was always the confirmation of either prophecy and its fulfillment or the miraculous. At no time do we have individuals who are expected to believe that something is of God just because somebody claims that he's speaking of God. In fact, let me hold your place right here. Flip back to the Old Testament, to Jeremiah, and note it was just really the opposite that God actually encouraged and told them through the prophets to challenge whatever was preached by the prophets. Jeremiah, I believe it's 23rd, chapter. 23. And then beginning with verse 16, Mark, will you start reading that, please? Begin to verse 16 and just read on down until I ask you to pause, please.

[Student 1]

This is what the Lord Almighty says. Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you. They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me. The Lord says, you will have peace. And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts, they say, no harm will come to you.

[Teacher]

But which of them has stood in

[Student 1]

the counsel of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath or whirlwind, swinging down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message. I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him, declares the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Declares the Lord. I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name? They say, I had a dream. I had a dream. How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets who prophesy the delusions of their own minds, they think, the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through BAAL worship. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it first faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain, declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord. And like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, therefore, declares the Lord, I am against the prophets who steal from one another. Word supposedly from me. Yes, declares the Lord, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare the Lord declares indeed I am against those who prophesy false dreams. Declare, declares the Lord. They tell them. And lead my people astray with their reckless lies. Yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least, declares the Lord.

[Teacher]

Okay, now that will go on more. And he tells, and he makes it clear all the way through how they tell the difference between a false and true. But the point I wanted to make, that's just one example. All through history there have been men who stood up and prophesied and told their dreams and said they were speaking of God, and God prophesied through them. The question is, how do people know? If people were to believe just because somebody said something, then there would never be any way to protect yourself against a false prophet. But they were to challenge them. And number one, everything a prophet said had to be put perfect harmony with what had been revealed by God through other prophets. In other words, that there could be no compromise with the morality or anything like that. Also, the prophet, everything he said came to pass. Now in this case with Jeremiah, Jeremiah is telling the people that their city is going to be destroyed and they're going to be carried into captivity and that they need. The only way they can stop it is to repent. And it's because of the wickedness of their lives that they're going to be destroyed. Well, the prophets among the people are saying, don't listen to Jeremiah. The enemy will not come in here. The temple of God is in Jerusalem. God's not going to let anything happen to his temple. We are the people of God. And so the people continued sinning. The prophets were a bunch of sinners. And by the way, you say, well, why are the false prophets? Well, see, the prophets got their support, financial support from the people. And so the people want to hear what they want to hear. And so the way they kept their financial support is simply to tell the people what they wanted to hear. And it was that simple. I mean, they didn't do it for just no reason whatsoever, they made their living. And so Jeremiah then is preaching. Well, as a result of listening to the false prophets, they beat up Jeremiah, they dipped him in mud, they threw him in jail. But the vindication came the day Nebuchadnezzar came to town. And when Nebuchadnezzar comes and Jerusalem is destroyed and their temple burned down and everything, then all the words of the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled. Well after that, then they began to exalt Jeremiah as a prophet. Now you and I have as part of the Bible, Jeremiah, at the time Jeremiah was actually preaching, most of the Jews rejected him. But the reason they wound up reverencing him and receiving him as a prophet is that all these things he said came to pass and everything the false prophet said actually came right back at them. But at the time he spoke, the majority of the people actually rejected him. And the point being again, that God has never just spoken a message and expected people to believe it without any confirmation whatsoever. This nonsense of people standing up and saying the Holy Spirit told them to say something and they've had a dream and everything like that, and then they tell it like it's from God and expect you to believe it. No, that's nonsense. It's never happened before. Anything that God has ever wanted anybody to believe, he's always given evidence and proofs so that they could know it was from God. Hi there. Made a den by himself.

[Student 2]

For those of you, do you remember Charity? Okay, see, this is Charity. She is from a former.

[Teacher]

Okay, so we noted those principles in the Old Testament and then we noted the last time that we looked at the Holy Spirit in the Gospels, that number one, did the apostles during the ministry of Jesus, did the apostles have the Holy Spirit? Yes, the dead during the ministry. Now, now they were going to remember the Holy Spirit was promised and they were going to receive the Holy Spirit. You mean when Jesus was here? Right, when Jesus. Okay, okay. It was something promised they were going to receive. Now what did Jesus say the Holy Spirit was supposed to do for them? Teach them all truth, bring to their remembrance things that he had taught them. That was going to be the function. Now, so we're in agreement that the Holy Spirit has not been poured out on the apostles up until we get here to the Book of Acts. Right. Ok. Now the Holy Spirit has not been poured out on the apostles. Did the apostles, as we come to the Book of Acts, do they believe that Jesus is the son of God? He's been raised from the dead. Ok, so in other Words. There was nothing from the Holy Spirit in some mystical way that caused him to believe this. Why did they believe that Jesus was the Son of God and had been raised from the dead?

[Student 3]

He said he was going to do

[Teacher]

it and he did it. Okay, look at the first few verses in Acts 1, beginning with verse 3, it says, after his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive and appeared to them over a period of 40 days. So they come to believe as a result of convincing proofs. Right? Now, had these apostles repented before they received the Holy Spirit? Because we know that they were baptized by John the Baptist and John was preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven at hand. In fact, we know John well enough to know that John was stricter than any of us would be scared. To me today, he wouldn't baptize anybody unless he was convinced that they repented. And he made some pretty strong statements to people who wanted to be baptized and had been repented. Remember what he said? You brood of vipers who warn you to flee from wrath, to come go do works meet for repentance. So we know they repented and we know they believed in Jesus as the Son of God and they had acknowledged him. All I'm pointing this out for is to show you don't need some special working of the Holy Spirit on your mind to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and to repent of your sins. The apostles to this point do not have the Holy Spirit and yet they repented of their sins and they believed. Have they been baptized? They were all baptized. So what did they need the Holy Spirit for? To. To cause them to believe, to do something mystical to their mind so they could repent, to regenerate them in some mystical way. Or did they need the Holy Spirit to guide them into truth and bring to their remembrance what Jesus said? And remember, he referred to the Holy Spirit. We said that the word in the King James calling the Spirit a comforter is really not the best translation of that word. The newer rendering, like the NIV of counselor C O U N S E L Like a lawyer being your counselor, that really is the accurate rendering of that word. And what he was saying is the Holy Spirit will be your counselor. And so when you have a counselor or lawyer, he tells you how to answer the questions. And you check with your lawyer before you answer questions in every way. Well, Jesus had served as their counselor while he was here, but he was leaving. And now the counselor was going to come and notice he said, it will be better for you. Well, when Jesus was here, the information was confided to his fleshly body. And so anytime they got very far from Jesus in their preaching, they had to go back. And they got some questions they couldn't handle. They had to go back to Jesus. But now the Holy Spirit was going to come to their mind. And whenever they needed the information, they would be empowered. And that's all. When you read about power, the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean power in the sense they could lift a building or anything like that. It meant that God empowered them at that moment in time. So that they speak, they now have memory of whatever they need to say and whatever further teaching God has given them the information. So just like I read the information right now and get it in my mind so it can come out of my mouth. The only difference was the Holy Spirit was giving them the information and then they were speaking it. And then as they spoke it, people have got a problem. What's that problem? Here they are speaking the word of God, guided by the Holy Spirit. But what problem do I have as I'm listening to them?

[Student 1]

How do you know it's not them talking and that it's really from God?

[Teacher]

Right. I mean, just listen to what they're saying. Here's a guy that is son of a carpenter that's lived in flesh and blood among them for 33 years, and they're saying that not only has he been raised from the dead, but he's God incarnate. That's a lot to swallow. I mean, Jesus the Nazarene, the carpenter, that's God, God incarnate. And you killed him and he's raised from the dead. And somebody thinks that you can just say that to somebody and they believe it. And the reason I emphasize this, I think the saddest thing in Christianity is that one of the reasons we've got so many unbelievers in our country now is because that's exactly what we've got doing. We've got Christians that go around and they talk to unbelievers and they say, let Jesus come into your heart and save you. Well, what's going to happen? Well, he's the son of God. He's been raised from the dead. And then what they think is happening is that the Holy Spirit in some mystical way is supposed to regenerate that person's mind so that he can believe. And then if the person doesn't believe, it's because he's resisting the Holy Spirit. Well, that's not the way it was. The Holy Spirit's job was to empower the spokesman with the message. But then the message had to have the evidence behind it. And just like we read here, they came to believe Jesus as a result of many convincing proofs. Ok, now the Holy Spirit is poured out here in the book of Acts on the apostles. And we come on down. Look at chapter two. The day of Pentecost came to show you we're speaking of the apostles. At first you can see Mathis. He is numbered with the apostles in verse 23. Okay? He's mentioned there. And then in verse 26, they cast lots. The lot fell on Mathis. He was Matthias. He was added to the 11 apostles. Forget about that. Chapter two and verse one. Remember, chapters and verses are put in afterwards. Luke didn't write in chapters and verses, he just wrote the material. We come along and divide it up in chapters and verses to have a handy reference. But all he says that he's added to the eleven apostles. Then the next statement is, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly the sound, like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven, filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Okay, notice in verse five, there's Jews from every nation under heaven gathered there. This is the Pentecost. This is one of the three times of the year, the ingathering when they came home to Jerusalem. One of the other two times was the Passover when they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. And look how in verse 6, each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were utterly amazed. And it said, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that each of us hear them in our own language? So what is the gift of tongues here in Acts? Two

[Student 2]

Languages.

[Teacher]

Okay, they speak in the languages. And notice, is there a practical reason for this gift here? These people have come from all nations. They have their. Their language. And these guys are going to present a message. And God doesn't have time to send them to a language school. So they're speaking and everybody is hearing in their own language. But then God's doing something. He's doing two things. They needed the communication, but then he's using it for evidence. And so they're amazed. They're astounded. And so they began to now They've got their attention. After they get their attention and they say, hey, they're saying that these guys have to be speaking from God. Look at these tremendous things happening. Think of miracles as highlighting something. Just like you take a yellow highlighter and you highlight something like you want it to stand out. Well, this is what miracles do. That here's a message that God wants people to listen to. And so how does he get their attention? Well, he highlights it. And the way he highlights it is with a miracle. And so just think of the important thing is the message, not the highlighting. It really doesn't matter what language they spoke it in. The important thing is the message. But how do you get people's attention? How do you get them to know that it's from God? The miracle highlights the message. It makes it stand out. It grabs their attention, it amazes them. It and convinces them that, hey, I'm listening to something from God. Okay, he goes ahead and I'm not going to read that sermon. And it's all, we're just going to come to the conclusion. But in the sermon, he first of all quotes a prophecy. And he said, what you're seeing is the fulfillment of prophet Joel. Well, remember we said that truth was harmonious. They could go back and yell. Joel said something that sounded a whole lot like, what's happening right here. Then he calls them back to another prophecy where David spoke of a man that would die and his spirit would not remain in Hades and his body would not see corruption. Well, they had applied that to David, although they never fully understood it. Well, Peter then looks them right in the face and he says, listen, you know, David couldn't be speaking of himself because he's dead and his bones are buried right over there. Go check his grave. He's not speaking of himself. He's a prophet of God and he's speaking of the Messiah that's to come. So then all of them give their eyewitness account of the resurrections of Christ. They've showed he's fulfilled the prophecy. They give their eyewitness account. There's the miraculous there. And remember, the miracle highlighted the event. But notice what pricked their heart in verse 37. We conclude the sermon. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the prophets, what shall we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus or Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay, now pause there. What was it that Pricked their heart. The message. What did the miracle do?

[Student 4]

Confirmed it.

[Teacher]

Confirmed it and highlighted the message itself. Were they expected to repent and be baptized before they received the gift of the Holy Spirit?

[Student 4]

Which ones? Who?

[Student 1]

The apostles?

[Teacher]

Yes, right here in this comment. So in other words, there was nothing about the Holy Spirit that in some mystical sense help these people believe or repent or be baptized. Now the reason I point that out is that in all Christendom, and this originates with John Calvin, there is the teaching that man is totally depraved and he's incapable of good. And then before he can be saved, the Holy Spirit in some mystical way has to come into his heart and regenerate his mind and then he can understand the message and all. My problem with that is people do the right thing, even though they may misunderstand the mechanics. But people who have this conception have the belief that they can convert people to Christ by just telling them to let Jesus come into their heart or be receptive to the Spirit. And that's why sometimes groups will have a mourner's bench or something like that where they're praying for the Holy Spirit. Well then, so what happens though? My concern with my background is the guy out here that is an unbeliever and who does read and study and deals with science and history and things like that. And he's looking at that and he's saying there's no evidence there at all. And these people are just. And he comes to a service like that, and I know because I've gone to those services, what he feels, he's thinking, these people are just getting emotionally worked up. And then after they get them emotionally worked up, they tell them that that emotion is caused by the Holy Spirit. And then they take that as their evidence and they go ahead and believe and repent. The point is they're believing and repenting, but they've been misled on the evidence that's behind it. In the real situation, the evidence was miraculous and it was prophecy in its fulfillment. And it was a plurality of people given an eyewitness account, their God given intelligence evaluated that information and made the decision to repent and to believe. So the important difference to me is that a proper understanding of this causes us to make our appeal to a person's mind with evidence. Not seeing that causes us to go after a person's emotion, thinking that you don't even need any evidence for his mind and trying to tell him that if in some mystical way he can just quit resisting, the Holy Spirit will Regenerate his mind in some way. Does everybody see the difference on what we're talking about there and the importance of it? And, and they'll say, well, what about these people that go into certain places and they just tell them to believe in Jesus and they believe? Well, there are several things there. Number one, they are doing that in America, in a country where people have been taught about Jesus all their life and they already have certain beliefs about Jesus. And they may have come in contact with the Gospels. They may have known people in their family that were Christian. They may already be attracted to them in some way. And so because of that, they're actually taking advantage of some past beliefs and understandings that's there. But I guarantee you, if they were to go talk to a Muslim or an atheist or an infidel and just simply tell that person to believe, it would never happen. In other words, if it's the Holy Spirit in some mystical way that's doing this, why doesn't he work on atheists and Muslims in the same way he works on these people that have a different type background?

[Student 2]

What about the people that are down at the mourner's bench and they don't really feel this. Those poor people think that they've been lost it.

[Teacher]

They think they've got. That's a good point.

[Student 2]

I've heard they say that they were seeking. That they prayed and prayed and were seeking the Holy Spirit. What if they keep thinking, well, I haven't gotten it, you know?

[Teacher]

Well, that's why sometimes I've been in the services where people prayed for ours. But see, most of the time they're going to receive because your mind operates on the basis of what you believe. And just like if I tell you that somebody you love is dead and you believe that I call you up to, you're going to cry, okay? Then somebody else can call you and say, hey, he was lying to you. He's alive. So your mind will feel in keeping with your belief whether or not it's so. And so this person that goes to the mourner's bench, they obviously already have an element of belief or they wouldn't go there. Right? I mean, I can't see a total unbeliever. And so they want to believe and they have an element of belief. And so what happens is their emotions respond because they do believe. But then when they respond, they've been told that it's the Holy Spirit that is causing this. And so there's a misunderstanding of the mechanics involved. Sometimes, though, people go to the bench, more bench, or in a situation like that, and they don't get any special feeling. So then sometimes they may come up and try several times. Barbara and I met a man in Adams, Tennessee, one time. He was the husband of a lady that was a Christian there. And he had just quit going to church completely. He was brought up in the Primitive Baptist, and they taught. The Primitive Baptist teach that you're predetermined to be saved or lost, and at the right time God will call you. And so anyway, he couldn't have any experience. He just didn't have it. And so he was just simply of the conclusion that he was not one of the saved and not called. And he lived with that. And then he mentioned what a relief it was to find out that God calls through the message, not through something mystical, but he calls through the message, and that you can respond to if you want to. But he actually went around for years with the belief that he just simply was not one of the called. Okay, now this will become. The concept is going to become important later on because we all acknowledge, based on what we've seen so far, that you can come to believe and you can repent of your sins based on your own mind and emotions and conscience, that you can evaluate evidence, you can have feelings, you can decide you need to repent, and you can actually repent based on all of that. Is there anything spiritually more difficult that we're now going to be asked to do, do, than repent and believe? So far as the mind itself, is there anything more difficult coming up than to actually repent? Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, raised from the dead, put your trust in him for your salvation, repent of your sins, change your mind about sins. Is there anything more complex or difficult than that? We've got a lot to learn now as we go through the New Testament. But are we ever going to come into anything that's any more complex or any more difficult than that? I can't think of anything. I honestly cannot think. Some of the things we call complex are difficult simply because we maybe haven't studied it as much as something else. Or it may be something that we don't have as much information on or something of that nature. But I can't think of another concept that's any more difficult than what's involved in coming to believe in Jesus and put your trust in him and to repent of your sins. And the point is, we do this without the Holy Spirit doing anything mystical to our mind. But what did the Holy Spirit do for the whole process. He highlighted the information. The miraculous us confirm the information. Okay, so continue on down and after we find that statement, look at verse 42 and 3. Nancy, you want to read those verses please?

[Student 2]

In chapter two, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

[Teacher]

Okay, is it obvious in those two verses, these people now a lot of them have already been baptized, right? Verse 41, those that accepted the message were baptized. 3,000 read. Isn't that pretty obvious that the apostles were somebody special, that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching? In other words, let's go back up to verse 38 when it says they were to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Whatever was involved in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit did not negate their needing the apostles teaching. Then we have them filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous done by the apostles. So obviously whatever has transpired, there's something short there in them than of the apostles because they're not standing in awe of one another, they're standing in awe of the apostles. And many miracles are being done by the apostles and they're staying within the apostles teaching. So whatever is involved in that receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit doesn't negate the fact they need the teaching of the apostles and they need the miracles to confirm that teaching and that they're standing in awe of the apostles in some way. Okay, now what is that gift? In Acts 2:38, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Well, I think we've got a couple of choices as we answer that question. If you read a letter and it said Mark broke his leg, you can stop right there. And we could all begin to speculate on how Mark broke his leg and how many ways can he break his leg. All different kinds of ways, right? He can ride a horse, he can fall on skates, he can be in a car wreck. There's a multitude of ways he can break his leg. There is no way that you can read a letter which says it, Mark broke his leg. And then you, you know how he broke his leg, you just know he broke his leg. So we don't do that kind of thing, do we? When we're reading letters from one another and a person says something like that, we don't just stop our letter and say, now let me figure out now I just want to see. And over here in this other paragraph, it says Mark was riding a Bicycle. And in this paragraph over here it says that he was thinking about riding a bicycle. And then there was a paragraph over here that said there was a bump in the road. And now let's see. I think if we put all that together, Mark in all probability got on the bicycle and hit the bump and broke his leg. We don't reason that way. We don't go back. It says that he broke his leg. And we keep reading thinking maybe they'll tell us how he broke his leg. And so I suggest that you that if the passage stopped right here and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, I don't know what happened. I know that the apostles have been guided into a message here. I know it's been confirmed by the miraculous. I know that these people are standing in awe of them. And I know they've been told they'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what exactly the gift of the Holy Spirit? It's. I don't know. In fact, you can even look at gift of the Holy Spirit in a couple of different ways. If you receive the farm of John Brown, do you receive John Brown or the farm? So I'm saying was it the Holy Spirit they received or was it the gift of the Holy Spirit? But I'm saying you've got a. That we're going to see where the scriptures will use it both ways. But I'm saying that from this one verse we really don't know, do we, on the thing. And I agree with what you're saying. I agree with exactly what you're saying, Jim, that it is.

[Student 2]

He's saying just what it says that it is.

[Teacher]

Right, that's exactly that it is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay, now so we just continue to read and we see the apostles. The next verse says that everybody after that too will receive the Holy Spirit. Right. And the question is, what did they receive? Right. Okay. Right. I believe everybody. They talked to the people there and they said, repent, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so we know that they're getting the gift of the Holy Spirit. What we don't know is exactly what they're getting and how they're getting it. We just know they're getting the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay, we continue on. Come on down to the sixth chapter. And here we have a lot of people have been converted to now and we have the apostles picking out seven people. Look at beginning with verse five through six, Jim, that Acts six, five and six. Would you read that please? And the saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith of the Holy Ghost, and Philip.

[Student 2]

And your guess is as good as theirs, Jim. So of course. Won't you try those Palmers?

[Teacher]

Can you pronounce it? Prochorus. Prochorus and McKetter and Timon and Permian. Jim, I didn't do that on purpose, Nicholas. Okay.

[Student 2]

Manioc.

[Teacher]

Jim won't even speak to me anymore. Of Antioch. Did you say 5 and 6, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. Okay, so these seven men are picked. They prayed, they laid their hands on them. And one of them is Philip, right? Yes. Okay, so let's remember that we run, we just keep going and we.

[Student 4]

This says that Stephen already had the Holy Spirit or full of faith into the Holy Spirit, but then they laid hands on him.

[Teacher]

Right? Right. He was full of the. Right. Full of the Holy Spirit. Alright. Now another thing to remember as you're reading this and we look at the context, anytime you see holy spirit or spirit capitalize, it's the discretion of the translator whether they capitalize it or don't capitalize it. In other words, the word holy, if you're looking at parts of speech, what is the word holy when you use holy spirit? It's an adjective. The only thing to make it holy is God. Right, but I'm saying the word right. If you say he's a holy person, it's a description. It's a description. So what we really have is the word spirit and it's being described in terms of being holy. Now when you come to people, forget about the Holy Spirit. We have a spirit, right? God is the father of our spirits. Hebrews 12, 9. And so I'm saying that we also have a spirit. And Paul will deal a whole lot with this later on. So I'm saying you can't look at that one statement in there and just know again exactly what he's talking about.

[Student 2]

We see later you see what his question was.

[Teacher]

Right?

[Student 4]

Let me just ask you a question about translation. Do they have, in Greek, does it have words like the and of.

[Teacher]

Yeah, they have the various articles. But sometimes even there, there are times when it's difficult to tell that it becomes the interpretation of the translator.

[Student 4]

Because see, if I was going to say refer to a person describing a person's spirit as being holy, I wouldn't use the in front of it. I would just say he has a holy spirit spirit or he has a sweet spirit spirit.

[Teacher]

Well, it could be what you're saying may very well be the thing. But I'm saying that let's say he's full of the Holy Spirit, but really we're going to come to where that you have a person filled with the Holy Spirit who's also filled with God and he's filled with Christ. And we're going to read terms like God dwells in him, Christ dwells in him, and the Spirit dwells in him. And then we're going to read explanations of how that takes place. But the point I was making, for some reason he laid hands on these seven.

[Student 2]

What you're saying is that wouldn't necessarily be like you're saying that. I see what you're saying. But I guess you could also say that he's full of the Christ, full of the anointed one. So in that sense.

[Student 1]

Well, in this situation right here, it doesn't have the.

[Teacher]

Oh, really, this particular one doesn't see where it's difficult mark on that. And the reason, by the way, that the Greek is really important, the bias of the translators in their own interpretation shows through so many times. Just like I'm saying, the entire act of capitalizing, that's the reason I asked the question.

[Student 4]

I wonder in this instance if there

[Teacher]

was confusing in that. It doesn't mark when they do that. Okay. In fact, I think that was a good point. And so if you were reading that just in the way they had it, you would tend to think of it in the way that you said. Okay, now come over to chapter eight and look at verse four. These people are scattered. Philip went down to the city of Samaria. And notice verse six. It says they heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs that he did. Ok, and we know that the apostles laid hands on Philip. We don't know what happened. We know for some reason he was laid hands on those seven. And now all of a sudden, for the first time, we read of somebody other than an apostle performing miracles. Right? For the first time we have someone other than the apostles performing a miracle. And it just so happens, though, he's somebody that the apostles have laid hands on. Okay, Notice again in verse nine that there was a guy by the name of Simon who practiced sorcery. And he was amazed at all the people of Samaria. And he boasted that he was some great one. And all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is divine, some power. Okay? They followed him because he had amazed them. But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus. They were baptized, both men and Simon himself to lead and baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished at great signs of miracles. Right. Now we can see that sorcery was common at this time, right? Simon had amazed empathy sorcery. But what are we seeing here? Obviously whatever Simon was doing fell short of what they were doing. And even Simon himself is amazed. But Simon was was deceiving them into believing he was doing something miraculous. But really it was not. And Simon saw the real difference between what he was doing. OK then, beginning in verse 14. Bryan, you want to read that? 14:18 please.

[Student 3]

Chapter eight.

[Teacher]

Yeah.

[Student 3]

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. They had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money and said give me also this ability so that everyone in whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

[Teacher]

Now notice these people had been taught by Philip, right? And he's performing miraculous signs. The apostles laid hands on him, they came to believe and they became Christians. And after they were baptized they did not receive the Holy Spirit, is that right? Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on them. They had simply been baptized in the name of Christ. In other words, there is no assumption that when you are baptized into Christ that the Holy Spirit comes on you. It says they had been baptized, but the Holy Spirit did not come on them. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And then it says Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands and he offered them money and said give me also this. It wasn't them saying they had something that nobody could see. Are these the ones that were baptized by Philip? Philip baptized them, Right? And Philip had miraculous. When he baptized them it identified them as having believed and were baptized. But it states specifically they did not receive the Holy Spirit. So I'm saying that obviously Acts does not teach in what we've read so far that when you're baptized you automatically receive the Holy Spirit. What it did is on the day of Pentecost it said to people that were baptized that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But it didn't tell us how they got that Holy gift. Then we read that when people are baptized, they don't receive the Holy Spirit, but then the apostles come and lay hands on them and then they receive the Holy Spirit. And then before that they laid hands on Philip. Okay, there's a

[Student 4]

possible interpretation that Mark had mentioned to me at one time was that salvation could be the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[Teacher]

Is that plausible so far as at baptism? Right, that is a plausible interpretation. In other words, that is, I believe personally that in Acts 2:38 that he is actually talking about these miraculous gifts. The reason I believe that is because they had just heard Peter the apostles preach and they had heard them speak in tongues and languages they hadn't learned. And then they had heard that said that this is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel. And in that prophecy it said, you sons and your daughters will prophesy. And so here they're told that this is a fulfillment of the prophet Joel. And then Peter says, you repent and be baptized and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And I guess I just put myself in their place. And if I saw those miraculous gifts and was told this is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel, and then I was told I'd receive it, I would be expecting to receive. I think that. But to say that the gift of the Holy Spirit could be something the Holy Spirit has to offer, like eternal life, that's a plausible interpretation, but it

[Student 4]

seems to be a little inconsistency because then it says this promise is for you and your children and for all who will believe on the Lord. And so there's all who are far off. Okay? And so to me reading that, it seems that everybody's going to receive whatever this gift that we don't understand is.

[Teacher]

Okay? But keep in mind now in the context, we're going to find out who he's speaking of. He's going to identify those that are far off and he's going to identify them as Gentiles. There was the Jew and the Gentile. He's not talking about distance or anything like that, or even time, but we're going to get to those that are far off were the Gentile. But the point is that whatever was involved when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, these people here in the eighth chapter did not receive the Holy Spirit. And then the apostles laid hands and received. See, what I've always had trouble understanding with people is that if Luke wanted to make it clear that the Holy Spirit was passed on through the laying on the apostles hands and you did not get it simply by being baptized. I don't know how he could have said it any plainer than what he does in those verses. In other words, they were baptized and they did not have the Holy Spirit.

[Student 4]

So what you're saying is that when it says the promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, and it says hyphen, for all whom the Lord our God will call. When it says for all whom the Lord our God will call, that would refer to who the Lord our God would call to receive this gift, not who the Lord our God would call to repent and to be.

[Teacher]

Well, see, in their context, Mark, I believe all that were called and they were called. See, See, the issue really is salvation. That's the goal. When we talk about miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all we're ever talking about is highlighting the message. The message is salvation. And you get to salvation by belief in repenting. And then based on your repentance and your belief, you're immersed. But I'm saying the issue is salvation itself. And so the Lord is calling all. And I'm saying that even when they had. Now, as far as these gifts, they needed the gifts for a particular reason. Like after the apostles converted these people here, they didn't have a New Testament to give them. And yet the apostles, you just got 12 men now. And later the apostle, Apostle Paul, they've got to go into the entire world of that day, and you've got millions of people, ok? And so they've got to take this message. They don't have a New Testament. Well, how did the apostles confirm the message when they spoke through the miraculous? These people are going to take that same message. And through these gifts of the Holy Spirit, they're going to confirm that message. And the example of that is right there with Philip. They lay hands on him, and Philip goes into Samaria and he preaches the message. But when he preaches the message, he performs miracles. And the miracles cause them to believe the message. The important thing is the message. All the world of miracles do is cause them to believe the message. And see, any teaching that exalts the miracle as an end has missed it. The end is the message. And the miracles are a means to an end, get people to believe the message. And so then he preaches it. Well, now, when Philip converts these people, he wants them to have these gifts of the Holy Spirit because he wants them to take this message and teach others. But they couldn't believe that Philip was teaching the truth unless they saw the evidence so the apostles wanted to get that there and lay hands on them. I'm saying that anywhere there were people converted, the apostles want to get to them and lay hands on them for them to receive these gifts. Because then these people can proclaim the same message and those gifts will constantly confirm their testimony. And the Holy Spirit would bear witness that the message was true. Another passage, flip over here at Pentecost

[Student 4]

there was Jews from this is every nation in the civilized world. And we know there was a mass amount of people who responded. So all these people have gone out. And if our, what we're saying is that. People could receive this miraculous Holy Spirit when the apostles laid hands on them, then what would happen in this instance is that these people. Let's say that the apostles laid hands on all these people and they received this miraculous Holy Spirit. When they went to each of their nations, then they would be like Philip, they would be able to teach and confirm, but they couldn't pass it on. But then this says, this promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off. So those people far off in that instance wouldn't be receiving that gift.

[Teacher]

See, I don't believe we're going to get to that. The far off is not talking about Jesus. It's talking about the Gentiles. And we're going to get the explanation of that. See, that's the problem when we get into it. The Gentiles will be identified as those that were afar off. But no, we're not talking about distance out there. The Gentiles are the ones that are, from the Jew standpoint, they're not even distant kin to God. And the message is going out to the them also. And the miraculous gifts will be passed on. And we're going to get to the point where, in fact, to show you that the Jew had no understanding that the Gentile would get this. It would take a miracle to get Peter to even preach to Cornelius in Acts 10. And then after he preached to them, the Holy Spirit would be poured out. And then he looked at his fellow Jews and said, can we now forgive, forbid the water to baptize these people that have received the Holy Spirit. But it lets us know that they were saying to Peter, we're not going to baptize these guys. We shouldn't even be here. The Holy Spirit falls and he looks over and says, now which one of you guys want to forbid the water now that God is speaking there? And so now those that are far

[Student 2]

off, in fact, you know, that's another, another example of where when you read through the first time, you certainly think of it that way, because I do too.

[Teacher]

Well, let me see. Turn over to Ephesians. What would you place there?

[Student 2]

When you get through with that pile, you might want to break it.

[Teacher]

Okay, and then we'll continue. I think that'll be good. After we get to this, we'll take a break and then continue discussing. I knew that we'd run short on time. That's why. Ephesians 2. I think I got the right place here. Ephesians 2 and verse. Yeah, look at divisions two, beginning verse 11. And let's see, Carol, verse 11. Would you read verse 11 through verse 13?

[Student 2]

Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised by which is what is called a circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you were once far off and have been made near by the blood of Christ.

[Teacher]

Okay, see what he's talking about. The Gentiles, they're far off in the sense they're totally separated from God in their sin. Well, see, the Jew had the sacrificial system and all the promises and all, so they were near God and the Gentile was far off because of sin. But now they've been brought near. And I'm saying that in the context here that those that are far off, they don't even understand it at that time. But it's the Gentile. It has nothing to do with distance what's going to happen now. The reason the apostles even wanted to constantly be traveling and moving and all is they wanted to constantly be laying hands so these people could receive gifts. And for lack of time. I'll quote another passage. Rather than go in Romans 1:11, Paul wanted to come to Rome that he might impart some spiritual gift to them. And then in second Peter 2 Timothy 1 and verse 6, he said, Timothy, fan the flame, the gift that was given you through the laying out of my hands. And so he tells Timothy about this gift of the Spirit that he has through the laying on of his hands. And this gift that they had had to be exercised through their faith. Like when Jesus gave the apostles the power to perform miracles. The first time they tried it, they failed because they didn't have faith in the authority he gave them. And in the same way, Timothy, apparently because of the persecution and the hardship and all has become timid. And Paul's really writing Timothy to tell him to fan afresh the faith that he has. Get out there and go to work is what he's saying. And then he reminds him that he has a gift that's in him through the laying on of his hands. But another time he will come up, we'll get to the 19th chapter and we'll have some Gentiles that will not have the gifts of the Holy Spirit until Paul lays hands on them. And I'm saying that what we have is a plain statement that they do not receive the Holy Spirit even though they've been baptized. And it was only through the laying on the apostles hands that they received the gift. Now from that one statement, then we go on to the refreshments and talk on later the idea that has been propagated that there is something called an ordinary gift of the Holy Spirit, that you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you don't have any miraculous thing at all, but yet the Holy Spirit is in you and causing you to do things and all like that. That is something that is not known to the New Testament. The reason for the Spirit was to give truth and to confirm that truth and to just be in people and to cause them to do things in some way. I'm saying there's no statement like that within the Scriptures. It all had to do with the revealing of truth. And the same when it comes to being godly, the teaching that the Spirit in some mystical way helps you to be godly separate from information. Paul made the statement that he had to buffet his own body and put it into subjection. Fear that after preaching to others that he would be a castaway. But what happens to us? We are led by the Spirit. We have intelligence, we have our conscience. And so what happens to you? If you are sincere and you believe in God and you have conscience and you learn something that you know God wants you to do, what do you feel like doing? You feel compelled to do it once you learn. That's why we preach from the pulpit. We're preaching to people that we know believe in God and believe in Jesus and we're wanting them to do something. And so if we're wanting them to be more evangelistic or we're wanting to be more holy or whatever, we know that if these people are sincere that if we can get that information into their conscience, then they're going to feel compelled to do it. Well, is the Spirit causing them to be compelled to do that and all? Yes, but it's not in a mystical way. The sword of the Spirit is what the word of God. And so the Spirit gives the Word. The job of the Holy Spirit is to give the information and to confirm the information. But the effect on the human heart is the Word. And by the effect on the human heart being the Word, man's free will is never infringed on in any way that he's got the Word. And yes, anytime a person that believes in Christ believes that something is right through that information, he feels compelled to do it. And just like, let's say that Brian here has no thoughts whatsoever about going to Russia and preaching the gospel. And then all of a sudden he gets thoughts about going to Russia and preaching the gospel. So he says the Spirit he feels is moving him. And he's right. But what has really happened is Brian believes the Gospel ought to be preached to all mankind. And so he's been reading that the Gospel is bearing fruit in Russia. But there's a shortage of preachers that we've got thousands of people willing to speak, study, and very few are willing to go. And so then Brian, he's sincere, he's conscientious, and so his conscience gets to dealing with him. Well, then, is that the Spirit? Yes, but it's the Spirit through the Word, not in some mystical sense. And see, if that's properly understood, then the emphasis is put on the Word and people are encouraged to study the Word. When people put the emphasis on the fact that the Holy Spirit in some mystical way is doing something, then there's no need to really study the Word. You go around thinking the Holy Spirit is guiding you in some way. And I don't know how many unstudied preachers I've heard get up and make statements like the Spirit has laid something on their heart and what comes out is what we read over in Jeremiah. Their own dreams and their own imagination and their own thinking. If it didn't come out of here, the Spirit didn't lay it on their heart. It's just that simple. And if the Spirit lays something on their heart that's not in here, what's he going to do? To make sure that they know it's from the Spirit and if it's in there, it's going to confirm it with the miraculous. And that's the only way we can

[Student 2]

know the people are created, that they call for the people, for the elders, and that they lay on hands. That's not right, is it?

[Teacher]

Okay, what happens there? That's a good question.

[Student 2]

But it doesn't do any good.

[Teacher]

Well, you want a break? And then come back and answer that

[Student 2]

question just because I got things hot.

[Teacher]

Yeah, we'll go ahead. That's a good question. What he's saying again. Remember, we identifies it. All of these people that receive these letters, like in James, are living in a time when the apostles are laying these hands on people imparting these miraculous gifts. And so yes, they could call for the elders and they could pray over them and they could experience healing. They had the miraculous gift of healing. But the purpose in healing was not to. That was in. Right. Yeah, but I'm saying the reason we don't have the apostles to lay hands on anybody today. But see, there was a reason behind it. All of those miraculous things that happened was to constantly convince them that this message was from God. What about, let's say this guy is sick and they call the apostles and they pray and they lay hands on him and he gets well. What's going to happen to this guy in a few years? He's going to die anyway. He's going to die. He's going to get sick on something else. So in other words, if they're going to take life with you can get rid of any illness by doing that, then we should never die. We just keep calling for the elders coming. So obviously the only reason for that was to confirm and prove that that message was from God. And once that we would have it confirmed and have the completed Bible, then there would be no need for that. It served its purpose. The end was never the miracles. The miracle's job was to confirm this message. It was from God. Okay, let's pause.

[Student 1]

I was going to ask you. I've got several questions, but one back to this. Acts 2:38, gift of spirit. Well, in Galatians, in Galatians 3:14, it says he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Jews, Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Now is this that it's talking about in Galatians? Cause the promise of the Spirit, is it the same thing as the gift of the spirit in Acts 2:38?

[Teacher]

I believe the promise of the Spirit is what he's talking about there, that he's talking about the promise that was made to Abraham. And really the promise made there is all kinds of promises. But the promise of the Bible is the promise that goes back that there is going to come one from the seed of woman to conquer Satan. And it Starts in the garden, it comes all the way through. And it is promised to Abraham. And Abraham, like the Hebrew writer would mention, they believe that promise of God and that's what he has reference to there. But I think his whole thing is from a context concerning that promise that was made to Abraham over there. But I believe that is a great. The thing of it is with the promise of the Spirit made by like Joel, anything dealing with the Spirit and the gifts was always a means to an end, going back to the very first when man sinned. The end has always been the salvation of man. When he sinned, he broke his relationship with God. And every single solitary thing that God has done has been designed to bring man back, reconciled and at one with his Creator and to give him eternal life.

[Student 1]

And

[Teacher]

everything else is just a means towards that particular end. See, my problem, even with some of the things within, like the Pentecostal or some of the charismatic movements in the church or wherever, is that not only do I believe they have a misunderstanding on that, but they are exalting the means rather than the end. The end is Christ and salvation. And there's a tendency to exalt in. And another thing, even all groups as they start to talk a lot about the Holy Spirit and they get these thoughts by the Holy Spirit and all. It's like to me, after that goes on for a period of time, it just grows and grows. And then all of a sudden what is getting exalted is the Spirit. And see, I'm not sure. One of the new songs that I don't feel comfortable with is that we love God and we love Son and then we turn around and praise the Spirit as if you've got number one. I don't know of a single solitary thing where you worship that way. In the Bible, it's always God and through Christ and there's nothing there to worship like the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit is God. That holy is just an adjective modified. And so we're talking about God, but the way we use it, sometimes we use it like a third person.

[Student 1]

Well, that goes back to Trinity and all that.

[Teacher]

See, I don't believe the Trinity, I believe there. But I think that it's so ingrained in people's mind, you know, they don't. I don't feel there's any harm or anything like that other than we're where they would really. Getting back to the devil's advocate bit. A lot of things. The Trinitarians say that if they were sitting down talking to a Muslim Or a Jew. They could not back up what they say. I mean, they really. They tell them it sounded silly to them, you know, that you've got really three gods, three separate personalities.

[Student 1]

Let me leave that and ask you another question. In Acts, chapter 8, verse 26, okay? It's dealing with Philip, right? It says, now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south the road. Okay? So here you got an angel of the Lord speaking to Philip, who's filled with the spirit. Now, it doesn't say the spirit said to Philip, him. Okay? Now, a little bit later, it does. In 29, it says, the spirit told Philip. But now, this isn't the Holy Spirit, it's the Spirit. And if it wasn't capitalized in this book down here, word Studies of the Holy Spirit, he's saying that that word, the spirit said to Philip is referring back to the angel of the Lord back in Acts 26. So now you got a man that's filled with the. The Holy Spirit, quote, unquote, whatever that means. But an angel of the Lord tells him to go do something. Why did the Holy Spirit not tell

[Teacher]

Philip to go do something? But notice now, in that context, he's using it interchangeably, right?

[Student 1]

Well, he's using the angel of the Lord. Okay, now hold that for just a second before you respond. Okay? Now, in chapter chapter 10, verse 3, says one day at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, cornelius. Now, this is Cornelius. And he's not been filled with the spirit, but he's seeing an angel. But this is the same time, but. Down in chapter 10, verse, let's see, 13. Then a voice told him, this is Peter. Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I've never eaten anything. The voice spoke to him a second time. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. So here you've got an angel speaking, Cornelius. Peter's hearing a voice. Peter's filled with the spirit, but he's still hearing this voice. But it's not identified. The voice is not identified as the Spirit or the Holy Spirit or whatever. And so how does that fit in with the understanding of the Holy Spirit? And why would God be using the angels when he could be using the Holy Spirit? And how does all that come together?

[Teacher]

Okay, the word angel itself is a Greek word, okay, Angelos. It literally means messenger. And sometimes in the Bible, as a result of them putting an angel that. See, a lot of times, messengers are just simply even a Human being that's a messenger. But because the translator uses the word angel, they think of it as a heavenly being. And the context will have to tell you whether we're talking about a specific heavenly being or just a messenger from God. And like, remember in Revelation, he writes to the angel of such and such church. He's just the messenger of that church. So I'm saying that first of all, always when you read angel, just think of. It's not another one of those words they didn't translate. It should be just messenger of God. And it's Angelos. The context will have to tell you whether we're speaking of a spiritual being or just simply a messenger of God that may even be another human being. The spirit could be a messenger. The messenger of God in another parallel is in the Old Testament when you read about God speaking to Moses through the burning bush and then you read about the angel speaking. Well, again, they're used synonymous. And see what I believe there is that the messenger of God is speaking, but he's representing God. And so it's synonymous to say, and then Moses later on, the other writers will sometimes, sometimes say God, sometimes say the angel, and sometimes say Moses. But it's all the same message. Well, I believe it's from God through the messenger and then to Moses and out. And in the context you mentioned that there's a possibility that the actual messenger itself is the spirit. It's just a synonymous type thing, because from his standpoint, as he writes, he's really writing a Greek word, angelus, that means messenger. But the reason, again, that's just a possible interpretation, because there are spiritual messengers of God. And this is like the ministering spirits that would aid us that are inheriting salvation. Hebrews 1, 13, 14. And we had all the way through in the Old Testament, they had the Holy Spirit revealing in the Old Testament, like David spoke with the Spirit, but at the same time you have the spirit revealing. And Moses had the spirit and he passed it on to the 70, and he passed on to Joshua. But then by the same token, it specifically speaks of individual messengers. And then you have, like Daniel is an inspired prophet, but then he has a vision and angels or messengers of God speak to him. And so there is a possibility that he was just a specific messenger or he could be referring to the Spirit. And personally, I don't know how anybody could be dogmatic on that. You know, and I think like Peter, he definitely saw a vision and it was an angel or a messenger of God that actually talk with him. But I don't think there's anything there to define the inspiration. And this word inspiration, like when we talk about the Spirit, when the angel spoke, you have. The angel is actually using words and they're hearing those actual words. But when the Spirit is speaking this. This word borne along by the Holy Spirit, like he said holy men spoke, is a removed by the Holy Spirit. And no prophecy of Scripture is given except by this. That word borne along or carried by the Holy Spirit is exactly the same word like you'd have in Acts 27:17, where it spoke of the ship in Paul's wreck being borne or carried along by the sea. And so we know when we read from these inspired writers that we're reading their personality, we're reading their syntax, and so much so that we know the difference between Paul's writings and Peter's writings. And all of them have their own distinctive personality. So obvious that's the case. The Holy Spirit is not dictating individual words there. It's like they are being borne along and they're carried their own mind, their vocabulary is being used. And then the process. I just don't believe that. I don't believe they fully understood it. And the best example I know of that is. Let me get this big brat out over here. In Galatians, we know that Paul was inspired and turned over to Galatians, and he's been preaching the Gospel and he's been teaching that you didn't have to be circumcised, that the law of Moses has been nailed to the cross. And all of this. And beginning the second chapter, he says, fourteen years later, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas, and I took Titus. I went up in response to a revelation and set before them the Gospel. But I did notice now, but I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised. Okay, so here's Paul, who's been preaching under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and confirming the message with me. But obviously from Paul's standpoint, he's speaking out of his mind and out of his understanding and out of his study. And remember, Paul says he got the message directly from Jesus, but yet he's being carried along by the Holy Spirit. But I think what shows here, Paul himself was having difficulty trying to comprehend all this. And so he says he goes up in fear that he had preached. In other words, even though he was teaching that you didn't have to be circumcised and keep the law. And that was his understanding. He obviously has an element of doubt in his mind. And there's the possibility I'm wrong here, because what he's doing, he's teaching something that he's never believed before, and he doesn't know anybody else that teaches it. And so even though the miracles are there and he feels compelled to teach and that's what his understanding is saying, he still has this element of doubt. You see, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit. And yet when Jesus didn't start doing what John thought he ought to do, as soon he began to have doubt. And he said, are you really the one or not? Well, Paul, it seems to me, has some doubt there. And it's just like he. He goes. And then Titus doesn't have to be circumcised. He just feels relieved. And then he went ahead and mentioned that he realized now that Peter was giving the Gospel for the Jew and him the Gentile. So my own feeling on that is that when I look at how even the gospel writers can take the same statement of truth by Jesus and use different words, and you can have something like even the destruction of Jerusalem, where Luke and Matthew will rearrange, Matthew will have a different arrangement of the same materials. And that sometimes when they record a miracle or an instance or something, they will say it in different words in a different way. And when I read Paul's instructions to Timothy to pick elders, and his instructions, instructions to Titus, he says one thinks to one, he doesn't says to the other. He says the same thing in different words. The indication to my mind is not of someone who's dictating every word, but in some way these guys are studying the Scriptures and they've been taught by Jesus. And in some way they're being borne along by the Holy Spirit. And so the what is inspired is the message. And the end result is this inspired scripture. And the miracles are constantly there. And then from our standpoint, we're looking at it. I don't have that miracle other than the record of it, but people that were willing to die for what they believe, but what I can see is the same thing they experienced in that meeting. Here are Peter and Paul coming from two totally different backgrounds. One of them has been with Jesus, the other one hasn't. And they're preaching exactly the same message. And the question is, how can that be? And so then I have to say I don't understand the Mechanics involved because I'm dealing with the Creator. But I know that they're inspired of God because there's no way to explain that. And so when I see Peter and Paul and all those guys preaching the same harmonious, complementary message, and yet no one of them understood it before, it's contrary to what every one of them believed. My mind looks for that in all honesty, with as much amazement as if I saw a blind man given his sight. Only this is better. Because if I saw a blind man given his sight, I couldn't show that to somebody else out there that I'd have to duplicate, duplicated, duplicated. But this I can actually take what we're talking about and with this completed volume we have, and I can show it to any thinking person that will sit down and reason.

[Student 1]

Well, this example you used in Galatians 2, Paul was in fear. That seems that would fly in the face of what a lot of people believe on the leading of the Spirit today. Because what people today claim that the Spirit does for them, it didn't do

[Teacher]

for Paul, did not do it, did

[Student 1]

not do for Paul. He's saying he's in fear, that he's not been preaching the gospel, that he's in error somehow or another. And then these people today are claiming that the Holy Spirit keeps them from being in there.

[Teacher]

Right, Right.

[Student 1]

And then same thing with John the Baptist. You know, it would have. I mean, it's a contradiction.

[Teacher]

Why does Jesus have to perform? John the Baptist states plainly he's filled with the Spirit. And when he speaks that. And I believe, by the way, that was some excellent statements in that book. That's really, really good. I believe that what has happened is not the Spirit is inside that body or anything like that. But then when John preaches, he's being empowered by the Spirit and all. And yet John, it took miracles to convince him on the other. And it's evidence that what the Spirit did is empower them to speak the truth and confirm the truth and everything like that. But so far as doing anything mystical to help the monster understand or anything like that, it didn't. And like you said, so far as them having some kind of element within them, they guaranteed that they wouldn't misunderstand it or something. That's not so.

[Student 1]

Okay, this leads into the next question too. Is it like in Corinth, the church, Corinth, they had a lot of problems there. A lot of misunderstandings, a lot of wrong practices. And then the Holy Spirit was still empowering those people to do miraculous work. They were practicing the gifts of the Spirit, but then they were error on the practices. So the Holy Spirit wasn't actually correcting all those things.

[Teacher]

In other words, through the laying on the apostles hands they had been empowered. They obviously had the faith that they had those. In other words. See, there was no doubt in their mind they had those gifts and that comes out. It's like they're proud of it. And it's like they're kind of showing out what's coming across. They're all wanting to talk, they're all wanting to perform. And when Paul makes a statement that each gift was for the good of all and none is greater than everything like it. It's like that the guy that can do one thing maybe has exalted himself over the other.

[Student 1]

Okay, well let me ask you this is the gift of the Spirit then like a gift that I would give you that if I give it to you then you can use it

[Teacher]

pretty

[Student 1]

much any way you want to?

[Student 4]

No,

[Teacher]

any way they want to. Because that. But yet it depends. Like when Timothy had the gift, Paul was actually telling him to fan it afresh, that apparently Timothy had slipped back and he's down. Timothy's actually down when Paul's writing these letters and he's wanting him to regenerate himself. In other words, the use of this gift. I believe they had the gift of the Spirit. Just like remember when they couldn't heal the first time they tried because they didn't have enough faith. I believe the gift of the Spirit to them was like prayer is to us, that we know we have the power of prayer as a Christian, but that that power is contingent on our faith. And we're told very plainly that to pray to God without believing and trusting that if that's in keeping with God's will, he's going to answer it. There's not going to be the very nature of the way God reveals. And so our power is contingent. And I think they have the power to do that right now. Is my power in prayer contingent on my being a perfect person? You see, it's not. It's contingent upon my faith and my striving. Well, when he's writing to the Corinthians and we look at their sins as just being terrible, but keep in mind there's going to be a lot of repenting take place in Corinth. But keep in mind who he's writing to. These are not people that I don't think you would have found a group of Jews behaving like those people. These are People that have been brought up in idolatry and polygamy and divorce and adultery, all that's homosexuality. All that's been part of their life. They lie, they cheat, they steal. You know, they have all these weird things through their idolatrous practice, and they've been brought up that way. They have these priestess that they fornicate with in worship. And so all of a sudden they're converted to Christ. But when they're converted all those years, it's like this guy, it's like the sailor that you've just converted to Jesus and he's been cussing all these years. I'd say he's going to cuss some more and it'll gradually get better and it's going to slip. And this is why. Also see, I think the Corinthians are good in the the sense that there's no problem here, because the church, we've not reached anybody here in the world or anything in a long time. But it teaches patience with people that come from a different background, that a lot of times people that have been brought up in a real immoral background, that they can act in a way that we think is terrible, and yet they may have come as far as we have come. And I think that may be the chance. Here's where I want.

[Student 1]

I guess the question I've got now is that we look at Corinth. They had the gifts of the Spirit. They were practicing them. They had all these wrong things now in the practice and all. Compare that to, say, a Pentecostal group today. They claim to have the gifts of the Spirit, but they're not practiced to the degree you don't see the real miraculous. What would be the contrast between a Pentecostal group today? How would you know that the Pentecostal group today didn't have the gifts of Spirit compared to Corinth? Where's the.

[Teacher]

Okay, the first thing I'd point out to the Pentecostal group is Paul tells you that those gifts at Corinth were passed on by him. And he reminds them that all the miracles of an apostle was wrought among them in 2nd Corinthians 12:12 and said that you don't come behind any of the other churches in gifts and all. And so and same with the corporation Galatians, he lets you know that those miraculous came from him. So those miracles came from the apostles and through the laying on their hands and for a particular reason. The next thing is that the gifts they had were obvious miracles. There was nothing that what did I read Today I was reading something and buying it. You know, it was a miracle that it happened. Of course it wasn't. But I mean, it was actually. The person was making it as a truthful statement. There's no way this could have happened without it being a miracle. The first thing I talk with also with the Pentecostals is their definition of miracle. By definition, a miracle has to circumvent the laws of nature. It could never be. How could it be a sign it's from God if it operates with than the law of nature? So if you're going to heal somebody, there can be no possibility that it's psychosomatic or anything. It has to be obvious. Now, if somebody is blind because of something organically wrong with his eyes and bang, he sees, then that's a miracle. If this guy is paralyzed, we all know that if you even lay in bed for a year, you can't walk. Your muscles are. So if he can just leap and jump and he is whole, immediately, obviously that's a miracle.

[Student 1]

The miracles that were practiced there weren't just speaking in tongues and interpretations. It was a lot of the miracles, right?

[Teacher]

In fact, in 1 Corinthians 12, he enumerates all the gifts and they fall into two categories. Some of the gifts involve giving of information, and some of them involve the confirmation of that information. Just like you got one guy that has the gift of prophecy. But how do I know that he's not pulling it right off the top of his head? Well, it's because this guy with the gift of healing, or the gift of miracles and the gift of tongues, interpretation, all of the.